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For Rock-Climbing Guru, the Sky Is His Roof

October 8, 2008 /

“He was known as the king of the Yosemite lifers, that proud band of rock climbers, tightrope walkers and seekers who made camp on the margins of the law, sleeping under the black oaks and sequoias and California stars. On his shoulders he carried an 80-pound constellation of canvas stowage, books and sweatpants, bottled water and mushy food, a sleeping bag and a reserve sleeping bag meant for some encountered companion of the road. To the government, he was Charles Victor Tucker III, scourge of Yosemite National Park, fixture of the lodge cafeteria. To acquaintances, he was Chuck, harmless and stoned jester of the mountains. And to climbers the world over he remains Chongo, the Monkey Man, named for the sticky soles he had once fashioned from Mexican rubber. ‘I learned a lot from Chongo,’ said Ivo Ninov, 32, an accomplished guide from Bulgaria, ‘because he was the father of big wall climbing.’

But the fullness of Chongo’s legacy would appear only through his disappearance from rock climbing, a passage from sylvan to urban wilds that has made him a stranger to his sport and an outcast from his home, now reduced to sleeping under a tractor-trailer. Along the way, he would find a new kind of homelessness, and a new sense of mission. Even among outliers, Chongo, 57, had always diverged. In a time of corporate sponsorships, he lived on charity, scavenging and bartering handmade wares. In a time of brand-name gear, he rigged worthy contraptions from found parts. In a time of speed-climbing records, he gained renown for his comically deliberate ascents. Once, he stretched an assault on El Capitan across two weeks, including three days spent pausing to consider some half-forgotten existential puzzle.

Dumb jokes congealed around his legend, for he projected a familiar and comforting sort of weirdness. Around a campfire or a cafeteria table, tourists and weekend warriors could find in Chongo a certain box to cross off, the obligatory aging hippie recounting unintentionally hilarious misadventures, denouncing the prison-industrial complex and rhapsodizing on junk science.”

(via The New York Times)

(Homeless Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics)

Terry Pratchett: I’m slipping away a bit at a time… and all I can do is watch it happen

October 8, 2008 /

Terry Pratchett

“When author Terry Pratchett was diagnosed with dementia, he was shocked to discover doctors could do little to help. For despite the fact that the condition affects more than 700,000 Britons (a million by 2025), research into its causes and treatment has been chronically under-funded. Patients and their families also have to cope with the stigma and ignorance surrounding dementia, as a report published today by the Alzheimer’s Society has revealed. In the belief that the only way to change this is to talk openly about the disease, here Terry Pratchett describes his own experiences.

Seven hundred thousand people who have dementia in this country are not heard. I’m fortunate; I can be heard. Regrettably, it’s amazing how people listen if you stand up in public and give away $1million for research into the disease, as I have done. Why did I do it? I regarded finding I had a form of Alzheimer’s as an insult and decided to do my best to marshal any kind of forces I could against this wretched disease.

I have posterior cortical atrophy or PCA. They say, rather ingenuously, that if you have Alzheimer’s it’s the best form of Alzheimer’s to have. This is a moot point, but what it does do, while gradually robbing you of memory, visual acuity and other things you didn’t know you had until you miss them, is leave you more or less as fluent and coherent as you always have been.”

(via The Daily Mail)

Neil Gaiman?s The Graveyard Book

October 8, 2008 /

“Watch Neil Gaiman read The Graveyard Book on a 9-city video tour. At each stop on the tour, Neil will read one chapter from The Graveyard Book. Beginning on October 1st, we will post the video readings daily. By the end of the tour, on October 9th, you will be able to watch the master storyteller himself read The Graveyard Book in its entirety right here.”

(via Mouse Circus)

Magick Without Tears (PDF and Word versions)

October 5, 2008 /

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“Most people experience a similar reaction when they first sit down and actually read Crowley. The name is almost universally known, and somehow most of us have inherited a nasty association along with it; some vague idea of a wacky Satanist and evil-doer. My first thoughts upon delving into Crowley’s 8 Lectures on Yoga were I don’t understand half of what this guy is saying but damn, he is onto something. One is immediately struck but the cutting insight into the previously obscure, the elegant humour, the seductive use of language, and the sheer scale of his knowledge. A few of Crowley’s recurring topics include ceremonial Magick, mathematics, metaphysics, yoga, practical mysticism, Kabalah, Tarot, and one of the first scientific approaches to comparative religion and the attainment of genius, immortalised in the verse:

We place no reliance
On Virgin or Pigeon:
Our method is Science,
Our aim is Religion”

(Download for MWT via Dan Bartlett’s blog)

Opus Dei Cartoon and TV Series to Boost Image

October 5, 2008 /

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“Dan Brown’s hugely popular book, and the subsequent film starring Tom Hanks, depicted the Roman Catholic order as a religious cult which would stop at nothing – including murder – to cover up the ‘truth’ that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had married and had a child.

Most damaging for Opus Dei was Brown’s fictional character Silas, the self-flagellating and serial-killing albino monk, said to be a member of the organisation – despite the fact that it is not a monastic order and has no monks. Opus Dei has recently embarked on a public relations campaign to try to dispel its image as a powerful but shadowy off-shoot of the Roman Catholic Church.

The mini-series and cartoon are the latest initiatives in the charm offensive. They were announced on the 80th anniversary of the organisation’s founding by a Spanish priest, Jose Maria Escriva de Balaguer, who died in 1975. The cartoon is in the production phase by Mediaset, the media company owned by Italy’s prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. The mini-series is being developed by Mediaset’s public broadcaster rival, RAI. They are intended to show that Opus Dei (Latin for The Work of God) has nothing to hide, said spokesman Pippo Corigliano.”

(via The Telegraph)

The Giant Pool of Money

October 5, 2008 /

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An old radio show from May that gives a good explanation on the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

“A special program about the housing crisis produced in a special collaboration with NPR News. We explain it all to you. What does the housing crisis have to do with the turmoil on Wall Street? Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income? And why is everyone talking so much about the 1930s? It all comes back to the Giant Pool of Money.”

(via NPR. Thanks Stewart!)

(Related: “Hear: Is The Bailout Worth It?”)

Emails Show Journalist Rigged Wikipedia’s Naked Shorts

October 3, 2008 /

“Two and a half years ago, Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne penned an editorial for The Wall Street Journal, warning that widespread stock manipulation schemes – including abusive naked short selling – were threatening the health of America’s financial markets. But it wasn’t published. “An editor at The Journal asked me to write it, and I told him he wouldn’t be allowed to publish it,” Byrne says. “He insisted that only he controlled what was printed on the editorial page, so I wrote it. Then, after a few days, he got back to me and said ‘It appears I can’t run this or anything else you write.'”

The Journal never changed its stance. But last week, the editorial finally saw the light of day at Forbes – after Byrne added a few paragraphs explaining that naked shorting had hastened what could turn out to be the biggest financial crisis since The Great Depression. “With a traditional short sale, traders borrow shares and sell them in the hope that prices will drop. A naked short works much the same way – except the shares aren’t actually borrowed. They’re sold but not delivered. By the middle of the summer, these unresolved “stock IOUs” – as Byrne calls them – were pilling up in four Wall Street giants already struggling to stay afloat: investment banks Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch and mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. On July 12, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued an emergency order banning naked shorts in a host of major stocks, and all four of those names were on the list.

The order expired in mid-August, and in the weeks since, Lehman Brothers has filed for bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch has swallowed into Bank of America, and Fannie and Freddie were seized by the US government. Then, on September 17, the SEC issued a new order meant to curb naked shorting of all stocks. “These several actions today make it crystal clear that the SEC has zero tolerance for abusive naked short selling,” read a statement from SEC chairman Christopher Cox. “The Enforcement Division, the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, and the Division of Trading and Markets will now have these weapons in their arsenal in their continuing battle to stop unlawful manipulation.”

In the wake of the SEC’s crackdown, the mainstream financial press has acknowledged that widespread and deliberate naked shorting can artificially deflate stock prices, flooding the market with what amounts to counterfeit shares. But for years, The Journal and so many other news outlets ignored Byrne’s warnings, with some journalists – most notably a Forbes.com columnist and former BusinessWeek reporter named Gary Weiss painting the Overstock CEO as a raving madman. Byrne has long argued that the press dismissed his views at least in part because Weiss – hiding behind various anonymous accounts – spent years controlling the relevant articles on Wikipedia, the “free online encyclopedia anyone can edit.” “At some level, you can control the public discourse from Wikipedia,” Byrne says. “No matter what journalists say about the reliability of Wikipedia, they still use it as a resource. I have no doubt that journalists who I discussed [naked shorting] with decided not to do stories after reading Wikipedia – whose treatment [of naked short selling] was completely divorced from reality.”

(via Investigate The SEC)

(Many people believe that the current financial crisis is mainly due to the domino effect of the sub-prime mortgage collapse. This is just a part of the equation. The illegal practice of naked short selling has been going on for years under the radar of the SEC. It’s a complicated practice to explain, let alone uncover. This is why the SEC has a temporary ban on ALL short selling (some financial experts disagree with this). “Naked short selling” and “short selling” are two different things. For good definitions on short selling and naked short selling read the excellent articles provided by Investopedia.com.)

The Art of Jim Denevan

October 3, 2008 /

“Jim Denevan makes freehand drawings in sand. At low tide on wide beaches Jim searches the shore for a wave tossed stick. After finding a good stick and composing himself in the near and far environment Jim draws– laboring up to 7 hours and walking as many as 30 miles. The resulting sand drawing is made entirely freehand w/ no measuring aids whatsoever. From the ground, these drawn environments are experienced as places. Places to explore and be, and to see relation and distance. For a time these tangible specific places exist in the indeterminate environment of ocean shore. From high above the marks are seen as isolated phenomena, much like clouds, rivers or buildings. Soon after Jim’s motions and marks are completed water moves over and through, leaving nothing.

In 2005 Jim Denevan had his museum debut the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, California. Also in 2005 Jim Denevan’s work was shown at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, California. In the summer of 2007, Jim had a show at PS1/MOMA in New York City. Jim’s work has been featured in the New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Elle, GQ, The Surfers Journal, and Outside, as well as in many other national and international publications.”

(Jim Denevan’s site)

Think You’re Multitasking? Think Again

October 3, 2008 /

“Don’t believe the multitasking hype, scientists say. New research shows that we humans aren’t as good as we think we are at doing several things at once. But it also highlights a human skill that gave us an evolutionary edge. As technology allows people to do more tasks at the same time, the myth that we can multitask has never been stronger. But researchers say it’s still a myth – and they have the data to prove it.

Humans, they say, don’t do lots of things simultaneously. Instead, we switch our attention from task to task extremely quickly. A case example, researchers say, is a group of people who focus not on a BlackBerry but on a blueberry – as in pancakes.

Diner Cook: A Task Master:

To make it as a short-order cook, you must be able to keep a half-dozen orders in your head while cracking eggs, flipping pancakes, working the counter, and refilling coffee cups. And at a restaurant like the Tastee Diner, in Bethesda, Md., the orders come in verbally, not on a ticket. Chocolate chip pancakes, scrambled with sausage, order of french fries, rye toast – they’re small tasks. On a busy day, though, they add up to a tough job for Shawn Swinson. “My first month here, I was ready to walk out the door,” he said. Asked what it feels like when he’s in the middle of rush hour, Swinson said, “Like you’re in an insane asylum. It’s almost unbearable.”

“It’s singularly the most difficult job in this type of operation,” Long said. “Four cooks. Five waitresses. Bus staff. Host. Getting them in and out.” Speed and accuracy are at a premium – especially when the customers are multitasking, too. Lunchtime is the worst, Long said. “People may have an errand to run. Maybe go to the bank and pick up dry cleaning, and eat. All within an hour, whatever time they have.” It’s all part of life these days. We answer e-mails while yapping on the phone. We schedule appointments while driving and listening to the radio. And it seems as if we’re focusing on all these tasks simultaneously, as if we’ve become true masters of doing 10 things at once. But, brain researchers say, that’s not really the case.”

(via NPR)

Choose Your Own Infection: The Outbreak

October 2, 2008 /

“Remember those Choose Your Own Adventure books from way back in the day? You know, the ones that read non-linearly and offered choices like:

If you decide to start back home, turn to page 4.
If you decide to wait, turn to page 5.

Of course you do. Well, director Chris Lund has done us one better: The Outbreak is a choose your own adventure film about-you guessed it-a zombie outbreak. Visit the site and as you watch the movie, you’re presented with choices you have to make in order to move the plot along. Depending on what you choose, a different sequence in the film is cued up. Decide on the right course of action, and you live on to the next sequence. Make the wrong choice, of course, and you die a brain-munchingly gruesome death.”

(The Outbreak via Tor)

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