It is being reported that Pennsylvania is updating the word “Confederate” with “enemy” on those roadside historical markers.
I wonder why that isn’t being reported elsewhere, aside from a couple of articles which are simply repeating this.
I just watched “Into Thin Air,” the film about the 1996 disaster on Everest that took 5 lives.
A few facts from this article.
Leading cause of death for Sherpas: avalanche
Leading cause of death for climbers: falls
304 have died since 1953, with only three years not having at least one.
27% have died after reaching the summit.
I was curious to know how many bodies are still there…I see estimates of 200.
source
If you scroll halfway down on the last source, you’ll see an eery photo…or maybe it’s a painting. The description says:
Her body remained on Everest for years propped up on her backpack. It served as a very grim reminder of what could go wrong. For a long time her hair would still blow in the wind. Some climbers mistook her clothing for a tent and would approach, only seeing the reality at the last minute.
Over the years the wind and exposure stripped the body to the skull.
The book Into Thin Air that led to the movie is worth reading. It’s written by Jon Krakauer who was part of the expedition as a journalist. It caused some controversy because some of his claims were disputed by other survivors and some of his analysis of what went wrong. But as a first hand recollection of the experience it is fascinating in a very morbid way admittedly. I am a big fan of mountaineering stories and documentaries in general. It never gets boring for me.
I was very fortunate to attend a live talk by Ed Viesturs, good friend of Rob Hall, whose (WARNING) lifeless and frozen body can be seen in the third article linked to by @lobotomyboy63. If you’ve ever seen the IMAX movie “Everest,” Ed is pretty much the “main character” to the extent that’s a thing in a documentary.
Anyway, Ed’s from the Seattle area, and his presentation was at the Mountaineers club, a fantastic venue near downtown Seattle for anyone interested in hiking, mountain climbing, rock climbing, etc. As you can imagine, these are very popular in Seattle.
The talk was very interesting, heartfelt, and very sad when he got to describing the disaster where so many people, including his good friend, died. This is also covered in Krakauer’s Into Thin Air. I think this presentation was back in about 1998 or 1999. Soon after this time, I think Ed announced his retirement as an Everest expedition leader–I believe due to family pressure. He was somewhat recently married and had one or two little ones.
I was working in the Tools and Parts room the other day checking out radios and scanners to all and sundry. I scanned the ID badge of one young lady in particular and found out that “Contractor” is actually a legitimate surname in India.
She is likely of Parsee ( Zoroastrian) heritage. Parsees originally are from Persia (Iran) but were kicked out / killed during the Muslim conquest. They took refuge in India and are one of the most successful communities.
Some prominent parsees / people of parsee heritage :
- One of the wise men (magi) at Jesus’s birth
- Freddie Mercury
- The Tata family in India
I’d completely forgotten one of my brushes with celebrity! I got chatting with a woman at a laundromat (in Madison, WI), and she said she was Tom Wopat’s wife, and they were visiting his family in Lodi…
…
… but then what was she doing thirty miles away, washing their undies in a laundromat?
Okay, forty years later, I’m thinking they didn’t get along with his family… or maybe she just didn’t like small towns. So when they visit his family, Mr. and Mrs. Duke stay in Madison where you can at least get good fish tacos at midnight…
I was tempted to make this its own thread, since it’s so absurd.
Apparently, North Korea has imposed a mourning period to commemorate the 10 year anniversary of the second Dear Leader’s death, during which laughing is outlawed.
… and because of this, the producers were contractually obligated to offer the Die Hard role to Sinatra for first refusal, despite Sinatra’s being 70 at the time. (SPOILER: Sinatra declined the role.)
Farokh Engineer is a former test cricketer for India.
GRIT is still published today, with a circulation of about 150,000. In the early 2000s they converted from a newspaper to a glossy magazine-style publication.
So now it’s the true Grit?
I’m in line for it at the library.
I was curious about whether Everest was considered the hardest mountain to climb. This article says Annapurna is the hardest and Everest comes in 5th.
By no means should a mountain’s height be confused with its technical difficulty. Annapurna, in Nepal, the tenth highest peak in the world, is deadly proof. With a near 40% summit fatality rate, a mountaineer is more likely to die here than on any other 8,000m climb.
What REALLY surprised me is that they say the deadliest mountain, if we’re talking about most deaths, goes to Mont Blanc, located between France and Italy.
OK, it may not be that tall compared to peaks in the Himalayas, and typical routes aren’t that technically challenging. But Mont Blanc is still a challenging climb. The mountain’s position on the border of Italy and France makes it all the more convenient.
This sort of heady logic brings many tourists to Mont Blanc every year, and maybe that’s why Mont Blanc has killed more people than any other mountain. Some 8,000 have perished on this scenic European climb, most of them novices. Be responsible and be prepared if you’re planning to climb Mont Blanc, its power shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Nari Contractor is also a former test cricketer from India.
A quick look at his wiki and Cricinfo pages gives no information as whether he is of Parsee heritage or not.
Today I learned about the concept of Free Bleeding, which advocates for women to refrain from using any feminine hygiene products during menstruation, and just allowing period blood to run down your leg.
He is Parsi
" Although coming across as an astute, pragmatic thinker, Nari Contractor is your typical Bambaiya Parsi—fun-loving, jovial and simple to the tee. He walks around the house dressed in the characteristic Parsi loose shirt and trousers,…"
His middle name in itself is a big giveaway.
And for the one in NY.
Today I learned several fun facts about slime molds, such as the fact that they can be large, unicellular, have no brain (obviously), but can be taught how to “cross” a small bridge and can pass the lesson on to other slime molds. I also learned that they are just as good, but faster, as human engineers in deciding the optimum way to connect multiple points on a map. All this courtesy of Ursula Vernon’s two acceptance speeches at the Hugo Awards ceremony tonight.
I have seen this with my own eyes, almost. On the wall of an office in Toronto I once saw a blowmoulded relief of Santa Claus on a cross. Not a store display, but the next best thing?