London Walking

by Kelly Amabile on

Well, walking away from London, actually. Two ambitious
Londoners have set out on separate walking journeys across Europe this summer. They are not trying to slim down (like
our American friend, Fat Steve), but instead are traveling
on foot for their own unique personal goals.

The latest walker to head out is Arthur, of Arthur’s Many Steps,
who departed the UK on July 27, with hopes of reaching Rome by October. The idea originally came to him almost ten
years ago while reading Werner Herzog’s Of Walking in Ice. Rebecca Solnit’s Wanderlust also provided
inspiration and now he is off. Arthur is accepting donations to make sure he completes his trip – half the money raised
will be split between the Refugee Council and Doctors Without Borders.

Arthur’s route is similar to that of fellow Londoner James Carty, who set out in May to reach Jerusalem by this
December. On his site, Walking to Jerusalem, James explains
that his “pilgrimage for peace” will raise funds for four charities involved in promoting reconciliation and
understanding between communities. As of late July, he was walking right outside Rome. How convenient for Arthur, he
can read James’ blog to see what is in store for him as he heads that way too.

Sean Penn in Iran

by Erik Olsen on

We whined a
bit a while back about Sean Penn’s foray into international journalism and his trip to Iran, and now Penn is
posting dispatches from there. His
second series of articles
appeared today in the SF Chronicle. At first glance, in the opening paragraph actually, we learn that he had some
difficulty holding his bladder while sitting through a religious service…file this under “more than I needed to know.”
But it gets better (sort of), and I found the dispatch a kind of fascinating look into the country, as well as into
Penn’s perspectives on international affairs.

Because of the high profile of his trip (just

google it, you’ll see), he hooks up with some high profile folks. He meets with Mehdi Rafsanjani, a campaign
director and son of former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani who does his best to play up the “America as
hypocrite” argument you often hear from people outside the states (and which in some cases is spot on…although in this
case seems quite hollow if not downright stupid), but he does a fine job not letting the comments stand on their own,
and answers them with an appropriate dose of skepticism. In all honesty, Penn sucks as a writer. His editors need to do
a much better job fine tuning his tortured prose. Just take this graph:

While I have said there is a great warmth toward Americans, it’s never far from your mind that you’re one
bedside book in the toilet away from death. One handshake with a woman away from jail. A visitor is subject to all the
laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran and all its thinly veiled oppression. And less thinly veiled restriction on the
press. It’s like dancing on a volcano. So, who was this “Star Wars” Sith? And why did he want to give us his
connections?

I guess I understand what he’s saying, but man, I gotta throw a syntax flag. Pweeee! Five yard penalty.

That said, Penn roams over a lot of topics, from freedom of the press (or lack thereof) to the Iran/Iraq war to
sexual mores, but I have to say Penn doesn’t really examine these issues in a satisfying way. And the implicit
comparison of Iranian dissidents being jailed and/or killed with the imprisonment of Judith Miller left me wondering
what he was talking about.

I enjoyed the fact that Penn decided to take his interviews beyond powerful figures and hangs out a bit chatting
with regular folk. These are some of the nicest bits. Anyway, I’ll keep tuning in and see where this goes. What do
other folks think?

The World’s Worst Places from Space

by Erik Olsen on

Pretty interesting concept here. This site Sprol.com features satellite imagery
of some of the world’s worst places. Where environmental catastrophe and, in the words of the site itself “evidence of
humankind’s wanton destruction” can be enjoyed from the comfort of your office, home or cube…and perhaps even your cell
phone.

The images, many taken from Google Maps, are accompanied by well-written, albeit
a wee bit panicky in some cases, articles explaining what damage man hath wrought. The top piece today discusses the
midwestern city of Martinsville, which is “dealing with a massive drinking water catastrophe that will likely take
years, plus possibly millions of dollars, to clean up”. So that’s a bummer. Then
there is a cool (pun!) image of the retreating, er, collapsed, Antarctic
“Larsen-B” ice shelf that disintegrated in 35 days in 2002 (pictured). Depressing eh? So, I guess if you take this site
and match it against the earlier Onion post, well, they
sort of cancel each other out, humor-wise. Sorry about that.

Travelers Century Club

by Erik Olsen on

Years ago I was onboard a Chilean Navy boat to Antarctica and we were riding through one of the roughest patches of
water on the planet: Drakes Passage. It wasn’t a bad day. The sun was out and the sky was blue, but the sea rose and
heaved and the ship rode alone with it. This resulted in many of the passengers making a bee line (if a curvy, kinda
drunk looking, weaving line can be called a bee line…which,
technically, I’ll bet it can since bees
don’t fly straight) for the rail, where they proceeded to upchuck their lunches into the cerulean sea. Luckily, I
wasn’t sick, but I did go to the rail (upwind, of course), because as I said it was a lovely day, and there I met a guy
who first told me about the Travelers Century Club.

The Travelers Century Club is a loose-knit group of folks
who over the course of their lives have visited 100 or more countries. A noble goal, to be sure. Most of the members
are older folk who have found the time late in life to travel. But some are young people are members too. This year,
the club is 50 years old, and its membership reflects the really amazing global changes that have taken place over the
years. Changes in transportation and communications have made traveling to any spot in the world about as hard as
booking your ticket, getting a VISA and going to the airport. It’s really quite amazing when you think about it. In
1960 there were just 43 members of the club. Today there are over 1,500 members throughout the world, with 317
countries on the TCC official list of countries. Kinda
fascinating.

Outside Mag: Dream Jobs

by Erik Olsen on

I just got my September Issue of Outside and was happy to see an
article in there about dream jobs, a whole series of profiles of interesting people doiing interesting things pretty
far out of the mainstream. People who are fortunate enough in life to do what they want. Sadly, the link to the story
isn’t up yet. But what I liked about it most of all was the listing of people and their jobs. Being Outside, you
wouldn’t expect to see a list of lawyers, bankers, money people, movie stars…all the jobs that our society seems to
covet and love. And that’s what I liked so much about the piece. These were easy-going people with jobs like climbing
ranger, product developer, adventure film-maker, brewmeister. It’s so easy in life to let other people, the media and
social mores direct your life. And it’s always inspiring to hear about people who have the guts and drive and smarts to
go out and do exactly what they want. I’ll post the article when it goes live.