Fossett's Newest Challenge

by Erik Olsen on


I’ve posted about the adventuresome exploits of
multi-millionaire Steve Fossett here before. I love the guy. He has got some
serious cojones, as well as many world-records to his name. How many world records?  109 world records by last
count. And rather that kick back in some tropical locale resting on his laurels…or on a pile of $20 bills, he is now off and planning his next great adventure. Yes,
this morning Fossett will embark on one of his most challenging and potentially dangerous endeavors to date: a
26,120-mile journey around the world. If he is successful this will be the longest nonstop flight in aviation history.
The current record is held by Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones whose record of 25,361 miles was set in in 1999 by the
Breitling Orbiter Balloon.

The trip will take some 80 hours, meaning that Fossett will likely pack several
cases of Red Bull, perhaps hooking an IV of the stuff so that it pipes directly into his body. Actually, according to
this piece Fossett will actually live off a liquid diet of Slim-Fast milkshakes. Needless to say the marketing folks at
Slimfast are giddy at the prospect.

Africa Travel: Cape Verde

by Adrienne Wilson on

Sometimes I
wonder why every country doesn’t have a Carnaval of it’s own to celebrate? I mean carnavals are amazing festivals and I
say that not because I’ll be parading in one myself in um, 21 days, but because they really are magical festivals. The
colorful and joyous movement of sticky half-clad, costumed bodies throughout the city’s paved streets seems like a
moment or day event every country should allow its residents to experience and gather to do. However, if every country
had a Carnaval I’m sure it would lose the overall appeal that draws thousands of visitors to places like Trinidad,
Puerto Rico, Brazil and Cape Verde. Yes, Cape
Verde.

The fact that Cape Verde, a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean west of Senegal, has a
Carnaval too comes as no real large surprise. Much like Brazil, the islands which were colonized in the 15th century by
the Portuguese until 1975 when they gained independence. Portuguese is widely spoken in addition to Crioulo (a blend of
West African and Portuguese words.) While carnaval is celebrated across all the islands it is most vibrant on Sao Vicente and Sao Nicolau
and held in February or March around Ash Wednesday. Many people always ask me how one goes about joining a carnaval
seeing I’ve managed to squiggle my way into Trinidad’s, but I haven’t been able to find any detailed info on this one
held in Cape Verde. Your best bet is to have  a contact in the country first who can point you to all the
resources. In the meantime check out these pictures on thee
vent and learn about other Cape Verdean
festivals.

Cool or Lame: Pirates of the Caribbean "Updated"

by Erik Olsen on

Yes, it has been a long, long while since we did a cool or
lame post. But I couldn’t help myself with this one.

In fact,
I’m throwing a penalty flag here. Sorry, call me old fashioned, call me anti-marketing, whatever, but it seems a crime
to me to change what is probably the best ride at all of Disneyland so that Disney Corp. can work in some marketing
tie-ins to their Pirates film franchise. What, we’re going to see Johnny Depp’s smug mug now among the characters you
see along the ride? That is exactly right, according to the piece. And I’ll bet the Yo Ho Ho song will be updated,
too…probably with the Backstreet Boys singing. 

Ugh. Well, it’s already happening. The Pirates ride
will close March 6 at Disneyland, and will reopen in June, in time for the July 7 release of the Disney Pirate film
sequel, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest."

Lame lame lame.

World's Largest

by Erik Olsen on

We’ve all heard
of the world’s largest ball of twine. I saw a contest recently for the world’s largest pie. American’s, it seems, are
enthralled with notions of the World’s Largest anything, and a trip
across country in search of such things would make a fine book. In fact, one
such book has been written by Doug Kirby. 

Well, in the spirit of celebrating this kind of weird
Americana, here is a cool piece by Dennis McCann
about all things World’s Largest. He tracks down valuable information that you absolutely MUST now about the World’s
Largest Corkscrew, the World’s Largest Indian, the World’s Largest Penny (pictured)…to name just a few. Now, why on
earth the World’s Largest Corkscrew is not paired with the World’s Largest Bottle of Wine is one of those perplexing
mysteries that will endure until the end of time. For now, then, we must content ourselevs with pondering the deeper
existential utterances of the World’s Largest
Talking Cow.

Sarajevo in the NY Times

by Adrienne Wilson on

Yesterday the, New York
Times ran a piece on an eerie, yet hopeful and emerging Sarajevo. This photo
of the Sehidska Cemetery overlooks the city and even seems to work its way down winding its markers around into
Sarajevo. The cemetery holds the graves of soldiers killed in the 1992-1995 war where some 11,000 were murdered in an
effort by Serb nationalists to create and ethnically pure country out of the former Yugoslavia. Prepared or not,
Christopher Solomon takes us on strolls through Sarajevo streets where the most "appalling shellings" took
place, to rebounding mountain of Bjelasnica where the 1984 Olympics put Sararjevo on the map and nightclubs where an
ex-Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) performs turbofolk igniting crowds of young people to sing and dance. The piece is
haunting, filled with surprises, mixed of emotions and heavy. For the history buff and ski fanatic, Bjelasnica is
probably calling while for the rest of us the five page online piece will have been enough exploration of Sarajevo.
Myself included – at least for now. If planning travel to the area you’ll surely want to check this article out.