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The Adventure Blog



  • Human Slingshot + Slip and Slide = Epic Air
  • The River Why Supports The River Network
  • Taking Care Of Mother Earth
  • Early Registration For The Checkpoint Tracker Championship Ends Tonight
  • London2London Update: Sarah's In China And Headed Towards The Sea

Human Slingshot + Slip and Slide = Epic Air

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 01:22 PM PDT

While we're sharing videos today, here's one more, just for the fun of it. It features a "human slingshot" which consists of a mechanical pulley system anchored to a pick-up truck, and pulled by an ATV, with an inter-tube on the other end. The tube is then pulled down a giant slip and slide, hurdling anyone riding on it into the air, only to splashdown in the middle of lake. This sounds far more complicated than it actually is, and the video will make it it all clear. The question is, would you take a ride on this thing?

The video is a publicity stunt from Vooray, an outdoor, active clothing company, but it looks like a fun way to end the summer. Crazy fun!


The River Why Supports The River Network

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 12:16 PM PDT


The River Why, a new film set to make its debut soon, is the story of Gus Orviston, who is described as "the Mozart of flyfishing." After an argument with his parents, 20-year old Gus leaves home to live in the wilderness beside an idyllic river, where he plans to escape the challenges of life and spend his time fishing. Instead, he ends up meeting a cast of unlikely characters, including a young woman that he falls in love with. Its sort of Into The Wild, but with a fishing pole.

The film is set to have its world premiere in Portland, Oregon on September 9 at the Hollywood Theater, where guests and ticket holders will have the opportunity to support The River Network, a non-proft dedicated to protecting and resorting waterways across the U.S.

The film's debut will also serve as the beginning of the countdown towards the 13th annual River Rally, a conference held each year for the top watershed conservation specialists in the United States. The River Network is bring that event to Portland from May 4-7, 2012, with keynote speakers including Bobby Kennedy, Jr. and Alexandra Cousteau.

If you're interested in attending the premiere of the film, you can buy tickets by clicking here. The $20 fee includes admission to the film, a donation to The River Network, and a raffle ticket for a chance to win great prizes. Three of the film's stars, William Hurt and Zach Gilford, and Alex Hurt, along with Producer Kristi Denton, will be on hand for the event as well.

Checkout the trailer for the film below.




Taking Care Of Mother Earth

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 11:40 AM PDT

I've seen this video making the rounds a bit the past week or so, and thought it was worth sharing here as well. For starters, it is beautifully shot and captures incredible images from around the globe, some breathtakingly beautiful, others very sobering.

The video was created by Vivek Chauhan, a young filmmaker working with Sanctuary Asia, and it is a good reminder that our planet is alive and that our actions have consequences that can endanger our environments. Warning, there are a few scenes that are a bit tough to watch, so keep that in mind when you're viewing this. It is a short film that can be humbling, inspiring, and terrifying all at the same time.



Early Registration For The Checkpoint Tracker Championship Ends Tonight

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 11:07 AM PDT


Adventure racers planning on competing in the Checkpoint Tracker Championship, to be held in western Kentucky this October, may want to get their registrations in today. Not only is the field for the event filling up very quickly, today is the final day to get the early registration discount.

The race is scheduled to take place on October 21 in the Land Between The Lakes and will feature a 100+ mile course designed to challenge the teams with plenty of mountain biking, trekking, paddling, and more. Currently, registration for the event is $250 per person, but after midnight tonight that price goes up to $275. That entry fee includes registration for the Championship, pre and post-race dinners, a limited edition Checkpoint Tracker Championship fleece, a Checkpoint Tracker hat, maps from MyTopo.com, and more.

If your team is looking for a great event to compete in this fall, than you should be strongly considering this race. Not only is the setting going to be a remarkable place to compete, but this will be one of the premiere races in North America for the remainder of the year. Most of the top teams in the country will be on hand, so it is a great place to test your skills, and above all else, it should simply be a fun weekend.

Hurry and register now before the price goes up at the end of the day.

London2London Update: Sarah's In China And Headed Towards The Sea

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 09:38 AM PDT


It has been nearly five months since Sarah Outen set out on her London2London via The World expedition, so we're long over due for an update on her progress. As you might recall, London2London is an attempt to circumnavigate the planet completely under human power, and considering Sarah has already rowed across the Indian Ocean, she knows a thing or two about human-powered adventures.

When she began her journey, Sarah started in London, and paddled down the River Thames, and across the English Channel, making landfall in France. After that, she jumped on her bike and started along ride across Europe and Asia. She's made great progress however, and she's already into China and making her way towards the Pacific Coast, where she'll eventually kayak to Japan, and then row across the North Pacific, eventually arriving in Vancouver.

As you can imagine, it has been a very busy and eventful five months for Sarah, with lots of adventures on her route. Although she has been joined by a few others along the way, she's currently riding alone, somewhere in eastern China. She's well ahead of schedule however, and is likely to take some down time for awhile after this epic ride, as she doesn't expect to start rowing the Pacific until the spring of 2012. In a recent blog post however, she did show off her new boat, the Gulliver, which she'll use in that crossing.

Below you'll find a great video of Sarah riding in China which will give you a sense of what it is like for her on the road day in and day out. The video was shot back in July, but shows her taking on a rather long and tough climb on her bike that is built more for strength than speed.

Stay tuned for more updates from Sarah as she nears the end of her first stage and gets ready to hit the water.




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Official Google Blog



  • Taking cars off the road with our transportation programs
  • Using technology in crisis preparedness
  • Free calls home from Gmail for all U.S. service members

Taking cars off the road with our transportation programs


This is the third in a short series of posts and videos spotlighting our efforts to make Google greener. In this post, we give you a glimpse at how our transportation programs help Googlers get to work while leaving their cars at home. -Ed.

Commuting to work without driving, meeting with someone on another continent without flying and riding cars without gasoline? It's not a futuristic dream, but a way of life at Google. We support and encourage carbon-free commuting because it's a vital part of our longstanding commitment to sustainability.

We help take cars off of the road—not quite like the Hulk, but we are green. Back in 2004, one motivated Googler started a vanpool that ran from San Francisco to Mountain View as a 20 percent project. As demand grew, the program morphed into what is now one of the largest corporate shuttle services in the country. Today, up to a third of employees ride the GBus shuttles throughout our Bay Area offices five days a week—that's more than 3,500 daily riders, or 7,000 one-way car trips avoided each day.



Beyond the convenience and comfort that our shuttle rides offer—of which I'm reminded during my daily 35-mile commute from Alameda to Mountain View—they're also environmentally friendly. Our shuttles have the cleanest diesel engines ever built and run on 5 percent bio-diesel, so they're partly powered by renewable resources that help reduce our carbon footprint. In fact, we're the first and largest company with a corporate transportation fleet using engines that meet the Environmental Protection Agency's 2010 emission standards.

Not only do we encourage self-powered commuting, we reward it. Googlers earn credits each time they get to work via alternative (non-engine) means—by bike, foot, skateboard or kayak. These credits are then translated into a dollar amount that gets donated—$100 for every 20 days of participation—to the Googler's charity of choice. This year, 56 offices also participated in "Bike to Work Day," with more than 2,500 Googlers who biked to work worldwide. The annual celebration is meant to reward daily cyclists as well as introduce many new riders to biking.

The green life doesn't stop once Googlers get to work. In Mountain View, our GBike system distributes about 1,000 bikes across the campus that Googlers can pick up whenever they have to get to another building. For longer distances and off-campus trips, we have the GFleet, our electric vehicle car share program, and our on-campus taxi service GRide. We're also installing hundreds of electric vehicle charging stations throughout several of our offices, making it easy for Googlers to charge up their own electric cars for free at work. If Googlers need to chat with their colleagues in other cities or continents they can use video conferencing technology, which cuts down on potential air travel.

In total, the combination of the GFleet and our shuttles result in net annual savings of more than 5,400 metric tons of CO2. That's like taking over 2,000 cars off the road every day, or avoiding 14 million vehicle miles every year. With the help of Googlers, we'll continue powering the wheels of sustainable transit innovation.

Using technology in crisis preparedness


In many ways, the arrival of Hurricane Irene last week drove home the importance of National Preparedness Month, an effort from the FEMA Ready campaign to encourage Americans to take steps to prepare for emergencies throughout the year. With people relying on the Internet worldwide, it's not surprising that Google search data and a recently released American Red Cross survey show that people turn to online resources and tools for information and communication during major crises. First responders, who provide services in the aftermath of disasters, are also finding Internet and cloud-based tools and information useful—for improving their understanding of a situation, collaborating with each other and communicating with the public.

Today, in preparation for September's National Preparedness Month, our Crisis Response team is introducing a new Google Crisis Preparedness website with information and educational tools on using technology to prepare for crises. On the site, you can see how individuals and organizations have used technology during crises in the past, including how two girls located their grandfather after the Japan earthquake and tsunami in March of this year and how Americorps tracked volunteers during the tornadoes in Joplin, Missouri in May of this year. There's a section for responders with information on using Google tools in crises, such as collaborating efficiently using Google Docs, Spreadsheets and Sites, visualizing the disaster-related information with Google My Maps and Google Earth, and more.

Also, you can access a new public preparedness web resource launching today: Get Tech Ready, developed as a collaboration between FEMA, the American Red Cross, the Ad Council and Google Crisis Response. There, you'll find tips on using technology to prepare for, adapt to and recover from disasters, for example:
  • Learn how to send updates via text and internet from your mobile phone in case voice communications are not available
  • Store your important documents in the cloud so they can be accessed from anywhere or in a secure and remote area such as a flash or jump drive that you can keep readily available
  • Create an Emergency Information Document using this Ready.gov Emergency Plan Google Docs Template, or by downloading it to record and share your emergency plans and access them from anywhere
We encourage you to take a moment now to see how simple, easy-to-use and readily-available technology tools can help you prepare for a crisis. You'll be more comfortable using these tools in the event of a disaster if you've already tried them out—and even integrated them into your daily life.


Free calls home from Gmail for all U.S. service members


We understand that it's not always easy or affordable for our troops serving overseas to call friends and family at home, so starting today we're making it completely free for all uniformed military personnel with valid United States Military (.mil) email addresses to call the United States, right from Gmail.

There are two easy steps to enable free calling from Gmail (detailed instructions):
  1. Add your valid .mil email address to your Google Account
  2. Click on the Call phone link at the top of the Gmail chat roster and install the voice and video Gmail plugin if you haven't already.


And don't forget that for friends and family at home in the U.S., calling troops abroad is as little as $.02/minute.

Similar to free calling within the U.S., free calling to the U.S. for service members will be available for at least the rest of 2011.

We recognize and appreciate the sacrifices U.S. troops make when they serve abroad, and we're proud to help make it a little bit easier for them to stay connected and hear a familiar voice.


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Latest Worldwide Meteor/Meteorite News



MBIQ Indicates Meteor? South Carolina Event 30AUG2011

MBIQ (Meteor Bot Internet Query) Indicates Meteor? South Carolina Event 30AUG2011 Columbia, South Carolina arrived from google.com on "Latest Worldwide Meteor/Meteorite News: 美国 隕石 Breaking News--- Major SE USA Meteor Seen SEVEN States 29APR2011" by searching for sonic boom in chapin SC. Several persons from North and South Carolina, Georgia and Kentucky searching this site but no confirmation.

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Hynix Announces MIPI Sensors Lineup

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 10:27 AM PDT

Hynix announced a complete lineup of VGA to 5MP sensors having MIPI interface:

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The Adventure Blog



  • Kiteboarding Hurricane Irene
  • Norway's Prime Minister To Travel To South Pole For Amundsen Anniversary
  • Running The Silk Road Update: Under 1000km To Go
  • A Kayak Video Shot And Edited Using Only Solar Power

Kiteboarding Hurricane Irene

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 12:01 PM PDT

My friends over at Wend posted this video yesterday, but it's definitely worth sharing here as well. It stars a couple of crazy people who decided it would be a good idea to go kiteboarding in the middle of Hurricane Irene this past weekend. The results are some big wind and waves of course, but if you stick through the video to the end, you'll see what happens when said kiteboarder catches major air.

Fun, but scary!



Norway's Prime Minister To Travel To South Pole For Amundsen Anniversary

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 12:05 PM PDT


The Prime Minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg, announced today that he'll be traveling to the South Pole in December to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of Roald Amundsen's arrival at that point. Amundsen and his team became the first men to reach the Pole on December 14th, 1911, famously beating out Britain's Robert Falcon Scott by just a few weeks.

Unlike Amundsen, Stoltenberg won't be making the journey overland however. Instead, he'll fly to the Pole where he'll greet a four-person Norwegian team that is set to follow Amundsen's route. The plan is for that team to arrive on December 14th of this year to commemorate the historical event which remains such a point of pride for the people of Norway.

The polar team will consist of Jan-Gunnar Winther, the head of the Norwegian Polar Institute as well as former cross-country skier and Olympic champion Vegard Ulvang. They'll be joined on the journey by a historian and an adventurer as well. While Amundsen went to the Pole by dogsled, this team will travel on skis however.

As we get closer to the 2011 Antarctic season, we're sure to hear a lot more about Amundsen and Scott, who were in a desperate race to be the first to reach the Pole. Both men had tried on more than one occasion to plant their nation's flag at 90ºS, but weather conditions, poor equipment, and the challenges of the unknown all conspired against them. Finally, Amundsen broke through using his dogsleds, and as result, Scott discovered a Norwegian flag at the Pole when he arrived four weeks later.

Devastated by losing the race, Scott and his men turned back towards the coast and their ship, which was waiting 800 miles away. Along the way, the weather took a turn for the worse, and they managed to get caught in a blizzard that lasted for ten days. Stranded in their tent, the last of their supplies and energy, ran out, and Scott, along with his two remaining companions, perished. They were just 11 miles away from a supply cache that would have probably saved their lives.

The race to the South Pole is filled with epic characters, epic journeys, and epic suffering. A century later, those same characters still cast a wide shadow over the frozen continent.

Running The Silk Road Update: Under 1000km To Go

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 10:41 AM PDT


Last week I posted a story about a team of athletes who are running the length of the Silk Road in an effort to raise funds and awareness of the need for clean drinking water throughout Asia. The expedition began in Turkey back in April, and since that time, the runners have been heading east. Now, they have less than 1000km (621 miles) to go until they reach the finish line in the ancient city of Xi'an, China.

The run was organized by The Home Expedition, a non-profit organization that seeks to fund charitable projects through adventurous activities. The Silk Road run is their first expedition, but they have others planned for the future, including a cycling journey along the Trans-Siberian Highway and an adventure along the Amazon River.

Two of the runners on this journey, Kevin Lin and Bai Bin have run the entire distance so far. That includes more than 8000km (4971 miles) through Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and into China. They hope to wrap up the final leg of their journey by September 16th, their target date for arriving in Xi'an.

When I wrote about this expedition last week, I mentioned that updates on the website had been infrequent over the last few months, but it turns out the best place to follow along with the journey is on The Home Expedition Facebook page. There, I discovered that Kevin and Bai Bin are still knocking off about 70km (43.5 miles) per day as they continue to pursue their goal.

For those that don't know, the old Silk Road was a network of trade routes that connected China with Europe. It's origins can be traced back to 200 BC, although at that point it was mostly used throughout Asia. As time passed, and the road expanded, merchants from as far away as Italy used the road to trade goods, and it eventually became one of the most important trade routes ever. Marco Polo was said to have traveled the Silk Road in his dealings with China, and to this day, the road continues to inspire adventure.

I'll continue to keep an eye on the progress of Kevin, Bai, and the whole team. If all goes as scheduled, they should be finishing up in a just a few weeks. Big thanks to Andrew for sharing information and updates with me!

A Kayak Video Shot And Edited Using Only Solar Power

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 06:01 AM PDT

The latest episode of the wonderful paddling webseries Currents, from Five2Nine Productions, sends a group of kayakers to California, where they find plenty of great summer whitewater to explore. As is typical in these videos, the kayaking looks amazing, and the crew does a great job of capturing the action out on the water.

This video is unique in one aspect however, as it was completely filmed, captured, and edited using only solar power. The team used solar panels and battery packs from Goal Zero to completely power ever aspect of their expedition, and it is a great example of how we can use alternative sources of energy while on our adventures.

I had a chance to play with some of the Goal Zero gear at Outdoor Retailer a few weeks back, and I have to say that it seems like really well designed and efficient stuff. It's great to see it being put to use in the video below.



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Latest Worldwide Meteor/Meteorite News



Meteor/Meteorite News 30AUG2011

Posted: 29 Aug 2011 11:45 PM PDT

Fireball UFO seen in AucklandOpen Minds UFO NewsAn unusual light was seen in the sky above Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday evening. Auckland Now describes, "The descending point of light, which revealed a U-shaped nimbus when zoomed in on, was filmed in the sky west of Auckland about 6pm on ... (appears to be a high altitude aircraft contrail recorded near sunset...NOT a meteor or UFO!)