Scientists have discovered that by recording the sounds that bark beetles make, tweaking them, and then blasting the sounds back at the beetles, they can disrupt mating, tunneling, and reproduction, thus creating a virtual wall around the effected areas of the west.

The scientists have developed a device that would be drilled into the outer layer of the lodgepole pines and other trees that beetles favor, pumping the sound waves under bark. Costing about $100 a tree, it’s cheaper, less environmentally disruptive, and far more effective than other methods.

Read more over at The Adventure Life.

Posted: February 9th, 2010 under Science, The World Is On Fire!.
Comments: 2

Mornin’.

MP3: Beach Boys – Big Sur (thx RS)

Posted: February 8th, 2010 under Long Hairs, The World Is On Fire!.
Comments: 2

$$$$:

No sport packs as much into eight seconds as bull riding. In Baltimore, the winner, Kasey Hayes, rode for 24 seconds and earned $28,370. That is a pay rate of more than $4.25 million an hour — as if anyone could ride the 1,500-pound likes of Chief of Staff, Walk the Line or El Presidente for an hour, or would want to. Snyder rode a total of 11.3 seconds, earned nothing, and was left to hope — and wait — for better results at Madison Square Garden this weekend. But waiting is what bull riders do most. After his first ride in Baltimore, Snyder had almost exactly 24 hours to think about his second one. First, he had to get rid of the headache.

Snyder is a 26-year-old from Raymore, Mo., with a black hat, a dignified air and a nose reconstructed a few years ago by a surgeon who used Snyder’s driver’s license as a guide. That procedure followed a head-to-head run-in with a bull — a brutally common collision known among riders as being jerked down or, more graphically, dashboarded.

He was the tour’s 2001 rookie of the year, earning $348,560.54 the season he turned 19. He is now known in bull-riding circles for an ironman streak of 236 consecutive P.B.R. events. Part of each event is killing time between rounds.

Posted: January 6th, 2009 under The World Is On Fire!.
Comments: none

If you’re in New York, or any place for that matter, on New Year’s Day, don’t forget about the annual Polar Bear Club swim down on Coney Island.

And if you want to be smart, definitely forget about it.

MP3: Phosphorescent – And The Swimming

Posted: December 10th, 2008 under The World Is On Fire!.
Comments: none

First ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, 1978

First solo ascent of Everest, 1980

First to climb all fourteen 8000 meter mountains (26,246 feet), 1986

Youtube: Reinhold Messner on the dangers of the Hidden Peak

Posted: December 3rd, 2008 under The World Is On Fire!.
Comments: none

When I was in Colorado over the summer, you could easily see the damage the little assholes are doing. The effect on the entire west is unreal and it’s getting worse and spreading fast. Read more about it here.

Posted: November 18th, 2008 under The World Is On Fire!.
Comments: none

In the New Mexico desert, 25 miles from the nearest town, lives Dreadie Jeff (pictured above) and the rest of the radical inhabitants of The Mesa.

You can see Off The Grid: Life On The Mesa on Sundance On Demand.

Trailer + Myspace + Official Site

Posted: October 27th, 2008 under The World Is On Fire!.
Comments: 1

I was wading down a shallow river next to a camp site in the Catskills when I saw these under some sand that had washed up on shore. NSFW.

Above: A dead walrus washed up on the shores of Bristol Bay, AK

MP3: Aretha Franklin – Border Song (Holy Moses)

MP3: Randy Newman – Naked Man

Posted: October 14th, 2008 under The World Is On Fire!.
Comments: 3

Many many winters ago, I was driving my friend, Tim, through the hills of Barrington, Illinois in my forest green Jeep Cherokee. We were sixteen and I had recently stolen Joni Mitchell’s Blue from another friend’s dad’s record collection and was playing it constantly. I played it from the second I woke up to the second I fell asleep. I played it in my room and, when I had finally bought it on CD, in my car as well. I had also started getting really focused on matching Joni’s high parts with my own prepubescent voice. (Late bloomer.) Tim didn’t know that I had been doing this and, to his amusement, found out that day in the car.

“Dude, WHAT was THAT?”

This wasn’t on Blue, but I hope y’all sing along anyway.

MP3: Joni Mitchell – Cactus Tree

Youtube: Joni Mitchell – Cactus Tree

Posted: October 7th, 2008 under The World Is On Fire!.
Comments: 2

The back cover of Ram famously features a photo of a beetle screwing another beetle. Good one Paul.

In other news about animal intercourse…

Go here.

MP3: John Lee Hooker – Walkin The Boogie

Posted: October 1st, 2008 under The World Is On Fire!, Uncategorized.
Comments: none