Pieps Freeride Beacon

Do you check to see what kind of avalanche beacon your partner is carrying? I ask because there are a wide range of beacons on the market, and some of them are a lot easier to use than others. Case in point: the new Pieps Freeride. The Freeride is a tiny-tiny device about the size of a pre-3G cell phone. I admit I got a bit of a thrill holding one for the first time. The design is compact, light, and cool (more…)

Posted in Gear | 8 Comments

Execution by Mathmatics

I enjoyed the original Freakonomics when it first came out. Written by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen J. Dubner, the book used economic analysis in clever and unexpected ways to expose “the hidden side of everything.” Freakonomics made its share of enemies, thanks to its occasionally radical theories, such as suggesting the national decline in Crime seen during the Clinton years was actually due to the legalization of Abortion some twenty years earlier. Levitt and Dubner clearly enjoyed rabble-rousing as a sport. But, the book did successfully challenge conventional wisdom on a wide range of subjects. It was a good, fun read (more…)

Posted in Books, Science, Weather | 0 Comments

BPA in the NY Times

NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff writes about the ubiquity of BPA in our bodies, plus a gaggle of new studies linking BPA exposure to a variety of abnormalities in test animals. If you’ve been following the BPA Saga (including this impressive bit of corporate nastiness by Sigg), you’ll see that the latest research keeps upping the ante on the potential ill effects of BPA exposure in our food and water (more…)

Posted in Health, Science | 6 Comments

This is Your Brain on Altitude

The New Yorker recently ran a disturbing article on brain injuries in football. Just about the same time, Outside magazine wrote about an alarming study of the effects of moderately-high altitude on climbers’ brains. It has been known for some time that Everest climbers often show symptoms such as memory loss and poor coordination when they get home. And studies have found irregularities in the brain scans of 8000-meter climbers (more…)

Posted in Climbing | 10 Comments