Base Camp, we have a problem!

Nothing succeeds like success and sometimes that is not a good thing! More guides, better gear, and the greed to make more more more money from climbers who want to claim they made it to the top of the tallest mountain on earth and so not restricting the number of climbers in any given year has led to this situation on Mt. Everest. I had previously read about the enormous amount of trash that has been accumulating over the years at this great height -- us humans lead such wasteful lives anyways and in a risky adventure where the weight of what you carry around can be the difference between life and death, I can only imagine how much people have trashed this amazing and very beautiful place on earth! But a picture is worth a thousand words, they say, and this one surely brings to life the severity of how Everest is maxed out!

© Subin Thakuri, Utmost Adventure Trekking

 

The picture is from an article in the National Geographic that talks about the problems at 29,000 feet! 

P.S. I have not read this article yet but will be doing so later today and may come back and add some excerpts but unlikely I will add more comments about this issue, since I am no expert when it comes to mountaineering. IN fact, I doubt I ever will be and will likely leave this planet never having gone up one.

~*~

Related:  Photo essay via Boston.com's Big Picture website with some lovely pictures from 60 years of men and women climbing Mt. Everest ... my favorite, this picture of Mt Everest from 2003 - as seen from "Everest Base camp, Nepal on May 26, 2003. Sir Edmund Hillary's son, Peter Hillary, is scheduled to hold a prayer session and ritual mask dance at the monastery today to commemorate 50 years of his father's and Tenzing Norgay's climb to Mount Everest. 

(© Gurinder Osan/Associated Press)

~*~*~

“Sometimes they just stare at you”

And that is the least of the problems women commuters in trains and buses of India have to often endure. But since we, as a nation, cannot seem to change our sexist attitudes and behavior, we have to seek alternative measures to curb this - like running special ladies-only trains.

© Chiara Goia for The New York Times

Elsewhere, Japan has its own problems to deal with when it comes to public transportation!

Tokyo police have begun a week-long crackdown against the twice-daily scourge of gropers on commuter trains.

and   

A Japanese rail operator said Thursday it is installing blue mood-lighting in its stations in a bid to stop people committing suicide on the tracks of a busy Tokyo line.

And so it goes....

Faces of the Fallen

Known of this page for a while..but since its been years since its moved to page A10 of our papers, thought I'd just post a reminder! Also links at the bottom.

From: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/fallen

2009 Casualties - Iraq 

5/9

5/8

5/8

5/7

5/2

5/2

4/30

4/30

4/25

4/24

4/22

4/22

4/22

4/16

4/13

4/12

4/10

4/10

4/10

4/10

4/10

4/10

4/5

4/3

4/3

3/31

3/31

3/25

3/20

3/16

3/10

3/7

3/3

3/2

2/28

2/26

2/24

2/23

2/23

2/23

2/21

2/19

2/15

2/14

2/9

2/9

2/9

2/9

2/8

2/6

2/4

1/31

1/26

1/26

1/26

1/26

1/24

1/24

1/22

1/18

1/17

1/16

1/11

1/11

1/10

1/6

1/3

Related:
http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/
http://icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_casualties.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War

and not to forget the Iraqi civilians either.....though, per General Tommy Franks & Rumsfeld, we 'don't do body counts'!

http://www.iraqbodycount.org