We go undercover inside nuclear threat, ponder about time scarcity, marvel at masochist marathons, how smartphones are destroying teens and more!
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I slow down blogging down in the weekends, just some selected links that made an impression to me during the past week. Now only on Sundays!
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Posting this from the Lobby Lounge & Bar in the Fairmont Claremont in Berkeley you guys. While my girls getting ready for dinner here to burn some dining certs. Life is so hard being Platinum you guys 🙂
Why the Scariest Nuclear Threat may be Coming from Inside the White House
Please make time to read the latest article by Michael Lewis. You will learn a lot about what the Department of Energy does at the very least! And pray a lot with me as it becomes pretty apparent that the new guys in Washington DC just may not be, well, qualified to run such pivotal government agencies. Before you accuse me of being a Trump hater ( I am not, I just think he is mentally ill and unfit to run a lemonade stand!), PLEASE do it AFTER you read this, thank you!
Time Scarcity & The Allure of More
I save the best articles for last, errr, I mean Sundays! This addresses some areas I have been thinking about lately. Cult of “being busy”…
Time scarcity isn’t only about buying more time for yourself either. It’s also about prioritizing your time. My sense is many people are busy for the sake of telling people they’re busy these days. It’s a badge of honor. People really enjoy saying things like, “There just aren’t enough minutes in the day.”
It’s almost like people are trying to look busy for the sake of saying they’re busy. It’s a form of signaling.
People with better time management skills can actually enjoy their free time which increases happiness by allowing them to exercise more, do volunteer work or spend more time with their friends or families, all activities linked to increased levels of happiness.
Ever since I became a homeowner and cutting my lawn once…I have outsourced this function. And oh I am so glad I do! Also, it is amazing how having children changes, well, everything!
I never thought about time management much until my daughter came along. Now that I have newborn twins as well I have no choice but to make more efficient use of my time. That also requires saying no to stuff I used to do in the past as priorities have shifted.
The Masochist’s Marathon
No doubt you have heard of extreme sports. And extreme running. Runners who run for days or consecutive marathons and stuff like that. Well, all that is BS when you learn what is required of runners in the Barkley Marathons! Designed by a madman to break their spirits in the Appalachian mountains, only 14 have ever completed it.
Let me give you a glimpse of what this is…My mind was blown, yours will be too. If not, do not ask for a refund!
Officially, it consists of five loops through Frozen Head State Park in Tennessee, totaling one hundred miles, but most participants believe it to be closer to 130. Runners must ascend and descend about 120,000 feet of elevation—the equivalent of climbing up and down Mount Everest twice. And all this must be done in just sixty hours. As of race time this year, of the more than one thousand people who have run it, only fourteen have finished.
It costs only $1.60 to enter. An application must be sent to a closely guarded email address at precisely the right minute on precisely the right day. The email must include an essay titled “Why I Should Be Allowed to Run in the Barkley.”
You must then complete a written exam that asks, for instance, “Explain the excess positrons in the flux of cosmic rays” and “How much butter should you use to cook a pound of liver (with onions)?” New runners, known as “virgins,” must bring a license plate from their state or country. “Veterans”— returning runners who did not finish—must bring an item of clothing. One year it was a flannel shirt. Another year it was a white dress shirt. This year it’s a pack of white socks. The few who have finished the course and are crazy enough to return, known as “alumni,” need only bring a pack of Camel cigarettes.
The race can begin any time between midnight and noon on the closest Saturday to April Fools’ Day, always exactly one hour after a conch is blown. Runners are not given a map of the course, which is unmarked and largely off-trail, until the afternoon before. They must rely on compasses and the race’s obscure official directions to find their way. GPS is forbidden.
Runners must locate thirteen books in each loop and tear out a page corresponding to their race number. This year’s batch includes Unravelled, Lost and Found, and There Is Nothing Wrong With You: Going Beyond Self-Hate. After each loop, the pages are counted and each runner is given a new number. There are no aid stations, just two unmanned water drops that are often frozen solid. Those unable to finish are serenaded by the Barkley’s official bugler playing a discordant rendition of “Taps.”
All runners must sign a legal disclaimer that reads: “If I am stupid enough to attempt the Barkley, I deserve to be held responsible for any result of that attempt, be it financial, physical, mental, or anything else.”
Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?
Well, look around you. Do you have teenage kids? You know what I am talking about!
Around 2012, I noticed abrupt shifts in teen behaviors and emotional states. The gentle slopes of the line graphs became steep mountains and sheer cliffs, and many of the distinctive characteristics of the Millennial generation began to disappear. In all my analyses of generational data—some reaching back to the 1930s—I had never seen anything like it.
The author then goes into detail accompanied by grim statistics. I am alarmed, we all should be!
10+ Finalists Of The World’s Largest Photography Competition
Over 590,000 submissions by 88,000 photographers in over 150 countries. These are the finalists, enjoy!
Pursuit (4k) – A Stormlapse Film by Mile Olbinski
This is pure awesomeness!
And I leave you with this…
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I have friends that ran Barkley’s and plan to run it myself in a few years. It is crazy which makes it very attractive!
As I was reading the article I did think of you and wondered if you will run this. And I thought…nah, he is not that crazy, he has kids to take care of 🙂 Good luck man!
I didn’t say I planned on finishing it! 🙂 I’m not sure if you knew this, but the creator actually got the idea from a prisoner who had escaped from a nearby prison. He was out for like 52 hours and had only gotten away like 10 miles.
My first big one would be the Spartathlon over here but the Barkleys is definitely on the list! Glad your trip is going well! Enjoy the break!
I did not know that.
Heard of the Spartathlon but this Barkely one is just out of this world, it blew my mind.
Be careful!
Charlie? Barkley?
Are we talking about marathons or basketball?!?
Good links!
And I don’t even consider myself a thought leader on…anything 😉
Buenos días. That DOE article is sad. You know things are bad when Bush Jr suddenly sounds like a very smart and capable president
I know, it’s crazy!
Hello from the Starbucks down the street from the Intercontinental Clement in Monterey!
Weather has been so crappy here is unreal!
The drive from Berkeley to Monterey took 3 hours yesterday. Traffic hell here, wow!
I loved Berkeley, wonderful university town.
I did not realize that the IC Clement is just in the middle of a major tourist joint, wow. Hotel is nice but I got no view. No upgrades/sold out. Area is beautiful but way too many tourists here, feels like a tourist trap. Daughter did not want to do the aquarium, so many little kids running around it. We cant wait to get to the Hyatt Carmel Highlands actually, hopefully the sun will come up and we can manage to lay out in the pool for ONE freaking day in our California summer vacation.
I am spending way too much time TBBing For a few dollars per day. That is just so wrong… Yep, whining. Again.It makes me feel better and it drives you nuts too.
I had clam chowder yesterday and it was actually excellent. And I was never a fan of clam chowder!
Lions will win the Superbowl. And TBB will get a buyout offer. And pigs will fly. I need more coffee. Refills…freeeee!
If the Cubs could win the World Series, then perhaps you are not Lion to yourself after all about the Super Bowl…
Ohhhh, I see what you did there! ^^^^^
I went there around x-mas ~2 decades ago. Enjoyed a great whale watching tour. Got some great pics of the whales on a 35mm camera. Strongly recommend whale watching if migration is in season.
Not sure if whales are around these days. But I did not ask either.
We are burning wood in our fireplace. Just not our idea of a SUMMER vacation 🙂
We now know.
Nice scenery but I have seen better…
crappy weather? this is our normal weather pattern this time of year! enjoy… 🙂
Are you getting upgraded at Hyatt Carmel ? If not there is one of the huts ( or however they call it) that’s still the original before the renovations. Heard its cozier. I loved it there. Just be mindful of the highway 1 closures further south if you’re heading there.
Should get upgraded, had a Globalist do it as “guest of honor’. First time doing this, hope it works.
Yeah, we have a map where Hwy 1 is closed. Sad.
Well, my expectations were too high for this place.
Not impressed. At all. I think it is way over hyped. Got view of trees in suite. Changed to standard room with better view. I guess having both was a no no as Guest of Honor as a Globalist. Capacity is very low on a 1 night stay. Somehow Hilton properties always exceeded expectations and if not, always genuinely apologetic. Hyatts always felt way too stuffy for me, like they are doing me a favor for allowing me to stay lol.
Burning wood in our fireplace now….
Next summer vacation will be the BEACH sweating 🙂
No Travel Thought Leader crap here you guys:
Citi Executive Card Has New Heavier Design, Just Got Mine! – View From The Wing
Can’t wait for the shocking video next lol.
There’s a good vid about the Barkley Marathons on Netflix, fyi…brutal event!
Sure sounds brutal!
Google Marathon des Sables. MDS is horrid. A colleague did it for years, looked like a skeleton after it.
I will do that, I am enjoying the fireplace in my standard room in Hyatt Carmel Highlands right now 🙂
I dont think it is worse than the Barkley…is that even possible?
Forgot to mention I read there is a backroad to get to big sur. Not an easy drive but if you make it, you have big sur without tourists.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/you-can-still-take-big-sur-road-trip-year-heres-how-180963902/
Not sure if we will have time tomorrow to go south of Carmel. We need to get back to Sunnyvale for sushi with son in our last night in Cali.
Sfyria, the almost-extinct whistling language of Greece: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170731-greeces-disappearing-whistled-language
I had heard of this when they were about 25 left 🙂
The smartphone/internet article is spot on. My biggest regret in life, one I will never get over, is not having been wiser and more careful about that when it came to our daughter, now 20 years old. She has been on a downward spiral of poor decisions, mental illness and self destructive behavior. While the smartphone didn’t cause it all alone, it contributed to a number of things and key events, in ways never possible in the past. I see problems with her peers as well.
My advice to parents of teens – if you think you’re being careful, you’re not careful enough.
Sorry about your daughter, hope she gets turned around. I think smartphones are changing us. And not mostly for the better…
I need to delete more shit off my phone. Deleted notifications which was GREAT!
Must do digital free days next…but what would I do without Feedly and keeping with the blogs. For you all? 🙂