I am … unhindered by talent

After the devastating Madrid bombings a few years ago a number of people chose to respond by painting their hands white, a symbol which

…originated in Spain, when students in Madrid used it in 1996 as a sign of innocence and of their revulsion at the murder, by the ETA terrorist group, of Francisco Tomás y Valiente

(source SUR in English).

Recent events in London inspired people on Flickr to combine this idea and photography, and quite a collection of “white hand” photographs have been generated over the last few days. Many are fairly straightforward, but several are wonderfully creative (such as the one to the left). The paper hands above belong to me and WeatherGirl. I couldn’t really figure out how to paint my hands white and take photos, and I wanted to do something that involved the family, so I cheated and made paper cut outs :-).

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WeatherGirl and I just finished watching Touching the void, and I’m completely and utterly wrung out. Even though we know they all live (they’re narrating the story for us), it was still one of the most tense and powerful stories I’ve seen in a long time.

The short version is that two companions (Joe Simpson and Simon Yates) are the first people to climb the west face of a high peak (Siula Grande) in the Peruvian Andes but, as all too often happens (see Krakauer’s excellent Into Thin Air, originally started as an essay for Outside Magazine), it all goes pear shaped on the way down.

Horrifically, Joe shatters his leg as they’re struggling to get down, which is but the first of a long series of amazingly wrenching events. The most oft told is Simon’s eventual, and brutally necessary, decision to cut the rope, believing he was dropping Joe to his death. In many ways, however, this is only one (albeit important) piece of a very complex web of events, all of which come together to bring them both off the mountain alive.

Absolutely gripping stuff, and more than enough to convince me to stay in my armchair (if Krakauer’s book wasn’t enough, which frankly it was).

The book (by Simpson) that this is based on (along with interviews with the participants which form a significant and powerful part of the film) is also an interesting example in the Wired piece on “The long tail” (which I definitely recommend). Simpson’s book was apparently nearly out of print, when word of mouth attached to Krakauer’s book on things like Amazon (”If you like this you might also like…”) brought it back from dead and into a huge seller.

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Big up to Dave Zabriskie for being only the third American ever to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France. (The other two also won it multiple times, but Zabriskie isn’t quite there yet.) To wear that jersey for multiple days in his first Tour ever is a pretty remarkable feat.

And then there’s BobInTheBuff.com, where you can watch Bob Roll (one of the OLN commentaters) ride a stationary bike stark naked. It’s a lot funnier on TV than in the little version on their web site, and it’s a lot funnier it you’ve actually been following cycling and know what a nut Bob is. All of which is a long way of saying that you’ll probably not find it nearly as funny as we did :-).

Lastly, I’d had my doubts about Lance’s chances for a seventh win, but I must say that his performance in the opening time trial makes you wonder.

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In breaking news, your reporter has officially determined that my earlier strange interaction involving airport security and harmonicas was not a fluke. Flying back from GECCO today my backpack got flagged for hand inspection at Washington National Airport. I got wand searched, including getting to unbuckle my belt in public so a strapping fellow could pat down my waistline. (I love how the Bush administrating continues to provide me with new and exciting opportunities!) Both my bags were rummaged through at some length by a nice lady, and once again she focussed on my harmonicas, pulling out all three of them and running them separately through the x-ray machine.

Wow. Who’d've thunk? Especially since I’ve never had problems with harmonicas before last month, and I’ve been traveling with them like this for years beyond counting.

I actually worked up the nerve to ask (in my best, lighthearted, I’m-a-good-citizen-not-an-evil-terrorist sort of voice) if the harmonicas really were the problem. And she nicely let me in on what I must assume is a Major Air Traffic Safety Board Secret: They were the problem. Presumably they look confusing or bad or generally disreputable in the x-ray, especially when jumbled in with other stuff. Her (very helpful) advice was to make sure to take them out of my bag in future and run them through the x-ray separately.

So, with my standard travel kit, this means I’ll run five distinct items/tubs through the x-ray machine:

• My laptop (which has to be separate)
• My harmonicas (which now need to be separate)
• The bucket with my shoes, pens, loose change, laptop sleeve, and other random crap that might set off their sensors
• My backpack (minus laptop and harmonicas)
• My carry-on bag

I’ll hold the line up as much as a middle-class family four all on my own. I can hardly wait :-).

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