Deep Water Soloing Competition

In what is the greatest idea I've ever seen to introduce the world to the sport of climbing, the worlds first "artificial deep water soloing" competition took place in Bilbao, Spain.

Sure enough who came to win the whole damn thing and be the only climber to actually top out on the routes...but the U.S.'s own Chris Sharma!!!

The two routes they had up were rated 8b & 8b+ (read 5.14 climbs) there was a spectacular dyno in each and the climb was around 50 feet straight up.

Could be all the practice that Sharma got projecting "The Arch" in Mallorca that made this such a breeze for him...could also be that he just remains a beast of a climber.

Did I mention that I got to go to the arch: It was on our honeymoon and it was incredible!

Hellaween IV (B-Boy Mahem)

Heather and I got to go last weekend to one of our all-time favorite things around Halloween time, and that is the break-dancing battles that go on at a youth center called Alternatives.

The above is a preview from last years. The amount of athleticism and skill it takes to do these moves cannot be under represented, nor the great music that the DJ's put together. This isn't your typical crap that is played on dance music radio...there is some great stuff in there along with things I've never heard before.

You can get a flavor for it below. Bottom line...never knew much about B-boy culture before moving to Chicago, and I'm glad we have some friends that exposed us to it. 

Freakonomics The Movie

In the past few months my wife has started a job with the University of Chicago's Business School and has absolutely loved it.

One of the neat perks for me is being one step closer to one of my "academic crushes" (so to speak) the author and professor of economics Steven Levitt.

A few years ago him and Stephen Dubner wrote the best selling books Freakonomics and his studies quickly have become one of my favorite pieces of intellectual candy ever!

This year they have turned the book into a movie. As they begin screenings of this movie in different theaters around the US the movie has become available for 24 hour rent on iTunes. Additionally, Prof. Levitt is going to be doing a screening and Q&A session for the business school...and because my wife is super awesome and works with super awesome people I will get to go to this screening and actually meet Prof Levitt. Needless to say I am really pumped about this!

Last night, as part of Heather's work the people on her team watched the iTunes rented version of the movie and I got to get a sneak peak. The movie is awesome! Broken into different sections mirroring the book, each section is shot by a different director, but the feel and the energy of the movie are wonderful! Even more, the visuals and interviews give you a much more real sense of the facts being examined.

More so, the ever charming and insightful team of Dubner and Levitt keep the film light and entertaining. One fact that Heather points out, and a reason I look to Prof Levitt as an example of an academic I admire, is the pervasive attitude of being humble and modest while still being undeniably brilliant.

Often academics are very smart people, the problem is they know it and want everyone else to know it too. However, Prof Levitt and Mr Dubner both seem to be simple "seekers of truth" and are happy to just report what they find with a sense of true academic objectivity.

If you have the chance to see this movie don't miss it, share it with friends, and enjoy Freakonomics!

Proof we have some funny friends!

Yesterday was my friend Sham's 26th birthday. To celebrate we all got together for a surprise party in the basement / bouldering cave of a mutual friends. Now since Sham is lactose intolerant and many of our other friends are vegetarian/selectatarian/picky eaters the challenge was set forth to make food that all could eat.
The challenge was met and destroyed by all...a funny outcome was this Vegan Ninja Cake!
Thanks to Joey and Justin for reminding me that my friends are creative and funny

Who knew I would have to hate Insane Clown Posse?

So as I was skimming along trying to get some physics done (validating data sets and the like) an article comes along my Facebook news feed from the blog Cosmic Variance.

Insane Clown Posse Channels Walt Whitman

Now if you are puzzled by the article I do suggest you go and read it...a brilliant piece of work. But what really got me was this, pardon the pun, insane rant put on by a member of Insane Clown Posse against science.

That's right, these two douche bags that like to paint there faces like clowns and rap about violence against women and other such "wonders of the universe" have a thing against scientists!
To quote these idiots:

Fuckin’ magnets, how do they work?
And I don’t wanna talk to a scientist
Y’all motherfuckers lying and
getting me pissed.

Wow! Not only don't they know something that has been simple scientific knowledge for the better part of 200 years, but they go on to say during and interview:

“I did think,” I admit, “that fog constitutes quite a low threshold for miracles.”

“Fog?” Violent J says, surprised.

“Well,” I clarify, “I’ve lived around fog my whole life, so maybe I’m blasé.”

“Fog, to me, is awesome,” he replies. “Do you know why? Because I look at my five-year-old son and I’m explaining to him what fog is and he thinks it’s incredible.”

“Ah!” I gesticulate. “If you’re explaining to your five-year-old son what fog is, then why do you not want to meet scientists? Because they’re just like you, explaining things to people…”

“Well,” Violent J says, “science is… we don’t really… that’s like…” He pauses. Then he waves his hands as if to say, “OK, an analogy”: “If you’re trying to fuck a girl, but her mom’s home, fuck her mom! You understand? You want to fuck the girl, but her mom’s home? Fuck the mom. See?”

Now, if it wasn't bad enough that these guys seem incapable of completing a sentence without swearing and saying something idiotic, turns out they are evangelical Christians who also hate knowledge!

This is basically where I draw the line, you want to believe in your religion to the exclusion of other facts....fine. (I happen to believe in a religion too...) You want to paint yourself up like a clown and rap for a bunch of idiot 15 year olds who don't get enough attention at home...go knock yourself out.

But when you do all this and attack knowledge as if it is something bad to have...well now you are hurting a great many more people and making everyone else stupid in the process

Fog is just water in the air, magnets aren't magic they are simply a property of the way atoms align in a material, and knowledge will set you free!

Two Climbing competetions and a Microphone

 

Where it's at? Well, the last 3 weeks have been really busy for me including two bouldering competitions!

The first one was at my home gym Vertical Endeavors in Warrenville, Il. I had placed this competition in the middle of a 4 week training cycle to try to get myself ready for early October. It was a great competition with about 80 competitors. I ended up finishing 10th place in the male advanced category which put me about 20/36 over all. Not a stellar performance but still good for me, and compared to two years ago when I placed in the intermediate division I was very pleased. Results found here

Then October 2nd my friend Sham and I traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota to compete in Octboulderfest and the Vertical Endeavors there. I had been to this gym once before but I was certainly not in the home field advantage. Worse, because of the night before (read party with my brothers friends), a nagging sinus infection, and sleeping on the floor I was in anything but prime condition.

I finished 13th in male advanced (despite them slaughtering the spelling of my name) and 24/35 overall. What is really interesting about this result is in order to get my 5 scores I had to complete and easy intermediate problem...so even with one terrible score I still did just a little worse than the previous comp! 

All-in-all they were great comps, the ABS (American Bouldering Society) reps at both comps were real boobs that made the prize portion take forever...but they are volunteers so I guess I can't fault their lack of organization too hard.

Now I'm prepping for the next outdoor session and training hard...but more on that later