This video shows a series of climate scientists rapping about the dangers of global climate change. The scientists are incredibly frustrated because their campaign has lost momentum dramatically over the last several years. A rap is a clever way to get attention, but is this going to be effective?
For the 21st time, Apa Sherpa has successfully climbed to the top of the world, breaking his own record. The 51-year-old Nepalese man, who now lives in Colorado, arrived at the summit after climbing all night through what expedition leaders called “perfect” weather.
Apa and the five other climbers with him were climbing as part of the Eco Everest Campaign, which aims to document the impact of climate change on the mountain and remove thousands of pounds of trash left behind by previous expeditions. Apa first reached the highest point on Earth more than 20 years ago, in 1990. Over the last four years, he has participated in the Eco Everest Campaign.
News of Sherpa’s triumph comes at a sad moment for Everest. Earlier in the week, 82-year-old former Nepalese foreign minister Shailendra Kumar Upadhyaya died shortly after reaching Camp 1 on the mountain. He was attempting to become the oldest person to summit. 29 people have already reached the summit this year and more than 3,000 people have reached the top since 1953.
1) Spanish Gym Offers Naked Workouts: The recession hit the Basque region of Spain particuarly hard and drove down business at many of the area gyms. So, Easy Gym decided to try an unusual promotion as a way to boost customers. After surveying the area and discovering more than a dozen nude beaches and swimming pools, the gym decided to offer workout sessions for local nudists.
“We’re always interested in new activities,” Maite Vicuna, president of the Basque Naturist Association, told the BBC. “Doing sport without clothes is natural — and much more comfy.”
The gym says that it provides towels in order “to prevent slippage” while customers work out on the equipment.
2) Wearing Only a Smile, Nudists Seek Out the Young and the Naked: The Wall Street Journal examined one of the United States’ struggling industries at length last week: the nudist resort community. Over the past couple of years, interest in nudist communities has begun to decline or level out, prompting the communities to offer “reverse-strip-poker nights, volleyball tournaments, naked 5K road races and music festivals like Nudepalooza and Nudestock.” The current clientele has grown older and operators hope to attract younger people to the nudist experience.
There are more than 250 nudist resorts in the United States today. All of those establishments, along with cruises and other activities, generate more than $440 million annually.
British mountain climber Kenton Cool became the first person to ever tweet from the top of Mount Everest on May 5. Cool (pretty epic mountaineering name, no?) used a Samsung Galaxy S II to make the first 3G call and send a quick tweet from the summit.
His message read: “Everest summit no 9! 1st tweet from the top of the world thanks to a weak 3G signal & the awesome Samsung Galaxy S2 handset!” The feat was possible thanks to a Ncell, a Nepali mobile network operator, which installed the first cell tower last November at Everest Base Camp.
Samsung sponsored Cool as part of a marketing campaign. He also spoke with the BBC from the summit saying, “The world is getting smaller and smaller. We got a 3G signal on the summit of Everest. How incredible is that?”
Here’s video of Cool phoning his wife, Jazz, from the summit. She obviously is terrified about why she’s receiving the call.
You probably don’t remember Michael Bolton‘s peak years. The soft rock king sang his power ballads and won the hearts of millions of women during the 1990s. Well, somehow the Lonely Island guys decided he would be a great contributor for their current album “Turtleneck & Chain.” The song the guys dreamt up focused on a night in the club, but they left the hook up to Bolton.
His hook involved “Jack Sparrow” much to the chagrin of the boys. Apparently, he had just finished watching the “Pirates of the Caribbean” when he wrote it. Throughout the video he channels Johnny Depp‘s Jack Sparrow character, Forrest Gump, Erin Brockovich and Scarface. It’s really funny.
Also worth noting the really convenient timing of the whole thing. Oh, you don’t think it’s coincidental that the fourth “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie opens later this month? Great marketing strategy.
Not Intent on Arriving 