I’ll admit that I thought this was a little crazy at first. However, once the giddy newness of watching someone find a new way to zoom down a mountain wears off, I began to see honest potential in those plastic shoes. Grass skiing could be as cool as downhill skateboarding, or the undeniably ballsy street luge.

Some of the videos I found on youtube are actually quite a testament to the possibilities of this nascent sport. People can get going pretty fast and still actually turn.

I’m glad to see the trend of moving cold weather sports into warmer seasons continues. Roller blading is undeniably cool. Street luge is fun to watch…mostly because of those occasional puffs of hay that signal a whipeout. Now, we can even watch grass skiing.

Tradition says that if you toss a coin in the Trevi fountain you will one day return to Rome. This tradition, coupled with an apparently widespread desire to return to Rome, has resulted in so many coins being tossed into the fountain that the city must regularly vacuum them out. As you might expect, the Trevi fountain also seems to be one of the cleanest and best cared for sights in Rome.

The Trevi fountain could be an excellent example of group financing for ancient monument preservation. Many of the great Roman monuments hark back to the beginning of western civilization. The right mix of cultural importance and a widespread superstition that your fortunes will improve if money is left may be able to preserve these monuments for another two thousand years.

So…I hear that those who leave money under the railing of the main path in the Roman Forum will be “prosperous in wealth.” You know, the path in the Forum with railing on either side that is meandered by tourists looking up at the monuments around them every year.

Oh yeah, and if you pick up the money others leave you will be cursed with bad fortune until you replace it (unless you are collecting the money to help preserve the forum).

The technique of using a short ladder with a hook on the end to climb a tall building was once an important way for firefighters to avoid dangerously damaged staircases. A skilled firefighter could quickly hook the ladder on a window sill above him, climb up the ladder, then sit in that window while repeating the process. Theoretically this allowed a firefighter to get to any story of a burning building without much equipment.

As cool as this technique is, the function it provided firefighters has simply been replaced by other methods in North America. However, in eastern Europe speed hook ladder climbing has started to slide from “professional practice” to “sport.” If you are not yet convinced of the coolness of this sport, a 30 second video of a contestant climbing a building facade at amazing speeds will probably change your mind. I love seeing people do things that I thought were impossible, the outfits are pretty cool to.

You would never have guessed.

If you were some ancient explorer who happened across peppercorn, you would never guess that it could have such a profound impact on the world. Who would? Standing in the jungle next to your newly discovered plant it would be crazy to think that this small spice, with no noticeable pharmaceutical properties, could drive whole empires to war. But, it did.

Among the forces that have shaped the world, the desire for a certain type of pain is surely a strange one. Yet, the desire for the tang of peppercorn caused the Romans to send a fleet of 120 ships to the Malbar Coast of India…annually. Ramesses II was buried with some of it. Wars were fought, countries were conquered.

It was like the oil of ancient times. Something of such value that by producing it you ran the risk of having your country conquered to control it. the Indian town of Goa was once conquered by the Portuguese for the pepper trade. However, unlike many of the extreme sources of oil, Goa has palm trees, warm beaches, and magnificent ocean sunsets.

Today this has created one of the best vacation spots in the world. Not only is Goa a tropical paradise with sparkling beaches, it also has magnificent cuisine. Cuisine that combines Portuguese cooking, incredible access to a huge variety of spices, and a very long tradition of seafaring. Goa’s vindaloos, fish curries, and perfectly spiced potatoes alone are almost worth the trip.

Creative Commons picture by jmsuarez.

I’m sure you figured it out when I passed those large baggage compartments only to foolishly attempt to jam my bag into the tiny compartment over your head.

I understood the Italian train system about as well as a goat understands a watch.

While I was impressed by the amount of bravery you were able to displayed when I was barely able to prevent the bag from hitting you in the head, it probably would have been better if you had just motioned towards the larger compartments behind the seats. Eventually that old man helped us both by telling me about the other baggage area. I think he noticed the vein on my forehead.

It would also have helped if you had mentioned to the lady yelling at me that you were actually in my seat. It certainly would have explained why everyone was sitting one seat to the right of their reserved seat and why I was the unlucky person who ended up in her seat. Your response would have certainly been more eloquent than my “I really wish I knew better Italian” stare.

Creative Commons picture by ➨ Redvers.

For twenty minutes after that she, and the whole section of the train, talked about how idiotic I was for coming to Italy without knowing the language.

Oh, and you can tell that lady that asking me to proof read her English-language speech moments after mocking me for not knowing Italian is poor form. Even if I did fix her grammar and help her understand the word “to.”

Moments before the phrase “OK, this is good. Hand me the sled.” was uttered.

“How could you possibly need four pairs of flip-flops? Those two backup toothbrush are totally unnecessary. Even if your toothbrush gets misplaced, you will be able to find a replacement there,” said a security worker who wished to remain anonymous.

Creative Commons picture by weasello.

Ever since I first started making really good blobs of Legos, I have wanted to make a boat out of them. As a five year old I remember saying “I will create either a boat or a spaceship out of these” while triumphantly holding fistfulls of Legos in the air.

This was a dream that I later gave up. As I got older it become more and more clear to me that Legos didn’t have the strength to weight ratio needed for such an enterprise. Not to mention how difficult it would be to make a Lego-only structure that was water tight (or for a space ship air tight).

It looks like someone else did not talk themselves out of their dream.

Phillip Smith was anticipating the fun and confusion of his next vacation so much that he had to cancel it. “I just got too freaked out” he explained. Many look forward to their vacation for months. Sometimes this leads to an increased level of excitement and preparation. Other times it is slow descent into panic.

“In retrospect it seems like it was the wrong decision” Philip said, “but the more I read about the possible pitfalls and adventures the more it seemed out of my league.” Philip was planning a trip to San Francisco with his wife of 12 years. They had the needed money. They had arrangements with airlines and hotels. However, he wasn’t sure he had the right bag or if he could properly avoid being mugged. “If I was mugged, how would I respond?” Philip wondered if he should go to the police, fight back, yell “thief” really loudly, or just pull out his sidearm and start shooting.

“I’ve seen those movies where the police turn out to be accomplices of the criminal. I wouldn’t be smart enough to figure that out. I could lose everything!”

A spokesman for US customs said: “While we are never happy to find information of such danger when we search laptops, it does justify our extensive personal-data-combing operation. Imagine what would have happened if that information had gotten through to the general population of the United States! Luckily we have stopped it.” It is was later discovered that this information may already have been e-mailed to 423,592 US citizens.

The agent who discovered the explosive information was quickly quarantined. It is feared that he may remember the explosive information after discovering it. If this turns out to be the case the agent will have to remain in quarantine for the rest of his life to prevent the dangerous information from spreading further.

A manager at US customs in LAX expressed deep sadness that the agent may have been exposed. “He has taken an information bullet for all of us, and protected us from information that could potentially rupture our minds and cause people around us to be hit by skull-shrapnel.”