There are easier ways of doing it. Planes, trains, automobiles… even hot-air balloons. But if you really want to see the world up close and personal, there’s only one way to go about it: on foot.

Circumnavigating the globe has been a preoccupation of adventurers since our ancestors first realized it was round. But only the truly dedicated set out to complete a whole earth walk-about (as our friends in Australia might say), and for good reason.

According to the folks at Guinness World Records, to actually walk the earth properly you must travel at least 36,787.559 km or 22,858.7294 miles (the distance of the Tropic of Cancer) and cross the Equator. Walkers aren’t to skip any bits, and must also start each leg of the trip at exactly the point where they stopped the last leg. Plus, they must pass through at least two points that are antipodal (a fancy way of saying these two points are literally at the opposite ends of the earth from each other). Taking into consideration the large bodies of water, great swathes of desert, vast and icy sierras, visa requirements and hostile nations, that must be surmounted in order to complete the journey, it’s not surprising that hardly anyone succeeds at walking the entire earth.

Among those who have attempted to walk the world include the self-proclaimed Earthwalker, Dave Kunst (pictured in the two images above). Dave set off with his brother John in June 1970 and completed the 14,450-mile journey four years later, but the trip wasn’t without tragedy: he lost his brother during a horrific bandit attack in Afghanistan. He is the first confirmed person to have walked the entire land mass of the earth (excluding the oceans), and his 20-million steps wore out 21 pairs of shoes. You can read his story here.

Another walker is Gary ‘Walkingman’ Hause (above), who is currently (according to his website) 23,514 miles into his journey, which started in 1996. He’s chasing the record of 38,000 miles set by Arthur Blessitt (below), who walked the globe carrying a giant wooden cross. Really. In fact, Blessitt is still walking, and has clocked up a total of 39,060 miles over 42 years. As you might have surmised, his is a spiritual calling. Hard to compete with that.

Then there’s Odyssey XXI, or rather, a guy called Karl Bushby (below). He’s been on the move since 1998, walking from the southernmost tip of South America to England. He expects to cover 36,000 miles over 14 years of walking. Bushby has yet to make it; in fact, it’s not even clear from his website exactly where he is at this very moment…

Other travelers have circumnavigated the globe using human power – including Robert Garside (‘The Runningman’) who ran around the world from 1997 to 2003, taking 2,062 days to cover 30,000 miles across 29 countries and six continents.

Jason Lewis also managed it (from 1994 to 2007), using pedal power to cross the Atlantic and Pacific, rollerblades to cross the United States, and a bike to cross Australia. He kayaked from Oz to Singapore, and hiked, biked and pedaled the rest of the way home to London.

His timing wasn’t quite right. While Lewis estimated a journey time of 3.5 years, in reality it took him 13 to make it back to England. In that time he covered a staggering 45,000 miles. Like Dave Kunst’s 70′s trip, Lewis’ undertaking wasn’t free from calamity:  during the journey, Lewis was hit by a car and suffered two broken legs, was attacked by a crocodile, and was arrested in Egypt for alleged spying.

The next time you’re on a hike and are hit with the sudden urge to just to keep on going – remember, walking the earth is not for the faint of heart. But if you feel like attempting to beat the record for most miles logged on the treadmill, go for it.

Another season of Encounters concludes in epic fashion as the heroes of Hammerfast finally lay the curse of Salazar to rest. For 13 weeks the heroes have been dogged by this villain and his phantom army. It is hard to believe that the adventure started out so promising, with the adventurers at the...

[...]

Lowepro has launched its Photo Sport AW series of dual-compartment camera backpacks. The series is specifically designed for outdoor adventurers who like to bring photo gear along when skiing, biking or snowboarding. The series consists of two models such as the Photo Sport 200 AW backpack and the Photo Sport Sling 100 AW. Both camera [...]

With the 50th anniversary celebrations of America's first manned space flight happening this week, the Chevrolet Corvette gets a starring role in the parade to be held in Cocoa Beach, Florida on Saturday, May 7th. There has always been a symbiotic relationship between America's most notable sports car and her most elite adventurers. In the 1960's...

Most adventurers know the sound of a wild boar rustling through the underbrush. But when the boar turn out to be the underbrush, very few are prepared for the surprise. Swine Tree A swine tree, also known as susero to the fey, attacks anything it perceives as a threat and usually attacks without...

[...]

In future, aid policy should take note of where past confusion might have contributed to poverty, conflict and corruption

Sierra Leone has just celebrated 50 years of independence. Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister, reflecting on one of his more successful foreign adventures, made a fine speech, rightly congratulating the country on its progress since the dark days of the civil war in the 1990s – two free and fair elections, peaceful regime change, better governance, a rapidly improving economy.

He did not mention the unresolved social tensions that drove the country to war, or the confused aid policies that have arguably served to intensify these tensions. There is a long history to this confusion.

A settlement on the Sierra Leone peninsula was established in 1787 as a home for Black Loyalists who had fought for Britain in the American revolutionary wars. It later became a crown colony and base for the suppression of the Atlantic slave trade. A mixed population of Africans freed from Atlantic slave ships eventually grew to become Freetown's creole community. British forces imposed themselves on the interior at the end of the 19th century to deal with political rivalries disrupting the flow of trade to the coastal colony.

From the outset, the country was shaped by military-backed humanitarian interests – in short, it was an early product of British "ethical foreign policy". The trouble is that those who set the standards for such policy are not much in touch with realities on the ground.

Sierra Leone has suffered – and continues to suffer – from a lack of attention to detail. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the on-off regard for agricultural questions in Sierra Leone. The early humanitarians deplored the plantations growing food for the slave ships in areas adjacent to their infant settlement. They introduced new crops (white rice and cotton) and techniques (the plough) to foster "legitimate" trade.

When cotton and the plough both failed, they shifted attention to other concerns (how to tap natural palm oil from the forests). The failure of later colonial agrarian interventions (schemes to produce rice according to Indian and Burmese models in the aftermath of two world wars) was followed by a shift in emphasis towards investment in Sierra Leone's rich iron ore and diamond deposits. Supposedly, alluvial diamonds were the cause of the recent civil war.

In fact, diamonds attracted international mercenary adventurers, allowing the belligerents to prolong their conflict. The more basic causes of trouble lay in an archaic rural structure that reduced many young people to sweated labour, penury and despair. This interpretation has been resisted by aid officials in charge of a large programme of British-funded post-war social and physical reconstruction.

Instead, they emphasised the rebuilding of a traditional rural social order. This brought a measure of short-term tranquillity to the war-ravaged countryside, the benefits of which are now being reaped by international agribusiness investors.

The issue of what the mass of rural young people do to attain self-realisation remains unresolved. Some youths might yet return to violence, perhaps to fight for land they perceive as lost to international investors.

Neighbouring Liberia presents a different picture. Here, a more enlightened policy has encouraged the agricultural training of ex-combatants. Despite initial scepticism, this programme shows promising results, for example in reducing the numbers of former combatants willing to re-enlist in the war in Ivory Coast.

For the celebration of Sierra Leone at 50 it would have been good to revive the old Blair slogan "education, education, education" but prefaced by the word "agrarian", an adjective still unfashionable in the overseas aid industry.

To consolidate peace, Sierra Leonean youths should now be granted rights to access land for farming equivalent to those enjoyed by international investors.

• Paul Richards is Edward P Bass distinguished visiting fellow at the Yale Institute of Biospheric Studies

The waters of Australia's Great Barrier Reef are unmatched in beauty and danger. Clear and blue, teeming with life they tempt adventurers from the world over. On July 19 Image Entertainment presents The Reef. Based on a true event, it's the gripping story of a group of friends on a yachting trip who find themselves facing the terrifying choice of "sink or swim." A thriller that pits man's will to live against nature's relentless urge to feed, Andrea Traucki's (Black Water) The Reef will be available on DVD for an SRP of $27.97 and on Blu-ray for $29.97. This title will also be available on digital download. "Ship delivery man Luke (Damian Walsh-Howling) is accompanied by four friends (Gyton Grantley, Adrienne Pickering, Zoe Naylor, Mark Simpson) as he charts a yacht to its new owner. Along the way, their ship is ripped open by the coral reefs hiding just below the ocean's surface. They are forced to choose: stay on board with slim hope of rescue, or swim twelve miles to the nearest island…through shark-infested waters. Those that abandon ship are faced with the race of their lives, for as soon as they enter the water a Great White shark catches their scent and the white-knuckled chase is on!" The Reef was shot in Australia using real sharks and including incredible underwater footage for a pulse-pounding, visually stunning experience.

Rediscover Colorado's History During National Preservation Month PR Newswire (press release) DENVER, May 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Colorado's colorful history of Dinosaurs, Ancient Puebloans, Native Americans and adventurers in search of gold is celebrated and preserved during National Preservation Month in May and beyond. ... and more »

GEAR PATROL SPONSORED POST Belgian beer powerhouse Leffe is looking for a few good men to spotlight in their Craft Your Character search. Call us biased, but we can’t think of a better collection of adventurers and all-around general renaissance men than you guys. Who better to have their awesome stories shared globally? Oh, and [...]

DENVER, May 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Colorado's colorful history of Dinosaurs, Ancient Puebloans, Native Americans and adventurers in search of gold is celebrated and preserved during National Preservation Month in May and beyond. Celebrate Colorado's Past: Pagosa Springs celebrates National Preserva

Back in March we learned that GK Films, the company behind films like The Town and Rango, had picked up the rights to the Tomb Raider video game franchise for a feature film reboot. Now it looks like the wheels are finally turning on the project as the company has just announced that writers Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, the duo behind screenplays for films like Iron Man, Children of Men and most recently Cowboys & Aliens have been hired to script the reboot. Producer Graham King says, "Mark and Hawk's clear sensibilities of action and emotion are perfect for the direction we are taking this franchise." More below! The video game series and subsequent film franchise starring Angelina Jolie from the last decade followed daredevil archaeologist Lara Croft as she travels the globe trying to recover mysterious artifacts and dealing with other shady adventurers and thieves. Apparently Fergus and ...

Wowcrendor is back with an update to the ongoing adventures of Boar Thrills. In Orc vs. Wild Outlands, Boar warns adventurers of dangers like Fel Reavers, bad jokes, and hellboars. Wowcrendor really did an inventive job translating Outland into the world of Boar Thrills, giving us a quick treat of an adventure.

This is an especially charming romp through Outland, a territory that many contemporary players only saw briefly during their journey to level 85. It's nice to see Wowcrendor revisiting these old zones and bringing a bit of humor to the place. It's been a long time since I thought about these areas, and I welcome the reminder.

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Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.

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WoW Moviewatch: Orc vs. Wild Outlands originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 05 May 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nothing ever starts at a given point in a biography, but since there has to be a point A in Bardo’s and Ophelia’s story, let it be the initial of the Arc de Triomphe. That night in March 2004, with a somehow disheartened and dulled look, my brother had just climbed up the spiral metal staircase leading to the terraced roof of the monument. From this starry promontory, one might contemplate the urban horizon in the direction of the four cardinal points and hopefully find one’s north.

The view, the certainty of not finding anybody he knew, the significance of the triumph, the essential ritual, all of that is not enough to account for the reason why Bardo went there every Monday evening: he was hoping as well to overcome his vertigo, through a repeated exposure to the possibility of jumping. For part of him was drawn towards the edge, even seduced by the idea of a suicide that consisted of yielding to the call of gravity. At the top of the Arc visitors are only separated from the solid ground by vertical bars over which a swift and determined body could step in a few seconds.

That night, Bardo got close to that guardrail with a step he that would have liked to have been firmer. His eyes dived in the direction of the tarmac. The cars were the size of a hand. He was disturbed by the possibility of jumping, as accessible as it was irredeemable: it is the same for so many things in the course of our life-stories, destruction and failures seeming always within a hand’s reach. On the other hand, it was hard to keep oneself in exaltation and wonder, to reach the sacred point of no relapse.

His gaze picked out the Louvre pyramid in the distance, followed along up the Champs-Elysées from the Place de la Concorde to the foot of the Arc de Triomphe. He used his belly to breathe, to calm the panic. If someone had told him: you are getting suicidal, he would have denied it. But at the time, just looking around him or smoking a cigarette, he gave in to a feeling of fear tinted with guilt but without any cause, with the impression that a cosmic tragedy was taking place all around him. Or else he said to himself that there was almost nothing he admired profoundly any longer, that everything was flat, as along a Cartesian scheme.

From the top of the Arc, he scanned once again the ground where passers-by seemed so vulnerable. He himself felt he had become tiny. Maybe his urge to jump was because he felt the need to reposition his aspirations on a more modest scale? Shouldn’t he revise his ideals downwards and return to earth? Be more realistic? Betray his role models? When younger, my brother and I liked to swap more or less imaginary stories of the great adventurers of Fate. My master was the navigator Magellan. And his: Shakespeare.

I remember that, a couple of days before he met Ophelia, a new biography of the author of Hamlet, lying on the table of a bookshop, had transfixed him. It was more than six hundred pages. But over the course of the chapters, the narrator offered too many theories, his care in trying to set out all of the most divergent hypotheses meant that the living character of Shakespeare was lost among these myriad details. However, some parts of the book remained fascinating. Including the rumour that an original version of Romeo and Juliet had existed, and which the Elizabethan Church had judged heretical and had censored, largely because it contained a troubling secret. The legend referred to three or four verses cut out from the part of the priest, Friar Laurence, which described looking into each other’s eyes while taking 888 breaths.

The biographer didn’t say more, but in March 2004 this hint had been enough for my brother to be pensive: no woman had ever told him I love you looking him deep in the eyes. Generally, he felt he lived at a time when women no longer said “I love you.”

Bardo looked down. His vision was blurred. He felt his body shrivel up and a small moan escaped him, he felt fragile. It was like a feeling of injustice, which seemed to want to set him apart from society, and to which, out of a burst of dignity, his inner voice suggested he respond by withdrawing himself—to do away with himself to raise the stakes on the way the world had told him he was maladjusted. Tears came to his eyes. His fingers clung to the metal. He thought of the arch of triumph with a grimace.

He turned around and observed the couples who were taking pictures of themselves with smug expressions. They undoubtedly made use of the images and their lasting record as proof of the fact that they were not ghosts, without realizing they were contributing themselves to their own evaporation through their obedience to cliché and reproduction. The ultimate way to feel the present is to see it from the side of the photographer, to create nostalgia for the present. His connection with the void below spoiled, my brother decided to come down. A few minutes later, he was walking on the pavement around the Arc.

Then he saw her.

She had just arrived at the top of Avenue de Wagram on a big black bike and was crossing at the intersection, her face slightly reddened by the effort. Her flame coloured hair fell over her eyes from time to time. She was pedalling with a very straight back, just a few meters from where Bardo stood. She was at once attractive yet anachronic.

They exchanged a glance. He felt moved to gratitude. She was already moving away. After a moment’s hesitation, he went after her, indifferent to the cars, to their braking hard and their honking—a happy idiot who was running across the most dangerous square of the city. He came up to the cyclist and, showing off, started to run backwards at her side. He exclaimed:

-Good afternoon!

-Good evening.

This answer was uttered in a distant tone.Bardo, catching his breath, went on:

-Where are you going?

-Nowhere.

-Where are you coming from?

-From the cemetery of Père Lachaise.

-Why?

-That is where my twin sister is. Or rather where she is no longer.

My brother slowed down and turned to face forward. A driver honked. She stood up on the pedals as if to outrun my brother. He had the time to pull himself together and to shout:

-Give me a name!

She slowed down, seemed to hesitate, and then:

-My name is the same as Hamlet’s dead love… And yours?

-I…

Ophelia, now stopped, was examining Bardo. He had tears in his eyes. She smiled:

-You will tell me next time.

She disappeared in the night. A couple of days later, they would, meet again by chance. (Translation by Marie-Céline Courilleault, revised by Sarah Robbins)

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Rugged smartphones aren’t new, but they are certainly getting better. Case in point, the Casio G’zOne Commando which is MILSPEC 810G rated for shock, immersion, heat, dust and more. The Commando runs Android 2.2 and brings with it a collection of G’zOne apps that are designed to meet the needs of outdoor adventurers. Despite the need for added bulk and weight to [...]

Given the number of leaks, I was almost convinced that Fallout: New Vegas‘ final DLC trio would be available to buy before Bethesda came out and confirmed them, but now everything is official. And they’re all hitting Xbox LIVE, PSN and PC simultaneously — as previously revealed. May 17th is the day that “Honest Hearts” will drop (pictured), thrusting Wasteland adventurers into “an expedition to the unspoiled wilderness of Utah’s Zion National Park. Things go horribly wrong when your caravan is ambushed by a tribal raiding band. As you try to find a way back to the Mojave, you become embroiled in a war between tribes and a conflict between a New Canaanite missionary and the mysterious Burned Man. The decisions you make will determine the fate of Zion.” In June, “Old World Blues” arrives, in which players “will discover how some of the Mojave’s mutated monsters came to be when you unwittingly become a lab rat in a science experiment gone awry. You’ll need to scour the Pre-War research centers of the Big Empty in search of technology to turn the tables on your kidnappers or join forces with them against an even greater threat.” Lastly in July, the third and final add-on “Lonesome Road” sees release, intent on bringing the tale of New Vegas‘ courier “full circle when you are contacted by the original Courier Six, a man by the name of Ulysses who refused to deliver the Platinum Chip at the start of New Vegas. In his transmission, Ulysses promises the answer as to why, but only if you take one last job –a job that leads you into the depths of the hurricane-swept canyons of the Divide, a landscape torn apart by earthquakes and violent storms. The road to the Divide is a long and treacherous one, and of the few to ever walk the road, none have ever returned.” Exciting! So all in all, we pretty much knew exactly what these expansions would consist of for months, but at least it’s all out in the open now. Honest Hearts, Old World Blues and Lonesome Road will all retail for 800 MSP/$9.99.  

The new Lowepro Photo Sport AW Series was designed for outdoor adventurers that like to bring photo gear along when skiing, biking or snowboarding.

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[1] Production on Steven Spielberg's time-traveling dinosaur series Terra Nova has been notoriously rocky [2], but the marketing campaign, at least, seems to be right on track. We've seen a [3] few [4] teasers [5] already, and Fox has now released a one-minute trailer for the series. The new clip offers a better look at the future world the settlers are leaving behind, as well as some of the dangers that await them in their new prehistoric home. Watch it after the jump. [via Film School Rejects [6]] I know the series is set over a century in the future, but have none of their historians or scholars seen Jurassic Park? I could've told them that their "living among the dinosaurs" experiment would end up being a bad idea. The new spot does nothing to dispel the impression that Terra Nova is Avatar meets Lost meets Jurassic Park. Whether that's a bad thing remains to be seen. On the one hand, you could do worse than to take inspiration from three hugely successful properties beloved for their exciting plotlines and impressive visuals. On the other, if Terra Nova turns out to be nothing more than a rehash of those earlier works, I probably won't be interested enough to keep tuning in week after week. So far, I think the show looks fine -- it's got some slick visuals and the premise has potential -- but the lines we've heard and the characters we've met so far don't exactly seem fresh. After some rescheduling, Terra Nova is slated to premiere on FOX sometime this fall. An exact air date has yet to be announced. Synopsis: An epic family adventure 85 million years in the making, TERRA NOVA follows an ordinary family embarking on an incredible journey back in time to prehistoric Earth as a small part of a daring experiment to save the human race. In the year 2149 the world is dying. The planet is overdeveloped, overcrowded and overpolluted. With no known way to reverse the damage to the planet, scientists discover a portal to prehistoric Earth. This doorway leads to an amazing world, one that allows for a last-ditch effort to save the human race…a second chance to rebuild civilization and get it right this time. The series centers on the Shannon family as they join the Tenth Pilgrimage of settlers to TERRA NOVA, the first colony established in this beautiful yet forbidding land led by its founder COMMANDER NATHANIEL TAYLOR (Stephen Lang, “Avatar”). JIM SHANNON (Jason O’Mara, “Life on Mars”), a devoted father with a checkered past, guides his family – wife ELISABETH (Shelley Conn, “Mistresses”); and children JOSH (Landon Liboiron, “Degrassi: The Next Generation”), MADDY (Naomi Scott, “Life Bites”) and ZOE (newcomer Alana Mansour) – through this new land of limitless beauty, mystery and terror. In addition to blue skies, towering waterfalls and lush vegetation, TERRA NOVA offers new opportunities and fresh beginnings to its recent arrivals, but the Shannons have brought with them a familial secret that may threaten their citizenship in this utopia. These adventurers soon discover that this healthy, vibrant world is not as idyllic as it initially appears. The areas surrounding TERRA NOVA are teeming with danger – and not just of the man-eating dinosaur variety. The Shannons will come to suspect that not everyone on this mission has the same idea of how to best save mankind; in fact, there may be forces intent on destroying this new world before it even begins. [1] http://www.slashfilm.com/wp/wp-content/images/Terra-Nova2.jpg [2] http://www.slashfilm.com/steven-spielbergs-terra-nova-series-premiere-moved-2011-fall-2011/ [3] http://www.slashfilm.com/lol-todd-barry-darren-aronofsky-discuss-original-black-swan-2/ [4] http://www.slashfilm.com/terra-nova-tv-spot-reveals-dinosaurs/ [5] http://www.slashfilm.com/terra-nova-super-bowl-commercial/ [6] http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/tv/new-terra-nova-trailer-continues-to-tease.php

Black Canyon of the Gunnison climbers, you've been warned: Pack water. Yeah, you're supposedly right above water (the Gunnison River!), but before too long it might just be a muddy wash. Hikers in Canyonlands, don't trust that map it's going to be sand for you as well. Even Glen Canyon (i.e., home of ever-shrinking Lake Powell) and the Grand Canyon are due to dry up faster than you can spit into a Mojave wind, according to two grim reports recently released. The first is a climate study by the Bureau of Reclamation (a.k.a., the biggest water resource manager in the U.S.). While the report covers the hydrology of all the of major rivers of the West, the most stressed zone now and in the future will be the upper and lower Colorado River basins, which encompass the spine of the Rockies from western Wyoming through western Colorado, eastern Utah, and nearly the entirety of Arizona. That's a lot of territory, and within it, you'll find many of the places hikers, climbers, mountain bikers, cavers, paddlers and fisher people cherish. And it's all going to get much, much drier, thanks to climate change.

New York avant-electro adventurers Gang Gang Dance will release their new album Eye Contact on May 10 in the U.S. and a day earlier in the UK, via 4AD. Right now, you can stream the entire album in full below (via NME).

THE adventure-breaks market could create 1,000 new jobs in North Wales over the next five years a tourism industry leader has claimed.

Today, Lowepro announced two camera bags for outdoor enthusiasts. The Photo Sport AW Series was designed for outdoor adventurers that like to bring photo gear along when skiing, biking, snowboarding, etc., and the Optics Line was created to meet the unique needs of bird photographers and wildlife observers venturing in to the wilds. Each new offering embodies Lowepro's dedication to providing durable carrying solutions that enable consumers to safely and comfortably access their electronics and optics gear in the field. The Photo Sport 200 AW and Photo Sport Sling 100 AW are available in Black/Light Grey and Lowepro Orange/Light Grey for $199.99 and $129.99 respectively.

Designed to enhance the experience of birders, wildlife watchers and outdoor photographers while in the field, the new Optics Series from Lowepro was designed to provide long-wearing comfort and hands-free support for those who venture into the field with binoculars, optical scopes, digital cameras and other associated gear for the well-provisioned outdoor enthusiast. The Field Station beltpack ($99.99), offering hands-free support for binoculars and other essential gear, is tailored to the beginner birders needs to spot and easily identify species; its pop-up Quick Shelf ensures a field guide, notebook or tablet-style computer are always right at the birder's fingertips.

The universe’s most awesome charity event returns to GenCon this August, when The Tower of Gygax grinds up adventurers (and their generic tickets, all the proceeds of which go to the Gygax Memorial Fund Charity) and spits out a hack-tastic slurry composed of equal parts gore, smiles,...

[...]

Black Canyon of the Gunnison climbers, you’ve been warned: pack water. Yeah, you’re supposedly right above water (the Gunnison river!) but before too long it might just be a muddy wash. Hikers in Canyonlands, don’t trust that map — it’s going to be sand for you as well. Even Glen Canyon (i.e., home of ever-shrinking [...]

Here is an overview of adventurers, institutions and engineers from around the world who have designed eco-friendly vehicles to spread the awareness about climate change and saving the earth from environmental disaster.

Last night, an intrepid group of adventurers stepped up to attack Akil’Zon, the Eagle boss in Zul’Aman, one of World of Warcraft’s many dungeons. Little did said group know that it was a trap: with certain combinations of players (melee DPS + no mass dispel, for those who play), the encounter is nearly impossible to [...] Related posts:

1. What Eye of the Storm can teach us about strategy and execution
2. What World of Warcraft's Healing in Ulduar Can Teach You About Your Marketing Team
3. Life after 80, or what World of Warcraft can teach you about marketing mastery

Sunday Morning Funnies is your weekly list of WoW-related web comics.

Your regularly schedule host Amanda Miller could not be here this morning to bring you your favorite repository of World of Warcraft-related comics and all that jazz. Instead, this week, you get me. I think the last MMO-related comic I read was in 2001, probably about Ultima Online. Actually, that's probably not a true fact at all, but for the sake of this column today, as well as my own sense of self-satisfaction and hilarity, it's true within the confines of your browser tab.

Comics about MMOs sure have changed since I was reading them! What ever happened to the simple days of BON3DOOD and pLaTeDeWd or Imanewbie? Whatever happened to comics about mobs having their own lives separate from adventurers and jokes about the loot creatures drop? Oh, still around, I see. What is happening to my world?!

Oh, you're here for comics that have actually updated since 2002? Why didn't you say so?

Continue reading Sunday Morning Funnies: Copyright 2001

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Humor, Comics, Sunday Morning Funnies

Sunday Morning Funnies: Copyright 2001 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 01 May 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Clipper Round the World Yacht Race 2011-12 starts in August 2011 and is the worldâ??s longest global ocean challenge. More than 360 adventurers travelled from all over the globe to Southampton on Saturday

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New Zealand actor replaces dwarf on The Hobbit Radio New Zealand Sir Peter Jackson has cast a New Zealand actor to replace one of The Hobbit's dwarves who left last week. British actor, Rob Kazinsky, quit his role as Fili, one of the film's 13 dwarf adventurers, for health reasons. The director announced online on ... Peter Jackson recasts Fili, signs Lee Pace to 'The Hobbit'NME.com THE HOBBIT News: Dean O'Gorman & Lee Pace Join the Cast; Hugo Weaving Visits ...The Daily BLAM all 12 news articles »

Joby Ogwyn is still coming down from his historic Everest wing-suit flight. On October 8th, 2010, Joby Ogwyn stepped out of a small plane hovering over the Himalayas at 29,000 ft and into the history books, becoming the first person to fly a wingsuit next to Mt. Everest. Joby's Everest flight was the culmination of more than two years of planning and training and almost did not happen as the government and rival adventurers tried to stop him. In the end the flight was amazing and Joby flew over the Himalayas for more than two minutes before pulling his one BASE jump parachute. Fighting the turbulence of flying in the jet stream and a massive line twist on his parachute that left him flying out of control towards a glacier, Joby fought his way down to land at Everest base camp at over 17,000 ft. No one had ever landed a BASE parachute at that altitude before.

Joby has massive experience in the climbing world. He has climbed the "Seven Summits" and made more than 30 climbing expeditions around the world. In 2008 Joby set the world record for the fastest ascent of Mt Everest, climbing from the base of the route to the summit in just nine and a half hours. Joby ran out out of oxygen on the top and managed to climb all the way down to base camp unassisted. A feat no other climber in history had ever done before. After that climb Joby's best friend and climbing partner, Inaki Ochoa, was killed on the nearby peak, Annapurna. This prompted Joby to explore the mountains in a different way. Joby set out to learn to fly a wing-suit and make the ultimate flights next to the most iconic mountains in the world. Joby had learned how to BASE jump while filming his documentary series "The Adventurist" for National Geographic Adventure and Discovery HD Theatre and saw wing-suit flying as the next generation of adventure sports and a new way to explore. Joby teamed up with fellow BASE jumper and cameraman Barry Holubeck and the two began training to make the biggest wing-suit flight of all time. The first big mountain flight took place on the infamous Eiger north face in Switzerland. Joby and Barry used a helicopter to position themselves right over the 13,000 ft summit and then jumped out. They flew down the entire east ridge of the mountain more than a dozen times. They then moved on to a more technical jump on the world famous Matterhorn. The duo were the first wing-suit pilots to fly next to the north face of this iconic mountain and landed near the village of Zermatt. It was then that Joby knew they could fly next to Everest.

Armed with a new prototype wing-suit called the X-WING, Joby and Barry went to Nepal and made the arrangements for permits and made the trek to base camp to find suitable landing areas and to check the weather patterns. They had custom made suits with small oxygen masks built in. They wore insulated clothing under the suits for the extreme cold. They had small HD cameras built into their suits to capture all the action of the flight. After checking the base camp area they flew back the village of Lukla in a helicopter. A small porter airplane picked them up the next morning and they flew away towards Everest. The plane ride lasted about half an hour and took them over areas of the Himalayas never seen by man. The pilots let the flyers know they were in the right place then Joby opened the door of the plane. They struggled to make out the landing area but found it and got ready to jump. The plane could not slow down and still maintain the altitude so getting out was difficult. Joby finally pushed his way out the door and started flying. Barry jumped after him and was instantly blown away in the jet stream winds. Joby had a choice to follow Barry or make his own flight which he did. Flying in the middle of the greatest mountains in the world was an experience hard to put into words. The flight was so technical and dangerous that Joby figured they had a 50/50 chance of survival. Their flight system worked perfectly but no one had ever opened or landed a parachute that high before. When Joby's parachute opened it started to twist out of control. Joby managed to flight his way out of the line twist at the last second and land safely. Ogwyn has plans to return to Everest and make another wing-suit flight this time with IMAX cameras rolling. Joby has also created a expedition company called Adventurist Expeditions to take people on tandem skydives near Everest and also offers treks and climbing expeditions to the tallest mountains in the world.

Visit http://adventuristexpeditions.com/ to find out more.

Source: www.prweb.com

Attention adventurers: Your smartphone has arrived. The hardened Casio G’zOne Commando is so tough, the company says it can withstand 3…

It's Britain's busiest mountain, but when Rob Penn pushed his bike up Snowdon it was impossible not to be moved by its 'grandeur and desolation'

I was given three pieces of advice for climbing Snowdon: set off in the wet, arrive in the dry; don't, on any account, take the Llanberis Path; and leave before 8am.

"Right, lads, it's 9.30. The sun's out. We're going up the Llanberis Path," said Tom, our team leader for the day, at the end of breakfast.

An hour later, we'd reached the open moorland above the Llyn Peris reservoir. The footpath ahead was thick with hikers of every shape, size, age and ethnicity. I wondered – just as visitors to this wild country in the corner of North Wales must have wondered frequently over the past 200 years – what the hell all these people were doing here.

The poet RS Thomas knew Snowdonia well. He wrote that folk come to these mountains "seeking for something unnameable, a lost Eden, a lost childhood: for fulfilment, for escape, for refuge, for conquest of themselves, for peace, for adventure. The list is endless. The hills have all this to give and more."

Today, half a million people stand proudly on the summit every year, the vast majority arriving between April and October. Snowdon is Britain's busiest mountain by some margin. It has been since the early 19th century, when the Napoleonic Wars imposed the "staycation" on a generation of adventurers who had recently discovered the Alps.

When the novelist George Borrow set off from Llanberis with his daughter and a guide in 1843, they were "far from being the only visitors to the hill this day; groups of people, or single individuals, might be seen going up or descending the path as far as the eye could reach".

At 3,560ft, Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa in Welsh, meaning "the throne") is the highest mountain in England and Wales. This is the key to its enduring popularity. (The second-highest is Carnedd Llewelyn, a mere 70ft lower, but who's heard of it, let alone climbed it?) There are seven main paths to the summit. The Llanberis Path, which roughly follows the route of the Snowdon Mountain Railway, is one of the longest, and certainly the easiest.

We were a team of nine old acquaintances who had come to ascend Snowdon on mountain bikes, and fundraise for a mutual friend who is terminally ill. Changing the first of many punctures beside the path, I was able to watch the extraordinary digest of British society wearily climbing the mountain. There were others using the day as a means to raise money for charity: a band of pirates walked past; three men in 1950s tea dresses and long gloves smiled demurely and I stuffed my copper coins into a collecting tin carried by two girls who were picking their way up, three-legged. I half-hoped to encounter some lads dressed like the soldiers in Carry On Up the Khyber – it was, after all, filmed on Snowdon in 1968.

A father-and-son team illustrated the confusion at the heart of our nation's relationship with the outdoors: the dad had more kit than Doug Scott going off to climb K2, while his son was in jeans and a T-shirt that exclaimed, in pink, "I like party girls". I saw several couples whose expedition equipment comprised Tesco bags and a senior gentleman who was transporting the remains of the family picnic down the mountain in a red tartan shopper – a wonderful and uniquely British sight which I'll call upon in low moments for years to come.

Half an hour before we reached the top, we ascended into the curtain of mist. Some form of cloud, mist or fog seems to perpetually crown Snowdon. It shifts over the mountain's buttresses, curls round the cwms and folds into the grey gulleys, occasionally clearing to let iridescent light on to the broken pieces of rock that have been splintered by the freeze and thaw of endless bitter winters.

The first recorded ascent of Snowdon was in 1639. The botanist Thomas Johnson gained the summit and noted: "British Alps veiled in cloud." Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant, who did much to popularise Snowdonia to painters, poets and the public alike in the late 18th century, also reached the top to find "a vast mist enveloped the whole circuit". German painter and physiologist Carl Gustav Carus made it up in 1844. "Of course, no sign of any view," he wrote.

I've climbed Snowdon twice before. My family came to North Wales on holiday in June 1974 when I was seven. We made sandcastles, played crazy golf and ate ice-creams, all in the rain. On the day the heavens demonstrated the full arsenal of Welsh precipitation, I followed my dad silently up Snowdon. At the top it had actually stopped raining, but cloud clung to mountain like wet cotton wool. Rounding the pyre of grey rocks at the summit, I was astonished to make out the shapes of a family enjoying a flask of coffee and biscuits. Then we set off down, still in silence. My second ascent was late on a Sunday afternoon in summer 20 years ago, at the end of a long weekend climbing the highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales. Again, the cloud as dense as a London pea-soup fog in the 1950s.

The summit cafe, which opened for the 2011 summer season the day we went up, was heaving. The new award-winning building, Hafod Eryri, has gone some way to quelling centuries of public opprobrium at the hospitality offered on top of the mountain. George Borrow stopped for a beer on the summit, in what he called "a rude cabin". The Victorian hotel, built when the railway was completed in 1896, was replaced in 1935 with a visitor centre and restaurant designed by Clough Williams-Ellis, the architect behind Portmeirion. Towards the end of the 20th century this building was so down at heel that Prince Charles described it as the "highest slum in Wales". After an £8.5m makeover Hafod Eryri has finally satisfied centuries of protesters. It's just that we couldn't get inside it.

"Don't even attempt it," said Paulo, who was waiting to greet me at the top. "It's like the evacuation of the American embassy during the fall of Saigon in there. If they're not looting the place yet, it's imminent."

Minutes later, our day was transformed. The cloud was lifting. For the first time, we could see the pyramid-shaped peak. The barren slopes, the horseshoe ridges and the moorland below all left an impression of "grandeur and desolation", as William Wordsworth once wrote.

Having pushed our bikes much of the way up, we were glad to be riding them again. Descending the Rangers Path was technically difficult. We edged along the Clogwyn Du'r Arddu cliff face on a loose path that shifted every time we touched the brakes, and down through several hairpins to Llyn Ffynnon-y-gwas. There were more mechanical failures and several crashes, but the mountains were suddenly our own.

As with dialects, there are a hundred regional variations to the light in the British Isles. On the west coast of Scotland the Atlantic light has vitality that you don't find anywhere else. The soft landscapes give the light in East Anglia a thinned beauty, like young wine. There is menace in the cold light of Dartmoor. And in the mountains of North Wales, the light is distinctive again. When the sun finally broke through and filled the valley floor below us it was lustrous, heavily suspended with moisture, soothing and somehow suggestive of mythical happenings.

To the Welsh, Snowdonia is the heartland – the final refuge when the Romans and the Normans invaded. Owain Glyndwr, the last native Prince of Wales, reigned here. In the national anthem "Land of My Fathers", the Welsh sing of their love for the land, not for a sovereign. Looking west over lakes, forests and proud hills, I understood why. Like the song, Snowdonia is rich – in colour and variety of terrain – and rhythmic, in the way the sculpted mountain ridges, valleys and tarns are repeated. As for scale, you could fit the whole landscape into one Alpine valley.

We climbed again, over the Maesgwm pass, and dropped into a perfect, glacial-shaped valley. We had one long, lovely descent left, but we lingered on the hillside. Only when the light on Snowdon turned orange did we accept the day was done, and ride back down to Llanberis.

Rob Penn is the author of It's All About the Bike: the Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels (Penguin, £8.99)

Essentials

Pen-Y-Gwryd Hotel, Nant Gwynant, Gwynedd, North Wales (01286 870211, pyg.co.uk) has 15 double rooms starting from £40 per person, per night on a B&B; basis

With 70,000 students tethered to them through the Internet, four northern Minnesota adventurers recently completed a 900-mile dogsled trip in Canada's Northwest Territories.

New York Times

Old-School Interactive Books New York Times In “Ice” the latest tale by Arthur Geisert, a 1996 winner of a New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books Award, the author's familiar community of pigs returns for another wordless adventure. Here the troop of porcine adventurers set forth from ... and more »

MEET two of the latest entrants to our contest to find York's Adventurer Of The Year.

Amazing animals are all around us -- whether we live in the suburbs, the city or the country. The Kratt brothers’ love of animals stems from their experience with creatures right in their backyard when they were kids. Here are facts about just some of the fascinating creatures you may encounter in your backyard!

• Gray squirrel -- Found in several regions of the U.S., just one of these bushy-tailed creatures can bury and hide thousands of acorns in a single season.
• Pigeon -- Pigeons feed their babies, or “squabs,” a milk-like substance.
• Earthworm -- These wiggly creatures don’t have lungs, instead they use their skin to breathe.
• Peregrine falcon -- This formidable hunter flies at speeds of up to 240 mph to catch its prey midflight.
• Raccoon -- Raccoons are famous for “washing” their food -- but they really feel for food in the water with their very sensitive hands! Plus raccoons just like to handle their food before they eat it.

And don’t forget to tune in to TWO NEW EPISODES OF WILD KRATTS for LOTS more intriguing information about animals -- just in time for Earth Day!

Join the Wild Kratts team for Wild Kratts: Falcon City to meet the world’s fastest animal -- the Peregrine Falcon -- and Wild Kratts: The Blue and the Gray to encounter Blue Jays, Gray Squirrels, Bobcats and Goshawks! These exciting new episodes starring zoologists Chris and Martin Kratt premiere this month as part of PBS KIDS’ special family-friendly Earth Day programming (check local listings).

Wild Kratts is the newest series from the Kratt brothers, creators of the Emmy Award-winning Zoboomafoo and Kratts Creatures. The series transforms the creature adventurers into animated versions of themselves for the very first time so they can bring school-age viewers along as they capture rare, fascinating and never-before-seen wildlife moments. Featuring a dynamic combination of live-action and animation, the series showcases the science behind the amazing natural abilities of animals.

A participant dances atop an auto rickshaw prior to the flag off of the Rickshaw Run, at Kochi, India. 180 adventurers from 19 countries in flimsy auto rickshaws took off for the ride of a lifetime from India's southern tip to its northeastern edge. –AP Photo

Today was a good day for adventurers. The Dragonslayers continued on their mission into the White Plume Mountain.  The defeated the monsters of the inverted ziggurat and immediately distrusted the hooka smoking halfling to recover Blackr...

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Availing of ATV rentals Arizona is one of the extreme sports you could do in Phoenix. These ATVs’ are very well known amongst fellow adventurers; you simply can not comprehend the reality of really skimming by way of the Arizonian desert in these little monsters. The thing with Arizona ATV rentals is that they are ...

Traditional drums rolled as hundreds of spectators bid farewell and good luck Sunday to scores of flimsy autorickshaws starting the ride of a lifetime: from India's southern tip to its northeastern edge.

Traditional drums rolled as hundreds of spectators bid farewell and good luck Sunday to scores of flimsy autorickshaws starting the ride of a lifetime: from India's southern tip to its northeastern edge.

KOCHI, India (AP) — Traditional drums rolled as hundreds of spectators bid farewell and good luck Sunday to scores of flimsy autorickshaws starting the ride of a lifetime: from India’s southern tip to its northeastern edge. Keeping limbs intact will likely be a very real challenge for the 180 people from 19 countries who began

After three years of preparation, a fleet of polynesian voyaging canoes, with several Waikato adventurers on board, are now at the mercy of the weather as they wait to embark on an epic journey to Hawaii.

A  mother, a writer and a seasoned traveler, Jen Swetzoff is certainly a jack of all trades. After visiting over 20 countries and 6 continents, she’s currently chronicling her most recent adventure…parenthood. Part parenting resource and travel guide, Parenture is where Jen regularly  shares her expertise as a former travel writer and new mom. We’re lucky enough to have Jen joining us as Guest Guru to share her exclusive tips and gifting advice. Give Your Kids the World April showers don’t have to stop your kids from getting out and about. With a little imagination, these travel-inspired toys can take your mini adventurers around the world in a day—without ever leaving home (and without having to buy an expensive plane ticket).     Start off by brainstorming where to go with this illuminated globe from the Land of Nod. Practice saying hello in 36 languages with Children of the World memory cards from Barefoot Books.     Then bid the kids, “Bon voyage,” and send them on their way to Paris, where they’ll see the Eiffel Tower. Next, they can travel to any place they imagine—by sketching it on the new What Do You See Art Pads. Help them think [...]

New images of Kotobukiya's upcoming Ghostbusters Lucy Bishoujo statue have been released. Click through to take a peek at the updated product solicitation for this very unique interpretation of a new addition to the iconic paranormal adventurers.

Forming a fair chunk of the Poland - Czech Republic border, the crinkly ridges of the Karkanosze Mountains are a Mecca for outdoor adventurers.

Cumberland Island adventurers : Marine Karapetyan, geography; Gavin Carter, meteorology; Robert Spinetti, Meteorology; Toby Maier, Geography; Tela Vincent, geography; Nick Griffith, geography; Vanna Chmielewski, meteorology; Amanda Nelson, meteorology; Marcus Doucet, meteorology.

Eddie Bauer adds snowboarders Chris Coulter, Kyle Miller, and Wyatt Caldwell to its First Ascent team of guides and adventurers. Expanding team reflects growing first ascent expedition and snowsports lines.

The results of the crayfish diving expeditions early in the blog.

Steeve, Lionel and JohnH were intrepid in their efforts at fishing.