Climber Falls 1,000 Feet : The Two-Way : NPR

Climber Falls 1,000 Feet

by MARK MEMMOTT

Some of the headlines make it sound like Adam Potter plunged 1,000 feet and managed to come away with minor injuries.

That's not exactly the way things (dare we say it?) went downSaturday on Scotland's Sgurr Choinnich Mor (that's a mountain).

Danny Lawson-Pool/Getty Images

Adam Potter, from Glasgow, after his fall.

But he's still got a story that sounds more like it would have happened to Harry Potter than to a landfill manager from Glasgow.

As Scotland's Daily Recordwrites, the 36-year-old Potter was near the summit of the 3,589-foot mountain when he lost his footing.

"I slipped and then I kept falling," Potter told the Record. "I tried to slow myself down on the ice and snow. I was jabbing my feet, my hands or anything to try to slow myself down, but each time I lost speed I would go over a bit of cliff.

"I would get all that speed back up again. That went on for 1000 feet."

Eventually, he came to a stop. By the time rescuers got to Potter, he was standing up, looking at a map, and trying to figure out where he'd landed. Potter has some broken bones in his back and some scrapes on his face. But overall, he's in pretty good shape.

And Potter still plans to have a go at Mount Everest in March.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/01/31/133369353/guy-named-potter-adam-not-harry-survives-1-000-foot-mountain-slide

CNBC.com Article: Davos Wives Versus Davos Mistresses Versus Aspiring Davos Mistresses

CNBC.com Article: Davos Wives Versus Davos Mistresses Versus Aspiring Davos Mistresses

The single best column out of Davos this year has to be Anya Schiffrin's piece titled "Jealous Davos Mistresses."

Full Story:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/41292423

Sent from my iPad

Financial Times: Foreign leaders favour Switzerland

January 25 2011 4:20 PM GMT
Foreign leaders favour Switzerland
--
By Haig Simonian in Zurich
--
Even with its recent dilutions of bank secrecy, Switzerland, and especially the private banking hub of Geneva, looks set likely to retain its appeal to foreign leaders

Read the full article at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f63a695a-2897-11e0-bfcc-00144feab49a.html

Sent from my iPad

David Bowie - "Golden Years (Jeremy Sole remix)" - SoundCloud

David Bowie - "Golden Years (Jeremy Sole remix)" - Afro-pop ReMix

http://snd.sc/f2guje

Sent from my iPad

Yemen’s hidden alcohol problem

Yemen’s hidden alcohol problem

By JUDITH SPIEGEL / THE MEDIA LINE 17/01/2011

Since alcohol is largely forbidden in this Muslim country, treatment for alcoholism is private, as government brushes it under the rug.

Yemen, Sana’a – It’s nine o’clock at night on a busy road on the outskirts of Sana’a and a man is waiting at the shadows. Samir, a 22-year-old university student, has been cruising in his car with his mates and has been engaged in a constant mobile phone negotiation with this man until finally, a location for the deal is made. Samir halts his car. The man emerges from the shadows and quickly passes him a plastic bag containing two bottles of Stolichnaya vodka, wrapped in local newspapers and asks for the money. Samir gives him 12,000 Rials ($60) for both bottles. In an Islamist country where alcohol is largely forbidden, just a simple transaction for a few bottles of vodka has a sinister nature of black alley contraband and fear. As much as alcohol is taboo, treating alcoholism is even more challenging since it exposes its sufferers to stigmas. Samir, who spoke on condition his last name not be revealed, says he does not consider himself to be an alcoholic. He just has “to drink a few beers in the evening to be able to sleep.” A student at one of the Yemeni capital’s prestigious universities, Samir says he often skips classes to drink and was “stressed out” because of his father’s high expectations from him to get high marks and take over his family business. He both adores and fears his father and says his fear of not living up to his expectations makes him seek daily solace in alcohol. He is not alone. According to Dr. Hisham Al-Nabhani, a psychiatrist at Al Amal psychiatric hospital, about six cases like Samir’s cross his door every month seeking treatment for alcohol abuse.

The New Starbucks Trenta Cup Is Bigger Than Your Stomach

To satisfy the unquenchable gullets of America's brand-name coffee drinkers, Starbucks will introduce a 916ml Trenta cup. That's more than the average capacity of the human stomach, and enough caffeine to stand in for a defibrillator.

Of course, it's not much—if any—different from a Big Gulp or any movie theater's large beverage container. But for some reason coffee's just that much more insidious. You'll be able to sample one for yourself when the Trenta rolls out nationwide by May 3rd. [Image credit: National Post via Laughing Squid]


The New Starbucks Trenta Cup Is Bigger Than Your Stomach

Share