First Time Stone Age Tribe Photographed

It seems a little too Indiana Jones to be true, but apparently there are still tribes in the Amazon that have never had contact with the rest of the world. According to this MSNBC story, one of the last completely isolated tribes has now been photographed. The pictures, snapped from a plane on the border of Peru and Brazil, show several tribesmen painted red, yellow, and blue, pointing their arrows towards the sky.

There are more than 100 uncontacted tribes in the world, half of whom live in Brazil or Peru and all of whom are in danger of losing their territory to logging and other development.

Next up: tribal leaders receive promotional Blackberrys and Louis Vuitton spear sheathes.

--Emily Matchar

Leading The Fool's Gold Medal Count

As the old Chinese saying goes, "Real gold is not afraid of fire."

Chinese state media is warning web users and visitors to watch out for reported Olympic frauds, including fake Olympic websites, fake bond offerings, false prizes, and sales of pirated merchandise.

In addition, to combat falsifiers and beef up security, tickets to the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics are embedded with a "microchip containing the bearer's photograph, passport details, addresses, e-mail and telephone numbers," reports the AP. 

And despite the usual Olympic ban on speculation, ticket resale value has been high, with seats selling for more than 10 times face-value. As of this writing, no one has placed the $1000 opening eBay bid on this August 15 track & field ticket, worth $115, despite over 200 views.

The official site for Olympics tickets is here, but only wheelchair and wheelchair companion seats are left for the opening and closing ceremonies.

--Matthew Fishbane

Peru's Guano Guard

Adventurers risked their lives to find it. Men lost their lives mining it. Countries fought wars to protect it. Nowadays, with supplies dwindling like some precious metal mined to dangerously low levels, Peru stations soldiers on islands to guard it.

It, is bird poop. Or guano, aged and hardened bird poop, to be more precise.

In this New York Times article, Simon Romero recounts the history of guano mining on Isla de Asia, where workers rise at dawn to mine the aromatic gold with pick axes and shovels. Millions of seabirds inhabit the islands and leave their mark, which builds up over time into a nitrogen and phosphorus rich fertilizer.

In the 19th century, when guano mining was hot, supplies were over 150 feet high. Mountains of crusted dung rose up with birds nesting on top of them. Now, those piles regularly reach 15 to 20 feet high. Peru rotates mining of the islands to keep supplies in demand.

But, as Romero explains, increasing take of the birds food supply, sardines, has left them with less to eat, and poop out. So their populations, and the guano, dwindle. Peru is trying to protect the resource because organic farmers smelled a good thing when they heard about it. They demanded the guano to grow their greens, chemical pesticide free.

Peru is not the only place where the guano was mined. In the U.S., the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands were once a feces-mining hot spot. Ocean-going entrepreneurs sailed to the chain to collect guano. While stripping the island of its natural fertilizer, they also introduced pigs, rabbits and guinea pigs. Yes, free-range, island guinea pigs. Imagine them running around as sand sifts through your toes and you rest on the beach tanning. The birds and both kinds of pigs decimated the bird populations and led some species to extinction.

With protection, first from Teddy Roosevelt and most recently from George W. Bush, many bird populations have recovered, though they still face pressures from fishing. A visit to the islands speaks to their rebound. You can explore the islands as a volunteer. (See the questions at the bottom of the page.)

Once you step off a plane or a boat and onto the sands and brittle crap of these islands covered with hundreds of thousands of seabirds, the ammonia hits you. It's thick in the air, and coats your body like a blanket. Experiencing such a distinct taste of island life with the worst kind of smell, and realizing it results from the protection of aged, hardened bird crap, leads to a beautiful feeling in your gut. It's the limburger cheese of island travel.

--Joe Spring

Crazy Bet: Training with Power

Luckily, I've been using a Saris PowerTap SL 2.4 and the new mountain-bike-specific SL 2.4 Disc power meters for all of my CrazyBet training. Though I haven’t had a coach for the six weeks or so that I’ve been riding in earnest, I’ve been storing the data from every ride (PowerTaps come with an easy USB cradle and free software for downloading ride data to a Mac or PC). So when I started working this week with coach Neal Henderson, he asked me to upload all of my ride data to an account he created for me on the TrainingPeaks web site.

With those numbers, Henderson was able to sit at his desk in Boulder, Colorado, analyze how hard I’ve been working and how my body has adapted to the work, then create a training plan that will make the most of the five weeks I have left until my races in France.

Why train with power? To race faster. That’s really about it. If you’re riding only for fitness, or if you don’t have any cycling goals tougher than simply finishing a century, you don't need a power meter. You don’t even need a heart-rate monitor. There are countless training plans out there based solely on time or mileage that will give you everything you need.

But if you want to race, or if you’re setting more ambitious goals—say, finishing a century in under five hours—using a power meter will get you there faster than any other tool. What a power meter does and how it does it are too complicated to explain in detail here (a good explanation exists on the Saris website). So, in my extremely glossed-over version:

If you were to plot your workouts and results on graph paper, you would get a bell curve. As your efforts increase, so do the benefits. But at a certain point, you start overtraining, and your performance drops. The key is to stay in the fat part of the bell curve, so that you’re getting the absolute most out of your training.

“We don’t need to do what we think we need to do,” Henderson told me when I asked just how hard he was going to be working me over the coming weeks. “The psychology of that is important. People try to do more than they can. You want to set your workouts so that you’re getting the maximum benefits.”

To do that you need an objective measure of effort and performance. Time doesn’t work, because, for example, one hour on a flat road isn’t the same as one hour in the mountains. The same principles make distance an imperfect measure of training load. Heart rate is better and is still used by high-level athletes. But things like temperature, mood, caffeine, or even what you ate for breakfast can alter your heart rate. Also, it takes your heart a few seconds to reflect what you’re body is actually doing. Step on the pedals for a brief sprint exercise, and your heart might not speed up until after you’re already finished.

Power doesn’t lie. It’s a direct measure of the energy you are transferring to the pedals (PowerTaps are built into the hub of your rear wheel, with the data displayed on a small handlebar-mounted computer). That’s not to say that 300 watts on a bad day won’t hurt more than 300 watts on a good day. But regardless of how it feels, your power readout will tell you exactly how much work you’re doing.

Ideally, I would have done a full field test for Henderson to establish my threshold number (the highest power output I can sustain for one hour). But, as I explained on Tuesday, my test was a bit of a disaster. So, based on my six weeks of data, Henderson has estimated my threshold at 225 to 230 watts. For comparison, elite pros my size (5’11 and 152 lbs.) will hit somewhere close to 400.

Regardless of what your threshold number is, though, once you’ve got it, setting training zones and staying in the fat part of the bell curve is fairly simple. Henderson uses six training zones, listed here in ascending order of difficulty, with my target power numbers.

Active Recovery <120
Endurance 120-160
Tempo 161-204
Threshold 205-225
VO2max 226-250
Anaerobic Capacity 251-300

As a rider’s season progresses, the percentage of his training time that he’ll spend in each of these zones will vary. But, according to Henderson, even elite endurance athletes will spend no more than around 20 percent of their weekly workouts at or above threshold. Any more than that, and they risk overtraining. The bulk of training time is in the endurance and temp ranges, with brief, structured efforts at or above threshold to force the body to do heavier workloads while giving it time to recover and adapt. What will this mean for me? Here are my Friday and Saturday workouts this week, from Henderson:

FRIDAY
90 Minutes
Ride mostly at OD effort - 60-75% of LT power, and HR in Zone 2 (OD).  Include 3-5 X 10 minutes of Zone 3 (EN) effort at 80-85% of LT power.  Recover completely between intervals. This is one interval workout that isn''t going to hurt.

Notes: Mostly between 120-160 watts, but include 3-4 X 10 minutes at 200 watts with 2-5 minutes < 150 watts between.

SATURDAY
Six Hours
Warmup with 30+ minutes of easy riding.  Ride a steady climb (30-60 minutes) between Endurance and Tempo HR...power at 90-95% of LT power.  Keep cadence up around 80-95 RPM.  Finish with easy downhill spin.  Optional: add 3-6 X 10-second downhill sprints at 120+ RPM.

Notes: Big day! Warm-up on the flats first...keeping power < 160 watts for the first hour. Then, accumulate up to 1 hour of time at around 200 watts (180-220). Make a conscious effort to stay under 225 watts during the tempo climbing. Also, accumulate about 1 hour of climbing at 160-180 watts (EN effort). Be sure to stay hydrated and fueled (take in 200-300 kcal per hour).

To go to The Crazy Bet main page, click here.

—John Bradley

Higher Gas Prices Greening The U.S.

Some are saying gas prices bubbling over $4 per gallon is a good thing. A new survey shows that fuel prices are finally high enough to nudge people out of their old commuting habits, and into ride-shares, fuel-efficient cars, and even looking for work closer to home. Penny-pinching, earth-changing, or a little of both?

While agitators circulate emails calling for a gas boycott (here's why it won't work), some environmentalists say that US gas prices aren't high enough. They cite examples in Europe, where fuel is taxed to fund alternative fuel research and mass transit, pushing per gallon prices over $5. (Truckers and fishermen had something to say about the soaring prices in a massive blockade Tuesday.)

More evidence of change: the Morris, Illinois, Skyfest —and 7 other local air shows— have been cancelled due to high gas prices.  From Seattle to Delaware, Memorial Day weekend traffic was noticeably off. And some old gas pumps that can't advertise prices over $3.99 have started charging by the half-gallon.

--Matthew Fishbane

Sharks Terrorizing Mexican Resort

The third shark attack in less than a month has led to cancelled surf lessons and abandoned beaches in the Mexican surfer-haven and celebrity playground of Zihuatanejo.

The attacks, the area’s first in recent memory, are baffling experts and crushing the resort’s tourism industry, seen three. Experts are suggesting the resort town refrain from their previous tactic of hunting and slaughtering the beasts, and focus instead on keeping people out of the water while they figure out why they’ve grown so aggressive.

-Claire Napier Galofaro

Everest: Hillary's Mug

On the 55th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay's summit of Everest,  Google placed a drawing of both on its main page.

New Zealand celebrated the anniversary of the summit by issuing gold and silver coins stamped with Hillary's mug. Part of the proceeds from the coins will go to Hillary's charity, which helps the Sherpas of Nepal.

Since Hillary and Norgay's first-ever summit, records on the mountain have become a bit more convoluted.

--Joe Spring

Gasping For a High V02 Max

Once, at swim camp, my coach made me swim laps underwater until I almost passed out. "How far can you go?" he'd yell. "You can do better than a lap and a half! Do it again!"

Back home in Iowa, that coach is a legend. He led my high school's men's swim team to 26 nearly back-to-back state championships. He's also the meanest swim coach in the state. I learned to hold my breath for a very, very long time under his reign.

So one would think I could pass a VO2 max test with ease. The VO2 max test is one of the most effective ways to measure your fitness level. It shows how many milliliters of oxygen your body consumes per minute for each kilogram of body weight. In other words, it indicates how well your body delivers oxygen to exercising muscles. Lance Armstrong's V02 max ranks in at a superhero level in the high 80s. Comparatively, a normal active man will rank in the 60s.

It's been six years since I was a high school swimmer, five years since I quit my 15-year competitive swimming career, and about 24 hours since I went for a six-mile run.  I live in Santa Fe, NM, elevation 7,000 feet, and I rock climb, run and bike in the mountains. In theory, I should have a pretty good V02 max. I've trained my body, since age five, to intake high dosages of oxygen while sprinting butterfly and freestyle, climbing 5'11s and churning up the local trails. (Never mind that I'm a writer and most of the rest of my time is spent on my arse in front of my computer.)

I should be an oxygen-enriched rock star of an athlete. In theory. In reality, I'm kind of average. Sure, in past tests I ranked in my age group and athletic ability as "good" and sometimes even "really good." But theres two more levels above that: "Excellent" and "Lance Armstrong."

Armstrong can have his throne. I just wanted to be excellent. I was going to throw down on that treadmill, get my VO2 max measured, and prove to everybody (or maybe just myself) that I really do have star-studded potential. That I just had an off day when I bonked on the velodrome two days ago. That a breakfast-related stomach ache held me back on the six-mile trail run yesterday. When they strapped a Hannibal Lector-like mask to my face and wrapped a heart monitor around my rib cage, I had plans to run until:  A) I passed out, or B) puked.

I got on the treadmill and the fitness coach attached my face mask's octopus-like tubes to a VO2 max machine. They started me at a 20-minute pace and then quickly bumped it up to a 10-minute pace. Then every minute, they knocked up the incline, until at the very end, I felt like I was running up Mount Washington.

The VO2 machine measured the amount of oxygen in the air as I inhaled and exhaled. The harder I worked out the less oxygen I emitted. Research shows that a person's VO2 max is mostly genetic, but also can be improved with training volume and intensity. Don't like your score? Experts say hit the track and then try again.

I ran until I couldn't breathe anymore and, after I nearly passed out, that spiteful machine printed off a little piece of paper, cementing my ultimate disappointment: I'm three points shy from being excellent.

My old coach would probably say it in a different way.

—Christina Erb

Lawyer Sues Delta for Ruining Vacation

A New York lawyer is suing Delta Air Lines for ruining his vacation.

Richard Roth and his wife, children, and mother were on their way to an Argentinian holiday vacation in celebration of his mother’s 80th birthday when their plans were thwarted by Delta. After a delayed flight and subsequently missed connection, they spent three nights squatting in the Atlanta airport before managing to secure seats on a different carrier. They arrived in Buenos Aires and then didn’t see their luggage again for nearly a week.

Mr. Roth estimates that the family spent $21,000 on unused South American hotel rooms, replacement clothes, and other needs, not to mention the pain and misery of Atlanta International. After being snubbed by Delta while trying to collect, Mr. Roth upped the ante and filed a $1 million suit.

Reuters quoted the lawsuit as saying, "Through its gross negligence, malfeasance and absolute incompetence, Mr. Roth holds Delta responsible for ruining his vacation."

Want to avoid the same fate? Check out our guide to surviving air travel, and stay tuned for whether you should hire a lawyer after your next inevitably dreadful jaunt through the friendly skies.

-Claire Napier Galofaro

Is This America's Best Beach?

A coastal scientist who calls himself "Dr. Beach" has proclaimed Florida's Caladesi Island America's best beach. The Tampa Bay-area beach, accessible only by boat, has miles of white quartz sand and warm turquoise Gulf waters. Visitors who come via public ferry are only allowed to stay for four hours, keeping traffic low.

Dr. Beach - A.K.A. Florida International University professor Stephen Leatherman - uses 50 criteria, including water and sand quality and number of amenities, to create his yearly best beach list. See the runners-up on his website.

Do you agree with Dr. Beach's number one?

--Emily Matchar

Taking Down Ironman Champion Tim DeBoom

Let me share with you a little-known fact. Two-time Ironman Triathlon World Champion Tim DeBoom is a 1989 Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Washington High School alumnus. He still has a record on the wall of the swimming pool. He ranks with Olympic diver Kent Ferguson as one of the few elite jocks the school has produced. In Iowa, he's an athletic god.

In the real world, he's just another one of PowerBar's star athletes. He won two Ironmans. He's running the Leadville Trail 100 this summer. So in everyman terms too, he's kind of a big deal.

Here's another little known fact. I'm a 2001 Washington High School graduate. I've still got a record up on the pool wall, too. Granted, his is for a varsity relay and mine's for a junior varsity relay, but that's just semantics, people. Let's focus on the similarities. He runs on trails. I run on trails. He's an elite triathlete. I'm thinking about trying to survive a mini-triathlon.  He drinks water. I drink water.

So, when we went head to head on the velodrome yesterday at the PowerBar Performance Nutrition Summit in Indianapolis, I thought, "I totally have a chance here!" Never mind that he’s a pro, that he shuts down riders, as many as 30 at a time while racing at speeds upward of 40 mph on a stripped-down custom bike, sans brakes, on a race track with two banked 180-degree turns. Never mind that I've never ridden a bike with my feet strapped in before or taken my bike on a slanted turn and managed to stay upright. It's not like I don't have any claim to biking fame. I took my bike off some pretty sweet three-foot jumps back in the day with the neighborhood kids.

Ken Nowakowski, head coach and racing director at the Major Taylor Velodrome, fitted me with a bike, strapped my bike shoes so tightly to the pedals I couldn't slip out of them myself and then pushed me onto the track, promising to catch me when I wanted to stop. (Note: The bikes are brakeless.)

I did five laps on the flat inner circle before I was finally able to talk myself into moving onto the outer banks. I went from a zero to a hero. I rode my bike at the top of the velodrome and then swooshed down to the inner bank, picking up speed with each turn. I didn't fall. I raced full speed. I lapped other riders with a maniacal sort of zeal.

Then DeBoom lapped me. I stopped counting after he passed me the 20th time. My zeal instantly eradicated. This morning, he took us on a six-mile trail run. I lost sight of him before mile marker one.

If that weren't embarrassing enough, PowerBar is throwing me on a treadmill in two hours, putting a Hannibal Lector-like face mask on me, and making me sprint uphill until I'm ready to pass out, all to see if my VO2 max ranks with that of an elite endurance athlete like DeBoom, or that of an overweight, 75-year-old woman.

I'm just hoping it's not the latter. That would make me feel so JV.

—Christina Erb

Everest: Western Record 10th Summit For Hahn

American climber Dave Hahn reached the peak of Everest for the tenth time on Monday, setting a record for summits by a non-Sherpa. The Taos, New Mexico resident and Outside correspondent called down from the top of Everest at 7:26 am, according to his team at IMG.

Hahn might have another summit under his belt, but in 2001 he abandoned his quest to rescue  climbers near the peak. Last year, after a successful summit he rescued another climber on his way back down the mountain.

The overall record for summits is held by Appa, with 18.

--Joe Spring

Skydiver's Freefall Fails to Get Off the Ground

There must be a moral in this tale, though we dare not attempt to define it. Frenchman Michel Fournier, the 64-year-old skydiver who has been reaching for an altitude freefall record of 130,000 feet, was left grounded in his pressurized cabin in Canada this morning as his helium-filled balloon lifted off without him.

Fournier has been planning his stratospheric jump for years, and this third attempt may, by some accounts, be his last. He is scheduled for a press conference this afternoon. Fournier was looking to set four records: fastest freefall, longest freefall, highest jump, and highest altitude reached by a man in a balloon. An animation on Fournier's site gives you a sense of what he is up against.

The New Yorker profiled Fournier's quest, and his rivalry with current record-holder Joe Kittinger, last summer. Inspired? We told you how to make a much smaller jump, earlier this month.

--Matthew Fishbane

Climber Dies on Annapurna

A Spanish climber succumbed to apparent altitude sickness while attempting to summit the Himalayan peak of Annapurna. Inaki Ochoa de Olza, 40, died of pulmonary edema and brain damage on Friday, May 23. Fellow climbers gave him aid while receiving remote instruction from a hospital in Spain, but Ochoa passed away after five days in a semi-conscious state at 7,400 meters.

Ochoa, who had been on 30 previous Himalayan expeditions, was attempting to climb all 14 of the world's 8,000 meter peaks. Annapurna was number 13.

--Emily Matchar

Crazy Bet: Slight Panic

The past two weeks have not been good ones. Travel for work, dodgy weather, and wedding planning have combined to eat into my bike time.

More worrisome, I still haven’t started any formal workouts. Physiologist Allen Lim,who agreed to coach me through this project, is just too swamped with his duties as the trainer for Team Slipstream. He’s overseeing workouts for the nearly 30 members of the team while also accompanying Slipstream’s nine-man squad at the current Giro d’Italia. After not hearing from Lim for four weeks—and with only six weeks left until my races in France—I got in touch last week with Neal Henderson, Sport Science Manager at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine.

Fortunately for me, Henderson agreed to take me on and help me make the most of my remaining time. Unfortunately, I’m just not feeling great on the bike right now. The week after my May 10-11 rides in Austin, I went for one easy spin, then tackled the Santa Fe Century on May 18. My plan to add 30 miles and another 4,000 feet of climbing to the end of the ride fell apart when I hit the wall at around mile 84 (of the 106-mile route). After averaging 21 miles per hour for the first four hours, I took an hour and 45 minutes to cover the final 20 miles (in my defense, they were windy and mostly uphill).

I went for a couple of moderate rides over the weekend, then headed out to do a field test so Henderson could get an idea of where I’m at. The test involved a 30-minute warmup and a few drills, then all-out efforts of five seconds, five minutes, 20 minutes, and one minute. But I was literally getting blown off the bike by 40 mph crosswinds. Frustrated, I quit the test halfway through the 20-minute segment. It’s tough to find a rhythm when you’re just trying to stay upright.

For now we’ll work with numbers that I have from a previous test (252 watts for 20 minutes), and I’ll try to retake the field test sometime this week. In the meantime, aside from my wedding weekend, I am committing to a monk-like existence for the next six weeks. Work, food, sleep, and training. I’ll be grabbing any fitness improvements that are available to me during that period. There’s still time to get back on track.

—John Bradley

To go to The Crazy Bet homepage click here.

Toxic Jocks: Gulping Down Energy Drinks

A study showing the links between energy drinks, athletics, and risky behavior was published this March in the Journal of American College Health. The New York Times picked up the story today and referenced the study's author, who said that the high consumption of energy drinks is associated with "toxic jock" behavior.

What is toxic jock behavior? "A constellation of risky and aggressive behaviors including unprotected sex, substance abuse, and violence," as defined in the article. The study's author, Kathleen Miller of the University of Buffalo, goes on to say that parents who notice their children consuming energy drinks should be more aware that they are more inclined to take risks with their health and safety.

The study is not a first. In October of 2007 the Nutrition Journal published a study of energy drink consumption among college students. They surveyed 496 students and found 51 percent drank the canned caffeine drinks at least once a month. Jolt and crash episodes were experienced by 29 percent of drinkers, headaches by 22 percent, and heart palpitations by 19 percent. Students often drank the energy bombs while drinking alcohol or cramming for tests.

Since the 1997 debut of Red Bull, the energy drink market has exploded into a $5.7 billion dollar industry with 500 new brands launched in 2006 alone. Drink size, and caffeine content, have risen as the industry has grown.

Before you adults with Starbuck's addictions go off, consider a regular 8 ounce canister of the average energy drink contains an amount of caffeine equal to 5 ounces of coffee.

The worry some researchers expressed in the New York Times article is that the drink, served cold and in a can, is much more likely to be gulped in mass quanitities. Hot coffee is more often sipped, with the exception of journalists, 24 hour mountain bike racers, and scientific researchers.

One of the worries the article stressed most was the connection between alcohol and energy drinks. An alternate study quoted by the Times said students who mixed energy drinks with alcohol got twice as drunk as those who got drunk on alcohol alone, and were more likely to injure themselves.

Just something to think about before you pour that third Eye Opener.

--Joe Spring

Everest: Record Day For Summits

A record 75 climbers reached the summit of Everest in one day, according to the CBC.

The previous record was 63, set in 2002.

The Chinese closure of the north side led climbers to get permits for the south side in Nepal. They had to wait until the Chinese bagged the peak in early May before they could go up. A spot of good weather this week spurred a rush up the mountain. Expeditions teams reported some frustration at bottlenecks resulting from the crowds.

Everest News reported that so far 136 people have summitted. The CBC reported one death: 44-year-old Swiss climber Uwe Goltz. If estimates of roughly 400 climbers on the mountain are accurate, with roughly a little over a week left in the season, the crowds may continue.

Alpine Ascents said their team waited at the fixed lines in a May 24th (they are a day ahead) blog titled, "Traffic Jam Below The South Summit."

"It has been slow going because, like Dave's group, they are caught in a traffic jam of some people going up the fixed lines and other people who have already summitted coming down. They are still doing well, just dealing with a lot of people up there. So we are still awaiting news of their arrival at the South Summit, and then their traverse across to the true summit. Stay with us."

--Joe Spring

National Wildlife Refuges Ripe For Illegal Drugs

US wildlife refuges are so broke that drug dealers use them to grow marijuana and process meth.  The National Wildlife Refuge Association reported to Congress Thursday on the dire state of the 548 refuges in the National Wildlife Refuge System, a California-sized collection of parks that the association says is underfunded by 43 percent.

Decreases in law enforcement, reports the AP, mean the refuges now harbor—instead of Memorial Day picnickers and wildlife—"prostitution, torched cars and illegal immigrant camps along the Potomac River in suburban Washington, D.C.; gay sex hookups in South Carolina and Alabama; methamphetamine labs in Nevada; and pot growing operations in Washington state."

Alaska, which accounts for 83 percent of the land in the refuge system, is particularly hard hit by the inadequate funding. Mad? Take action here.

--Matthew Fishbane

More Airlines May Add Fees

Four major U.S. airlines, United, Delta, Northwest, and US Airways, are tinkering with the idea of following American’s lead in adding a charge for checked baggage, according to Bloomberg. Experts insist it’s inevitable that large carries—all floundering under the skyrocketing jet fuel prices—will have to take drastic measure to stay afloat.

Analysts and consultants worry that the added bad charge will drive more flyers to carry-on bags they would otherwise check, crowding planes and making boarding painfully laborious. If you can get a ticket at all – some suggest the industry as a whole is going to have to cut service and capacity by 20 percent to cut costs and raise ticket prices enough to stay in the black.

-Claire Napier Galofaro

Mrs. Sir Richard Branson To Remain Earthling

Sir Richard Branson plans to hop onboard Virgin Galactic's inaugural journey, scheduled for November 2010, accompanied by his two children, mother, and 90-year old father, according to British tabloid, the Sunday Mirror.
 

"My wife is staying on the ground,” Branson told the Mirror. “She's not terribly keen on the idea of the kids coming up with me although I think she's not too bothered about what might happen to me!”

The British mogul plans to unveil the “mothership” rocket in July, and the passenger shuttle sometime next year. The tourist flights will travel 50 miles in three-hours, and cost somewhere around $200,000 a head.   

Until then, Branson’s throwing his weight towards peacekeeping efforts in Kenya, warning the country’s government that he’s willing to pull out millions in investment and reconstruction dollars if the violence returns. 

Sir Richard topped our list of 2007 greatness. Find out here what December's cover boy does when not saving the world or inventing inter-galactic tourism.

Camping Gear for the Homeless

That quilted nylon sleeping bag is getting old, and you need something new. So give your old gear to a group that actually needs it: the homeless. A new organization, Homeless Gear, collects donated camping equipment, mainly sleeping bags and backpacks, for people whose "home"  is a car, under a bridge, a campsite by an urban river. 

While sleeping in a shelter would be preferable, a segment of the homeless population still winds up out-of-doors. Even people who do spend the night in shelters may shiver on the streets during the day, and could use a hardy bag to transport their belongings. Can you think of a better destination for your old North Face gear?

--Emily Matchar

American Airlines Adds Baggage Fees

American Airlines announced today that, as of next month, they'll be tacking on a $15 charge for your first checked bag. And The Wall Street Journal suspects this is just the tip of the additional-fee iceberg as airlines collapse under record-high oil prices. Skirting around chasing off customers by higher ticket prices, carriers are increasingly adding unexpected, post-purchase fees.

American will also be cutting 11 to 12 percent of flights this year, meaning layoffs, smaller fleets, and inconvenient schedules. Analysts expect similar fees, cut flights, and possible bankruptcy from other big-name carriers that have recently been living off years-old savings. Southwest could be the only airline exempt from the fall-out, as they had the good sense to buy fuel when prices were low.

But, you’re in luck—we’re on your side. Check out our guide to navigating the unfriendly skies.

Claire Napier Galofaro

Cessna 310 Turned Into Sailboat

Take 15,000 plastic soda bottles and the fuselage of a Cessna 310, strap it all together with old netting, add a sail and voila, DIY sailboat. 

No, the folks behind this trash raft, called, appropriately, the "Junk," are not broke wannabe yachties. They're employees of California-based Algalita Marine Research Foundation, out to raise awareness about the ocean's trash problem. Example A is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a vile stew of used toothbrushes, tangles of plastic bags and empty milk jugs floating about 1,000 miles off the West Coast and covering an area twice the size of Texas.

The Junk's builders will attempt to sail it to Hawaii this summer, with a water bottle full of messages about ocean pollution from people across the country on board, to be delivered to legislators at the journey's end. Wave them bon voyage at Long Beach pier on June 1st.

--Emily Matchar

Discoveries On Reducing Fear

Some science news for the anxious and phobic, and for those who like to run their adrenaline levels into the red for kicks.

Researchers found a connection between opioids, chemicals with a "morphine-like effect on the body," and the damping effect of repeated fear-inducing stimuli. Well known is the concept of "conditioned fear," in which a harmless stimulus precedes pain, such as a tone before a shock. When repeated, the harmless stimulus alone becomes enough to trigger a fearful response. For example, if you were bitten by a dog while other dogs nearby barked, you might get nervous every time you walked by a kennel.

The researchers used a drug to block opioids and found increased fear response. Eventually, people could take opioid boosters to reduce the fear experienced when walking by a dog park.

In other fear-related news, researchers identified the effects of the brain chemical oxytocin, and claim that its application (in this case by nasal spray) can make subjects increase their willingness to take risk.

--Matthew Fishbane

Everest: Summits Begin, Concern Over Crowd Control

Expeditions started bagging Everest yesterday, and a buzz has spread through camp.

Teams from International Mountain Guides, Rainier Mountaineering, and Peak Freaks reached the summit of the world's highest peak and now are headed down. Expeditions waiting in camp, excited about what could be a healthy weather window, call each other to track numbers up the mountain. They don't want a mass rush to the summit, which might cause a pile-up with fatal consequences.

The biggest concern on the mountain is coordinating the effort up. Nepal's tourism ministry granted 32 permits to climb Everest (and more for adjoining peaks that share Base Camp). On the south side, roughly 400 climbers are waiting for a crack at the peak, a 15 percent increase over last year. The jump  resulted when China closed the north side of the mountain. How the closure and resulting packed south side will affect climbing depends on the weather, expedition planning, and the mountain's temperament.

Can't wait? Follow expedition teams progress on the mountain on these blogs:

Alpine Ascents
International Mountain Guides
Rainier Moutaineering
Peak Freaks
Everest Team Inspi(red)

--Joe Spring

Who's Your Walrus?

Walruses, the Arctic's unsightliest lovers, are at risk of losing their homes to global warming, according to The New York Times. Predominately considered one-ton hairy lumps of blubber, walruses are actually sophisticated, family-oriented, sexually discriminating, and musically precocious.

Walruses protect each other, milk each other’s young, and prefer to wallow around together than to go off on their own. They managed to suck up 7,000 clams and oysters in the dark with no hands. And, perhaps most remarkably, they’re each like a one-man band—able to compose complicated melodies with their mouths, noses, and a good old-fashioned belly drum, sometimes even engineering instruments to accompany themselves with.

Scientists are beginning to note that this artistic expression is likely based on the all-too-human desire to get down. Turns out, lady-walruses don’t like males who can’t carry a tune. So, similar to the guys over at our neighborhood karaoke bar, the walruses whistle away, until some girl likes what she hears.

-Claire Napier Galofaro