"Carlitos...I want to eat the pilot."

I watched an outstanding History Channel documentary over the weekend on the Uruguayan rugby team that survived more than two months in the Andes mountains after their plane crashed in October, 1972. 29 people died following the crash and an avalanche two weeks later, but 16 lived by engaging in anthropophagy, or eating dead people as a means of survival. Check out the lower left of the photo: that's a human spine. My new life hero is Nando Parrado, the guy who calmly led the survivors through the ordeal, including digging his teammates out of the avalanche, which was the worst of the chilly challenges they faced. Nando and Roberto Canessa hiked for ten days is some of the remotest terrain in South America before they were discovered by a huaso (skilled Chilean alpine horseman). The two climbed a 15000+ summit at a 45 degree angle with no alpine equipment or experience in high altitudes. All were rescued two days later by the Chilean military. Undoubtedly the best survival story I've read/heard/watched.

Bruce Foxton and Paul Weller reunited...INCREDIBLE!!!

See the video below, evidence of former Jam members Paul Weller and Bruce Foxton playing together for the first time since 1982. Absolutely stunning news, and quite frankly a development I thought would never happen. Now Rick Buckler needs to get involved, but that's probably not going to happen. Foxton and Weller began speaking again after Paul's dad John Weller died last summer, and Foxton attended the funeral. This Wikipedia entry describes what happened next: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_Up_the_Nation. The news made me emotional, as I thought this day would never come.

Paul Weller and Bruce Foxton

Candles & Leather

It's been a while, but I need to post comments on the book I read last summer, seen here: The Man Who Ate His Boots. The story centers around Britain's foolish quest to discover the Northwest Passage in the early 19th century, and the man most closely associated with it, Sir John Franklin. Franklin's follies included two expeditions that resulted in disaster, one in which his underlings ran out of food and had to eat candles...and their own boots. The incompetent Franklin was eventually knighted, and later led an expedition in which 129 people perished in the Arctic after resorting to cannibalism. After that, the Brits called it quits, and the NW Passage was eventually discovered by a Norske who listened to the natives. He did this by adopting and adapting: adopting survival techniques like building igloos, which allowed him to adapt to the ungodly cold conditions. The Brits found the Inuits to be savages and figured they had no idea what they were doing, which of course is brainless. The one image I'll take from this book is the description of Greenland Inuits, who had never seen other people before. They thought British ships were alive because they had wings (sails) and were dumbfounded by wood. All around, an excellent read from the Hennepin County Library!