NorthGeek

Ellen DeGeneres at Tulane’s 2009 Commencement Ceremony – amazing!

OK, fine, I’ll admit it… I first saw this video on Perez Hilton’s website. I am so not proud of that. In fact, I would rather not even link to the page. Sorry.

Please, just watch:

You are climbing Everest right now

This really could not be possible 5 years ago.

Follow Ed Viesturs and Peter Whittaker make their summit push for Everest right now on their blog, Youtube, and Twitter (@FirstAscent).

Here’s their most recent video update:

Here is their previous climb to Camp 4 (the highest and summit bid camp) which was met with wind, cloud, snow, and so a postponement:

Go Ed and Peter and the rest of the team! We’re enjoying following you.

How to avoid the swine flu (H1N1)

The single greatest tip you’ll receive today:

DON’T DO THIS:

The business card guru: Your card is crap, mine is the best

Is this guy for real? I certainly hope not! Thanks to Ariel over at AOL Fanhouse for the tip.

What do you want to do before you die?

I believe that what you’ve done makes good stories, but what you seek to do with your life and the things you want to accomplish define you. These guys set out to cross off their lists, document it, and help people out along the way.

It looks like they’ve created something very powerful in the process. It’s called The Buried Life. These four guys from Victoria, BC, Canada have signed their show to MTV. We’re looking forward to seeing more!

How to get your content removed from torrent: respect

Comedian Louis CK is at the heart of this new take on preventing your content from circulating via torrents.

This stand up comedian logged in to Mininova and nicely asked for some of his content to be removed:

HI. I’m Louis CK. Can you please take this down? This show is a work in progress and was not intended to be passed around the internet. I have absolutely no problem, personally, with file sharing, and if you take everythign I have on the market on DVD, CD, and put it up for free downloading, I don’t care. But this is an artistic and personal request. Please take this torrent down. thanks.

The guy who uploaded the torrent responded:

Sorry Mr. CK, I have taken down the direct downloads and asked Mininova and ViPeers to remove the torrent. I thought you would have preferred the reverse, your live concerts in ****ty audio quality would be ok, especially for what you said about NBC taking down your Late Night appearance, and your high quality DVDs and stuff wouldn’t be ok since you need ***** for that stuff. I sincerely apologize for the torrent and the misunderstanding.

Wow.

What this means: people who use torrents aren’t evil. They do it for convenience, not to steal. Some content is just still best accessed through the world of torrents. If you’re the content owner, and you become confrontational with the torrent users, they will push back. If you become one of them and understand their reasons and motives and converse with them, they will listen.

Louis CK then responded to a thread at Techdirt:

So I ASKED him to take it down. I didn’t demand it. I don’t expect him to sympathize or care how I feel about it being out there. I only hope he does. It turns out he did, which I’m grateful for.

Other people very easily jumped to the conclusion that the torrent guy complied “because he’s not being a jerk.”

Lesson for Metallica?

Remember this guy’s recent tirade on Conan. Hilarious stuff (the good stuff start at 2:18):

Ski Flying or Speed Riding down Aconcagua

Call it whatever you like. This hybrid extreme winter sport is jaw-dropping.

This guy François Bon summited Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere, at 22,841 feet. His 11 day approach and climb was capped up by a 4 minute and 50 second descent of the 9000 foot south face.

Amazing. Watch:

Here are the Acro-Base guys flying down the Eiger in Switzerland, albeit to some other editor’s better chosen reggae soundtrack:

How is technology changing our lives?

I’m sure many (or most) of you have already seen this, but still, it gives me goosebumps almost every time I watch it. What an interesting look at the way technology affects us all. Hmm, I wonder what our kids lives (and gadgets) will be like…

Gary Vaynerchuck drinks wine and kicks ass

This is required viewing for anyone who’s making trying to make a living online. Gary Vaynerchuck from Wine Library TV has made a few killer, inspirational presentations, but this is perhaps the best. Here’s Gary at the Web 2.0 Expo in New York in September 2008. He talks about hard damn work (“stop watching fucking Lost”), passion in what you do (“if you’re pumping out good shit, people will follow”), and personal branding (ask yourself: “what do I want to do?”). Anything can happen, but if you have brand equity, you’ll be fine.

“Legacy is greater than currency.” The only thing worse than failing and being skeptical is being irrelevant. Now go!

(Actually, he normally spits out his tastings. I do hope he drinks the stuff on occasion.)