When people ask, “Would you rather know when you’re going to die, or would you rather just have it happen?” now you can answer, “Either, as long as I’m not eaten by an invisible shark.” About 10% of species of sharks can regulate the photophores on the underside of their body to match the light of the sun shining through the water, so they effectively become invisible to prey beneath them. I don’t spend much time swimming below sharks, but still: Invisible sharks.

Thanks Josh

In college I successfully dodged an underage drinking ticket when I told the cops that I was out camping because I was doing trail maintenance the next day. Thank god that was the truth, otherwise the cosmic laws of karma would have deemed that I get eaten by a pack of squirrels on my next bike ride.

But doing trail maintenance isn’t just a good way to dodge the law and build up karma, it’s also a good way to help our broke-ass government re-splendorize the parks. GetOutdoors pointed out that we’re creeping up on the 2010 National River Clean Up Days. So find a nice river near you, and haul some trash out of it. (Should be plenty of opportunities for people on the Gulf to do this.)

In an age when it’s become the norm to read about lost hikers, it’s refreshing to find one person who’s managed to make it out on their own. A skier in Colorado fell and injured his leg, but due to high winds a helicopter rescue was impossible. Searchers setup a staging area where they could launch their rescue attempt when the weather improved, but they were pinned down by a storm and still waiting when the injured man arrived at their door.

Not only did he walk out of the woods, but he also went to get medical attention on his own. Hopefully he at least took the beer they offered him.

Nowhere travel magazine has an interesting column that purports to be anonymously written by a pilot of a major airline. It’s basically: people-are-rude-idiots, you-wouldn’t-believe-what-goes-on, airports-are-awful, but you know, well written. Based on the day-by-day travel itinerary and the (scarce) photos, I’d guess that if this guy gets Bike-Snob popular, the airlines might be able to track him down. Give it a read - it’ll make you feel less safe when you fly.

Thanks Drew

A colleague of mine and longtime Backcountry.com writer, Adam Riser put together The Crew. It’s a video of what it’s like to live in Utah/wherever else this was filmed. Give it a watch and it might change your mind about the weak beer state.