Lunch With George!

January 31, 2003 - Chili's

Agenda

• Rare Air Cyber Cafe
• More on Monofilaments
• Out of my Element
• How to be Your Bear's Best Friend

Rare Air Cyber Cafe

An

Tsering Gyaltsen Sherpa hopes to open the first permanent cyber cafe at Everest Base Camp, an ever-moving village (it's right on top of the Khumbu Glacier) at just over 17,000 feet elevation. This will be the money-making part of a project to connect his own village to the internet, as well.

Many expeditions carry their own satellite radio equipment to base camp every year (at significant expense) to maintain e-mail and web connections for their members. Tsering's plan will eliminate that need, allowing climbers, trekkers, and support staff to stay in touch with family, friends, and fans.

He also plans to donate part of the proceeds to a project which cleans up the tons of garbage left at Everest by the various expeditions.

To read more, click here.

More on Monofilaments

Out of my Element

I hate looking at cars I'm never gonna buy. Last week, that's exactly what I did. While waiting for repairs to be completed on my Honda CRV, my daughters and I walked outside the showroom to see the new

I have to tell you, I LOVE this car. It is extremely functional, practical, and fuel-efficient. It's kinda like a cross between a minivan, a mini-sport utility, and a '60s VW Microbus.

It is very utilitarian-- it boasts several convvenient storage areas, has a very high ceiling, seats that can fold down or up out of the way, a nearly hose-out-able interior, and "suicide" back doors which when opened with the front doors create a huge opening (yep-- there's no center post).

The whole thing is built on the reliable CRV chassis and drivetrain, and starts at just $16,100. So why aren't I listing my CRV in the autotrader as we speak? One hyphenated word from its specs: Four-passenger. There are five people in my family, and it makes no sense to own a car into which we simply can't all fit. My only hope is that they decide to offer a center seat belt in the 2004 model (there certainly is enough room on the split rear bench for a center passenger).

One irritation: The dealer was adding a blatant $4000 mark-up, just because they could!

How to be Your Bear's Best Friend

Here's something I'll bet the Monks of New Skete never tried: Bringing up orphaned black bears. But that's exactly what Ben Kilham does! He has rescued and raised such bears for the last nine years. He does it by literally taking on the role of their mother.

Ben romps with them, shows them what is good to eat by getting down on the forest floor and eating it himself, and engages them in ritualized wrestling-- a social skill they'll need to get along with other bears in the wild.

"Mother Bear Man" is described in a National Georgraphic feature article, where you can see additional photos of Ben with the bears Yoda and Houdini, and even watch a video.

Most bear rehabilitators believe that it is best to minimize human contact. This is the opposite of what Kilham does, of course. Many experts feared that his bears would grow up to be "nuisance bears," but only two of the 31 cubs he has raised showed a preference for bird feeders over finding their own food in the wild. "I help the cubs, and they teach me," Ben reflected in the article. "But most of all, I just like being out here with them."