Walking The Nile: Trekking The Length Of The World's Longest River

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Two British adventurers are preparing to set out on one very long and demanding expedition that will see them pass through seven countries, covering more than 4250 miles (6840 km), along the entire length of the Nile River.

Inspired by Ed Stafford's record setting walk along the Amazon, Levison Wood and Simon Clarke have dubbed their adventure Walking the Nile. If successful, they'll become the first people in history to walk the longest river in the world from source to sea, and along the way they hope to encourage others to get off their couch and seek adventures of their own.

Their journey will begin in the highlands of Burundi and Rwanda before descending into the thick jungles of Tanzania and Uganda. From there they'll walk along the edge of Lake Victoria before entering the newest country on the planet – South Sudan. Crossing through the largest swampland on the planet, they'll move into North Sudan before passing into the Sahara Desert for the final leg of the expedition in Egypt. Wood and Clarke estimate that it should take them roughly 12 months to complete their adventure.

No date has been announced for the start of the expedition, but presumably you'll be able to follow progress on Facebook and Twitter once they get underway. For now though, you can get a sense of what they are facing in the short video below.

Walking The Nile from Secret Compass on Vimeo.

Video: Powder Highway Road Trip #1 - Sun Valley

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Remember earlier today when I mentioned that we tend to see a lot of ski videos this time of year? Here's a case in point. This video is the first in a new series of road trips to visit some of the top ski resorts in the western part of North America. The series was launched today by our friends over at National Geographic Adventure and it features skier Zach Crist and friends looking for perfect powder where ever they can find it.

Powder Highway Dispatch # 1 Sun Valley from Stellar Media on Vimeo.

Schwinn Has Your Perfect Rendezvous For Valentine's Day

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Just in time for Valentine's Day, Schwinn Bicycles is launching their Perfect Rendezvous Sweepstakes during which they're looking to give you, and that special someone in your life, a great night out on the town, plus a couple of bikes too. To enter the contest, simply go to the Schwinn Facebook page between today and February 28 and share your perfect rendezvous with either a picture or a brief description.

The winner will be selected at random and will receive quite a nice prize package. In addition to scoring a gift card to their favorite restaurant and movie tickets to catch a show, they'll also go home with a woman's Rendezvous bike and a men's 4 One One. Two nice bikes that will provide hours of fun and exercise.

Entering the contest couldn't be easier, so head on over to the FB page and share your idea of a great date. Who knows, maybe your romantic side will earn you a new set of wheels for you and your sweetie.

Needs Based Selling - Reading Your Customer's Mind

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... there is no subsitute for paying attention.

- Diane Sawyer

Trip

WALKING into the local grocery store the first week in January, I nearly tripped over a pallet of Slim Fast. I smiled at this excellent piece of "prophetic marketing" - knowing what the customer wants before she wants it.

The owner of this store knows that with each New Year nearly every American resolves to lose weight. The diet related products are in place on New Year's Eve. And he follows this marketing strategy all year long. In February, ice chests will line the high traffic areas within their stores. Outdoor accessories are on display weeks before spring arrives. School supplies are on the shelves by the end of June. This business owner anticipates each season months before its arrival.

How can you adapt prophetic marketing to your business? What seasons do your customers follow? Are they sports oriented? Do they own a boat? Do they follow the hunting seasons? Answering questions about your customers' seasonal inclinations will offer clues that enable you to anticipate their personal needs.

Another way to anticipate your customer's needs is to be sure you have everything required to use your product. For example, my wife went into a store to buy a mailbox. She picked out one made out of wood. An alert salesman pointed out that she would need to weatherproof the mailbox. He then proceeded to take her to each location for the other products she needed - sealant, sandpaper, brush, paint thinner.

Identifying what your customer wants before she wants it can place you in an invincible position. Any business can furnish customers what they want when they want it, but to give a customer what they want and how they want it before they actually want it, is Customer Service that knows no equal.

TURNAROUND TIP: This level of Customer Service is all about strategy. Below are three more ways you can learn to "read your customer's mind."

1.Help customers to identify their needs. Some people don't plan for their needs until they become urgent. Convince them of the value of pre-planning. Understand in detail your customer's business to see where your product fits in.

2.Make it a group effort. Get together with your colleagues and share information about customers and their product or service requirements. Cooperation is the key to making your business successful. Discuss ideas on problem prevention. Share current resources of information about each cust-omer.

3.Explore all of the capabilities of your products in relation to each customer. You may find that your service or product can help customers in ways they hadn't imagined. Be sure your clients fully understand all of the uses for your product or service.

By using these strategies, you will gain loyal customers, increased sales and less stress from unforeseen problems.

Needs Based Selling - Reading Your Customer's Mind

ike Dandridge md@theperformancepro.com Mike is the founder of High Voltage Performance, a consulting firm that specializes in designing customer experiences for the industrial marketplace. He is a keynote speaker and a seminar leader with 25 years experience in electrical wholesale distribution. Dandridge is author of, The One Year Business Turnaround, a book based on his years in wholesale, containing a year’s worth of ideas for improving your customer service. You may reach Mike at 254-624-6299. Visit his Website at http://www.highvoltageperformance.com. Subscribe to his blog at http://www.businessturnaround.blogs.com.

A Character Analysis of Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

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What created Goodman Brown? A man so tormented by what even he considered to be a dream that it changed his life in a profound negative way forever. Goodman Brown was man plagued by his own conscious; he was someone who believed himself to have committed grave sin by meeting with the devil and participating in a witches meeting in his dreams. This spoke of an era where people were overcome with religious guilt and superstition. As a result of Brown's dream he suspected everyone in the town of being cohorts with the devil, in addition his superstition and questioning of his own self overcame his ability to trust or believe in anyone else. He died a bitter, unhappy, miserable man.

In order to fully understand the character of Young Goodman Brown we must first understand the era he comes from. Although Hawthorne does not state directly whether or not the plot of this story takes place in Salem in the seventeenth century, his references to other characters clearly imply it does. His references to Martha Carrier, Martha Cory, and Sarah Cloyse, all women hanged as witches in 1692; as well as his reference to King William who ruled England from 1650-1702 tell of this horrid time where people killed, tortured, burned, executed and suspected that everyone from their sister to there neighbor might be in contact with the devil. As a result of this environment of suspicion and paranoia Goodman might have felt as though his dream was in reality a lack of faith on his part. He may have felt so guilty for experiencing this dream that he thought he, as well as the people in his life were guilty of coercing with the devil.

Journey

Goodman Brown might have been Hawthorne's expression of his own struggles with his faith in humanity and himself. Hawthorne was a guilt ridden person and I believe that he had many instances when his faith was tested. Brown is Hawthorne to a lesser extent. Goodman Brown starts out as a good, happy, decent man; he seems very content. All of this changes when he decides against the advice of his wife faith (the symbolism is obvious here) that he should go out on a journey into the woods to meet with the devil. I believe path in the woods to be his continued decent into metaphorical as well as literal darkness. As he continues down the woods he reaches the pinnacle of his journey when he comes upon the witches meeting. Once Brown reaches this point he loses his faith despite his last ditch effort to save his wife. He never knows if he was able to save her. This doubt is what destroyed him.

Brown's motivation for meeting with the devil is never made absolutely clear and can only be speculated by the devil's references to others that have come into his fold. He speaks of the King, Goodman's father and grandfather, the deacon, minister and mayor. The devil makes it appear that everyone with any power, success or for that matter anyone that means anything to Goodman is in fact allied with Satan. Although Goodman resists the devils temptations at first; as more and more people are brought to his attention as being followers of the dark one, the idea becomes more acceptable. I believe Brown's motivation to meet with the devil was power; he wanted an advantage over others to achieve his goals. This may have contributed to his last ditch effort to save faith when he shouted "Look up to Heaven, and resist the Wicked One". When he arrived at the witches meeting he discovered that everyone already had the advantage of being on the wicked side and had already sold there souls for money, power, or prestige. He was able to see that nothing would put him ahead of anyone else by following through with his original task. He had nothing to win and everything to lose by making an alliance with the devil. Unfortunately for Young Goodman Brown it was too late for his soul to be saved. He reached the point of no return and not only didn't he reap any benefit from his ordeal but lost every bit of happiness he previously possessed.

Goodman Brown was a man destroyed by his own obsession. He lived a miserable life as a result of the guilt he felt for embarking on a dark journey in his dreams; which resulted in his suspicion of everyone and a lack of trust for individuals in his community, himself and humanity. The only way Goodman Brown would have been able to save his faith would have been to never embark on the dark path.

by John Schlismann

A Character Analysis of Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

John Schlismann has an interest in American Literature.

To read Young Goodman Brown goto:
http://www.online-literature.com/short.php/158

Winter Climbs 2013: Another Team Departs Nanga

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The demands of the winter season have begun to take their toll on the climbers on Nanga Parbat. Yesterday I reported that one squad had already departed after getting as high as 7000 meters (22,965 ft), while the other teams were all moving up with the hopes of taking advantage of an expected weather window. That weather window may yet appear but the mountain isn't making it easy on the climbers and as a result, another team has elected to call it quits and head home.

The latest casualty on Nanga is the Hungarian-American team of David Klein and Ian Overton. The two men were hoping to move up to Camp 2 yesterday, but high winds and deep snow made it impossible to proceed. When they went back down to BC, they exhausted climbers decided that enough was enough and began packing for home. It has been a very long expedition for them, with few comforts. The team never could get their generator to operate reliably and as a result, they ended up uncomfortable most of the time. The third member of the team, Zoltan Acs, had already set out for home last week after suffering frostbite in his feet.

Meanwhile, we're still awaiting word from most of the other climbers on the mountain. Daniel Nardi and Elisabeth Revol are high on the mountain and expected to move further up today. ExWeb reports that they should move to 7000 meters, where they'll hold for the weather window that is expected to open starting tomorrow. If the forecast is correct, and conditions improve, they'll make a dash for the summit, but if the high winds and snow persist, they'll likely head home too.

There still has been no word from French snowboarder Joel Wischnewski on his progress. Considering his poor health prior to the summit push, I'm simply keeping my fingers crossed on this point that he is okay.

On Broad Peak, the Poles remain in BC for a few more days while they wait for the weather to clear on that mountain. After that they hope to finish fixing the ropes up to Camp 4 at 7500-7600 meters (24,606-24,939 ft) before making their ultimate summit push.

More to come soon.

Pen Hadow Cancels North Pole Expedition, Hanging Up His Skis

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British polar explorer Pen Hadow has pulled the plug on his North Pole expedition, citing a lack of funds and sponsor support. Hadow told the Daily Beast that the general economic climate isn't very conducive to ambitious expeditions at the moment and he was planning a big one. In the same article, he also announced his retirement for exploration, leaving a legacy that is nearly unmatched in recent history.

Last year, Pen announced that he was planning a solo traverse of the Arctic that was to take place later this year. The expedition was scheduled to get underway in March, with Hadow setting out from Russia, traveling on foot to the North Pole then proceeding south into Canada. His route would have covered approximately 1000 miles (1600 km) and was expected to take about three months to complete.

But the costs for undertaking such a journey ballooned quickly and the expedition's price tag rose to a staggering $1.3 million. It became a daunting task just to find sponsors and cash to help fund Pen's adventure, which he had already decided would be his last. With the cancellation of the expedition, the polar legend simply went ahead and announced his retirement early.

Hadow's resume is certainly an impressive one. He was the first person to travels solo and unsupported to the North Pole from the Canadian side of the globe. A year later, he traveled to the South Pole as well and would eventually become an arctic guide. He has also played an instrumental role in the Catlin Arctic Survey, serving as the Project Director.

It is a shame that Pen has had to cancel this ambitious expedition. I would have really liked to have seen him attempt his crossing of the Arctic. Economic conditions remain tough right now however and any North Pole expeditions remain dicey right now. I think the season ahead is going to be another tough one and I'm afraid it's only going to continue to get more difficult in the years ahead. Pen's adventure may have capped the age of exploration in the Arctic, as it really is the last great challenge at the top of the world.