This could be fun

The conditions were a bit crazy these past few days for skiing, and I had my share of spectacular falls on Wednesday. But nothing like this photo of a man who's Tree-Ski-Jumping.

The jumpers will be aiming for the trees and the higher they land in the trees, the better their scores may be. The idea is to take flight from a mound of snow, fly through the air and land in a tree. To qualify as a completed jump, the skier has to hang onto the tree without falling to the ground.

I like getting air and all, but I'm not sure I'd try to land in a tree! That seems like something that would just happen by accident.

Because you may be crazy about skiing too

In case you're as coo-coo for skiing as I am these days, you might like this New York Times Travel Interest Guide to Skiing. It's a list of skiing-related columns and articles from the past few years.

Get yer free land!

Please note: this is only a link to an article about free land. I do not know anything about getting free land so please don't email me asking how to do so. Thanks.

The Mid-West is offering free land! To stem the exodus of its populations to cities, many small midwestern towns are offering incentives to folks who'd be willing to move there, according to this New York Times article, Empty House on the Prairie. As a fan of the Little House on the Prairie, I must admit I'm tempted. On my one visit to rural Nebraska, I was stuck by the beauty of the prairie landscape. And then there's this:

In some of these towns, a commute to work is four minutes; crime is all but nonexistent; at night you half-believe you can look toward the soundless sky and see the outskirts of heaven. And isolation, in our age of 500 channels, of easy Internet access and e-mail, does not mean the same thing it did to generations past.

Perhaps I'll load the covered wagon, hitch up the team, and hit the trail. When you next see me, I'll be running down a hill in my calico dress, my arms outstretched at my sides, my bonnet flapping in the wind.

Soon I’ll be in San Diego

You may have noticed over on the sidebar (unless you're an RSS reader, in which case here's a special message for you (non-RSS readers, feel free to skip ahead): you're missing new content that I don't syndicate! I put little messages and pictures in the sidebar! Come back to the lovely old HTML megnut.com!) that I'll be attending the 4th Annual O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference later this month in San Diego. I've been to every Emerging Tech conference and am once again looking forward to the trip and the experience.

I'm especially looking forward to hearing New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki speak (Independent Individuals and Wise Crowds, or Is It Possible to Be Too Connected?), as he's one of my favs from the magazine. And there's a hardware hacks (Hardware Hacks from the Far Side) session that piques my interest as well. I always find I go to the sessions about hardware and then envision myself soldering things and building my own army of robots once I get home. Alas, I have yet to build one robot arm or leg, so there's nothing even close to a company or regiment of robots in my apartment. But maybe this is the year! Of course, my army of robots would be a peace-loving type of army, tasked with feeding the cat while I'm out of town and emptying his kitty litter. Maybe they'd do some dishes too.

In summary, in case you had trouble following that crazy post: I'm going to the Emerging Technology Conference. And: yay!

When next in Paris

From the New York Times travel section comes this nice article extolling the virtues of the ninth arrondissement: In Paris, the Rue des Martyrs Is a Slice of Village Life. I don't think I've explored that area before, so I'm going to put it on my list of sites to see when I'm in Paris in April.