An estimated 1.7 billion people live off the grid to varying degrees. In the United States, about 200,000 people live off the grid, which in this case means going without public utilities, without fossil fuels, or otherwise separate from The System. They make up for such abstentions through any combination of solar power, wind power, composting, smart architecture, makeshift shelter, gardening, farm animals, ingenious gadgets, and just generally being really, really persistent. Most of them seem to live in the Southwest (or the ones in the Southwest just have the biggest mouths.)

People go off-grid for various reasons. Not having to pay utility bills; reducing one’s carbon footprint etc. The 2007 documentary Off The Grid: Life on the Mesa shows a community of hippies, ne’er-do-wells, war veterans, drug addicts, rednecks, and teenage runaways living in relative obscurity in New Mexico. They generally live in cobbled-together shacks and abandoned automobiles. They have issues, but they make do by hook, crook, or .357 Magnum. Here is a preview of the documentary:

FIST POUND.

Today a great comedian died, Greg Giraldo. Giraldo was one of my favorite comedians who always seemed on the verge of breaking through to the main stream, but always stayed on the fringe of mega stardom. If you don’t know who Giraldo was, he was best known for his celebrity roasts and stand up comedy. Giraldo died today after an accidental overdose of prescription meds at the age of 44. Now I can leave you with a bunch of his stand up videos but I will let you do that yourself if you want to laugh your ass off. Instead I want to leave you with a video that just about all of you are going to remember when you start watching. It is the the song by Lazyboy called Underwear goes inside the pants, which is really just the wisdom of world issues, politics, and comedy by Greg Giraldo over a beat, watch it, it’s 5 minutes of a comedian genius spitting the truth. (yes its a black screen until 22 seconds in, then the magic happens. )

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I always hear people complaining about their jobs. How hard they are, how much they hate their boss, how unreasonable the tasks are, its all the same. I dont care what shows are on TV, Ice Road Truckers dont have shit on this job. I now consider this to be the most dangerous job in the world. With the danger though comes a magnificent view! But still, I don’t know if it’s an equal trade-off. These guys are basically free-climbing (few hooks and virtually no safety gear) to the top of a 1768-foot tower! My palms got sweaty just watching this from the safety of my cubical.

I have been a little fixed gear heavy as of late, but my bike is in the process of being built, and Im a bit stoked, so relax, cut me some slack, and be greatful. For fixed-gear cyclists, Los Angeles is a city that has it all. From the neon glow of Hollywood to the sun-drenched boardwalk of Venice Beach, fixed-gear has evolved into a vibrant street culture that is uniquely L.A.

From director David Rowe (Fast Friday) comes a new documentary feature that explores a side of L.A. few outsiders have seen. From races through rush-hour traffic to midnight loft parties, To Live & Ride in L.A. is a fast paced-trip through the busy streets and back-alleys of one of the world’s largest cities.

To Live & Ride in L.A. features talented local riders tearing up the streets with first-time visitor Keo Curry (Fast Friday, Macaframa) – one of the living legends of the sport. Bike to hidden spots off the map, race a midnight alley-cat, keep pace with the riders from Wolfpack, and hang with the local crews, graffiti artists and other L.A. personalities burning up the fixed-gear scene.

From 1968 to 1975, gangs ruled New York City. Beyond the idealistic hopes of the civil rights movement lay a unfocused rage. Neither law enforcement nor social agency could end the escalating bloodshed. Peace came only through the most unlikely and courageous of events that would change the world for generations to come by giving birth to hip-hop culture. Rubble Kings, a documentary freshly touring the festival circuit promises to be a comprehensive portrait of the gang-ruled NYC and the birth of hip hop culture. Awaiting a release date, this is one that is on our list for sure.

Here’s a pretty interesting study done by the folks over at the dating site OkCupid.com, who pooled a sample of 526,00 users to see what different key words various races used in their profile descriptions.

We selected 526,000 OkCupid users at random and divided them into groups by their (self-stated) race. We then took all these people’s profile essays (280 million words in total!) and isolated the words and phrases that made each racial group’s essays statistically distinct from the others’.

Results are as racist and funny as we expected.

White Men:

Check out all the other races below
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Rope swings and cliff jumping is one of the coolest and most fun things to do on Earth, simple as that, so when I saw this video I was just blown away with it’s pure awesomeness. The video features Mike Wilson killing it on the Truckee River doing 60 foot double and triple back flips. The video is very well put together and great music to go along with it. I love how everyone rafting down the river pulls over and enjoys the show, as would I. If this doesn’t get you in the mood for the weekend, I don’t know what will. You can visit Mike Miller’s site for more extreme stuff found here.

This is always a fun game, lets play “how many people she has banged”. Look at these nice ladies and try to guess how many lovers each of them had in her life. Who had 1, 5, 25, 50 or 5,000? Which woman hasn’t had sex at all?
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