Word: backpacking
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...through space at orbital velocities of more than 17,000 m.p.h., the speed of the shuttle, the two free floaters became the first human satellites of the earth. Never before had astronauts or cosmonauts, in dozens of space walks, ventured forth without a lifeline. Only a remarkable jet-powered backpack, which looked like castoff hardware from a science-fiction film, kept the walkers from drifting off into the cosmos. As Shuttle Commander Vance Brand, 52, put it, "They call each other Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers...
...made a housecoat, called a tanzen, into a hooded wool coat and turned striped cloth used to lead horses on ceremonial occasions into a jersey. He made tucked cotton jumpsuits so intricate that he evoked origami, the ancient art of paper folding, and he turned a farmer's backpack into a knit jacket. Says he: "I was trying to peel away to the limit of fashion...
...Atari salary helped stake Jobs to a trip to India, where he met up with a Reed buddy, Dan Kottke. "It was kind of an ascetic pilgrimage," says Kottke, "except we didn't know where we were going." Seeking spiritual solace and enlightenment with a shaved head and a backpack did not distract Jobs from stubbornly haggling over prices in the marketplace and dressing down a Hindu woman for apparently watering their milk. An erratic Siddhartha at best, Jobs came home in the fall of 1974 with more questions than answers. He tried primal therapy, went in search...
...first EVAS (for extravehicular activity) by American astronauts since Skylab crew members exited into space in 1973 to make external repairs on their orbital laboratory. Mission controllers called off the latest walks after a vital oxygen-and-coolant circulating fan in Astronaut Joe Allen's backpack wheezed and sputtered, and the pressure in Astronaut Bill Lenoir's suit failed to reach acceptable levels...
Everyone laughs at how odd that is and then the stories begin to fly: Jim Sheppe imitating some obscure bird in the small courtyard. Jim Sheppe wearing a huge leather backpack, tromping into the archway to the tune of an old German march which he is simultaneously singing and conducting in the air. Jim Sheppe convincing an audience of credulous Lowell House diners that he had once accidentally partaken of the flesh of two murdered Italian tourists in Africa. "But you know," one person concludes for the whole table. "I really like him. He's a very nice guy, very...