Sunday again and the Times was there for me. This weekend I had the luxury of getting through both Saturday and Sunday, and surprisingly, I even had time for Friday, too. I mention that because Friday there were three articles that really stood out. This article about Dean Potter was fascinating. Just the photo alone is enough to give me vertigo, and once I read the madness he was up to I nearly swooned off my seat. And I even kinda like heights. A lot of people do. But with the upcoming Olympics, China is concerned about groups attempting the highest point on the planet. While the Olympic Torch is run up Everest, other groups will be barred from the slopes.

tWiR had a lot of Iraq war coverage because we're five years in now. One portion that I found particularly galling was this:

On April 9, the day the Marines entered Baghdad and used one of their tanks to help the crowd haul down Saddam’s statue in Firdos Square, American troops stood by while mobs began looting, ravaging palaces and torture centers, along with ministries, museums and hospitals. Late in the day, at the oil ministry, I discovered it was the only building marines had orders to protect. Turning to Jon Lee Anderson, a correspondent for The New Yorker who had been my companion that day, I saw shock mirrored in his face. “Say it ain’t so,” I said. But it was.

Especially since I had just read this article, about how the Iraq insurgency is deriving most of its profits from stealing oil. Guess we still haven't gotten all that right.