Climbing the tallest mountain on earth is no small feat, and is certainly something to be proud of, but it's not without its risks; most of which stem from the extremely low Oxygen content in the air in "The Death Zone" above 22,000 ft. Unfortunately, it seems that Neal Muller, a grad student at UPenn's Wharton School succumbed to this lack of O2 and lost some brain cells on the way down. Muller whines in a Washington Post article that he was unable to triumphantly mount the top of the world to to soundtrack of Van Halen, because his iPod died during the climb. Now, my first reaction to this is utter speechlessness, followed by anger and depression about the state of the human race. I won't address Muller's arguments here, as Dan over at Mac User has done a tremendous job of that, but I will outline some of his arguments and their flaws. - Muller complains that the hard drive failed; almost 20,000ft above its designed maximum operating altitude, and likely 50 degrees below its minimum operating temperature.
- He complains that because the iPod doesn't use an "open connection standard," it suffers from a lack of accessories; I suppose that just over 3000 iPod specific accessories isn't really that much compared with... wait... no, thats actually a lot.
- Argues that the iPod is a "flash-in-the-pan": I guess 85% market share and 5 years of growth don't count for much.
In addition to contradicting with evidence every single one of this morons arguments, Dan poses a really great question; what the hell was this guy doing listening to his iPod on Everest? When you're doing something which kills as many people as summiting Everest does, you should probably be paying attention to your surroundings instead of worrying about how many stars to give the currently playing track.
It's really sad to see that some people really are so stupid as to make these kinds of arguments, and disappointing that the WP would post such drivel. In any case, check it out, if only to laugh at this guys utter clueless-ness.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-25-2006 @ 11:28PM
Matt said...
this climb sponsored by Creative. all commentary contained within is not that of the individuals, but just the money talking :D
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10-25-2006 @ 11:29PM
Matt said...
oh, forgot the proof of sponsorship:
http://www.nealmueller.com/sponsors.html
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10-25-2006 @ 11:49PM
eric said...
Good post Matt - proof that what's-his-face preferred the iPod, in spite of the fact that he could have brought several free Creative players with him. Frankly, anyone who complains that their electronic device breaks when they take it extremely out of it's environmental operating range doesn't deserve to listen to Van Halen when ascending to the peak. Personally - if I scaled Everest, what I was listening to when I made it to the top would be the last thing on my mind...
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10-26-2006 @ 12:10AM
Tom said...
I agree with everyone's comments and how stupid this is. Here it comes... BUT if he would have summited with the iPod working and that was the story. We would all be saying how cool it was, no?
Just a little reality check for myself and everyone. Don't get me wrong the guys commments were lame but we would be singing a different tune if...
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10-26-2006 @ 12:32AM
leojsoap said...
Nice find Matt, I do believe this man deserves a star :)
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10-26-2006 @ 12:39AM
Josh said...
I'm sure Apple's glad that people will go on the defensive for them without being on their payroll.
Yeah, I think Neal's whining is uncalled for, but wasting time counter-whining?
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10-26-2006 @ 1:54AM
Bill G said...
I'm not sure about the last decade or so, but up until the time the book "Into Thin Air" was written, 1 in 5 people who *reached* the summit died before they made it back down.
That's just crazy.
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10-26-2006 @ 2:33AM
moog said...
The internet's a weird place. When somebody makes comments that are so plainly ridiculous, why not just leave them to be buried under the weight of their own display of stupidity, rather than give them the oxygen of more publicity?
Seems anyone can get their 15 mins of internet fame just by uttering something dumb.
Tell you what though, I was really p!ssed off when I reversed the car over my Powerbook last week. Can you believe the CD drive isn't working anymore? I swear these Apple products are just low quality rip-offs...
;-)
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10-26-2006 @ 2:52AM
Bernard said...
Did you mean "deprivation"?
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10-26-2006 @ 3:25AM
moog said...
Maybe he was doing something depraved with oxygen? Inflatable Yeti?
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10-26-2006 @ 4:18AM
Paul said...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this a** clown comparing a flash drive (Muvo) to a disk based iPod?
I bet he was listening to Van Hagar too....
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10-26-2006 @ 4:26AM
Marky Mark said...
Well i was near Everest Base camp this summer at about 17500ft and my ipod screen stopped working! Hmmm...class action lawsuit alert! Just cos i'm having trouble breathing doesn't mean my ipod should be sufferin!!
Actually no...the only thing thats annoying is that i set the alarm on that side of the world...now i'm back on this side it goes off without fail at 4am every dang morning but i can't see the menu to turn it off!
Oh and nice find Matt!
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10-26-2006 @ 6:01AM
south said...
a 'climber' reaches the summit of Everest once every 2-3 days now (via ropes and ladders). really, if it were anything special would you even NEED van halen to tell you how awesome it was?
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10-26-2006 @ 7:40AM
Clair said...
I like the last paragraph, comparing the price of the Sony Walkman to the price of an iPod. If I'm interpretting that correctly, he's saying the iPod should only cost $80?
Uh, the Walkman doesn't store ANY music other than the cassette it held (or CD, later). He's real smart, or I'm the moron.
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10-26-2006 @ 8:24AM
eleŠtro said...
Matt, you deserve a job a The Smoking Gun. Kudos, brother! Does anyone know if this was an actual article that was guest-written by Mueller, or a paid advertisement? You know, one that's made to look like an "article."
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10-26-2006 @ 8:44AM
Jeff Kirk said...
I'm sure he was wanting to play "On Top Of The World" by Van Halen. Very good song (and appropriate too).
Unfortunately, this guy sounds like an idea.
It's the same as me complaining that my Honda Accord gets stuck if I try taking it off-road.
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10-26-2006 @ 8:51AM
GadgetGav said...
You needn't be disappointed in the WP - just think how many more page hits you've given them by publicizing this to the Mac fanatic crowd. It's all about ad revenues and flaming an Apple product is a sure fire way to boost page hits. Just ask Larry Bodine...
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10-26-2006 @ 9:24AM
mdifranc said...
No need to waste text on this guy...going to Wharton gives you a high probability of also being an over-privileged, spoon-fed knob. Everest deserves better.
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10-26-2006 @ 9:51AM
Jonathan Allen said...
With Apple being so high profile at the moment, any wackjob can say something negative about Apple or it's products and the AP throw's it all over the place. If you ever check cnn.com there is almost always an article on the front page about something negative about an Apple product. Until there is a review about a new product and it gets five stars and "it is the best apple product to date". Then the next day someone gets a scratch on thier screen.
Hey Palm, my treo has a scratch on my screen: I'm going to sue you!
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10-26-2006 @ 9:54AM
Doug said...
If he wanted rugged, why didnt he take a nano or shuffle?
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