From the “How-In-The-Hell-Did-We-Miss-This?” file:
Eric Savitz blogged for Barron’s tech Trader Daily on July 28th, “The very last speaker on the last day of the AlwaysOn conference at Stanford on Thursday was noneother than Steve Wozniak, the legendary Woz. (And seriously, he really is a legendary figure: for instance, do you have a street named after you?)”
Savitz reports, “The Woz said he plans to drive to the South Pole in a Hummer in 2007. He said that in passing, and it seemed so absurd that I had to find out more. So after his talk, I went up and asked. Woz explained that he was participating in an expedition planned for December 2007 in which a group will drive Hummers running on hydrogen powered fuel cells from McMurdo Station to the South Pole. Woz said his particular vehicle would be co-piloted by Buzz Aldrin, who walked on the moon in 1969. The expedition is to be filmed in 3D for the director James Cameorn. Woz said that the group has received important advice on the project from the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authroity, which has been running some hydrogen fuel-cell powered buses.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Listen, we know at least one of you read this last Friday. Why didn’t you email us?! This is as “Classic Woz” as “Classic Woz” gets! If you ever read a story even remotely near the caliber of “Woz plans 2007 Hummer ride to South Pole with Buzz Aldrin, James Cameron to film in 3D” and you don’t see it on MacDailyNews, please click contact and pop us the link, okay? Thanks in advance. Oh yeah, GO, WOZ, GO!!!
Related MacDailyNews article:
Video: Woz playing Segway polo (and bonking pedestrian on head) – July 08, 2006
Woz is an eccentric. Hopefully, the ice won’t break underneath his Hummer and he plunges to the bottom of the ocean up there.
Not “up” there, dude. “Down” there at the South Pole.
P.S. I love Woz. (Not in a sexual way.)
Now that’s how you’re supposed to live when you’re independently wealthy!
Hopefully he won’t do any ice Segwey polo.
A few lucky innovations/collaborations in one’s youth do not make a person great.
Can the Hummer withstand Woz’s weight???
Better cut down on the pudding pops and pizza, Woz. The ice at the South Pole ain’t that thick.
I first saw this story on that funny blog by Steve Jobs..
no self control…. MW: future,…. perhaps hydrogen fuel cells are the future?
the south pole has a continent underneath it; lots of snow, but no ice worries that i know of.
But will the fuel cells work in the cold? The Santa Clara Transit Authority does not strike me as an expert source for cold weather advice. Now the Minneapolis Tansit authority might be a whole differnent story.
The South Pole is only “down” if you are a eurocentric fool. North is North and South is South…. if you rotate a Map 90º or even 180º it is still entirely accurate, despite the South Pole perchance being at the “top.”
This rant of modern cultural criticism has been brought to you by the letter “S”
He better put some chains on the Segway tires! Segway hockey anyone?
“A few lucky innovations/collaborations in one’s youth do not make a person great.”
You’re right “hum this”, however, contributing to society in countless ways over the course of one’s life does make a person great. Read up on Woz sometime. He’s truly one of the good guys and deserves very great thing that comes to him. Have fun Woz, but be careful!
Oops! That supposed to read” every great thing that comes to him.”
Hum This: “Lucky”? Woz and Jobs were “Lucky” that they happened to give birth to personal computing as we know it? They were “lucky” enough to be the guys that worked like mad in their garage to come up with something? No. Lucky is when you are walking down the street and find a $20 bill. Lucky is winning the lottery. Lucky is not going to school and using your free time to better your understanding of an up and coming technology and seeing the what it could do for individuals in the future.
Let’s try a different word for you. You can look this one up in the dictionary also: “Jealous”.
Ok, I apologize.
But by “lucky” I meant “lucky” to have had the opportunity to work on important projects (or create them) with others that “got it” too.
I didn’t mean he wasn’t talented or genius. That’s Bill Gates. Conniving and lucky to have Apple as his R&D.
And I meant basically “Okay, if he’s done good things for the world, great, but let’s not prop him up as a god if he only did a bit of clever coding or soldering.”
But yeah, if you mean without Woz, we’d still be in DOS or worse, then viva la WOZ!
Isn’t McMurdo Station the one right NEXT to the South Pole? What kind of challenge is that?
Forget the Hummers. Woz could probably take a Segway to the pole if he wanted.
Oh, so Woz is the idiot who drives Hummers to anti-global warming rallies?
We need more Bummer-driving idiots to make South Pole trips in their gas guzzlers. Hoping they die on the way in, rather than out – sooner is better, you know. Humanity would be much better off without them.
BTW, Woz, how about making it to the Pole on skis instead? Think about the exercise you’d get. You’d be able to walk on your own again, maybe even sell that Segway of yours on eBay. A horse would be able to carry you for a change. See, the game of polo was meant to be played on horse back.
short trip “Isn’t McMurdo Station the one right NEXT to the South Pole? What kind of challenge is that?”
No, McMurdo Station is 1350km away from South Pole Station, which I think is the one you mean. To get between the two, you have to go up a glacier, across a mountain range, and over 1000km of creviced ice field. Sure qualifies as a challenge to me.
BTW, on an interesting side note McMurdo Station is nicknamed “Mac Town” by those stationed there and the other research bases in the area. Maybe Jobs should have gone instead
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JanKo, RTFA. Fuel cells are powering the thing, not petrol.
Woz the purpose?
must work for the NRDC or Sierra Club–the perfect, ranting, ignorant enviro. What he really resents is not “global warming,” since Woz’s Hummer will be powered by fuel cells, but high-tech comfort–in other words, modernity. Apparently, we should all go back to living in the forest and dying at 35; that way, the human plague/virus on Mother Earth will be reduced to tolerable levels.
Hmmm, no thanks.
Kate
Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.
JanKo,
“Hummers running on hydrogen powered fuel cells”, you know, the technology that supposed to FREE US FROM RELYING ON OIL??????
Way to show off those comprehension skills!
I’m all for riding a hummer. Buzz Aldrin is bringing his favorite bong.
We need more Bummer-driving idiots to make South Pole trips in their gas guzzlers.
LOL. What would you drive to the south pole? A Prius?
Sure Woz can make everyone feel all environmentally warm-and-fuzzy about using fuel cells.
How about a breakdown of the energy it took to capture and compress the hydrogen that’ll be used in the fuel cells? Better yet, how much petro are they going to burn for air/sea transportation, and lfor ife-support heat on an unnecessary excursion?
Nothing’s free.
I doubt that this elite team of brave hearts will rely on their honed skills of wilderness survival to make their trek using only their own brawn and brains. Modern day adventurists aren’t half the men of previous centuries. The 21st century self-described supermen wouldn’t venture without a satellite phone, GPS, e-mail, and daily contact with base camp and a host of airborne rescuers on 24-hour stand-by. This “event” is nothing less than walk in the park for pathetic people starved of public adoration pretending to endure the peril of wilderness exploration. The only “endurance” these assholes will experience is the wait for someone else to prepare their pre-packaged meals.
My favorite part of the story is when Woz pulls a laser out of his pocket to sign this guy’s Macbook. Who carries a freakin’ laser in their pocket?
Woz.