Tuesday, May 22, 2012

In the News: The Gary Johnson Difference


Gary Johnson marches up another mountain
Richmond Times-Dispatch
By: A. Barton Hinkle

"When researchers announced the discovery of a mountain taller than Everest on the asteroid Vesta, Gary Johnson had already climbed it." So said "Gary Johnson Facts" on Twitter a while back, after noting that "A duck's quack does not echo. Gary Johnson is solely responsible for this phenomenon."

Like Chuck Norris, who inspired this genre of humor, Gary Johnson is not viewed with gravity by a great many people these days. This is too bad, because — unlike Norris — he should be.

The Everest gag refers to a "true fact," as such things are called: Johnson once climbed to the summit of Mount Everest — and he did so with frostbitten toes and a leg that had not fully healed from an earlier break. He hopes to reach the highest peak on every continent. If past is prologue, he probably will: He already has scaled Mount Elbrus, Mount McKinley and Mount Kilimanjaro. He also has competed in the Ironman triathlon five times, has run 100 miles in 30 consecutive hours — in the Rockies — and has nearly killed himself paragliding.

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