The twentieth awesome bit would be decent people trying to do the right thing while doing what they want. The example of such a person would be the guy on the right, Yvon Chouinard, the founder of both Patagonia and what eventually became Black Diamond. (The guy on the left would be me, who’s just trying to do the right thing while also trying to do what I want).

On Tuesday (1/15), Chouinard was doing a reading/talk at Palo Alto’s new Patagonia store. I’m really happy I went, even though the line to have him sign your book was ridiculous - it was a good talk and really inspiring. He’s a really nice guy to boot (as you might imagine from the photo).

Part of his presentation was about working with Doug Tompkins (founder of both The North Face and Esprit) on establishing a national park in Patagonia. He mentioned that there’s a nameless, unclimbed peak within the property they’re preparing for the park and he’s thinking of putting the opportunity to “bid” on naming rights on eBay for $1 million dollars as a fundraiser. He joked (or was he serious?) that if no one won the auction, he would name the peak “Mt. Paris Hilton” (not sure if he meant a double-entendre) - he figured that threat would be motivation enough to get someone to successfully bid.