Rob Walker of The New York Times digs into the marketing and fashion decisions around Burton’s U.S. Olympic snowboarding team pants… because someone has to help rearrange our Monday morning brain cells.

“Admittedly not even the hippest European head of state or out-of-the-box executive would be likely to wear jeans with the baggy and torn look sported by Shaun White and his teammates in Vancouver. But that look is still merely a variation on an established fashion pattern. The snowboarders didn’t interrupt a staid space with spectacular style (like a zoot suit in early 1940s Los Angeles); they attended a spectacle in familiar leisure wear.”

After years of offering satellite imagery as part of their standalone app Google Earth, last week the company added browser-based 3D perspectives to their popular Google Maps pages. No more downloading and installing an OS-dependent application: Earth View offers the ability to view mountains (and those thin blue lines flowing down them) from just about any perspective.

Earth View also allows you to dive beneath the ocean’s surface and view shipwrecks such as the Titanic — or that sunken island off the North Carolina coast where the giant bonito shoal up. Get the plugin here: Google Earth Plugin, just open up maps.google.com and click on “Earth” in the tabs at top right.

Adam Riser of Backcountry Beacon helps tune your mountain bike for the upcoming riding season, with attention to tubes/tires, brakes, air suspension, and the drivetrain: “Your drivetrain usually needs more love than anything else, so it’s a logical place to start. Kick it off by thoroughly oiling your chain, cassette, front chainrings, and rear derailleur cogs. This gets everything moving smoothly and lets you actually tune the derailleurs.”

Gear Junkie reviews TentPak’s integrated backpack and tent system: “Campers could potentially save a couple hundred bucks as opposed to buying a pack and tent separately…”

Backcountry Beacon offers 4 tips around “summer-ifying” old camping gear for your upcoming treks:

• Washing your sleeping bag: “Natural oils and dirt from grimy hiking pollute the down and make it lose its natural loft.”
• Rejuvenating rain jackets: “Specially formulated tech-washes are available from companies like Nikwax.”
• Tuning your stove: “Any stove with a remote fuel canister that has a pump needs to have the pump cup oiled.”
• Sealing your tent: “Seam sealing your tent is easy and permanent, and a one-ounce tube of Seam Grip is enough to seal the critical seams on most two-person tents.”

The Gear Guy: Outside Magazine’s Douglas Gantenbein reviews four lightweight, breathable tents from Black Diamond (Firstlight, $300), REI (Quarter Dome T3, $299), Sierra Designs (Meteor Light, $270), and Marmot (Aura 2P, $299), answering the question: What’s the best three-person tent with a good balance of lightweight ventilation and privacy?

Seven new family tents reviewed by Gear Junkie: the Big Agnes Flying Diamond 8 ($599.95), Kelty’s Yellowstone 4 ($144.95) and Lounge 4 ($349), Nemo’s Asashi ($399), Eureka’s N!ergy 9 ($209), Sierra Designs’ Lightning XT 4 ($449), and REI’s Hobitat 4 ($249). “Be it in the backcountry, on a canoe trip, or car camping at an area state park, one of these shelters is sure to fit your family’s preference for sleeping outside under the summer stars.”

Inclement weather shelter: Gear Junkie reviews Mammut’s waterproofed and 15-degree down sleeping bag. “With no seams on top and seam-sealed stitches on the bottom, the roughly 2.5-pound Shield protects you from rain, snow and sub-freezing temperatures. It also has a stiffened visor that comes down to your nose to help keep you dry when you sleep.”

Gear Junkie reviews Sierra Designs Mountain Meteor two and three-person tents–designed as “high-end expedition tents built to withstand the ‘toughest mountaineering conditions.’”

Gear Junkie reviews Eureka!’s Timberline SQ Outfitter–a traditional A-frame tent meant to “commemorate the Boy Scouts of America’s 100th anniversary.”