I have a series of Google Alerts set up to notify me when new articles go live online which contain certain keywords…or key phrases, as the case may be. In the most recent example, I got a single hit on the phrase “Richard Garriott”, which came from the “More important news” section of the Prairie Advocate, a small, rural news publication from north-western Illinois.

You have to scroll down a bit to find it, but here it is:

Polar Expeditions of Ernest Shackleton Presentation

Join Paul Sipiera as you learn about the incredible life and Antarctic expeditions of Ernest Shackleton. Find out what made this man unique in his polar exploration and view details of his icy journeys in this PowerPoint presentation.

On Saturday, February 15th at 1:00pm, Paul Sipiera, Planetary Studies Foundation president and adjunct curator of meteorites at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, will present a program about Ernest Shackleton and his expeditions to the South Pole. Sipiera will also review PSF’s three expeditions to Antarctica in search of meteorites that have included astronauts James Lovell, Owen Garriott and self-funded astronaut Richard Garriott de Cayeux.

The Ernest Shackleton program will be held at the PSF Earth and Space Science Museum, 115 N. Main Street, Elizabeth IL. Preluding Ernest Shackleton’s birthday celebration will be a StarLab program featuring American Indian mythology at 11:00am. So come for the StarLab show, Ernest Shackleton program or stay the day!

All events are free for PSF Members and $5.00 for general public unless otherwise noted. A celebratory birthday cake and punch will be served. For more information please contact PSF at 815-858-2014 or email dsipiera@planets.org. Find us on Facebook and visit our website www.planets.org. Follow @PSF1989 on Twitter for updates and science news.

And indeed, if you click over to Richard Garriott’s official online biography, you’ll see that he did indeed take a trip to the frozen continent. Indeed, he took two such trips:

Besides being a video game mogul, Richard has also maintained a thirst for adventure and exploration. Not only is he active in the adventure sports of scuba diving, hang gliding, sky diving, caving, and rappelling in addition to other water and winter sports, but Richard also enjoys taking his love of adventure to the next level. He has participated in two expeditions in search of meteorites on the continent of Antarctica during which he was able to witness spectacular views of the continent he still describes as the most beautiful place on earth. His other travels have taken him to the bottom of the Atlantic to see the Titanic, Rwanda to observe mountain gorillas and a canoe trip down the Amazon River.

The image above is taken from Garriott’s website, by the way.