(This was a "travelogue" e-mail, sent out on May 2, 2008)
Hi All,
Well, as you can imagine it’s getting quite dark and cold down here these days. The last sunset was almost a week ago, and the most we get is a bit of twilight in the middle of the day. It’s okay, though, I’m kind of looking forward to the darkness. It hasn’t affected me much mood-wise, except for a touch of insomnia. There is a light room here in the main galley building, in case the darkness gets really old. It’s just a vacant dorm room with about ten extra fluorescent fixtures added. I think they use full-spectrum bulbs, too. There is also a greenhouse on station, which I haven’t had a chance to check out yet on this tour. Very strange weather lately—blowing mist at well below zero. Yesterday’s low was -17F, with a low wind chill of -45F. That’s not any worse than weather we were having six weeks ago, but there was a lot of moisture in the air, which formed hoar frost on everything, and felt extra chilly against exposed skin. I drove out to the Pegasus runway, on the ice shelf to troubleshoot a data network yesterday. The road is flagged with bamboo flags—at times we could only see three or four of them at a time. Found some interesting links for y’all to peruse, in case all the warmth and light in your lives gets to be a grind. First, you can read a nice article about my coworker, Antz Powell, in our newspaper, the Antarctic Sun: http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/features/contentHandler.cfm?id=1402. You can view the paper in general, including back issues at: http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/ . Another interesting blog/site developed by a McMurdo local (fellow contractor) is Big Dead Place: http://www.bigdeadplace.com/. He makes some rather controversial and insightful observations about the bureaucracy behind the polar program. Warner Herzog did a documentary about life down here, called Encounters at the End of the World; you can see details at: http://encountersfilm.com/. I haven’t seen that one yet, but it sounds interesting. There is a review and some background information about that film posted on Big Dead Place. Another new film out is Ice People: http://www.icepeople.com/index.html. Haven’t seen that one yet, either, but I understand both films had some footage of McMurdo and our unique local population—most likely some folks I know. I’d like to hear back from you on these films and links, and any other you discover. There seems to be a lot of interest in the ice right now, and it’s fascinating to see it from this perspective.
Cheers,
Lee
Well, as you can imagine it’s getting quite dark and cold down here these days. The last sunset was almost a week ago, and the most we get is a bit of twilight in the middle of the day. It’s okay, though, I’m kind of looking forward to the darkness. It hasn’t affected me much mood-wise, except for a touch of insomnia. There is a light room here in the main galley building, in case the darkness gets really old. It’s just a vacant dorm room with about ten extra fluorescent fixtures added. I think they use full-spectrum bulbs, too. There is also a greenhouse on station, which I haven’t had a chance to check out yet on this tour. Very strange weather lately—blowing mist at well below zero. Yesterday’s low was -17F, with a low wind chill of -45F. That’s not any worse than weather we were having six weeks ago, but there was a lot of moisture in the air, which formed hoar frost on everything, and felt extra chilly against exposed skin. I drove out to the Pegasus runway, on the ice shelf to troubleshoot a data network yesterday. The road is flagged with bamboo flags—at times we could only see three or four of them at a time. Found some interesting links for y’all to peruse, in case all the warmth and light in your lives gets to be a grind. First, you can read a nice article about my coworker, Antz Powell, in our newspaper, the Antarctic Sun: http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/features/contentHandler.cfm?id=1402. You can view the paper in general, including back issues at: http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/ . Another interesting blog/site developed by a McMurdo local (fellow contractor) is Big Dead Place: http://www.bigdeadplace.com/. He makes some rather controversial and insightful observations about the bureaucracy behind the polar program. Warner Herzog did a documentary about life down here, called Encounters at the End of the World; you can see details at: http://encountersfilm.com/. I haven’t seen that one yet, but it sounds interesting. There is a review and some background information about that film posted on Big Dead Place. Another new film out is Ice People: http://www.icepeople.com/index.html. Haven’t seen that one yet, either, but I understand both films had some footage of McMurdo and our unique local population—most likely some folks I know. I’d like to hear back from you on these films and links, and any other you discover. There seems to be a lot of interest in the ice right now, and it’s fascinating to see it from this perspective.
Cheers,
Lee
("Frosty Bike" by Ken Klassy, a coworker. "Flags" picture not taken lately-- just to show what a flagged ice shelf road looks like.)
1 comment:
Wow...cute name...you are so damn clever. You know you should write for a living don't you? To hell with facilitating. You are a born journalist. I was one...I should know.
I think there is a job opening at the Prescott Courier for 20K
xoxoxo
Susan
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