“Polar madness” grips many people working at poles
“Say there’s somebody you go to lunch with and you don’t notice the way that they eat. But if you ate with that same person day in and day out for six months, suddenly the way they chew their food is enough to drive you crazy,” added Palinkas, who has ventured to the Antarctic seven times.
The Lancet paper detailed past cases of polar expeditions gone wrong, including an Arctic scientific expedition in the 1880s that descended into mutiny, lunacy, suicide and cannibalism, leaving only six survivors from a crew of 25 men.
Palinkas cited more recent examples of “polar madness” at research stations, including one staffer clubbing another with a claw hammer and another beating a co-worker with a pipe.
“There was a saying at the station for the remainder of the winter that ‘If you’ve got a gripe, use a pipe,”‘ he said.
The researchers mentioned several other symptoms among people on polar expeditions such as memory impairment, anxiety, reduced alertness, headaches, boredom, fatigue, inattention to personal hygiene, intellectual inertia and over-eating.
Intellectual inertia? I wonder what that means.
I have tremendous respect for people who can live in confined spaces with anyone for half a year or more. Some people can’t even manage to stay married for that long.
One can only imagine what the atmosphere is like at a place like the Halley research station, when one looks at Snow Girl’s collection of photographs from over there. It seems like most of the staff has lost their mind in one way or another, but for some it is a positive experience. Most seem to pursue all kinds of crazy activities just to keep sane. They even have a bar in a mysterious “building number 5″.
Recently polar and arctic regions have started to increasingly interest me. While researching the Kola peninsula as a potential hiking destination, I found out about Varanger in the most Northern part of Norway. It seems like a beautiful, yet easily accessible place. Kola might be a bit too demanding for a solo expedition for someone with my level of experience of arctic regions.
Posted by api at 12:21 - 4 Comments »
U.S. Subs Luxury Submarines
At U.S. Submarines we are always interested in finding new clients for our products. Unfortunately, there are very few individuals financially capable of purchasing one of our vehicles. And while there are quite a few corporations that could afford our products, not many can justify the expenditure.
There is also what we call the “Lemming Syndrome”. There are many individuals and corporations that purchase expensive luxury yachts, some of which get very little use. Yet when approached with the concept of a luxury submarine, they discard the idea without serious consideration because they do not know anyone else who has one, and they are not progressive enough to contemplate the advantages of ownership. Sadly, a place to sip cocktails while invoking as much envy as possible is the rationale for many status conscious large yacht owners. So, we’re always interested to speak to the progressive and enlightened few who might consider one of our submarines as an incredible alternative which opens the possibilities of new worlds and new experiences - all in perfect comfort and safety.
I really like the tone of the text at the U.S. Submarines web site. They are selling a novel concept to a clientele that is willing to pay 10 to 100 million dollars for a vehicle that many might view as no more than an extremely expensive status symbol. Their potential clients include arab sheiks, world leaders and hi-tech mega-millionaires. As a side note, the president of our own country recently commissioned a luxury yacht for mere 2 millions euros.
I read through most of U.S. Submarines marketing material and learned a lot about submarines… licensing, operating range, comfort factors etc. Although going underwater in a metal tube might not seem like the safest thing to do, I was surprised to find out that there haven’t ever been any serious injuries or fatalities in the history of tourist submarines. Statistically speaking, that actually makes it the safest form of transportation in the world.
Although submarines aren’t exactly the most fashionable form of transport, they have remained a source of constant inspiration for popular culture ever since Jules Verne wrote about Nautilus and Captain Nemo in Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea in 1870.
Nautilus
Much of the ship was decorated to standards of luxury that were unequalled in a seagoing vessel of the time. These included a library with boxed collections of valuable oceanic specimens that were unknown to science at the time, expensive paintings, and several collections of jewels. The Nautilus also featured a lavish dining room and even an organ that Captain Nemo used to entertain himself in the evening.
Posted by api at 08:33 - No Comments »
I spent last week at a summer cabin in Jämi area and in the Seitseminen national park. Most of the time the weather spirits were not in a favorable mood, but luckily the skies cleared for the experimental aircraft gathering, The Jämi-Niinisalo Fly-In.
There was a whole bunch of stuff to see for the aviation enthusiasts. I learned a lot about the hobby of building and flying your own aircrafts and about aviation in general. One thing that fascinated me in particular was the radio controlled aircraft modeling. It had seemed like a way too expensive and difficult activity for a person with poor hand/eye co-ordination (like me) to even consider.
Fortunately, nowadays it is possible practice flying the models at the comfort of your own computer den. I think I have crashed a few thousands of dollars worth of virtual planes already!
I highly recommend the free demo of the RealFlight 3.5 simulator. It is available at RealFlight web site. It has only one model, but the wind dynamics and the physics simulation are apparently quite accurate and realistic. I am seriously considering getting the full version some time in the future.
EDIT: To get an idea what you can do with modern electric planes, have a look at this this demonstration flight at YouTube.
Posted by api at 22:20 - 2 Comments »
I am having real troubles trying to resume the previous, more or less regular update schedule of this blog. I’m finally back in Finland. In July everything closes down around here and people head to their precious little summer cabins to relax and enjoy the sunsets and mosquitos.
Anyway, our last leg in the long trip around the Balkan countries was a cycling trip down the Danube river. There are many companies that arrange such trips and we chose the “economical option” of one of the bigger companies. They take your luggage from hotel to hotel and all you have to do is to hop on a bike every morning and ride 50-80 kilometers to the next pitstop.
All in all, it worked like a charm. The overnight stops had been chosen very carefully to offer a delightful variety of different styles of accommodation. In Linz we stayed at Hotel Kolping, which is run by a christian social organization. In many other cities we stayed at smaller gasthauses and guest rooms run by Weinguts & Heurigens (vineyards & wineries, that is). They were often run by a single family and the staff was always very friendly and hospitable, yet completely professional in the way they handled the business.
Every now and then we would see the some of our trip companions, but you could easily enjoy the nature and the steady, satisfying downhill speed of the route all by yourself if you wanted to. The scenery was beautiful and the river made it easy to find the right way. We had a little well written guide book with us. It was provided by the company that organized the trip and contained detailed maps of the entire route. Sometimes it was a little hard to find the exact spot of the accommodation, but we didn’t have to ask for directions at any time.
I highly recommend this option for anyone who is interested in starting multi-day cycling trips, but isn’t keen on spending a lot of time finding out about accommodation options or carrying a lot of stuff with them. It is the most popular bike route in all of Europe and for a very good reason. The bike lane quality is excellent and there are plenty of choices for a quick snack or a lunch along the way.
I’ll upload some photographs once I’m back from my own personal summer cabin trip after a week or so. Until then… Peace out, brothers and sisters!
Posted by api at 09:39 - No Comments »
