> Our water comes from a “Rodwell”, which is basically a big hole in the ground. TIL some people call a borewell a "rodwell"
Per the "boring rod"
Last Flight Out
81–90 of 322 posts
Re: Last Flight Out
#82The shower page was interesting, you get 4 minutes of shower time a week https://brr.fyi/posts/showering-at-the-south-pole I'm surprised they can't just melt snow water to run things like showers. Oddly no suggestions on the page about doubling up your shower with someone else to have longer or more frequent showers.
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Re: Last Flight Out
#83If you're interested in the people and personalities and activities at the South Pole, the Werner Herzog film Encounters at the End of the World is a revealing and interesting documentary. It includes a fascinating part about a deluded penguin choosing to leave its flock and begin a fatal journey towards the center of the island... - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encounters_at_the_End_of_the_W... - https://www.imdb.c…
The famous scene[0] from this film is a masterpiece. It never fails to sink me to my nadir, so I avoid watching it even if I love it so much. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnTU_hJoByA
Thanks. I remember that scene well. Herzog at his finest. I had the privilege of seeing Herzog speak in person at a conference around the time when this movie was released.
Re: Last Flight Out
#84No fresh food? Some Antarctic stations have hydroponics setups, is South Pole an exception?
https://www.antarctica.gov.au/antarctic-operations/stations/...
Re: Last Flight Out
#85Whenever I read about how humans are about to colonize Mars, I think about how much logistics it takes to keep even a single base with a handful of people populated on the South Pole. It's like Mars, but with plentiful oxygen and atmospheric pressure, plentiful (albeit frozen) water, shielded from radiation, low-latency communication with civilization, and is reachable by air and ground vehicles. Given how difficult and fraught it is to keep a few people alive down there, how does anyone expect to keep a few people alive on Mars, let alone build a colony there?
Re: Last Flight Out
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apparently not great if you're a woman: https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/02/as-antarctic-fieldwo...
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> "The animal within each of us comes out in Antarctica more than anywhere else. This is of course part of what makes living there so exciting on an elemental level."
It's supposed to be a science station, not some kind of wild survival game. I don't think any of the women scientists signed up for "excitement on an elemental level."
Re: Last Flight Out
#87This guy is living my dream! Unlikely I'll have have the chance to work in inland Antarctica as I'm not from a country that sends people over there for tech stuff, but I still hope someday I'll have the chance :)
Re: Last Flight Out
#88Whenever I read about how humans are about to colonize Mars, I think about how much logistics it takes to keep even a single base with a handful of people populated on the South Pole. It's like Mars, but with plentiful oxygen and atmospheric pressure, plentiful (albeit frozen) water, shielded from radiation, low-latency communication with civilization, and is reachable by air and ground vehicles. Given how difficult…
> how difficult and fraught it is to keep a few people alive down there, how does anyone expect to keep a few people alive on Mars, let alone build a colony there?
Necessity is the mother of invention. It makes no sense to use precious Antarctic time and space growing all the food when it's cheaper to ship it in. Similar to how civilizations with a history of littoral shipbuilding figured out ocean-faring--if you're always a day from port, you don't bother baking hard tack. That doesn't mean you can't.
Re: Last Flight Out
#89The shower page was interesting, you get 4 minutes of shower time a week https://brr.fyi/posts/showering-at-the-south-pole I'm surprised they can't just melt snow water to run things like showers. Oddly no suggestions on the page about doubling up your shower with someone else to have longer or more frequent showers.
> Everyone is free to stand in the physical shower stall as long as they want! As long as they keep water flow within the allocated quota.
I'm going to be turning on the water to get wet, soaping up, turning on the water to rinse. If I have some extra maybe I'll let the water just run for some seconds to enjoy it.
More people in the shower isn't going to help, they're just going to get in the way.
Also, at least 10 years ago when I heard from someone who was there, the over-winter population at the base was super-majority men, rather homophobic, and flaunting any hetereosexual couplings you had was... fraught, due to issues of jealosy and competition.
Re: Last Flight Out
#90The shower page was interesting, you get 4 minutes of shower time a week https://brr.fyi/posts/showering-at-the-south-pole I'm surprised they can't just melt snow water to run things like showers. Oddly no suggestions on the page about doubling up your shower with someone else to have longer or more frequent showers.
Strangely enough the South Pole Mega Shower is still shorter than my average shower time.
Maybe you can catch and reuse your own water. Then you’d just need to bring a jerrycan and water heater every time.