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For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact

blogs.smithsonianmag.com

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Re: For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact

#141

Post by RivieraKid »

grecy wrote: post #56
throwmeaway33 wrote: post #40

"When the warm days do arrive, though, the taiga blooms, and for a few short months it can seem almost welcoming." Hahaha. This guy has no idea what he's talking about. As someone who has been in the taiga in the summer, it's absolutely horrible. The air is alive with mosquitoes. There are clouds of them around you 24/7. The place is just permafrost and swamps. It's really pretty, but a miserable place to live. That'…

Which is welcoming compared to winter. Trust me, when summer finally comes and there are actual green things an animals and berries around, mosquitoes can be tolerated (I live above 60 degrees north - it's well past -40 here today)

That sounds quite extreme... What do you do for living?

Re: For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact

#142

Post by RivieraKid »

erikpukinskis wrote: post #50
scrapcode wrote: post #29

This is absolutely amazing. This woman is more of a man than any man I know, living in some desolate valley for all of those years now absolutely ALONE? One word: Wow.

This woman is more of a man than any man I know What do you mean?

It's not very hard to understand. Surviving in the wilderness is considered "manly" by most people. She's very good at this. So she's manly in a way.

Re: For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact

#143

Post by saalweachter »

aleyan wrote: post #107
saalweachter wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It makes me a little jealous of the quality of sky they must have had.

The first and the last time I have observed satellites in the sky was about 20 years ago in Kirov Oblast (Russia). They were fainter than the brightest stars but still distinctly visible with a few crawling across the sky at a given time. The area was rural then but not completely desolate with several villages within 10k radius. There should be large areas of the US where there is comparable or lower level light pol…

I actually have a patch of black sky lined up already, just got to wait for the stars to align: weekend, no clouds, no moon, when I can afford to drive somewhere in the wee hours of the morning and back the next day.

But honestly, the tradeoffs I would have to make to move somewhere with even blue sky or green sky at this particular point in my life are large enough that they might as well be in Siberia. And I expect it to get worse as I age and entrench. Hence, a bit of jealousy.

Re: For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact

#144

Post by cgh »

grecy wrote: post #135
polymatter wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sense a broken thermometer

Funny you should say that - the reason I said "way past -40" is because all the thermometers I can find don't go past -40. Even the digital ones just say "-40.0C" at about 6pm, and won't show anything else until 17 hours later when the sun comes back, and they creep up a few degrees.

Someone else just mentioned it, but I used to live in northern BC and our "red liquid" thermometers recorded temps down to about -60C or so. Coldest I can recall as a kid was -54C. We still walked to school.

Re: For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact

#145

Post by sakopov »

I just glanced at this story. I'm actually familiar with this family and used to read a lot about them in early 90s. In fact, Peskov used to write pretty frequently about them in "Komsomolskaya Pravda," a very popular newspaper publication in Russia, ever since he located the family. He even found relatives of this family who invited Agafia to live with them, but she declined. Really interesting and kind of makes you think about the vastness of Siberian wilderness and that this kind of stuff is even possible in today's day and age.

Re: For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact

#146

Post by dredmorbius »

grecy wrote: post #128
dredmorbius wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YouTube has at least a portion of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3NRdZ8J24Q Dick's capabilities (he had been a carpenter when living in civilization) were amazing, though he remained in periodic contact with the rest of civilization, including receiving regular supplies. It's also interesting to note his reliance on steel tools that he wasn't capable of replacing: saw…

> While creative and highly independent, Proenneke was by no means self-sufficient. I agree 100%. He also had a rifle, canoe, hiking boots etc that all would have been replaced from the outside world over the years. I loved his comment about solo canoeing in his lake: "I always knew that to swim was to die, but I never had a problem". The water is so cold up here, you'll be dead in less than a minute if you swim in t…

It's actually possible to swim in very cold water -- "polar bear" swimmers do this regularly, and Lynne Cox notably has swum for extended times in 40F and 25 minutes in 32F water during her Antarctic swim. She seems to have a unique ability to maintain core temperatures despite a very cold environment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynne_Cox

The two biggest dangers are panic and shock when you first enter the water, hypothermia after leaving the water, and even sudden death as the body re-warms after leaving it. For that last, I read (but can't find) a story of several survivors of a shipwreck who died after drinking a hot beverage which warmed their bodies too quickly -- all the survivors died, one after the other, on the rescue ship.

Re: For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact

#148

Post by Xcelerate »

seldo wrote: post #134
Xcelerate wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sheesh... Let me translate the post for you: "This woman is so good that a certain physical difference between genders that has historically been regarded a prestigious male trait can be made even more of a compliment by giving it to a woman". I don't understand the obsession I find online of people searching for insults and controversies that don't exist.

I know that's what you meant. Regarding male-only traits as prestigious implies that they are superior to female-only traits. That implication is sexism. Whether or not you think sexism is insulting -- and it appears you do not -- it was definitely sexism. And other people find sexism insulting.

> Regarding male-only traits as prestigious implies that they are superior to female-only traits

Nope. It in no way implies that. That was an assumption you made. Among male traits, strength has historically been prestigious. How on earth is that implying female-only traits are inferior? Give me a first-order logic chain or something here because I'm not seeing the inferences.

> Whether or not you think sexism is insulting

I do think sexism is insulting. His post was not sexism.

Re: For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact

#149

Post by RivieraKid »

seldo wrote: post #134
Xcelerate wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sheesh... Let me translate the post for you: "This woman is so good that a certain physical difference between genders that has historically been regarded a prestigious male trait can be made even more of a compliment by giving it to a woman". I don't understand the obsession I find online of people searching for insults and controversies that don't exist.

I know that's what you meant. Regarding male-only traits as prestigious implies that they are superior to female-only traits. That implication is sexism. Whether or not you think sexism is insulting -- and it appears you do not -- it was definitely sexism. And other people find sexism insulting.

That's reality. There are traits that men are better at. And the same applies for women. If someone finds reality insulting, it could be their problem.

Re: For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact

#150

Post by RivieraKid »

mhurron wrote: post #62
erikpukinskis wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This woman is more of a man than any man I know What do you mean?

They mean they have a very narrow definition of what makes a man a man. For example - I can not do many repairs to my car and so I take it to a mechanic. To a great many people, this makes me less of a man.

They?
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