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

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

#171

Post by jlgreco »

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've been able to see the ISS from atop a building in downtown Philadelphia. If you know where/when to look, it is very easy to see even with very bad light pollution.

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

#172

Post by Xcelerate »

untog wrote: post #165
Xcelerate wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Identifying strength as solely being a 'manly' attribute is pretty sexist. No, you're missing this completely. Let me try something different, but analogous. Back when I was in high school, I ran track. My sister (in 8th grade at the time) was fast enough to have been 4th on the men's varsity team. So people told her, wow, you're as good as a guy! Did we value speed as a "solely" male attribute? No, it was valued s…

(I had edited my comment so that your quote doesn't apply any more- apologies) This is an apples and oranges comparison. In your example, people were saying quite specifically that "you can run as fast as a man, and men tend to be faster runners than women". The OPs post said nothing of the sort. You are inferring that they were referring to strength, but there's nothing to indicate that. Living by yourself in the wo…

> Living by yourself in the woods is apparently manly.

Yes, men are more likely to live in the woods by themselves than females. I haven't looked up this fact anywhere, but I guarantee I can find you a reference if you want one.

> But saying that she is "more of a man"...

... means she is better than most men at something they typically perform "better" (in a quantitive sense, mind you) than females. Which is completely the same as the situation I provided above. Perhaps you are getting confused by common American phrases. I might guess that you are not a native (American English) speaker?

EDIT: Just checked out your Twitter from the link on your HN profile and confirmed what I thought with regards to American vernacular.

And "somebody dunk that nerd's head in a toilet. It'll put hair in his chest. Like a real man!" Wow, seriously? This kind of hypocrisy? May I ask why it's okay to discriminate/oppress only certain groups?

I am certain your (and your friend's) views are highly abnormal, OR you are both greatly misinterpreting what scrapcode said (hint: this is the more likely explanation).

Check out the definition of sexist:

"Discrimination on the basis of sex, esp the oppression of women by men"

I do not adhere to this definition one bit, and quite frankly, I'm upset that you are having fun at my expense (with something that is not true) on Twitter. Anonymous HN users on are people too.

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

#174

Post by mathattack »

lkrubner wrote: post #92

There were 4 children, and one died. I have often wondered why the world's homo sapien population did not grow faster during the period 200,000 BC to 10,000 BC. In his book Extinct Humans, Ian Tattersall has argued that fully modern homo sapiens took shape around 200,000 BC and left Africa around 150,000 BC. http://www.amazon.com/Extinct-Humans-Ian-Tattersall/dp/08133... The growth of the population was very slow. So…

They weren't having any wars or fighting each other either. And no populations to give them germs.

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

#175

Post by pyre »

grecy wrote: post #152
cgh wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Awesome, I'll have to keep a lookout for one. I rode my bike in yesterday at around -45C. The snow drifts were too big today, so I walked for 35 minutes instead.

I'm curious, do you use mountain bike tires to get more traction in the snow, or are you able to use the small, thin street tires so long as the snow is sufficiently slushy/salted/shovelled?

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

#176

Post by mikeash »

gokfar wrote: post #137
mcherm wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With a reading of -40, I'm fairly certain* he's not using Kelvins. [*] Sometimes negative temperatures are used to represent temperatures ABOVE infinity. That's when high-energy quantum states are MORE populated than low-energy quantum states... it's useful for things like making a laser. But I still think it's unreasonable to believe that the temperature outside is -40 kelvin.

What do you mean by 'above infinity'?

Negative temperatures are effectively hotter than any positive temperature, as I understand it.

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

#177

Post by defen »

gokfar wrote: post #137
mcherm wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With a reading of -40, I'm fairly certain* he's not using Kelvins. [*] Sometimes negative temperatures are used to represent temperatures ABOVE infinity. That's when high-energy quantum states are MORE populated than low-energy quantum states... it's useful for things like making a laser. But I still think it's unreasonable to believe that the temperature outside is -40 kelvin.

What do you mean by 'above infinity'?

In a nutshell, if you put a negative temperature object A in contact with any object B with a positive temperature, energy will flow from A -> B, regardless of how high B's temperature is. This is the opposite of everyday positive temperatures, where energy will flow from the high-temperature object to the low-temperature one. So in a sense you could say that the temperature of A is "above infinity".

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

#178

Post by amolsarva »

Someone wrote: post #139
saalweachter wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It isn't that hard to see satellites in the sky. The ISS, in particular, can be very bright, to the point where you can see it in daylight ( http://www.hobbyspace.com/SatWatching/ , http://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking/2009/06/18/how-to-se... ) The 1950 ones would have been a lot harder to spot, of course, but might at times have reflected the light of the below-the-horizon sun.

I have seen the ISS. In New York city! Flying past the tops of buildings. http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/

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

#179

Post by dredmorbius »

grecy wrote: post #151
dredmorbius wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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, h…

Have you ever experienced it yourself? My first summer up here it was a beautiful sunny day and my friends were telling me about how people die in the lake every year. Being a very strong swimmer and from Australia, I didn't believe them. They bet me $1000 I couldn't stay in the water 5 minutes, which I thought I would have a good go at. I've swum in water below 40F before. I honestly didn't last 30 seconds before I…

I didn't say people don't die. They most definitely do, and I gave several pathways.

That said: if you are acclimated to the shock (and possibly have a genetic propensity to survive colder water), it's definitely survivable.

Capsizing a kayak is something you need to know how to deal with to execute properly anyhow, and yes, cold water makes appropriate response and motor control much more challenging.

I've done extended swims (30+ minutes) in ~54F water, and shorter dips in colder (40s, high 30s). That last was more a dash, plunge, and run back to the hot tub, truth be told. Even in the 50s, the cold shock and numbing are quite noticeable, though once you get your head in the right space, it's very tolerable.

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

#180

Post by youngerdryas »

lkrubner wrote: post #92

There were 4 children, and one died. I have often wondered why the world's homo sapien population did not grow faster during the period 200,000 BC to 10,000 BC. In his book Extinct Humans, Ian Tattersall has argued that fully modern homo sapiens took shape around 200,000 BC and left Africa around 150,000 BC. http://www.amazon.com/Extinct-Humans-Ian-Tattersall/dp/08133... The growth of the population was very slow. So…

The last ice age only ended ~10kya, no agriculture and possibly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe Where the entire human race may have been reduced to only a few thousand.
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