For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact • Hacker News Board

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

#231

Post by celticninja » Wed, Jan 30, 2013, 12:52 PM UTC

alexkus wrote: post #160

callmevlad wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My grandfather was born in Abakan, and published several books on the history of the region. He visited Agafia several times by helicopter with my uncle, after the other members of her family had passed. When I was around 15, he showed me a video of their first encounter with her, and to this day I cannot get the image of the pure terror on her face out of my mind. She had multiple visitors before, but something abou…

> 'steal her soul.' That's a bit Crocodile Dundee isn't it?

I was in Laos and Cambodia around 2001/2 and was advised when talking to hill tribes to always ask before taking pictures, the kids loved it, especially seeing themselves on a digital camera, however the older generations usually didnt want to be photgraphed (we were advised that it was usually for this reason but I never pushed it).

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

#232

Post by gensher » Wed, Jan 30, 2013, 1:07 PM UTC

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…

There are exceptions to this rule, like the free diving world champion, Natalia Avseenko. Check out this short video, warning, NSFW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxjdnkD1gBA

There was a longer documentary, called Ceiling, online, but it was removed unfortunately.

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

#233

Post by atsaloli » Wed, Jan 30, 2013, 2:15 PM UTC

bostonpete wrote: post #68

> having slept in the open in 40 degrees of frost I'm no scientist, but I don't believe frost forms until 32 degrees. Maybe this was a mistranslation...?

I'm a native Russian speaker, this means -40 Celcius. In Russian, we say "X degrees of frost" (градусов мороза) to refer to temperatures below zero Celcius.

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

#234

Post by saalweachter » Wed, Jan 30, 2013, 3:46 PM UTC

gpvos wrote: post #230

saalweachter wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I'm surprised that apparently so few of you can see satellites going across the sky. I live in Amsterdam and can see a few bright satellites somewhat regularly with the naked eye. What I'm surprised about is that they came up with the theory of "man-made fires" all by themselves.

Just to clarify:

Yes, you can see a number of satellites from even the densest urban areas. I could usually see three planets from Manhattan. But I never once had the desire to go lie in Central Park after dark and stare at the sky. Compared to that, even yellow sky is amazing. I frequently find myself stopping on the way from the car to the house at night to stare at the sky, and I think to myself: "And this sky isn't even that good."

So I hear about this family, isolated, zero light pollution, probably far enough north for good Northern lights, and it's no wonder to me that they would have noticed satellites. How could they not be staring at the night sky constantly? It must be heart-achingly beautiful there.

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

#235

Post by kahawe » Wed, Jan 30, 2013, 3:46 PM UTC

ahoyhere wrote: post #64

catch23 wrote: post #31

The daughters spoke a language distorted by a lifetime of isolation. "When the sisters talked to each other, it sounded like a slow, blurred cooing." It's interesting how isolation does to a spoken language in only one generation. I'm guessing they had nobody but themselves to talk to, so any mispronunciation would be greatly exaggerated.

My husband & I lived in Vienna and we were the only people who spoke out loud to each other on a daily basis (especially in English), and we understand each other very very well in any case, and we got the point where we often didn't even speak in complete sentences over a mere matter of months. When we traveled abroad for a month in an English-speaking country, it took me several days to feel like I was making sense…

That is interesting - when I was working abroad and only spoke my second language, English, almost exclusively every day for a good three months... it did feel strange and unfamiliar to go back to my native tongue of German at first once I was back in Austria. I haven't forgotten anything, I just initially had to make a more conscious effort especially since some things are a lot easier and more "fluent" to say in English somehow.

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

#236

Post by kahawe » Wed, Jan 30, 2013, 4:02 PM UTC

It is just baffling to me how they were able to pull that off for 40 years and raise infant kids as well with practically no experience or training and no way out, after they had to leave so suddenly - when in comparison, Christopher McCandless (alex supertramp) barely made it four months with arguably better equipment, shelter and under overall better weather conditions. And considerably VERY nearby ways out.

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

#237

Post by arb99 » Wed, Jan 30, 2013, 4:21 PM UTC

May have been posted in another comment (couldn't see it) but apparently this is the location ( found on a reddit comment) on google maps https://maps.google.com/?ll=51.460852,88.427083&spn=0.00...

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

#238

Post by Shorel » Wed, Jan 30, 2013, 4:38 PM UTC

1123581321 wrote: post #229

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…

I assume by fanatic Christian fundamentalist you are thinking this family is similar to David Koresh or perhaps a celebrity TV family such as The Duggers. Her sect, first of all, is an offshoot of the Russian Orthodox Church, not American protestantism. Church-attending Orthodox (as opposed to casual members) would be more likely to have children than this sect. It has more in common with Tolstoyism and its nearest e…

South American here: I have no idea of who David Koresh is or who the Duggers are.

Fanatic Christian fundamentalists are everywhere, and this family fits the stereotype we have perfectly.

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

#239

Post by leke » Wed, Jan 30, 2013, 4:42 PM UTC

redwood wrote: post #95

Another reminder of the value of hemp.

If I knew that I was going to live off somewhere remote for the next 40 years, a handful of hemp seed and the knowledge to weave would be one of my essential requirements. Well that and Jessica Biel.

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

#240

Post by grecy » Wed, Jan 30, 2013, 4:42 PM UTC

arethuza wrote: post #225

grecy wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a Software Engineer, so I'm inside all day. I also ride my bike to work every day, and I ski patrol at the local mountains on the weekend. I went camping in -35C two weekends ago, it was great!

I think I'd rather camp at -35C than at 2C with driving rain and wind - which is far more likely here in Scotland! (-35C is about the coldest I've experienced at altitude in the Alps).

2C with driving wind and rain is fine once you get in your tent. -35C, not so much.

One of the hardest things to deal with is condensation and sweat - anything even remotely damp (socks, sleeping bag, boots, gloves) will be frozen rock solid in the morning.