Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact
251–256 of 256 posts
Re: For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact
#252Earlier 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 was trying to ford a river once, to retrieve a canoe I'd put into a logjam. Had two friends with me, holding one end of a long rope from shore while I had the other end looped under my shoulders.
Got maybe halfway across before the current was just to strong (and I was too exhausted) to keep my footing anymore - it's just unbelievable how quickly being submerged in cold water and fighting against the current like that sucks the energy out of you.
It was all I could do to keep my head above water and kick myself back to shore, I doubt I'd have been able to drag myself out of the river if I'd been by myself.
And that river (north fork of the Chena) wasn't even glacier fed, like a lot of rivers in Alaska are...
Re: For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact
#253Earlier 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.
And he might very well have at least passing knowledge of the ideas from contemporary descriptions inspired by the writings of Tsiolkovsky on exploration of space starting from 1903 or so onwards, or any number of other sources.
Re: For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact
#254Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I'm not sure what would be the South American equivalent. I'd look into mystic schismatics that pulled away from the Catholic Church in the 19th century to start. Unless you are using fundamentalist to mean the early 20th century movement specifically, it's misapplied here.
I probably misused the fundamentalist label. I'm sure there are differences between them, but they look all the same to me, and I try to avoid them all.
Re: For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact
#255Earlier quoted context omitted.
That sounds quite extreme... What do you do for living?
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!
Re: For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact
#256The last 'first contact' with a group of Australian Aboriginals was made in 1984. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/lost-tribe-happy-i... I had heard a version of that story where the brother who returned to the traditional life was believed to still be out roaming the desert, and if they saw smoke in the distance they knew it to be him but they'd stay away and leave him be. That version of the story also had…
I lived in the Philippines for two years and while it seems a good majority of the population are used to seeing white people I had a few instances where I was the first white person they had ever seen. Some children were absolutely horrified and ran away screaming and crying! They have a very superstitious culture and have many different types of 'aswang' which translates roughly to 'monster'. We had learnt the loca…