Just less than a year ago I did a review on Werner Herzog’s Antarctic documentary film. See it here: Encounters With Mediocre Cinema at the End of the World – or if you can’t be bothered reading that; my Cliff’s notes version of my own review is that I didn’t care too much for the film. It took me a great deal of courage to actually write that down – it seems that quite a few people in my peer group and in the world at large enjoyed the film more than I did. I think they just like it because they’re scared to not like something by such a typically brilliant filmmaker.

During the season that Herzog came to The Ice, another film crew was also present – a crew that actually wanted to be there and had to work to get to Antarctica. A crew that; when seeking funding was met with responses along the lines of “Isn’t Herzog filming in Antarctica this year?”. A crew that was led by documentary filmmaker Anne Aghion.

Anne’s Antarctic documentary is entitled Ice People and covers a wide spectrum of what it’s like to live and work at an Antarctic research station and field camp. In many ways the viewer may feel like they’re right there amongst the grittiness of McMurdo and conversely the majesty that is Antarctica; all the while imagining themselves exposed to the fierceness of the wind or the constant drone of a diesel engine somewhere in the background.

The greatest thing about this film is the same thing that is great about other Aghion films. It was completely devoid of her ego and became solely about the people and the social dynamics of life on the Ice.

Anne’s film-making style is a huge departure from the spoon-feeding that Hollywood film viewers may have come to expect. She challenges the viewer to take an active role in their own entertainment, likely leaving them less entertained but more enlightened as a result.

Want to know what it’s really like to live and work in Antarctica? You’ll probably have to get a job and go there yourself but the next closest thing to actually experiencing the harshest of continents for yourself is to watch Anne Aghion’s Ice People.

Check out the trailer:

My trip to Palmer Station was a long one with many steps along the way. My first stop was Denver, CO for two weeks where I spent one week in the corporate office for some training and to do turnover (via telephone and email) with my successor to the extent possible. It was certainly time well spent but working in cubicle-land was excruciating.

My second week in Denver was a bit more exciting. I met nine of the other folks that I would be spending the winter at Palmer Station with.

Because Palmer is such a small station everyone is required to wear many hats, and because the station is simply too small to warrant or even house a full-time fire department, those of us that are there for other jobs also have to serve as the fire department. The ten of us were trained up as best we could be in that short amount of time.

Overall, fire school was a very rewarding experience. I gained some valuable skills as well as a whole new appreciation for the people who do this type of work on a day-to-day basis. They have an incredibly tough job.

But not a very good effort. I have sort of made a decision on my quandary of whether to take a year off and travel or to come back to Antarctica…My decision is to more-or-less leave it up to the universe to decide for me. I think I may be being told that my destiny isn’t to be a ski bum. I have received an offer letter to return to my job in Antartica – acceptance of that offer would mean another winter at The South Pole and another chance to join the ‘300 club‘, an opportunity to save a large travel fund for maybe a bigger trip. But, like I say, I’ve left the decision making process up to fate. The default option is to go to South America for eight or nine months, but Marsha is pursuing a winter job at The South Pole, if her efforts bear fruit then I would likely accept my current offer and put off traveling until the end of that contract.

The current financial situation in the U.S. and the world have also got me pretty distracted and my thoughts turn to those issues more than they probably should. I wish there was some way to know for sure when the bottom has been hit, as I’m in pretty good shape financially, despite my massive loss a couple of weeks ago. I’d like to get back in, especially if I will be returning to work after a short 12 week vacation. Even more than my own financial situation though, I am distracted by the obvious corruption and greed that envelopes U.S. politics and finance. The $85bln dollars that was loaned to AIG (Another Infusion of Greenbacks) and the subsequent $440k spa trip…only to have them back at the trough for $40bln more a couple of weeks later. We all know this is how things happen, it isn’t a surprise to anybody, but somehow it is allowed to go on. Bailout my ass. I say prison sentences for all executives of any of these companies. Unfortunately it seems that America has forgotten that it is a country founded “…for the people…” but instead the laws have been tailored to protect non-living, non-breathing, corporate entities and the people who are committing outright theft against the American public are protected under the umbrella of these laws. The election will soon be over but I fear that the outcome will do very little to alleviate any of the problems that need fixed. The potential to make these problems worse though is huge. So long as my countrymen have 60 channels of shit on their huge screen plasma T.V. I doubt anything will really change for the better. Idiocracy anyone?

Anyhow, in the coming weeks I intend on getting the focus back on travel. With my upcoming, albeit brief, trip to New Zealand, look for some information on traveling in that paradisaical island nation and with a month long trip to another Pacific Island destination, watch for stories, advice and maybe even pictures of Hawaii, which I’m now really looking forward to.

…or the advantages of being fat.

The very reason for my being in Antarctica isn’t to take helicopter or airplane rides to remote locations. There’s more to Antarctica than fixing antiquated machinery and having unique experiences. The reason we’re all really here is the pursuit of knowledge. At the very heart of this pursuit is scientific research. Every discipline of science is represented here in one way or another. The ozone hole, the ocean, glaciers, rocks, meteors, ice cores, seals, fish and tiny invisible particles are all studied here with equal fervor. It’s easy to forget that our main purpose here isn’t to support ourselves, but rather to support this pursuit of knowledge. On the all-star line up of things being studied are penguins. They are an ideal icon for the research being done in Antarctica. They’re cute, photogenic and truly representative of this special place. There are many species of penguins in the world but the most well known ones are closely associated with extremely cold environments. Humans can benefit greatly by learning how penguins survive in these extreme conditions.

So how do they do it? How can penguins survive in the brutal conditions that Antarctica dishes out? Here’s what scientists have discovered about penguins: First, they have feathers. Feathers are an effective insulator. Penguin feathers aren’t like feathers on other birds. Rather than being large and flat, they’re short with a fine woolly, downy under-layer. Also, they overlap and give a streamlined effect in the water and have excellent wind shedding capabilities on land. Penguins can fluff their feathers when it gets extremely cold, thereby trapping more warm air and increasing their insulation. The feathers also are very effective at shedding water when the bird emerges from the water.

Feathers are great on land, but penguins spend more time in the water than they do on land so they need additional protection. Mother nature’s best internal insulator is fat. Blubber keeps all warm blooded, cold water mammals operational at temperatures as cold as 25.8 degrees F (the freezing temperature of sea water).

Size also plays an important role in heat retention. The larger something is, the less surface area it will have in relation to it volume. Think of a shot glass for example. A shot glass contains a lot of glass for relatively small portion of liquid. A beer glass on the other hand holds much more liquid in relation to the amount of glass. The math goes something like this (using cubes instead of glasses):

A 1 inch cube:

Volume is 1″x1″x1″ = 1 cubic inch
and the surface area is equal to 6 faces of 1 inch x 1 inch so 6 x(1×1) = 6 square inches so for every 1 cubic inch of volume, there is 6 square inches of surface area from which to lose heat.

A 3 inch cube:

Volume is 3″ x 3″ x 3″ = 27 cubic inches
the surface area is equal to 6 faces of 3 inches x 3 inches or 6 x(3×3) or 54 square inches which is only twice the volume so that for every inch of volume, there are only 2 square inches of surface area from which to lose heat.

The take home message is that a larger body will retain more heat.

Body design also plays a key role in heat retention. Penguins flippers and feet have a lot of surface area and are subject to great amounts of heat loss, but the muscles that control these appendages are located more closely to the core of the animal. The muscles control the feet and flippers through a complex array of tendons (kind of like a marionette), minimizing blood flow and heat loss to the feet and flippers.

Besides individual mechanisms, penguins also have social mechanisms to aid their survival. They huddle together to stay warm. It’s an extension of the larger body idea. Scientific calculations estimate that emperor burn half as much body fat by huddling than they would if they remained solitary. This enables them to survive the entire winter without eating.

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Welcome to vagabumming.com and thanks for visiting.

About Me:

My name is Will, and this is my site.  I caught the travel bug early in life and have embraced world travel as a lifestyle.  I have visited all 7 continents and have lived and worked all around the world.  Through my work and hobby experiences I have managed to develop a very robust skill set that has served me well.  Here are some random & hopefully interesting facts about me:

• in 1986 I graduated from the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Clown College (then in Venice, FL)
• in 1988 I joined the U.S. Army and worked as a mechanic in the U.S. and Asia.
• I am a veteran of Desert Shield/Desert Storm.
• I once managed the world’s largest fleet of locomotives in the world’s largest train yard.
• I have spent a winter at the South Pole (as of 2011 only 1327 people have done that source: SouthPoleStation.com)

My resume as a mechanic is quite impressive.  And since I do love adventure, if you’re looking for a mechanic for your next expedition you should contact me.

 

About This Site:

This site runs on the wordpress platform which is a free and open software platform that has thousands of developers from around the world.  WordPress is powerful software and great for website development due to its ease of use, extensibility and 3rd party plugins that can make it do just about anything.

I have customized this site to my liking and it serves as a living resume and testament to my website development skills.  Behind the scenes there are many things happening that create a seamless user experience while on this site.  The centerpiece of this website is the clickable world map on the front page.  This feature was hand coded by me and uses the Raphael javascript library as its core.  You’ll notice that the world map is NOT an image.  It’s not done with flash.  It is an SVG (scalable vector graphic) that is drawn dynamically – view the page source – there’s NO image, yet, it’s there.  The clickable world map on the front page is also a demonstration of my PHP and CSS skills as well as skills in the jQuery javascript library and all of its extensions.

I am for hire as a website developer or custom plugin developer.  If you’d like to put my skills to work on your website, hire me.

 

Have a great day, enjoy your visit!