Useless information that means nothing to anybody, of course, remains abundant. Emails and meetings pulverize the populace.

The Denver Anonymous Suggestion Box has evaporated.

So I present the Antarctic Anonymous Suggestion Box. All stations are invited to participate. As are Denver, Christchurch, Port Hueneme, NASA, and anyone else involved in The Program.

Use this page as an anonymous suggestion box to ask questions of RPSC management, NSF, or decision-makers locally.

Though questions probably won’t be answered here, they might be read, so management could address these questions in memos or at meetings, if they choose. Perhaps this will allow more discourse than is presently occurring among levels of The Program.

A more likely scenario is that many NSF and contractor managers will not even know what you’re referring to when you ask about something.  Perhaps this will help them learn about Antarctica.  After all, Antarctica is about science and learning.

To be anonymous, simply comment with a pseudonym and make up an email address.

If you want me to respond to you, you can give your real email address. Only I will have it, it will not be posted.

Link to Antarctic Anonymous Suggestion Box (or use the tab at the top of the page)

Hundreds of Dying Baby Penguins Wash Up on Brazilian Beaches

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia are washing up dead on Rio de Janeiro’s tropical beaches, rescuers and penguin experts said Friday.

[...]

Every year, Brazil airlifts dozens of penguins back to Antarctica or Patagonia.

Link to Antzarctica’s YouTube page

A bulldozer won’t start. A crane’s not working either. Routine mishaps that could happen anywhere in the world, but this isn’t just anywhere: it’s the middle of Antarctica, where a team of mega-builders is taking on the seemingly impossible.

…sheep being herded (flocked) past the South Pole Inn at Anascaul, Co. Kerry.

Irish exploration hero Tom Crean ran this pub after he returned for expeditions to the Antarctic with Captain Robert Falcon Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton.

Link to Douglas Bray’s photos

Link to NutsyFagan’s Flickr photos

Few contract personnel mention the cold or the weather as a factor in why they don’t want to return.

“Lust in space: Nasa must iron out the kinks in space sex if man is to settle on Mars”

Dr Jason Kring said astronauts might have to emulate polar explorers and take a colleague as a lover for the duration of their three-year mission, to minimise sexual frustration.

[...]

He believes that Nasa could learn from the operation of bases at the South Pole, where researchers who are separated from their families for months at a time take “expedition spouses” as sexual partners for the duration.

He said: “You have an exclusive relationship with them for six to nine months but when the expedition is over, so is the relationship and you return to your normal lives and families.”

He added: “The polar environment has similar characteristics of isolation and confinement to space. Most of the evidence suggests that the addition of women there has had a positive effect on these traditionally all male crews.”

The notion of sex in space is attracting growing attention.

Link (Thanks for sending this, Elizabeth.)

Hard liquor. I’m not sure this is a budget move - I suspect that the sale of hard liquor to employees is usually a profitable venture for USAP. I think it’s that they’ve been trying to limit alcohol consumption on station for years, and this is simply the latest in a string of nominally successful schemes to do so. We’ll still be able to drink liquor in the bars, but the store will only sell beer, wine, and a few ‘harmless’ things like Bailey’s and other liquers. (If you think liquers are harmless, you’ve never watched a dorm room full of firefighters get smashed on Rootbeer Schnapps.) Expect to see attrition among some longtime Antarctic alcoholics, a healthy blackmarket in booze snuck in from Christchurch, and possibly even the appearance of some southern moonshine. Plus, there’s always jet fuel.

Link

Paying more than $4 for a gallon of gas makes a lot of commuters grind their teeth when they fill their tanks. They get little sympathy, however, from Robin Bell, who next winter could be looking at $60 to $130 for each gallon of fuel for her vehicles.