The cold earth sleeps below, above the cold sky shines

We're in Water Stage Orange.  Mid-rats are night worker meals. Current conditions: Con3   Temperature 12°F (windchill 0°F).  Population 964 That the NSF has managed to create a viable research institute here, so far away from real world infrastructure, is a mind-blowing accomplishment.  Every time I take a hot shower or grab some popcorn from the galley to nibble on while I watch Jeopardy, I marvel that we lead such normal lives despite the harshness of the world around us. But yesterday, two of our generators pooped out.  Our dorm had no power last night, including no heat, and only imperative infrastructure (including the clinic) remained up and running. Everything else--from the gyms to the bars to the carpentry shop to the galley--shut down.   Although the power has “been stabilized”, today, we are still being asked to conserve.  Then, in mid-afternoon, we lost internet and phones for 6 hours.  And just now, we learned t...

A much less chaotic MCI training from a few weeks ago.  No pics from today, I'm afraid. Current conditions:  Con3.  Temp 5ºF (windchill -16ºF).  Cloudy with snow.  Population = 916 The NSF has invested in a more-capable-than-average, small clinic here not because they want to care for colds and sprains but because they need to be prepared for a mass casualty.  Certainly, ample opportunity exists for disaster what with daily flights of aging, large aircraft, near constant flights of helicopters and small fixed-wing aircraft in harsh weather conditions, explosive use for base construction, and large vehicular travel on fragile ice.  In fact, there have been mass casualties here .  Seven years ago, a Korean fishing ship caught on fire with 37 people on board.  Three died on the ship and seven burn victims, two with severe burns, were treated here; all survived.  In 1987, a McMurdo LC-130 crashed on a flight to one of the field camps...