10 ms·

Returning from a Year of Isolation in Antarctica

124 points by op03 6y ago

caiobegotti 6y ago
"Because I was leading the expedition, I couldn’t have any physical contact with anyone else — zero" Wait, what? I would love to get more details about that because that sentence (no matter the rest of the paragraph) makes it sound way too much World War I kind of cold leadership with no rational reason. On the noise aspect of her isolation I think it's quite more nuanced than that IMHO. I've been to Antarctica too and I've been working alone from home for the last 5 years as well, and isolation during pandemics is nowhere similar to the isolation in Antarctica. The silence there is beautiful, not frightening. They are just different beasts and even the noise from the street outside is enough to break the monotony but not actually going out hurts more. I think she tried her best to be empathic but 1 year in the ice is much harsher, kudos to her.
- teh_klev 6y ago
  > makes it sound way too much World War I kind of cold leadership with no rational reason. The sentence says "physical contact". You can be a warm, friendly and supportive leader without touching people.
  - caiobegotti 6y ago
    She made it sound like a supportive side hug or a tap on the should over a difficult season in the south pole of the planet would be a no-no. Did I get it wrong? I am not a native speaker of English, for the record.
    - teh_klev 6y ago
      That's what she writes in the article.
    - jpindar 6y ago
      The reason is in the very next sentence. >I couldn’t afford for a simple gesture of empathy, such as a hug or a placed hand on the shoulder, to be misinterpreted as a sign of romantic interest. It's possible she was a little overcautious, but I certainly understand why she chose not to risk that someone might think either that she was attracted to them, or that she was involved with someone else.
      - usrusr 6y ago
        Is it really overcautious? I'd imagine a group in extreme isolation to be far more sensitive and prone to misinterpretations than the same set of people working together while surrounded by thousands of others to meet and interact with during off hours.
      - lolbrels 6y ago
        I think overcautious is generous, the writing is strange. It seems like a given to me that physical contact in a professional environment would be seen as unwanted or bizarre by most. Yet they make a great deal of it, even going into detail about how others could perceive it with specific thought-out examples. Also we can afford empathy without touching someone. Either she was locked in there with some interesting characters or is an interesting character herself.
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
    - PeterisP 6y ago
      It's worth noting that this is a bit of an unusual, even unnatural situation - where you have people who have been in isolation from any relationships for almost a year, may have a natural desire for romantic relationships and it's part of her specific role and duty to ensure that this stays suppressed throughout the team until the expedition is over. In those circumstances a strict "no-touching" policy for the whole team (not just her) may be quite prudent. You need to ensure that even someone who after many months of loneliness desperately wants to notice and misinterpret something as a sign of romantic affection is unable to do so.
- bacon_waffle 6y ago
  Everything about living on the Ice is more intense; it often feels like the station and crew is the entire world. Romantic relationships are a perpetual source of tension and conflict, and little squabbles can grow to have truly outsize effects. A silly example (from the US program several years ago) - we had summer-season emergency response drills be completely derailed because the leads of the two main groups were a couple and had squabbled the night before - one had their people simply not show up. Never mind that these two people's main roles were exactly to be in charge, one was completely unqualified for that role, discipline/replacement would be relatively easy for either, and everyone knew what was going on. So, I can see why the rules would stipulate that the leader can't become romantically involved with a crew member over winter. But of course rules like that have no teeth, so it's really up to the integrity and ability of the leader.
  - darkarmani 6y ago
    > I can see why the rules would stipulate that the leader can't become romantically involved with a crew member over winter. And i guess some people think a pat on the back is romance. ;) It seems easy to clear up any misunderstandings, but maybe it was because she was tempted?
    - bacon_waffle 6y ago
      This is not about whether the author thinks a pat on the back is romance, nor about her temptation. Imagine a scenario like that emergency response drill, but where higher-ups took notice and decided to make a rule to prevent it from happening again. Since those higher-ups had authority over hiring both individuals, they're not likely to lay blame on the immature (to put it nicely) behaviour of the couple, but instead on the romantic relationship. How do they encode "station managers can't start dating crew members" in bureaucrat? So, a stupid rule gets added to the books, which doesn't really solve the problem, and upstanding managers have to pay attention to it forever more.
- jedberg 6y ago
  But the rest of the paragraph exactly explains it. She couldn't even hint at romantic interest because of the possible perceptions.
subsubzero 6y ago
I found alot of the bulletpoints insightful and most seem to be related to covid-19 lockdowns but a few stood out: >Life felt like it was suddenly zooming by (after leaving Antarctica) I feel like right now in quarantine time is just flying by, I don't know really why this is, maybe its the fact that both me and my wife are extremely busy with our jobs while raising a toddler and no daycare makes every day seem the same/very busy with the weekend having little demarcation from the work week. Maybe if we weren't working and just sitting around this would be different. But it seems almost the opposite from what was mentioned.
- amatecha 6y ago
  Yeah that's interesting, I feel the same way. It absolutely blows my mind that it's about to be July. I feel like I've actually been _more_ busy being at home every day!
- op00to 6y ago
  It’s the toddler. Times FLY when you have the hard responsibilities of a toddler.
seesawtron 6y ago
Interesting to see an article about Antarctica that doesn't mention the effects of global warming on the ice sheets. Kudos to the writer for keeping the story focused on the personal insights in cold, isolated world instead of the usual decrying (which is of course important but an off-topic to this story). So I do believe that the writer gained sheer amount of focus.
- Ghjklov 6y ago
  Ironically to your own distaste, you will have been the one who made this about global warming instead of just discussing the topic. Why do some people have to always be looking for something to be offended or riled up about?
  - seesawtron 6y ago
    What makes people think this comment is in response to being riled up or being offended? I actually really liked the idea of the story being on one topic (as I said in my parent comment). I was appreciating the writer for that good job.
- NotSammyHagar 6y ago
  Why Kudos? Do you not believe in it's reality?
  - seesawtron 6y ago
    Did you not read the entire comment?
blakesterz 6y ago
This was the part that surprised me the most: "Viruses do not live in Antarctica. When I was in the harsh and bitter cold, I was perfectly healthy. When I returned back home, I picked up every virus in Australia. I was totally unprepared for the way my immune system reacted." I didn't know that our immune system could change so much so fast.
- latchkey 6y ago
  Absolutely. I moved to Vietnam from San Francisco. Spent 4 years there. Got reliably food sick off and on solid for a year and then it eventually just stopped. I could eat anything and not get sick. Hardly got any 'colds' while I was there. Came back to the US end of January (terrible timing considering the way things are going) and ended up getting sick with flu (not covid thankfully) and lots of digestive issues again. Now, heading into July... I haven't gotten sick again (likely from the isolation) and the digestive issues went away. Our bodies are complex beings.
  - harikb 6y ago
    Wait! Are we becoming less immune with this isolation :o
    - latchkey 6y ago
      Yes. :o Even worse, people aren't getting their flu shots (and other elective things) because they don't want to risk going to the doctors. So when we get out of this covid jail... get ready for some interesting charts from the CDC.
      - PenguinCoder 6y ago
        Supposing there's a reliable CDC left after this is all said and done. Might get dismantled from within as a scapegoat.
        mobilefriendly 6y ago
analbumcover 6y ago
It's interesting to read her experience but I can't get past a few things. > Because I was leading the expedition, I couldn’t have any physical contact with anyone else—zero. There were no handshakes, no flirting, and no hugs. No handshakes? This behavior is so far outside the norm it's hard to believe her experience is in any way relevant to the general populace when it likely reflects her bizarrely anti-social approach to leadership. Apparently she gives lectures on leadership now? That is terrifying. Also, as an avid alpinist, this is absolutely not the kind of person you want to be in a dangerous environment with, let alone be subordinate to. She refused to touch people and had apparently only seen the snow once before arriving in Antarctica.
- irrational 6y ago
  Maybe she didn’t shake hands for the same reason we no longer shake hands, to avoid catching or spreading disease. I often forget that shaking hands is no longer socially acceptable, but fortunately with two people, one of us always remembers in time.
- jedberg 6y ago
  The very next sentences: "I couldn’t afford for a simple gesture of empathy, such as a hug or a placed hand on the shoulder, to be misinterpreted as a sign of romantic interest. It went against my natural desire not to comfort someone who was distraught with a big hug, but it’s what I had to do to maintain professional boundaries."
  - analbumcover 6y ago
    I read that. Restrictions on sexual relationships given an uneven power dynamic are common, but an inability to shake someone's hand or put a hand on a shoulder? That's not maintaining professional boundaries, it's paranoia. It is also a standard that she is clearly imposing on herself, which is what makes it so bizarre. She wasn't just conforming to some overbearing rule of the organization, she thought this was a necessary component of effective leadership. Which makes me question her judgement in general.
onemantaker1 6y ago
My everyday life looks like isolation here North America when I temporarily moved from India for master. So no big deal.
nicemancool 6y ago
My life already looks like isolation all time here at canada after moving from India for masters program. So no big deal.
scottlocklin 6y ago
>After I emerged from isolation in Antarctica, I wrote two best-selling books and became an international motivational speaker. Being in isolation as the leader, without anyone telling me what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong, meant I had to do a lot of self-reflection. These two sentences don't go together very well.
sammalloy 6y ago
> After being in isolation, the noise in the outside world seemed louder. Noise will be huge after lockdown. I think about how New York City is a cacophony of sounds and now the streets are empty. Gosh, it took me about six months to get used to how noisy life is. Noise pollution is a huge, mostly overlooked problem in urbanized areas and is often thought to exceed the recommendations for residential areas with little room for easy remediation or enforcement. Many of us remember the days before leaf blowers took over and flooded the natural morning landscape with 100 dB in all directions, in areas that are still limited to 50-60 dB. The impact on human and non-human health is well known.
etrabroline 6y ago
This happened 15 years ago, December 2004 to February 2005. The headline and editor's insertions about SARS-coronavirus-2 made it seem like she returned in the middle of the pandemic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachael_Robertson_(writer)#Robertson's_year_in_Antarctica https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachael_Robertson_(writer)#Rob...
- Jaruzel 6y ago
  She says early in the copy text that she was in Antarctica in 2005. To me the article read like she was recounting her experiences and her return to civilisation as a mechanism to explore how others will come out of Covid lockdown, therefore the references to coronavirus did not seem out of place.
StillBored 6y ago
A bit off topic, but the audio book "Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole" about the Dr who got cancer while serving at the base is quite an interesting ride. That book kept me wide awake on a long road trip a couple years ago and the couple people I lent it to had nothing but good things to say about it too.
- cycomanic 6y ago
  Another slightly off topic remark, there is the famous case of this Russian doctor taking out his own appendix while stationed in antartica: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32481442 https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32481442
simonebrunozzi 6y ago
I'm not trying to be funny, but I'm sure the author is wishing that he started his year of isolation... a year later. Like, in March 2020. That would have been great timing.
- jwilber 6y ago
  Author was a female
jwilber 6y ago
Maybe it’s versus I’ve been reading up on the torture of solitary confinement, but “Leading 18 strangers around the clock for a full year” - is not what I would consider as isolation. She does go on to qualify it further: “As the youngest and only second female expedition leader at Davis Station”, but it still feels like a huge stretch in my opinion to consider that a year of isolation. How many leaders has Davis Station even had?
- dgellow 6y ago
  I read it as “isolated from civilization/city-life for 1 year”.
- iso947 6y ago
  It’s been running about 55 years, so at least 30 leaders
- watwut 6y ago
  It is small group of people isolated from rest of society. If you notice her points, none of them is about being alone and all of them are about being away from rest of us.
m-i-l 6y ago
My dad spent much of 1958-1965 in Antarctica, overwintering at places like Halley Bay, and including a period as scientific leader at Scott Base (for which he was awarded the Polar Medal). That was in the days when overwintering meant no supply ships or aeroplanes or any contact with the outside world beyond radio contact for 7-8 months. Anyway, there are a few things he mentioned about leaving Antarctica that aren't mentioned in the original article: - the smells: "In the cold atmosphere of Antarctica your sense of smell has become acute and now, wafting in through the door of the aircraft, is the smell of tarmac on the runway, green grass, hundreds of flowers and dozens of different scents ... for the first time ever you can smell your Antarctic clothing. The heat has brought out a hundred different smells, seals, huskies, penguins, kerosene and many more." - the flies and other insects - and perhaps one of his main and lasting experiences, the spirit of international co-operation brought about by the "common problem of survival in Antarctica" On that last point, the last 2 sentences in his book were "The nations of the world can just as easily work on a common problem outside the Antarctic as in it. Let us hope this understanding by common knowledge and experience will not fail us now." I had hoped the current pandemic would help people realise that we are all in this together on the same planet, that it is better for everyone to work together rather than to fight.
- ideashower 6y ago
  Is his book available for purchase anywhere? Sounds fascinating.
  - m-i-l 6y ago
    Thanks. It is available at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1704809576/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_w6A1DbM6GTGFK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1704809576/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_... . It wasn't actually published in his lifetime. In fact, I only discovered the manuscript last year, and decided to self-publish primarily for the benefit of surviving relatives. I have a post about the whole process on my personal site if you're interested in that as well.
amaizhe 6y ago
Slightly off topic, she had a book out in February called "Respect Trumps Harmony", which said out loud in 2020 seems a possibly ambiguous title for what turns out to be a book about group dynamics rather than a glowing assessment of a certain President.

124 points by op03 6y ago

"Because I was leading the expedition, I couldn’t have any physical contact with anyone else — zero" Wait, what? I would love to get more details about that because that sentence (no matter the rest of the paragraph) makes it sound way too much World War I kind of cold leadership with no rational reason. On the noise aspect of her isolation I think it's quite more nuanced than that IMHO. I've been to Antarctica too and I've been working alone from home for the last 5 years as well, and isolation during pandemics is nowhere similar to the isolation in Antarctica. The silence there is beautiful, not frightening. They are just different beasts and even the noise from the street outside is enough to break the monotony but not actually going out hurts more. I think she tried her best to be empathic but 1 year in the ice is much harsher, kudos to her.

teh_klev 6y ago
> makes it sound way too much World War I kind of cold leadership with no rational reason. The sentence says "physical contact". You can be a warm, friendly and supportive leader without touching people.
- caiobegotti 6y ago
  She made it sound like a supportive side hug or a tap on the should over a difficult season in the south pole of the planet would be a no-no. Did I get it wrong? I am not a native speaker of English, for the record.
  - teh_klev 6y ago
    That's what she writes in the article.
  - jpindar 6y ago
    The reason is in the very next sentence. >I couldn’t afford for a simple gesture of empathy, such as a hug or a placed hand on the shoulder, to be misinterpreted as a sign of romantic interest. It's possible she was a little overcautious, but I certainly understand why she chose not to risk that someone might think either that she was attracted to them, or that she was involved with someone else.
    - usrusr 6y ago
      Is it really overcautious? I'd imagine a group in extreme isolation to be far more sensitive and prone to misinterpretations than the same set of people working together while surrounded by thousands of others to meet and interact with during off hours.
    - lolbrels 6y ago
      I think overcautious is generous, the writing is strange. It seems like a given to me that physical contact in a professional environment would be seen as unwanted or bizarre by most. Yet they make a great deal of it, even going into detail about how others could perceive it with specific thought-out examples. Also we can afford empathy without touching someone. Either she was locked in there with some interesting characters or is an interesting character herself.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
  - PeterisP 6y ago
    It's worth noting that this is a bit of an unusual, even unnatural situation - where you have people who have been in isolation from any relationships for almost a year, may have a natural desire for romantic relationships and it's part of her specific role and duty to ensure that this stays suppressed throughout the team until the expedition is over. In those circumstances a strict "no-touching" policy for the whole team (not just her) may be quite prudent. You need to ensure that even someone who after many months of loneliness desperately wants to notice and misinterpret something as a sign of romantic affection is unable to do so.
bacon_waffle 6y ago
Everything about living on the Ice is more intense; it often feels like the station and crew is the entire world. Romantic relationships are a perpetual source of tension and conflict, and little squabbles can grow to have truly outsize effects. A silly example (from the US program several years ago) - we had summer-season emergency response drills be completely derailed because the leads of the two main groups were a couple and had squabbled the night before - one had their people simply not show up. Never mind that these two people's main roles were exactly to be in charge, one was completely unqualified for that role, discipline/replacement would be relatively easy for either, and everyone knew what was going on. So, I can see why the rules would stipulate that the leader can't become romantically involved with a crew member over winter. But of course rules like that have no teeth, so it's really up to the integrity and ability of the leader.
- darkarmani 6y ago
  > I can see why the rules would stipulate that the leader can't become romantically involved with a crew member over winter. And i guess some people think a pat on the back is romance. ;) It seems easy to clear up any misunderstandings, but maybe it was because she was tempted?
  - bacon_waffle 6y ago
    This is not about whether the author thinks a pat on the back is romance, nor about her temptation. Imagine a scenario like that emergency response drill, but where higher-ups took notice and decided to make a rule to prevent it from happening again. Since those higher-ups had authority over hiring both individuals, they're not likely to lay blame on the immature (to put it nicely) behaviour of the couple, but instead on the romantic relationship. How do they encode "station managers can't start dating crew members" in bureaucrat? So, a stupid rule gets added to the books, which doesn't really solve the problem, and upstanding managers have to pay attention to it forever more.
jedberg 6y ago
But the rest of the paragraph exactly explains it. She couldn't even hint at romantic interest because of the possible perceptions.

subsubzero 6y ago

I found alot of the bulletpoints insightful and most seem to be related to covid-19 lockdowns but a few stood out: >Life felt like it was suddenly zooming by (after leaving Antarctica) I feel like right now in quarantine time is just flying by, I don't know really why this is, maybe its the fact that both me and my wife are extremely busy with our jobs while raising a toddler and no daycare makes every day seem the same/very busy with the weekend having little demarcation from the work week. Maybe if we weren't working and just sitting around this would be different. But it seems almost the opposite from what was mentioned.

amatecha 6y ago
Yeah that's interesting, I feel the same way. It absolutely blows my mind that it's about to be July. I feel like I've actually been _more_ busy being at home every day!
op00to 6y ago
It’s the toddler. Times FLY when you have the hard responsibilities of a toddler.

seesawtron 6y ago

Interesting to see an article about Antarctica that doesn't mention the effects of global warming on the ice sheets. Kudos to the writer for keeping the story focused on the personal insights in cold, isolated world instead of the usual decrying (which is of course important but an off-topic to this story). So I do believe that the writer gained sheer amount of focus.

Ghjklov 6y ago
Ironically to your own distaste, you will have been the one who made this about global warming instead of just discussing the topic. Why do some people have to always be looking for something to be offended or riled up about?
- seesawtron 6y ago
  What makes people think this comment is in response to being riled up or being offended? I actually really liked the idea of the story being on one topic (as I said in my parent comment). I was appreciating the writer for that good job.
NotSammyHagar 6y ago
Why Kudos? Do you not believe in it's reality?
- seesawtron 6y ago
  Did you not read the entire comment?

blakesterz 6y ago

This was the part that surprised me the most: "Viruses do not live in Antarctica. When I was in the harsh and bitter cold, I was perfectly healthy. When I returned back home, I picked up every virus in Australia. I was totally unprepared for the way my immune system reacted." I didn't know that our immune system could change so much so fast.

latchkey 6y ago
Absolutely. I moved to Vietnam from San Francisco. Spent 4 years there. Got reliably food sick off and on solid for a year and then it eventually just stopped. I could eat anything and not get sick. Hardly got any 'colds' while I was there. Came back to the US end of January (terrible timing considering the way things are going) and ended up getting sick with flu (not covid thankfully) and lots of digestive issues again. Now, heading into July... I haven't gotten sick again (likely from the isolation) and the digestive issues went away. Our bodies are complex beings.
- harikb 6y ago
  Wait! Are we becoming less immune with this isolation :o
  - latchkey 6y ago
    Yes. :o Even worse, people aren't getting their flu shots (and other elective things) because they don't want to risk going to the doctors. So when we get out of this covid jail... get ready for some interesting charts from the CDC.
    - PenguinCoder 6y ago
      Supposing there's a reliable CDC left after this is all said and done. Might get dismantled from within as a scapegoat.
      - mobilefriendly 6y ago

analbumcover 6y ago

It's interesting to read her experience but I can't get past a few things. > Because I was leading the expedition, I couldn’t have any physical contact with anyone else—zero. There were no handshakes, no flirting, and no hugs. No handshakes? This behavior is so far outside the norm it's hard to believe her experience is in any way relevant to the general populace when it likely reflects her bizarrely anti-social approach to leadership. Apparently she gives lectures on leadership now? That is terrifying. Also, as an avid alpinist, this is absolutely not the kind of person you want to be in a dangerous environment with, let alone be subordinate to. She refused to touch people and had apparently only seen the snow once before arriving in Antarctica.

irrational 6y ago
Maybe she didn’t shake hands for the same reason we no longer shake hands, to avoid catching or spreading disease. I often forget that shaking hands is no longer socially acceptable, but fortunately with two people, one of us always remembers in time.
jedberg 6y ago
The very next sentences: "I couldn’t afford for a simple gesture of empathy, such as a hug or a placed hand on the shoulder, to be misinterpreted as a sign of romantic interest. It went against my natural desire not to comfort someone who was distraught with a big hug, but it’s what I had to do to maintain professional boundaries."
- analbumcover 6y ago
  I read that. Restrictions on sexual relationships given an uneven power dynamic are common, but an inability to shake someone's hand or put a hand on a shoulder? That's not maintaining professional boundaries, it's paranoia. It is also a standard that she is clearly imposing on herself, which is what makes it so bizarre. She wasn't just conforming to some overbearing rule of the organization, she thought this was a necessary component of effective leadership. Which makes me question her judgement in general.

onemantaker1 6y ago

My everyday life looks like isolation here North America when I temporarily moved from India for master. So no big deal.

nicemancool 6y ago

My life already looks like isolation all time here at canada after moving from India for masters program. So no big deal.

scottlocklin 6y ago

>After I emerged from isolation in Antarctica, I wrote two best-selling books and became an international motivational speaker. Being in isolation as the leader, without anyone telling me what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong, meant I had to do a lot of self-reflection. These two sentences don't go together very well.

sammalloy 6y ago

> After being in isolation, the noise in the outside world seemed louder. Noise will be huge after lockdown. I think about how New York City is a cacophony of sounds and now the streets are empty. Gosh, it took me about six months to get used to how noisy life is. Noise pollution is a huge, mostly overlooked problem in urbanized areas and is often thought to exceed the recommendations for residential areas with little room for easy remediation or enforcement. Many of us remember the days before leaf blowers took over and flooded the natural morning landscape with 100 dB in all directions, in areas that are still limited to 50-60 dB. The impact on human and non-human health is well known.

etrabroline 6y ago

This happened 15 years ago, December 2004 to February 2005. The headline and editor's insertions about SARS-coronavirus-2 made it seem like she returned in the middle of the pandemic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachael_Robertson_(writer)#Robertson's_year_in_Antarctica https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachael_Robertson_(writer)#Rob...

Jaruzel 6y ago
She says early in the copy text that she was in Antarctica in 2005. To me the article read like she was recounting her experiences and her return to civilisation as a mechanism to explore how others will come out of Covid lockdown, therefore the references to coronavirus did not seem out of place.

StillBored 6y ago

A bit off topic, but the audio book "Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole" about the Dr who got cancer while serving at the base is quite an interesting ride. That book kept me wide awake on a long road trip a couple years ago and the couple people I lent it to had nothing but good things to say about it too.

cycomanic 6y ago
Another slightly off topic remark, there is the famous case of this Russian doctor taking out his own appendix while stationed in antartica: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32481442 https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32481442

simonebrunozzi 6y ago

I'm not trying to be funny, but I'm sure the author is wishing that he started his year of isolation... a year later. Like, in March 2020. That would have been great timing.

jwilber 6y ago
Author was a female

jwilber 6y ago

Maybe it’s versus I’ve been reading up on the torture of solitary confinement, but “Leading 18 strangers around the clock for a full year” - is not what I would consider as isolation. She does go on to qualify it further: “As the youngest and only second female expedition leader at Davis Station”, but it still feels like a huge stretch in my opinion to consider that a year of isolation. How many leaders has Davis Station even had?

dgellow 6y ago
I read it as “isolated from civilization/city-life for 1 year”.
iso947 6y ago
It’s been running about 55 years, so at least 30 leaders
watwut 6y ago
It is small group of people isolated from rest of society. If you notice her points, none of them is about being alone and all of them are about being away from rest of us.

m-i-l 6y ago

My dad spent much of 1958-1965 in Antarctica, overwintering at places like Halley Bay, and including a period as scientific leader at Scott Base (for which he was awarded the Polar Medal). That was in the days when overwintering meant no supply ships or aeroplanes or any contact with the outside world beyond radio contact for 7-8 months. Anyway, there are a few things he mentioned about leaving Antarctica that aren't mentioned in the original article: - the smells: "In the cold atmosphere of Antarctica your sense of smell has become acute and now, wafting in through the door of the aircraft, is the smell of tarmac on the runway, green grass, hundreds of flowers and dozens of different scents ... for the first time ever you can smell your Antarctic clothing. The heat has brought out a hundred different smells, seals, huskies, penguins, kerosene and many more." - the flies and other insects - and perhaps one of his main and lasting experiences, the spirit of international co-operation brought about by the "common problem of survival in Antarctica" On that last point, the last 2 sentences in his book were "The nations of the world can just as easily work on a common problem outside the Antarctic as in it. Let us hope this understanding by common knowledge and experience will not fail us now." I had hoped the current pandemic would help people realise that we are all in this together on the same planet, that it is better for everyone to work together rather than to fight.

ideashower 6y ago
Is his book available for purchase anywhere? Sounds fascinating.
- m-i-l 6y ago
  Thanks. It is available at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1704809576/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_w6A1DbM6GTGFK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1704809576/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_... . It wasn't actually published in his lifetime. In fact, I only discovered the manuscript last year, and decided to self-publish primarily for the benefit of surviving relatives. I have a post about the whole process on my personal site if you're interested in that as well.

amaizhe 6y ago

Slightly off topic, she had a book out in February called "Respect Trumps Harmony", which said out loud in 2020 seems a possibly ambiguous title for what turns out to be a book about group dynamics rather than a glowing assessment of a certain President.