Re: ot: Well thank you God.

"Dr Ivan D. Reid" <Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk> wrote:

> Blimey, yes. I was walking^Wstruggling up the hill to Mawson
>Heights in a 100-knot blizzard in '80 when a large empty box dislodged
>itself from its normally quiet spot in the lee of the Aeronomy Lab and
>launched itself on a trajectory towards the Base below. "Blimey!", says
>I, "That could cause some damage if it arrived down below at some
>velocity!"
>
> So, being a resourceful and, at that time, spry young chap, I
>leapt at the box as it went past, grabbing a rope lifting-handle with the
>intention of slowing its passage.
>
> Slow it, did it bollocks! I got dragged down the hill with the
>gravel first wearing through my cold-weather trousers, then my thermal
>underwear, and then my bum! I finished the rest of the year spending
>alternate weeks in holey underwear with a not-quite-washed-out blood-stain
>around the damage...

at no point on the descent did it occur to you to let go of the box?

--
darsy
r65ls|zx-7r|cbr929rr-1

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 08:39:38 +0100, darsy <darsy@sticky.co.uk>
wrote in <2hupe057q5dth9lhhi3depdfmtuo1gfer6@4ax.com>:
> "Dr Ivan D. Reid" <Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk> wrote:

>> Blimey, yes. I was walking^Wstruggling up the hill to Mawson
>>Heights in a 100-knot blizzard in '80 when a large empty box dislodged
>>itself from its normally quiet spot in the lee of the Aeronomy Lab and
>>launched itself on a trajectory towards the Base below. "Blimey!", says
>>I, "That could cause some damage if it arrived down below at some
>>velocity!"

>> So, being a resourceful and, at that time, spry young chap, I
>>leapt at the box as it went past, grabbing a rope lifting-handle with the
>>intention of slowing its passage.

>> Slow it, did it bollocks! I got dragged down the hill with the
>>gravel first wearing through my cold-weather trousers, then my thermal
>>underwear, and then my bum! I finished the rest of the year spending
>>alternate weeks in holey underwear with a not-quite-washed-out blood-stain
>>around the damage...

> at no point on the descent did it occur to you to let go of the box?

Well, no. I was trying (successfully as it turned out) to prevent
damage at the base. Yes, I did eventually slow it some, and get it under
control. Just my underpants (and bum) suffered...

You get these feelings of responsibility when it's just you and
30 other guys supporting each other in a harsh[1] environment with no
possible outside help for 9 months.

[1] i.e. deadly. We had far too many "accidents" where people forgot
where they were and bent the rules. One chap went home on two separate
boats; four others avoided death in a crevasse almost literally by a hair's
breadth.

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD. "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO# 003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dr Ivan D. Reid"
<Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk> saying something like:

>[1] i.e. deadly. We had far too many "accidents" where people forgot
>where they were and bent the rules. One chap went home on two separate
>boats; four others avoided death in a crevasse almost literally by a hair's
>breadth.

I was impressed at the fuel amounts required to keep the base running
24/7 all year round. In those conditions it must be utterly vital to
have a running heat and power source at all times.
Out of interest, if the gennies packed up, how long before the base
would become unusable? I know there would be individual diesel heaters,
and battery storage, but I'm wondering how well insulated the main
structures are.

--

Dave

GS 850 x2 / SE 6a
SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3
FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19 COSOC#10

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 22:50:48 +0100,
Grimly Curmudgeon <grimlycurmudgeon683@hotmail.com>
wrote in <evfre01nt9savsmvl2a726ocd582dkfs41@4ax.com>:
> It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
> drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dr Ivan D. Reid"
><Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk> saying something like:

>>[1] i.e. deadly. We had far too many "accidents" where people forgot
>>where they were and bent the rules. One chap went home on two separate
>>boats; four others avoided death in a crevasse almost literally by a hair's
>>breadth.

> I was impressed at the fuel amounts required to keep the base running
> 24/7 all year round. In those conditions it must be utterly vital to
> have a running heat and power source at all times.
> Out of interest, if the gennies packed up, how long before the base
> would become unusable? I know there would be individual diesel heaters,
> and battery storage, but I'm wondering how well insulated the main
> structures are.

I don't really know, and we were in the middle of a big rebuild at
the time anyway. Most of the old structures had ice build-up in their
insulation to at least half depth -- the need for a vapour barrier inside
the insulation hadn't been realised when the base was built in the
50s-60s; on the coldest night we had (-34 C) the nail-heads in my donga
sprouted hoarfrost, indicating that the ice had penetrated as far as the
ends of the nails.

The buildings were heated by waste heat from the genny exhausts,
so it couldn't be turned off. When we had blizzards and the outside
temperature rose to between -2 C and 0 C it became oppressively hot
inside. This wasn't so much of a problem in summer because a) you could
open the doors then and b) I wasn't there for most of the summer.

Bear in mind we had two gensets -- might have been a spare, too,
memory escapes me. They were run in turn for a week each, with preventive
maintenance carried out on the idle set. In the event of them both going
out of action, I think we would have reverted to traverse-style living,
but there were other heat sources such as the blowers used to warm up the
Cats when on traverse. More of a problem for the base would have been the
loss of power, but even there therer would have been some backup capacity.

Thinking about it, in a severe loss of heating we would have had
to move into tents anyway, as we couldn't stay in the buildings if the
fire-fighting tank froze -- too much of a fire risk! (Antarctica is dry
and fires spread quickly.)

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD. "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO# 003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

Dr Ivan D. Reid <Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk> wrote:

> on the coldest night we had (-34 C) the nail-heads in my donga
> sprouted hoarfrost

Is this some sort of interesting Aussie slang?

--
Trophy 1200 750SS CB400F CD200 Z200 x2 ST70 DT50MX YTC#3
GAGARPHOF#30 GHPOTHUF#1 IHABWTJ#1 BOTAFOT#60 ANORAK#06
BOF#30 WUSS#5 http://www.chateau.murray.dsl.pipex.com/

"Dr Ivan D. Reid" <Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk> wrote:

>[1] i.e. deadly. We had far too many "accidents" where people forgot
>where they were and bent the rules. One chap went home on two separate
>boats; four others avoided death in a crevasse almost literally by a hair's
>breadth.

that'll teach you to live somewhere pikey.

--
darsy
r65ls|zx-7r|cbr929rr-1

On Fri, 9 Jul 2004 07:20:30 +0100,
The Older Gentleman <chateauSPAMKILL.murray@dsl.pipex.com>
wrote in <1ggnb17.1lrwuoxk92ke3N%chateauSPAMKILL.murray@dsl .pipex.com>:
> Dr Ivan D. Reid <Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk> wrote:

>> on the coldest night we had (-34 C) the nail-heads in my donga
>> sprouted hoarfrost

> Is this some sort of interesting Aussie slang?

Hoarfrost? No, tho' it is unusual in most of Oz. Did you check
the Oz slang page at www.macquariedictionary.com.au?

Donga, on the other hand, is a South African word meaning a gully
formed by erosion. Somehow in Oz it came to mean the bush in general, and
also (chiefly Antartctica) a cubby-hole for sleeping. Don't confuse it
with "donger", as in "dry as a dead dingo's ...".

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD. "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO# 003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

Dr Ivan D. Reid <Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk> wrote:

> Donga, on the other hand, is a South African word meaning a gully
> formed by erosion. Somehow in Oz it came to mean the bush in general, and
> also (chiefly Antartctica) a cubby-hole for sleeping. Don't confuse it
> with "donger", as in "dry as a dead dingo's ...".

Ah! That was where I was confused. Thanks.

--
Trophy 1200 750SS CB400F CD200 Z200 x2 ST70 DT50MX YTC#3
GAGARPHOF#30 GHPOTHUF#1 IHABWTJ#1 BOTAFOT#60 ANORAK#06
BOF#30 WUSS#5 http://www.chateau.murray.dsl.pipex.com/

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dr Ivan D. Reid"
<Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk> saying something like:

>The buildings were heated by waste heat from the genny exhausts,
>so it couldn't be turned off. When we had blizzards and the outside
>temperature rose to between -2 C and 0 C it became oppressively hot
>inside. This wasn't so much of a problem in summer because a) you could
>open the doors then and b) I wasn't there for most of the summer.

It sounds weird, summer temps of freezing.

> Bear in mind we had two gensets -- might have been a spare, too,
>memory escapes me. They were run in turn for a week each, with preventive
>maintenance carried out on the idle set. In the event of them both going
>out of action, I think we would have reverted to traverse-style living,
>but there were other heat sources such as the blowers used to warm up the
>Cats when on traverse. More of a problem for the base would have been the
>loss of power, but even there therer would have been some backup capacity.

I'd suppose there'd be triple redundancy of sorts. Two main gennies and
a smaller third for radio/light/essential battery charging if needed.

--

Dave

GS 850 x2 / SE 6a
SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3
FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19 COSOC#10

On Fri, 9 Jul 2004 21:31:53 +0100,
The Older Gentleman <chateauSPAMKILL.murray@dsl.pipex.com>
wrote in <1ggoe40.1nnldut5ukxzfN%chateauSPAMKILL.murray@dsl .pipex.com>:
> Dr Ivan D. Reid <Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk> wrote:

>> Donga, on the other hand, is a South African word meaning a gully
>> formed by erosion. Somehow in Oz it came to mean the bush in general, and
>> also (chiefly Antartctica) a cubby-hole for sleeping. Don't confuse it
>> with "donger", as in "dry as a dead dingo's ...".

> Ah! That was where I was confused. Thanks.

They _are_ pronounced differently, roughly "don-ga" vs. "dong-er".
You probably inferred that from the spelling anyway.

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD. "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO# 003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 00:14:24 +0100,
Grimly Curmudgeon <grimlycurmudgeon683@hotmail.com>
wrote in <ie9ue01tu5gjcuj4qobpph57dsos4947r6@4ax.com>:
> It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
> drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dr Ivan D. Reid"
><Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk> saying something like:

>>The buildings were heated by waste heat from the genny exhausts,
>>so it couldn't be turned off. When we had blizzards and the outside
>>temperature rose to between -2 C and 0 C it became oppressively hot
>>inside. This wasn't so much of a problem in summer because a) you could
>>open the doors then and b) I wasn't there for most of the summer.

> It sounds weird, summer temps of freezing.

I think it was when it got up to about -5 C in November that we
started wearing shorts and T-shirts. We were in fact living on the
"permanent" shoreline, which almost by definition is close to the
summer-time 0 C isotherm. When I left on December 5th there was still 100
km of 1-metre-thick sea-ice to cross by helicopter to get to where the
ship had been able to approach us.

>> Bear in mind we had two gensets -- might have been a spare, too,
>>memory escapes me. They were run in turn for a week each, with preventive
>>maintenance carried out on the idle set. In the event of them both going
>>out of action, I think we would have reverted to traverse-style living,
>>but there were other heat sources such as the blowers used to warm up the
>>Cats when on traverse. More of a problem for the base would have been the
>>loss of power, but even there therer would have been some backup capacity.

> I'd suppose there'd be triple redundancy of sorts. Two main gennies and
> a smaller third for radio/light/essential battery charging if needed.

Mawson has a Web-site I believe -- there might be details there.
Start from http://www.aad.gov.au/ .

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD. "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO# 003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dr Ivan D. Reid"
<Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk> saying something like:

>Mawson has a Web-site I believe -- there might be details there.
>Start from http://www.aad.gov.au/ .

http://www.aad.gov.au/default.asp?casid=14867

http://www-new.aad.gov.au/default.as...pe=1&children=

Gawd, it's bleak.

http://www.aad.gov.au/Asset/Mag_autu...Operations.pdf

Hmm...

Two powerhouses with 4 x 110kW sets each. That gives plenty of
redundancy. 110's an odd size, but it might be dictated by lifting
capacity of the delivery ship's cranes.

I was thinking along the the lines of a pair of 250s with a 150 as
emergency backup, but since I'd no real idea of the size of the base
I'm surprised I'm reasonably close.

--

Dave

GS 850 x2 / SE 6a
SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3
FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19 COSOC#10

Grimly Curmudgeon wrote
>
>Two powerhouses with 4 x 110kW sets each. That gives plenty of
>redundancy. 110's an odd size, but it might be dictated by lifting
>capacity of the delivery ship's cranes.

think merkin standards

V*I=W

thus

110V*1000A=110kW

--
steve auvache

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember steve auvache
<dont_spam@thecow.me.uk> saying something like:

>>Two powerhouses with 4 x 110kW sets each. That gives plenty of
>>redundancy. 110's an odd size, but it might be dictated by lifting
>>capacity of the delivery ship's cranes.
>
>think merkin standards
>
>V*I=W
>
>thus
>
>110V*1000A=110kW

Orstrilyar's on 240v afaik. But that's beside the point - I was thinking
more of the weight of the units.

--

Dave

GS 850 x2 / SE 6a
SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3
FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19 COSOC#10

On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 12:48:08 +0100,
Grimly Curmudgeon <grimlycurmudgeon683@hotmail.com>
wrote in <8lkve0tkl7a2ii50qhi6de1b9r8nj7l21i@4ax.com>:

> I was thinking along the the lines of a pair of 250s with a 150 as
> emergency backup, but since I'd no real idea of the size of the base
> I'm surprised I'm reasonably close.

32 men and the same number of dogs when I was there. Davis and
Casey were 16-20 IIRC. The dogs are gone now, but they allow women down
there these days...

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD. "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO# 003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dr Ivan D. Reid"
<Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk> saying something like:

>On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 12:48:08 +0100,
> Grimly Curmudgeon <grimlycurmudgeon683@hotmail.com>
> wrote in <8lkve0tkl7a2ii50qhi6de1b9r8nj7l21i@4ax.com>:
>
>> I was thinking along the the lines of a pair of 250s with a 150 as
>> emergency backup, but since I'd no real idea of the size of the base
>> I'm surprised I'm reasonably close.
>
> 32 men and the same number of dogs when I was there. Davis and
>Casey were 16-20 IIRC. The dogs are gone now, but they allow women down
>there these days...

You can't eat wimmin when the supplies run out.

--

Dave

GS 850 x2 / SE 6a
SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3
FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19 COSOC#10

Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:

> > The dogs are gone now, but they allow women down
> > there these days...
>
> You can't eat wimmin when the supplies run out.

...and /why/ not?

--
Simon

Brighton | MYSOB: http://www.sweller.co.uk/sob/
England | MZSOB: http://www.mztech.fsnet.co.uk/

On Sun, 11 Jul 2004 06:14:02 +0100, sweller <ng@mztech.fsnet.co.uk>
wrote in <xn0dkmvnl27pehv001@news.individual.net>:
> Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:

>> > The dogs are gone now, but they allow women down
>> > there these days...

>> You can't eat wimmin when the supplies run out.

> ..and /why/ not?

At least you wouldn't get Vitamin A poisoning from their livers!
Or did you mean ...

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD. "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO# 003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

	#1
darsy	Re: ot: Well thank you God. "Dr Ivan D. Reid" <Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk> wrote: > Blimey, yes. I was walking^Wstruggling up the hill to Mawson >Heights in a 100-knot blizzard in '80 when a large empty box dislodged >itself from its normally quiet spot in the lee of the Aeronomy Lab and >launched itself on a trajectory towards the Base below. "Blimey!", says >I, "That could cause some damage if it arrived down below at some >velocity!" > > So, being a resourceful and, at that time, spry young chap, I >leapt at the box as it went past, grabbing a rope lifting-handle with the >intention of slowing its passage. > > Slow it, did it bollocks! I got dragged down the hill with the >gravel first wearing through my cold-weather trousers, then my thermal >underwear, and then my bum! I finished the rest of the year spending >alternate weeks in holey underwear with a not-quite-washed-out blood-stain >around the damage... at no point on the descent did it occur to you to let go of the box? -- darsy r65ls\|zx-7r\|cbr929rr-1

	#2
Dr Ivan D. Reid	Re: ot: Well thank you God. On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 08:39:38 +0100, darsy <darsy@sticky.co.uk> wrote in <2hupe057q5dth9lhhi3depdfmtuo1gfer6@4ax.com>: > "Dr Ivan D. Reid" <Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk> wrote: >> Blimey, yes. I was walking^Wstruggling up the hill to Mawson >>Heights in a 100-knot blizzard in '80 when a large empty box dislodged >>itself from its normally quiet spot in the lee of the Aeronomy Lab and >>launched itself on a trajectory towards the Base below. "Blimey!", says >>I, "That could cause some damage if it arrived down below at some >>velocity!" >> So, being a resourceful and, at that time, spry young chap, I >>leapt at the box as it went past, grabbing a rope lifting-handle with the >>intention of slowing its passage. >> Slow it, did it bollocks! I got dragged down the hill with the >>gravel first wearing through my cold-weather trousers, then my thermal >>underwear, and then my bum! I finished the rest of the year spending >>alternate weeks in holey underwear with a not-quite-washed-out blood-stain >>around the damage... > at no point on the descent did it occur to you to let go of the box? Well, no. I was trying (successfully as it turned out) to prevent damage at the base. Yes, I did eventually slow it some, and get it under control. Just my underpants (and bum) suffered... You get these feelings of responsibility when it's just you and 30 other guys supporting each other in a harsh[1] environment with no possible outside help for 9 months. [1] i.e. deadly. We had far too many "accidents" where people forgot where they were and bent the rules. One chap went home on two separate boats; four others avoided death in a crevasse almost literally by a hair's breadth. -- Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration, Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk Room 40-1-B12, CERN GSX600F, RG250WD. "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO# 003, 005 WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon) KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

	#3
Grimly Curmudgeon	Re: ot: Well thank you God. It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dr Ivan D. Reid" <Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk> saying something like: >[1] i.e. deadly. We had far too many "accidents" where people forgot >where they were and bent the rules. One chap went home on two separate >boats; four others avoided death in a crevasse almost literally by a hair's >breadth. I was impressed at the fuel amounts required to keep the base running 24/7 all year round. In those conditions it must be utterly vital to have a running heat and power source at all times. Out of interest, if the gennies packed up, how long before the base would become unusable? I know there would be individual diesel heaters, and battery storage, but I'm wondering how well insulated the main structures are. -- Dave GS 850 x2 / SE 6a SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3 FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19 COSOC#10

	#5
The Older Gentleman	Re: ot: Well thank you God. Dr Ivan D. Reid <Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk> wrote: > on the coldest night we had (-34 C) the nail-heads in my donga > sprouted hoarfrost Is this some sort of interesting Aussie slang? -- Trophy 1200 750SS CB400F CD200 Z200 x2 ST70 DT50MX YTC#3 GAGARPHOF#30 GHPOTHUF#1 IHABWTJ#1 BOTAFOT#60 ANORAK#06 BOF#30 WUSS#5 http://www.chateau.murray.dsl.pipex.com/

	#7
Dr Ivan D. Reid	Re: ot: Well thank you God. On Fri, 9 Jul 2004 07:20:30 +0100, The Older Gentleman <chateauSPAMKILL.murray@dsl.pipex.com> wrote in <1ggnb17.1lrwuoxk92ke3N%chateauSPAMKILL.murray@dsl .pipex.com>: > Dr Ivan D. Reid <Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk> wrote: >> on the coldest night we had (-34 C) the nail-heads in my donga >> sprouted hoarfrost > Is this some sort of interesting Aussie slang? Hoarfrost? No, tho' it is unusual in most of Oz. Did you check the Oz slang page at www.macquariedictionary.com.au? Donga, on the other hand, is a South African word meaning a gully formed by erosion. Somehow in Oz it came to mean the bush in general, and also (chiefly Antartctica) a cubby-hole for sleeping. Don't confuse it with "donger", as in "dry as a dead dingo's ...". -- Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration, Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk Room 40-1-B12, CERN GSX600F, RG250WD. "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO# 003, 005 WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon) KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

	#11
Dr Ivan D. Reid	Re: ot: Well thank you God. On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 00:14:24 +0100, Grimly Curmudgeon <grimlycurmudgeon683@hotmail.com> wrote in <ie9ue01tu5gjcuj4qobpph57dsos4947r6@4ax.com>: > It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the > drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dr Ivan D. Reid" ><Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk> saying something like: >>The buildings were heated by waste heat from the genny exhausts, >>so it couldn't be turned off. When we had blizzards and the outside >>temperature rose to between -2 C and 0 C it became oppressively hot >>inside. This wasn't so much of a problem in summer because a) you could >>open the doors then and b) I wasn't there for most of the summer. > It sounds weird, summer temps of freezing. I think it was when it got up to about -5 C in November that we started wearing shorts and T-shirts. We were in fact living on the "permanent" shoreline, which almost by definition is close to the summer-time 0 C isotherm. When I left on December 5th there was still 100 km of 1-metre-thick sea-ice to cross by helicopter to get to where the ship had been able to approach us. >> Bear in mind we had two gensets -- might have been a spare, too, >>memory escapes me. They were run in turn for a week each, with preventive >>maintenance carried out on the idle set. In the event of them both going >>out of action, I think we would have reverted to traverse-style living, >>but there were other heat sources such as the blowers used to warm up the >>Cats when on traverse. More of a problem for the base would have been the >>loss of power, but even there therer would have been some backup capacity. > I'd suppose there'd be triple redundancy of sorts. Two main gennies and > a smaller third for radio/light/essential battery charging if needed. Mawson has a Web-site I believe -- there might be details there. Start from http://www.aad.gov.au/ . -- Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration, Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk Room 40-1-B12, CERN GSX600F, RG250WD. "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO# 003, 005 WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon) KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

	#13
steve auvache	Re: ot: Well thank you God. Grimly Curmudgeon wrote > >Two powerhouses with 4 x 110kW sets each. That gives plenty of >redundancy. 110's an odd size, but it might be dictated by lifting >capacity of the delivery ship's cranes. think merkin standards VI=W thus 110V1000A=110kW -- steve auvache

	#17
sweller	Re: ot: Well thank you God. Grimly Curmudgeon wrote: > > The dogs are gone now, but they allow women down > > there these days... > > You can't eat wimmin when the supplies run out. ...and /why/ not? -- Simon Brighton \| MYSOB: http://www.sweller.co.uk/sob/ England \| MZSOB: http://www.mztech.fsnet.co.uk/

	#18
Dr Ivan D. Reid	Re: ot: Well thank you God. On Sun, 11 Jul 2004 06:14:02 +0100, sweller <ng@mztech.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in <xn0dkmvnl27pehv001@news.individual.net>: > Grimly Curmudgeon wrote: >> > The dogs are gone now, but they allow women down >> > there these days... >> You can't eat wimmin when the supplies run out. > ..and /why/ not? At least you wouldn't get Vitamin A poisoning from their livers! Or did you mean ... -- Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration, Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@brunel.ac.uk Room 40-1-B12, CERN GSX600F, RG250WD. "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO# 003, 005 WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon) KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".