[FantasticMrFox]

Looking up his illness during Apollo 13. He developed a kidney infection due to the dehydration & rosining they had to do. That man is a walking, breathing, living miracle. Both of luck & amazing scientific ingenuity. Those men shouldn't have made it back. Any one of a number of tiny changes would have spelled death for them. I am, and have been for 20+ years, completely awe struck by that mission.

Yes, that's one amazing true story (and film). Something similar would be Shackleton's Imperial trans-antarctic expedition 1914-1917. With their ship being crushed by the ice, Shackleton and his men were stranded on the pack ice. Low on food they hauled their massive lifeboats along for many miles, then made a perilous journey in the open boats across the rough Antarctic ocean to reach Elephant Island, little more than a barren rock. Picking five of his best men and leaving the rest to stay in a little make-shift shelter, he ventured out into the ocean and in one of the greatest feats of navigation in the history of seafaring, managed to steer his little lifeboat 1,300 km through occasionally hurricane force winds to South Georgia. There they landed on the Southern coast but in order to reach the whaling stations on the north coast, had to make another 36 hour journey, travelling 32 miles through the rough interior of the island, crossing glaciers and crevasses, climbing down through a waterfall etc. - a feat that to this day has not been repeated.

Afterwards they went back with help and rescued the others - every single expedition member survived. It's very much like the Apollo 13 mission - none of them should've survived this ordeal, but they all did.

There is a saying about explorers:

"For scientific discovery give me Scott;
for speed and efficiency of travel give me Amundsen;
but when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton."

There is a well written and highly interesting series of articles about this expedition on Cool Antarctica.

---

Last edited by FantasticMrFox; 11-30-2015 at 06:33 PM.

[THoog]

That miracle done without Ipads, laptops, smart phones or even a basic calculator! Complicated calculations in their heads? Amaziing!!

I got to visit the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville this past spring, and standing under their Saturn V, I was struck how such a huge machine, with millions of parts in thousands of subsystems (built by different contractors) could be planned and built with everything done on PAPER.

[THoog]

I can't find a proper citation, but Roald Admundsen is credited with one of my favorite quotes: "Adventure is just bad planning."

[Ex Finn.]

I can't find a proper citation, but Roald Admundsen is credited with one of my favorite quotes: "Adventure is just bad planning."

Yup!

[dansamy]

I'm so happy. I did much better with Christmas lights tonight than I did Saturday. Of course, I'm still not great, but I'm learning.

[clackers]

It took five minutes for gravity to make me start shouting at the tv.

Well, Zoe, the people who watched the remaining 86 minutes of it gave it 97% at Rotten Tomatoes and seven Academy awards.


For the Pentax Forums SF DVD night around your place, I've also brought Moon, Inception, District 9 and Guardians of the Galaxy ... are we going to have problems?

[clackers]

Yes, that's one amazing true story (and film). Something similar would be Shackleton's Imperial trans-antarctic expedition 1914-1917. With their ship being crushed by the ice, Shackleton and his men were stranded on the pack ice. Low on food they hauled their massive lifeboats along for many miles, then made a perilous journey in the open boats across the rough Antarctic ocean to reach Elephant Island, little more than a barren rock. Picking five of his best men and leaving the rest to stay in a little make-shift shelter, he ventured out into the ocean and in one of the greatest feats of navigation in the history of seafaring, managed to steer his little lifeboat 1,300 km through occasionally hurricane force winds to South Georgia. There they landed on the Southern coast but in order to reach the whaling stations on the north coast, had to make another 36 hour journey, travelling 32 miles through the rough interior of the island, crossing glaciers and crevasses, climbing down through a waterfall etc. - a feat that to this day has not been repeated.

Afterwards they went back with help and rescued the others - every single expedition member survived. It's very much like the Apollo 13 mission - none of them should've survived this ordeal, but they all did.

There is a saying about explorers:

"For scientific discovery give me Scott;
for speed and efficiency of travel give me Amundsen;
but when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton."

There is a well written and highly interesting series of articles about this expedition on Cool Antarctica.

Completely awesome story, FF - there's a dramatization with Kenneth Branagh.


Shackleton as a leader was a master of group psychology and had the men being very active even while bunkered down in the snow. An Aussie took those iconic photographs of the expedition, including the ship trapped by ice.

[THoog]

I'm so happy. I did much better with Christmas lights tonight than I did Saturday. Of course, I'm still not great, but I'm learning.

Great! Ever since I declared the lights at Ginter Garden in Richmond a personal holiday tradition, I've tried to go twice every year - once to remember how to do it, and a second time to correct mistakes and go after the shots I liked (every year has a different theme, with some new decorations and some old ones moved and repurposed). Maybe I could have gotten away with one shoot last year, but there was a cold snap on the first trip and I gave up when I couldn't feel the shutter button any more.

[THoog]

For the SF DVD night around your place, I've also brought Moon, Inception, District 9 and Guardians of the Galaxy ... are we going to have problems?

How 'bout Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow? (Not that I'm such a huge Tom Cruise fan - they just happen to be on the shelf next to Inception.)

[dansamy]

Oh & my favorite Disney animated feature film is Beauty & the Beast.

[Joel B]

Beauty & the Beast.

What?!? not Frozen? (gag) How about Dumbo? Now that's a classic! And yes, Beauty and the Beast was a good one.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Cool movie! "I'm sorry, I didn't know how that machine works!"

[clackers]

How 'bout Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow? (Not that I'm such a huge Tom Cruise fan - they just happen to be on the shelf next to Inception.)

Didn't see Oblivion, but really liked the video game references of Edge of Tomorrow, Joel! (thumbup)

[tim60]

I assume not like this?

Joel, no, it was one of those doctor's camera on a doctor's hose like thing. The procedure is done with local anaesthetic. The pictures of the inside of the bladder were really interesting to see. The price was 'think of a number' expensive. (Did have appropriate insurance to assist.)

---------- Post added 12-01-15 at 04:36 PM ----------

A cystoscope is a camera, developed to inspect the inside of the bladder. I believe it also has some tools, like a nipper to take samples.

I really dislike doctors.


A lot.

They only think of poking you in the soft bits! Those hurt more.

---------- Post added 12-01-15 at 04:38 PM ----------

My fault! Sorry! Commented on a typo and now everyone is swapping catheter horror stories!! How am I going to be able to sleep tonight?!?

By watching The Walking Dead that's how! hahahahaha!

Last night I had to ring the Australian Tax Office. Got cut off three time, which is frustrating when calling from the other side of the world, and on the fourth try they had to evacuate the building - for a fire alarm. Not as bad as you all thought given recent discussion.

You would sleep better after almost anything than that.

BTW: got my matter largely sorted, in my favour.

---------- Post added 12-01-15 at 04:40 PM ----------

Yes...I administered the final stroke.


Steve

And I got 21000 a few days ago and did not realise till the next day.

[ZoeB]

Well, Zoe, the people who watched the remaining 86 minutes of it gave it 97% at Rotten Tomatoes and seven Academy awards.


For the Pentax Forums SF DVD night around your place, I've also brought Moon, Inception, District 9 and Guardians of the Galaxy ... are we going to have problems?

See, those i have no problem with. It's just films that claim to be scientifically accurate, but then abide by the laws of hollywood physics. And even then, i can handle some things. Inside of a black hole being a dimensional bookshelf? I can deal with that. Not like we'll ever know what's beyond the event horizon of a black hole anyway. Giant centrifuge space station to simulate gravity? Not realistic or practical, but theoretically the most logical way to increase weight outside of large gravitational fields. Heck, I can even handle the flying around like iron man, although that was a bit of a hollywood... well, I'm supposed to keep it PG in here, but I think you know what i mean.

Things I can't handle? Why is there a secret Russian spy satellite in retrograde orbit so close to Hubble? Why is there a medical doctor playing around with Hubble's circuit boards? And WHY OH WHY DID SHE JUST MAGICALLY DECCELRATE AFTER BEING HIT BY SPACE DEBRIS IN A VACUUM? That's not artistic liberty. That's just a gross oversight of Newtonian mechanics.

[clackers]

That's not artistic liberty. That's just a gross oversight of Newtonian mechanics.

(Laughs). The director is a spiritual film maker, IIRC.

What you must have thought of George Clooney giving advice from beyond the grave (or was it entirely oxygen deprivation?) must be priceless! 😀