Commercial Items Identified on my Commute

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I see a lot of interesting commercialitems on truck on I-75. When you make the commute many times you start to see the same items over and over again. Sometimes it is huge equipment tires, sometimes heavy equipment of different types. I see these huge blocks of aluminum going North. I think about what the mill must look like and where it is going. And how much aluminum foil a block like this will make. Using the Tesla Full Self-Driving (supervised) allows me to look for these things on the highway. The FSD also helps me through the crazy stop and goes. Easily over 70MPH and then sudden traffic at dead stops, frequently. I see accidents every trip. It is amazing there aren't more. A side note- aluminum foil has a shiny side and a dull side. The reason why is that the foil is folded as it goes through massive rollers. The shiny side is the side that faces the steel roller. The dull side faces itself - aluminum.
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We had our town Christmas party last night. Interesting finger foods, music and company in the Vehicle Maintenance Facility (VMF).

I have two days off. I am primarily working on my video for the McMurdo film festival. The criteria is they must be less than 5 minutes, rated PG-13 and must be edited (and primarily filmed) in Antarctica. I also plan on getting up to the ham shack with a spectrum analyzer to track down some interference. The South Pole Station has a brand new ham station. it sounds like they have been getting out to the US occasionally. So I will be using that station the 7 days I am at pole. I will also be publishing a time I will be in front of the webcam when I get there. Somebody will have to take a screen dump of that for me. I won't be hanging around outside for hours I am sure (well maybe). It is about -40 at pole (it is summer after all). It has never been above zero F at pole so the temperature is always refered to at an absolute number..."Today it is 40", which means 40 below zero F.

On the 20th the program had a test/milestone in logistics. We had a Air Force C-17 fly from Christchurch, land in McMurdo for fuel, fly to pole, air drop 70,000 pounds of supplies turn around and fly all the way back to Christchurch. They may have to do this in the winter. They want to be prepared. The following photos show the event. I wish I had seen it in person.

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