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I am headed out to the Polar Sea today by helo. We are going to install a couple of radio telephones so folks aboard ship can use the station satellite link and to call into town. It looks like we are really going to get stuffed in on the helo with some other folks.

I will be heading to pole on the 15th. I will get some Diamox from medical before I head down there to help fend off altitude sickness. I am ok at altitude usually. I get a headache and I will not be able to sleep at all for the first night, but it is all part of the experience. The pole is at approximately 10000 feet above sea level, and the polar air is quite thin which makes the altitude equivalent higher. It is a stress on your body making extra blood cells and learning how to breathe for sufficient oxygen uptake.

I have watched more movies on the ice than probably have in the last five or ten years. The thing that consistantly strikes me is the level of violence in these movies, really. I remember Taxi Driver was a really graphically violent movie 20+ years ago and now that would be pretty tame. Even movies like King Kong have graphically violent scenes with people getting eaten by giant bugs. I am of the mind set that folks *wanting* graphic scenes of violence that perhaps maybe a visit to a slaughtherhouse or something will make their day. Where is all this going?

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