Posted on 12/27/2007 9:32:09 PM PST by atomic conspiracy
Two men, one with a suspected broken jaw, have been airlifted from the Antarctic's most remote research facility after an incident described as a "drunken Christmas punch-up". The brawl happened at the US-operated Amundsen-Scott South Pole station, located at the heart of the frozen continent. The station, where staff carry out a range of scientific investigations from astrophysics to seismology, is currently being rebuilt in a £76m project.
After reports of the fight reached staff at McMurdo station, the headquarters of the US Antarctic Programme, which is located on Ross Island, a US Air Force Hercules was sent to pick up the injured man and the other worker.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
I wonder if the latter provision might provide a clue to the cause of this disgraceful episode.
I would bill the miscreants for the C-130 flight if it were up to me.
Things got heated, eh?
I can imagine that being stuck (even voluntarily) at the a**-end of nowhere in the world over the holidays would tend to put people on edge.
Let’s not read more into this than there is.
This is actually a perfect example of the problem of long-term space travel for humans. And it’s not new, either.
A friend described it to me this way: put four rats in a box and leave it overnite - by morning, only one will be alive. Same thing with people, just takes longer.
Humans are simply not naturally adjusted to living in confined spaces for a long time.
Dennis Prager had a guy on who authored a book about life in Antarctica. He said there was significant drama among the staff.
Maybe it was an argument over a penguin.
What else are you going to do during those long, cold, lonely nights at the lower part of the world besides drink, fight, shoot darts and pool, read, eat and,....
The workers should get combat pay.
“Things got heated, eh?”
The usual suspects will no doubt blame global warming.
did they find those crazy Norwegians?
Yeah, ideally in a situation like that there should be at least two women for every man.
I hope they were arguing about whether the weather data supported or contradicted various global warming theories. At least that would be something the US taxpayers might think was useful.
That was one of my all-time favorite movies.
it is awesome...right up there with Alien
Wonder if a woman had anything to do with it?
Exactly. If we were drunk and stuck in the middle of the frozen tundra I would get on your nerves and you would probably try to kick my ass too.
Uh, gorebull worming? It sounds ‘bout right.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.