Friday, October 31, 2008

Air Force Antarctic Rescue Mission

It seems med evac rescue missions are having problems lately and seem to be quite plentiful at two in the news this month. Here is an article about a little bit different type of rescue mission, which seems to not have had as much trouble. An American Air Force C-17 was stranded last Sunday in Antarctica because of a faulty fuel control. On Wednesday a New Zealand Air Force C-130 landed in Antarctica with spare parts and engineers to repair the C-17.

Australian Still Waiting To Be Rescued

Here is an article about the rescue ship being within helicopter distance to fly in the doctor and medical staff. They are still waiting for weather to clear enough for them to fly the helicopter, though. The Australian injured in a quad bike accident has been waiting to be rescued for over a week.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Video Games with Penguins: Madagascar for Nintendo DS

This is a fun game for the Nintendo DS. It is a lot like Madagascar: Operation Penguin, but instead this one actually follows the movie's story line. The penguin appearances are not as abundant as the other game since the penguins are kind of minor characters in the movie. They do still make appearances giving the tutorial instructions and appropriate parts of the plot. Also, in the bonus levels you go around collecting penguins as fast as you can. Click the thumbnails below to see a larger version of the screenshots.





Friday, October 24, 2008

Australian Injured in Antarctica

Just last week a Norwegian had to be medevaced from Antarctica. This week the Antarctic news has been dominated by stories about an Australian who got injured on Monday and is waiting for medevac. This time the medevac is to be done with a ship that is on its way to Antarctica, but has been held up due to weather. The man, Dwayne Rooke, broke his pelvis and ankles in a quad bike accident.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Med Evac from Troll Base Successful

Here is an update article on the emergency evacuation of a man with a fractured leg from Norway's Troll Base in Antarctica. After a week of waiting for good weather a successful mission was flown to Antarctica and return with the injured man to South Africa, where it is hoped his leg can be saved with surgery.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Scientists to Probe Antarctica's Buried Mountains

Here is an interesting article about the hidden mountain range in Antarctica. The mountain range is called the Gamburtsevs. The Gamburtsevs are buried under four kilometers of ice. The mountains are not just unique because they are buried and humans have never actually seen them, but they are also unique in that they are located in the center of the continent with no obvious reason for their formation.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Video Games with Penguins: Defendin' de Penguin

This came as my Gamefly rental game the other day. I have been wanting to try it since I heard about it because of the word penguin in the title. Also, it is a strategy game, which is a genre I like and is not much seen on consoles. I played this in the Wii version, but there is also a DS version, which actually might be funner, as it seems like it would be a good on the go game to play. Basically in the game you are helping an Adelie penguin named Little Blue test out snow and ice cannons made by a professor Macaroni penguin. The cannons are being used to kill enemies trying to steal their fish supply.

Overall this is a fun game. I will admit, though, that it is not the best accurate portrayal of Antarctica. For one, they have a polar bear sitting on the map in the early levels and in case you do not already know polar bears only live in the Arctic and penguins only live in the Antarctic. Also, several of the enemies are unrealistic, especially the boar, but at least they are a little more obviously wrongly placed than the polar bear, which is just encouraging a misconception many people have about polar bears and penguins coexisting in the wild.





Sunday, October 12, 2008

Med Evac from Norway's Antarctic Base Delayed

Here is an article about the attempt to do a medical evacuation from the Troll Base in Antarctica having to turn back to Cape Town. They continue to be ready to send a med evac team when the weather allows. Here is my original post about this med evac effort to save a man's leg.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Penguin Populations Could Disappear due to Climate Change

Here is an interesting article from WWF about climate change and how it could effect penguin populations. According to the article they predict the Antarctic penguin populations will decrease 50% to 75% if global temperatures rise another 2 degrees Celsius. The results of the temperature increase would be less sea ice, which would effect krill populations and in turn penguin populations, especially the Adelie and Emperor penguins.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Norway's Troll Base Runway Being Cleared for Medical Evacuation

Here is an article about the runway at the Troll Base being cleared earlier than normal in hopes that a plane can land and take one of the inhabitants to the nearest hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. The person has a compound leg fracture that has been treated by the base's doctor, but needs to have surgery.

Training for the Antarctic in Mud

This article caught my interest because Antarctic training and mud seem quite an odd pair. Even after reading the article it seems kind of a weird location for training and actually does not sound like it has too much to do with mud. The main thing that it seems to be a good location in England for training for the Antarctic is that it has a way to train for dealing with the crevasses in Antarctica.