Sunday, March 29, 2009

British Adventurers to Follow in Scott's Footsteps

Two British adventurers will attempt to reach the South Pole and trek back in the same fashion as Scott. Of course, they plan to be better prepared and avoid Scott's ill fate of dying on the way back from the South Pole. No one has successfully done it since 1912 (when Admundsen's and Scott's teams reached the pole). The trip is planned as a 100th anniversary of the event.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Sir Edmund Hillary Footage Found

Recently some rare footage of Sir Edmund Hillary's time in Antarctica has been rediscovered. He is most remembered for climbing Mount Everest, but he also helped establish the Scott Antarctic Base. 16mm black and white film of him getting a hair cut, preparing for his Antarctic expedition, and departing New Zealand on the ship to Antarctica in 1957 was found in a loft of a farm machinery company that supplied the tractors for the expedition. The footage was "donated to the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre at Aoraki/Mt Cook."

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Russian Novolazarevskaya Antarctic Base Celebrates 50 Years

Russia's Novolazarevskaya (nee Lazarev) base celebrates 50 years of operation today, March 15, 2009. The base was named after Mikhail Lazarev, who was a co-lead the first Russian Antarctic expedition from 1819-1821. It sounds like the original base was quickly mothballed and the Novolazarevskaya station nearby was built. Read more about the base and its 50th anniversary here.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Movies with Penguins: Mary Poppins

Growing up Mary Poppins was my favorite movie. I used to watch it all the time until my mom took it away when I was 7 because she was annoyed by it. I may be a penguin lover now, but back then it was the whole Mary Poppins character that I liked. Nowadays it remains a favorite and partly because of the fun scene with the animated penguin waiters dancing with Bert. I recently got the new 45th anniversary DVD release version and really enjoyed watching it on DVD for the first time, especially since it is loaded with special features including an audio commentary.



This penguin scene also appears in the Sing-Along Songs: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocous video. The DVD release of this is not all that great, as it is simply the same as the VHS release with no special features.



Sunday, March 8, 2009

British Team to Drill Looking for Life Under Lake Ellsworth in Antarctica

This article is about a team of British scientists drilling through the ice sheet above Lake Ellsworth in Antarctica. They are looking for signs of life under the ice sheet. If they do find life it will provide more evidence that life could exist on distant worlds without a sun's light and heat. In the article they compare the lake to Jupiter's moon, Europa. The team is expected to do the research with a special drill probe in 2012.