Are you a fair weather person?
Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2012 7:25 am
In the "Weather" thread in the Open Space forum, Orin Stepanek recently said this:
And yes... there are people who aren't.
The man pointing at the tornado in this picture is Reed Timmer, who lives for chasing storms. He sometimes gets beaten up while doing it - you can see that he's bleeding from a fresh wound in this picture - but to him it's worth it. He never feels more alive than when the deadly wrath of nature is only two hundred yards away. Read more here.
Okay, I can understand that... no, really, I can't. But a tiny part of me, perhaps one per cent of me, can somehow sympathize. (The other 99% of me are screaming in horror that that madwoman percentage of me ought to be locked up at the bottom of the Mariana Trench so that she can never get out again.)
But extreme weather chasers like Reed Timmer are going to experience fair weather much of the time, since there aren't enough hurricanes around, at least not in the United States, for them to constantly be in the presence of one. After someone like Reed Timmer is done getting his hurricane adrenaline rush, he can rest, heal his wounds and recharge his batteries in calm and pleasant weather.
What about those who are willing to give up the very idea of fair weather? Forever?
This illustration of a manned mission to Mars is, I believe, from the 1970s. Read more about the context of the image here.
I chose this picture of men on Mars because the picture looks so desolate, grim and foreboding. In reality, the weather on Mars is likely to be, well, "fair". If you follow the link I provided, you can find a weather forecast for Mars:
Mars is unlivable for humans. Maybe possibly maybe we can some day terraform it. Until then, it's a place where you can never venture outside without a full space suit. And yet, can you believe it, there are people who are talking about sending astronauts on a one-way mission to Mars! The first astronauts would be sent to Mars and live out their lives on that totally forbidding planet - yes, forbidding for us humans!
Those astronauts would give up the idea of fair weather. They would give up the idea of ever again being in outdoor conditions where you can survive without specially designed and bulky protection. They would give up the idea of ever returning to a place where you could live outdoor without specially designed and bulky protection.
Greenland. Greenland on the Earth. It's cold up here. In the winter, you can't possibly venture out for long without bulky protection if you don't want to die of cold. But you can always breathe. Yes, the air is cold, and the coldness of the air might hurt your respiratory tracts, but there are ways to protect yourself from that. But there is always oxygen to breathe, and the air pressure is always acceptable, and summer will come to Greenland, too, when it will be much warmer.
And you can always leave Greenland and go somewhere else on the Earth, where it is warmer.
Imagine going to Mars to stay. No part of me, no percentage of me, can understand that urge.
Ann
This statement hasn't left me, generating mental responses in my mind like "Well, aren't we all?" and "Are there people who aren't?"What can I say; I'm a fair weather person!
Reed Timmer. Photo: Dick McGowan/ Discovery Storm Chasers
The man pointing at the tornado in this picture is Reed Timmer, who lives for chasing storms. He sometimes gets beaten up while doing it - you can see that he's bleeding from a fresh wound in this picture - but to him it's worth it. He never feels more alive than when the deadly wrath of nature is only two hundred yards away. Read more here.
Okay, I can understand that... no, really, I can't. But a tiny part of me, perhaps one per cent of me, can somehow sympathize. (The other 99% of me are screaming in horror that that madwoman percentage of me ought to be locked up at the bottom of the Mariana Trench so that she can never get out again.)
Photo: James Jordan
What about those who are willing to give up the very idea of fair weather? Forever?
This illustration of a manned mission to Mars is, I believe, from the 1970s. Read more about the context of the image here.
I chose this picture of men on Mars because the picture looks so desolate, grim and foreboding. In reality, the weather on Mars is likely to be, well, "fair". If you follow the link I provided, you can find a weather forecast for Mars:
All right! Yes! Fine and sunny most of the time, yes, but just unbelievably cold. Unbelievably cold! You are hardly ever expected to experience above-freezing temperatures on Mars. And you can't breathe, because there is no oxygen! And the air pressure is so low that you can never get outside without wearing your spacesuit even if you are breathing from an oxygen tank, or so I think anyway. And because there is no ozone layer in the atmosphere, the Sun's ultraviolet light is really hazardous on Mars.Fine and sunny; very cold; winds light and variable; further outlook similar.
Mars is unlivable for humans. Maybe possibly maybe we can some day terraform it. Until then, it's a place where you can never venture outside without a full space suit. And yet, can you believe it, there are people who are talking about sending astronauts on a one-way mission to Mars! The first astronauts would be sent to Mars and live out their lives on that totally forbidding planet - yes, forbidding for us humans!
Those astronauts would give up the idea of fair weather. They would give up the idea of ever again being in outdoor conditions where you can survive without specially designed and bulky protection. They would give up the idea of ever returning to a place where you could live outdoor without specially designed and bulky protection.
Greenland. Source: http://www.guideoftravels.com/dogsled-in-greenland.html
And you can always leave Greenland and go somewhere else on the Earth, where it is warmer.
Imagine going to Mars to stay. No part of me, no percentage of me, can understand that urge.
Ann