Life, The Universe and Everything

Today, one of the broadcasters on Radio 4's news programmes quoted from H L Mencken. It struck me as so apt, funny, painful and in general apposite that I thought I would post it here.

"Self respect is the comfortable feeling that arises when, thus far, no one is suspicious."

I, and friends of mine, have described the feeling that what they are doing is in some way an act, and that they live, expecting to be found out.

As I said, an apposite quotation.

Xtreme Everest III

The testing day for the Nepal trip was interesting. I had to get to North London for 09:00 which was easy enough. However, I had looked at a Google map and satellite photo of the area on the web, based on postcode. Trying to go to the point indicated on the map put me in the middle of the large hospital rather than on the university site, which is where the testing was being held. As a result I arrived for the testing with absolutely no time to spare.

The testing started off with a presentation of the project, followed by going round a number of testing stations. None of the tests (except one) were particularly difficult - the intention was to obtain a sea level base line for each of the guinea pigs.

There were psychogical assessments of concentration, memory, verbal fluency, and other aspects of mental activity, that are likely to degrade in low oxygen situations. There were also various static metrics taken - height, weight, and skull measurements. Also retinal photographs and measurements of visual acuity.

Then on to the dynamic tests. These consisted of VO2 measurements and maximum air flow through the lungs and then the exercise bikes. Wired up with multiple sensors; for blood pressure, oxygen concentration in various parts of the body, heart activity. and (for all I know) seismic activity; the first test involved cycling for about 40 minutes at varying (low) workloads. The final dynamic test was maximum work load, again on the bike, with steadily increasing loads until one reached the physical maximum that one could do. This was the only difficult test.

Then a welcome lunch - in a typical hospital canteen. Final items in the testing day included the completion, with a paired volunteer of the daily diary one is expected to fill out - blood pressure readings, respiration rates, symptoms and feelings.

Many of these tests will be repeated every three or four days, at various increasing altitudes up to Everest Base camp.

All in all it was an fascinating day.

Heros Advanced Squad Leader Tournement

I have been looking at the scenarios for the Heros ASL Tournement in Blackpool in March. I currently have the distinction of being bottom of the UK tournement ladder - having lost 11 games in a row. Cheer up they said - things could be worse; so I cheered up and sure enough things got worse. I enjoy playing ASL which I find a fascinating game; but as I am not particularly competitive I enjoy the game, and the simulation it provides; but am not too bothered about the actual results of the game.

Travel Itineray 2006-08-28

I still have not fully catalogued my photos from my last trip to the Far East, and to finish that task I am finding it useful to refer back to the itinery that was produced for me by my travel agent. I did post the itinery, but as far as I can see, it is useful for me and no use at all for anybody else, so I have deleted it.

Xtreme Everest II

Today I have been chasing up on odds and end arising from my recent decision to take up one of the slots that came available on the expedition. It has mainly been paperwork - booking form; visa form; insurance form; and discussions with the insurance company. Then filling the holes in my equipment, as I have not trekked in such extreme conditions before, though I have been at altitude before - not least last September when I had a major trip through China, Mongolia, Tibet and Nepal.

At the end of my fuse

I have spent a totally frustrating day. I live on a narrowboat, which has a 12 volt DC electricity supply. Some time ago, a fuse went, losing me the lighting and cigarette sockets at the front of the boat (under the tug front). The description the previous owner and constructor of the boat left me says that there are four fuse locations on the boat - one multi fuse in the engine room; and one for each spur of wiring he had installed; one in the airing cupboard to supply the bedroom area; one under the sink to supply the lounge area; and one in the stereo alcove supplying the front lighting. I have located and checked all the fuses except the last - which is the one I am sure has gone. But can I find the last fuse! I have spent today removing equipment from the area of the stero alcove, investigating every dark corner and crevice I can find with a powerful torch, looking for the fuse. It is nowhere to be found. So tomorrow I will have to start shifting all the items I have stored in the tug front to continue my investigations - which of course are hampered by the fact that there is no light in any of these areas because the fuse has gone. Grrrrrh!!

Xtreme Everest

Last August I heard about the Xtreme Everest expedition, from I think, a New Scientist article. I emailed them to express an interest; had no response; and more or less forgot about it.

All this changed, last Friday, when I received an email at 16:00 which said that they had not contacted anybody whose application to be a subject was unsuccessful. It went on to say that a few volunteers had dropped out, and that if I could commit to attending a day of testing yesterday, and could commit to one of the list of dates from April to May, there were a number of slots available on a first come, first served basis.

This provoked a great deal of activity, thought and investigation on my part, which I conducted over the course of the weekend, and a number of phone calls and emails. It culminated in me speaking to the project manager at 14:15 on Monday, 12th February, 2007 to confirm that I had a slot and that I would be attending the final testing day on Tuesday.

I went for testing yesterday, and will be posting my impressions of that a bit later.