Frontierwatch

Antarctica 1912: Antarctica 2009:

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According to Raytheon’s corporate website, RPSC’s ten-year mission has been a success, as defined by performance statistics from seven years ago, as well as these little jewels: The joint Raytheon/NSF Six Sigma team achieved project improvements in four main areas: Creating a health-and-safety-conscious culture. This endeavor included training to improve the “safety culture” on the [...]

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One of the more curious dynamics of Antarctic habitation is that a polar base is typically funded and run by large organizations, who depend upon a population of workers who cannot “leave” their place of employment. Your average Wal-Mart employee understands that their employer has policies and regulations governing their behavior, dress, and mores at [...]

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Here’s the management email thread leading up to the disposal of winter-over eggs. Excerpts: What is the RPSC & NANA supervisor’s analysis and recommendation on use of the eggs and egg products?  Neither were aware that this was a problem.  They have been using oiled shell eggs for approximately 7 years without any known problems. [...]

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[G] at Icewishes blog [Raytheon Polar has taken disciplinary action against the blog's owner for this egg story, and the blog has been removed.] writes: Every year, for lord knows how many years, South Pole station, just before it closes for winter receives 8 months worth of fresh eggs. This year we received 44 cartons [...]

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From MSNBC: According to the report, one senior staff member spent as much as 20 percent of his time during a two-year period at lurid sites and in sexually explicit chat rooms. That time cost taxpayers more than $40,000, the report stated. Other employees were also alleged to have watched, downloaded and e-mailed porn. [...] [...]

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From “South Pole a Tourist Hotspot”: Arrivals at the bottom of the world quadrupled from 40 in the 2003-04 season to 164 last year, statistics from the United States base at the pole say. “They come and they come,” US National Science Foundation representative Jerry Marty told The Antarctic Sun. The US Antarctic Program was [...]

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Antarctica, distant and exotic, yet cold and lifeless, is a place built for media fibs.  Any small inconvenience, paired with a tantalizing subzero temperature (usually including the wind-chill for dramatic purposes, even if you’re inside), is enough to drive the hometown papers bonkers with stories of their American sons and daughters braving the harshest conditions [...]

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Fuel prices are crippling the USAP. Budget cuts are rampant, affecting every aspect of The Program, even on the smallest levels. For example, take the new workboot reimbursement policy. Due to budget cuts, workboot reimbursement will be limited to select departments, and will only be reimbursed every other year. That the company is cutting back [...]

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