AN OPEN LETTER TO GEORGE BUSH
We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not working, we’re going to make it right."
Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise before believing you. But we have good reason for our skepticism.
Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one main reason: It’s accessible. The city between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718.
How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships, barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks.
Despite the city’s multiple points of entry, our nation’s bureaucrats spent days after last week’s hurricane wringing their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue the city’s stranded victims nor bring them food, water and medical supplies.
Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city.
Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show story Friday morning.
Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach.
We’re angry, Mr. President, and we’ll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That’s to the government’s shame.
Mayor Ray Nagin did the right thing Sunday when he allowed those with no other alternative to seek shelter from the storm inside the Louisiana Superdome. We still don’t know what the death toll is, but one thing is certain: Had the Superdome not been opened, the city’s death toll would have been higher. The toll may even have been exponentially higher.
It was clear to us by late morning Monday that many people inside the Superdome would not be returning home. It should have been clear to our government, Mr. President. So why weren’t they evacuated out of the city immediately? We learned seven years ago, when Hurricane Georges threatened, that the Dome isn’t suitable as a long-term shelter. So what did state and national officials think would happen to tens of thousands of people trapped inside with no air conditioning, overflowing toilets and dwindling amounts of food, water and other essentials?
State Rep. Karen Carter was right Friday when she said the city didn’t have but two urgent needs: "Buses! And gas!" Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially.
In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said his agency hadn’t known until that day that thousands of storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. He gave another nationally televised interview the next morning and said, "We’ve provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they’ve gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day."
Lies don’t get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President.
Yet, when you met with Mr. Brown Friday morning, you told him, "You’re doing a heck of a job."
That’s unbelievable.
There were thousands of people at the Convention Center because the riverfront is high ground. The fact that so many people had reached there on foot is proof that rescue vehicles could have gotten there, too.
We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic Seaboard. We’re no less important than those from the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia. Our people deserved to be rescued.
No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous as the claim that New Orleans couldn’t be reached.
Mr. President, we sincerely hope you fulfill your promise to make our beloved communities work right once again.
When you do, we will be the first to applaud.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Sunday, September 04, 2005
the english bay banner
VANCOUVER - CANADA'S NEW ORLEANS?
What has been exposed of the Great American Way in New Orleans all last week, the plights of their homeless and poor left behind with no doctors, priests or social workers (but a kissy-faced latecomer George Bush) is the shame of their nation and its guilt for its classism, elitism and racism.
Vancouver, with its unemployed, its binners (who St Todd of the Sun would have you believe are all squeaky-happy) and welfare cheques of $510 a month (still not changed despite whopping provincial surpluses!) is not so different from New Orleans. Those poor and homeless among us would be the first to suffer any upheaval and would suffer the longest because we as a people have already shown our indifference in allowing this social situation to have collapsed into such hopelessness and despair.
They may not be starving to death just now but they are suffering, and the diseases and malnutrition they experience are all quietly contributing to their insanity and thoughts of suicide. The rage we see expressed now in New Orleans by those left behind is the rage we will see here soon enough when the earthquake or some equally devastating natural catastrophe visits us.
If the Vancouver police, the RCMP and other front line establishment functionaries could manage to stop bullying the poor and the native aboriginals long enough to understand their circumstance of destitution, a stitch of their compassion might introduce into our whole social mosaic that new thread of humanity which would absolutely preclude from happening here what is now unravelling in the southern states and before the eyes of a stunned world. What used to be the most spirited and fun place in the richest country on the globe - its Mardi Gras the very icon of joyous parading - has metamorphosed into a city of gloom and floating fecal matter and now is forever stigmatized as America's unholy shame.
The sneermeisters of Vancouver's elitists might be wise to get a good whiff of the new New Orleans and as they ask themselves, "Isn't that familiar? Smells really familiar," they may discover it's the same stench of that rationale which explains why so many Vancouverites are blithely charity-jogging over the bodies of the homeless.
What has been exposed of the Great American Way in New Orleans all last week, the plights of their homeless and poor left behind with no doctors, priests or social workers (but a kissy-faced latecomer George Bush) is the shame of their nation and its guilt for its classism, elitism and racism.
Vancouver, with its unemployed, its binners (who St Todd of the Sun would have you believe are all squeaky-happy) and welfare cheques of $510 a month (still not changed despite whopping provincial surpluses!) is not so different from New Orleans. Those poor and homeless among us would be the first to suffer any upheaval and would suffer the longest because we as a people have already shown our indifference in allowing this social situation to have collapsed into such hopelessness and despair.
They may not be starving to death just now but they are suffering, and the diseases and malnutrition they experience are all quietly contributing to their insanity and thoughts of suicide. The rage we see expressed now in New Orleans by those left behind is the rage we will see here soon enough when the earthquake or some equally devastating natural catastrophe visits us.
If the Vancouver police, the RCMP and other front line establishment functionaries could manage to stop bullying the poor and the native aboriginals long enough to understand their circumstance of destitution, a stitch of their compassion might introduce into our whole social mosaic that new thread of humanity which would absolutely preclude from happening here what is now unravelling in the southern states and before the eyes of a stunned world. What used to be the most spirited and fun place in the richest country on the globe - its Mardi Gras the very icon of joyous parading - has metamorphosed into a city of gloom and floating fecal matter and now is forever stigmatized as America's unholy shame.
The sneermeisters of Vancouver's elitists might be wise to get a good whiff of the new New Orleans and as they ask themselves, "Isn't that familiar? Smells really familiar," they may discover it's the same stench of that rationale which explains why so many Vancouverites are blithely charity-jogging over the bodies of the homeless.
Sunday, August 14, 2005
the english bay banner
What's happening boychuk? Two weeks in a row I've tuned in for the latest issue of cyber commentary and found nothing new to pique my interest. Has all of your staff gone on strike or have you run out of relevant gossip to bedazzle the common folk with? -Steve
I'm working on a one-liner to drop in and then continue my holiday from indifference; something along the lines of... "While we view pictures of starving children swatting at flies and hear of violence erupting across our civilized world and witness weird weather responses to our global pollutions, the world media is breathlessly informing us about the richness in scent of some new celebrity's fart, the attendance count at the gay day parade where all of nothing was raised for hunger relief (but weren't their outfits to die for?), and reporting the number values of the latest golden handshake for yet another corrupt banker to sneak off the scene, I, your increasingly lonely little voice here, am stupefied, despairing and learning how to live with a steady disgust." Too long? Oh well, like I said, I'm working on it. -H
I'm working on a one-liner to drop in and then continue my holiday from indifference; something along the lines of... "While we view pictures of starving children swatting at flies and hear of violence erupting across our civilized world and witness weird weather responses to our global pollutions, the world media is breathlessly informing us about the richness in scent of some new celebrity's fart, the attendance count at the gay day parade where all of nothing was raised for hunger relief (but weren't their outfits to die for?), and reporting the number values of the latest golden handshake for yet another corrupt banker to sneak off the scene, I, your increasingly lonely little voice here, am stupefied, despairing and learning how to live with a steady disgust." Too long? Oh well, like I said, I'm working on it. -H
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Cameo Appearances of Common Sense
With the recent memorial tributes paid to Mr Chuck Cadman, the question arises Why is it these days that common decency and common sense make little more than cameo appearances in the halls of power? Like uninvited guests they show up agitating the status quo arguing for a simpler and more just society until old forces and the three-tongued mindsets of animated relics shoo them off, expelling their influence from the hallowed premises. Then its back to business as usual inventing more syllables for lawyer.speak to utterly confound and dazzle the masses.
I Elected him?
Many of us cringe in the knowing that we actually elected these slick gladhanders and were so foolish as to imagine that they might share our serious intent to get the important work done, work involving no less than the rescue of millions of people from starvation and the precarious ecological balance of our planet.
Pandemics are looming in the shadows of developing countries where issues of hygiene are eclipsed by the need to feed one’s family.
The messages of desperate scientists that we are all at risk of being exposed to drug resistant disease and more extreme weather from climate warming (and all the weird ramifications of that earth-battering phenomenon) are falling on deaf ears. These are major concerns which need real action and each country belonging to the civilized and more well-to-do columns (the G8 for example) must somehow be compelled to act. Clang. Clang. How loudly must we ring this bell?
What is missing from these elected bodies are enough people like Cadman with the will to take the bull by the horns.
Democracy, while clearly still the most representative means of constituting a government, has in its evolution become flawed. Corporate lobbyists find ways to circumvent the rules related to campaign financing; the candidates are progressively becoming puppets maneuvered into position by the old guard; and once elected, even if the individual is nobly intent on striking a humanistic chord among his new peers he is relegated to the backbenches where he proceeds to be educated as to the way things are done by the senior class, very similar to juniors arriving in private school university settings, and as juvenile.
I Elected him?
Many of us cringe in the knowing that we actually elected these slick gladhanders and were so foolish as to imagine that they might share our serious intent to get the important work done, work involving no less than the rescue of millions of people from starvation and the precarious ecological balance of our planet.
Pandemics are looming in the shadows of developing countries where issues of hygiene are eclipsed by the need to feed one’s family.
The messages of desperate scientists that we are all at risk of being exposed to drug resistant disease and more extreme weather from climate warming (and all the weird ramifications of that earth-battering phenomenon) are falling on deaf ears. These are major concerns which need real action and each country belonging to the civilized and more well-to-do columns (the G8 for example) must somehow be compelled to act. Clang. Clang. How loudly must we ring this bell?
What is missing from these elected bodies are enough people like Cadman with the will to take the bull by the horns.
Democracy, while clearly still the most representative means of constituting a government, has in its evolution become flawed. Corporate lobbyists find ways to circumvent the rules related to campaign financing; the candidates are progressively becoming puppets maneuvered into position by the old guard; and once elected, even if the individual is nobly intent on striking a humanistic chord among his new peers he is relegated to the backbenches where he proceeds to be educated as to the way things are done by the senior class, very similar to juniors arriving in private school university settings, and as juvenile.
Losing the Spirit of the Righteous Enthusiast
Our hero, the iconic Mr Smith in Washington or Cadman in Parliament, is muzzled and must kowtow to the regime’s modus operandus. His enthusiasm and dedication to the concept of public service is eroded and too often does he (not including Cadman) don the bib of apologist, then the vacuous grin of the greasy gladhander finally to graduate to the Machiavellian backroom tactician seasoned in empty speechifying.
Nowhere in this process is the innocent intent of the righteous enthusiast supported.
The confusion of this individual’s scenario is compounded by the party system. To create a new party each country has in place is own set of rules and in the United States for example it is virtually impossible now to introduce a new party into the intransigent mix despite how desperately one might be required to advance the radical agenda obviously needed to keep pace with tumultuous world-wide events. Ross Perot, despite multi-millionaire status and his willingness to bankroll his own political drive, was barley able to make a significant dent and his original ideals very few could now recall.
Party System Prevents Independents like Ross Perot.
In Canada, the Bloc Quebecois, rather than being designed to address the country’s concerns and fortify it as a nation to contend with the more tightly woven global affairs, is mandated to separate Quebec from the country. Quebeckers have been using the threat of separation for decades as its ruse to extort more money from the federal government for their province’s unique concerns. That the country’s lawmakers, leaders and thinkers have allowed this situation to have evolved thus shows a lack of political will and a total absence of common sense.
Only in a country of ditherers so preoccupied with their tactics would a party be allowed to exist in Parliament which has as its core interest the destruction of that country. This is tantamount to inviting the starving fox into the chicken coop and expecting tea to be served. This would all be quite hilarious and knock-down funny except that the 30 million people who live in this extraordinarily beautiful country of such vast natural (and much coveted) resources must all suffer for the lack of stable, hands-on good governance.
Nowhere in this process is the innocent intent of the righteous enthusiast supported.
The confusion of this individual’s scenario is compounded by the party system. To create a new party each country has in place is own set of rules and in the United States for example it is virtually impossible now to introduce a new party into the intransigent mix despite how desperately one might be required to advance the radical agenda obviously needed to keep pace with tumultuous world-wide events. Ross Perot, despite multi-millionaire status and his willingness to bankroll his own political drive, was barley able to make a significant dent and his original ideals very few could now recall.
Party System Prevents Independents like Ross Perot.
In Canada, the Bloc Quebecois, rather than being designed to address the country’s concerns and fortify it as a nation to contend with the more tightly woven global affairs, is mandated to separate Quebec from the country. Quebeckers have been using the threat of separation for decades as its ruse to extort more money from the federal government for their province’s unique concerns. That the country’s lawmakers, leaders and thinkers have allowed this situation to have evolved thus shows a lack of political will and a total absence of common sense.
Only in a country of ditherers so preoccupied with their tactics would a party be allowed to exist in Parliament which has as its core interest the destruction of that country. This is tantamount to inviting the starving fox into the chicken coop and expecting tea to be served. This would all be quite hilarious and knock-down funny except that the 30 million people who live in this extraordinarily beautiful country of such vast natural (and much coveted) resources must all suffer for the lack of stable, hands-on good governance.
Fat Worms in the Woodwork
Running as an independent is becoming an attractive means for a man committed to raising the banner for revolutionizing corrupt governments and the people are beginning to consider this option as being entirely acceptable now that they’ve had decades (most of their adult lives) witnessing the unseemly business going on in their houses of legislation and Parliament. But how many independents are going to be able to sustain their drive over the years required to win their points, and ultimately strike down the old guard? Even opposing parties would work in tandem against these independents if they were ever to mount a significant threat against their establishments.
The other fat worm in the political woodwork is the lack of voter turnout. Aside from the issues of voters being propagandized by darkly contrived campaigns, slanderous advertising, gossipy innuendoes and mudslinging, the absence of the voter at the ballot box can undermine the whole democratic process and result in Hitlers or Attilas being voted into office as the young people, isolated in their i.poddled states, who do manage to show up don’t bother to take note who is on the slate or what their politics really signify. And the more isolated we allow our young people to become by not engaging them in the political dialogues the more we can expect a kind of loosely advocated anarchy from them.
The other fat worm in the political woodwork is the lack of voter turnout. Aside from the issues of voters being propagandized by darkly contrived campaigns, slanderous advertising, gossipy innuendoes and mudslinging, the absence of the voter at the ballot box can undermine the whole democratic process and result in Hitlers or Attilas being voted into office as the young people, isolated in their i.poddled states, who do manage to show up don’t bother to take note who is on the slate or what their politics really signify. And the more isolated we allow our young people to become by not engaging them in the political dialogues the more we can expect a kind of loosely advocated anarchy from them.
Circus Clowns in Halls of Power
And as they view the current shenanigans of the circus clowns in those halls of power who is to cast the first stone of blame at them for having become conveniently disillusioned?
So while the elder, burger-faced statesmen are acting like juvenile brats in their name-calling and catty remarks in the House (for which they get paid seriously well with many perks on the side) how can they expect their sons and daughters to abandon their own brattishness and queue up to the polling booth with a mature choice in mind? The appeal of partying all night in this age of techno-wizardry is far outweighing any thought of joining in the dry debate of creepy old fogies.
These are only a few of the flaws of democracy but inherent in these imperfections is the rationale of the last few inspired people to just not bother trying to topple the culture of corruption, barefaced in its distinctiveness and shameless in its tedious power-mongering.
Given the self-protective measures each successive government imposes, any overhaul of this ship of state is absurd to imagine. It is at our peril that we have allowed this entrenchment.
So while the elder, burger-faced statesmen are acting like juvenile brats in their name-calling and catty remarks in the House (for which they get paid seriously well with many perks on the side) how can they expect their sons and daughters to abandon their own brattishness and queue up to the polling booth with a mature choice in mind? The appeal of partying all night in this age of techno-wizardry is far outweighing any thought of joining in the dry debate of creepy old fogies.
These are only a few of the flaws of democracy but inherent in these imperfections is the rationale of the last few inspired people to just not bother trying to topple the culture of corruption, barefaced in its distinctiveness and shameless in its tedious power-mongering.
Given the self-protective measures each successive government imposes, any overhaul of this ship of state is absurd to imagine. It is at our peril that we have allowed this entrenchment.
PUPPET MAN ACCOSTED BY FOUR POLICE FOR BUSKING
As a long time resident of the Commercial Drive Area, and a former member of the Local resident's association (GWAC) I wish to express my dismay at the actions I witnessed on Friday June 15th at approximately 6:30 PM.
A busker with disabilities (many of us on the Drive know him simply as the old man with the puppets) was accosted by no less than four police officers.
His crime? Busking near the liquor store under the "safe streets act".
When I asked one of the officers why? He said: "We had to come because they called us" (pointing to the Liquor Store).
In response, I called George Hayman - manager at the BC liquor store on the Drive. He did not care about the disabled man, didn't seem interested in my complaint and blamed the Commercial Drive Business Association's private security guards which now regularly patrol the Drive harassing panhandlers, buskers, and anyone who doesn't have that Kitsilano shopping and spending gaze.
The Drive has long been a tolerant community. Not any more, if you are poor, disabled, and doing your best to make ends meet through busking, the business community has a message for you: Get lost or we will sick the police on you. The Drive will be gentrified for the rich property owners and to hell with the marginalised.
Where is our so called "progressive" COPE City Hall members? And what about our so-called progressive MP and MLA?
We need action to stop the harassment of the marginalised and those who cannot afford $1500 + a month in rent.
Express your outrage, call and complain.
STOP THE SWEEPS
BC Liquour Store (DRIVE), George Hayman (Manager): 604-660-9088
Grandview Woodlands Community Policing Centre 604 717-2932
(The CPC supports sweeps of the Drive and is against poor people,
panhandlers and buskers)
COPE (your so called progressive City Hall members) 604-255-0400
-P Lyons
Copwatch mailing list Copwatch@lists.resist.ca
https://lists.resist.ca/mailman/listinfo/copwatch
A busker with disabilities (many of us on the Drive know him simply as the old man with the puppets) was accosted by no less than four police officers.
His crime? Busking near the liquor store under the "safe streets act".
When I asked one of the officers why? He said: "We had to come because they called us" (pointing to the Liquor Store).
In response, I called George Hayman - manager at the BC liquor store on the Drive. He did not care about the disabled man, didn't seem interested in my complaint and blamed the Commercial Drive Business Association's private security guards which now regularly patrol the Drive harassing panhandlers, buskers, and anyone who doesn't have that Kitsilano shopping and spending gaze.
The Drive has long been a tolerant community. Not any more, if you are poor, disabled, and doing your best to make ends meet through busking, the business community has a message for you: Get lost or we will sick the police on you. The Drive will be gentrified for the rich property owners and to hell with the marginalised.
Where is our so called "progressive" COPE City Hall members? And what about our so-called progressive MP and MLA?
We need action to stop the harassment of the marginalised and those who cannot afford $1500 + a month in rent.
Express your outrage, call and complain.
STOP THE SWEEPS
BC Liquour Store (DRIVE), George Hayman (Manager): 604-660-9088
Grandview Woodlands Community Policing Centre 604 717-2932
(The CPC supports sweeps of the Drive and is against poor people,
panhandlers and buskers)
COPE (your so called progressive City Hall members) 604-255-0400
-P Lyons
Copwatch mailing list Copwatch@lists.resist.ca
https://lists.resist.ca/mailman/listinfo/copwatch
Stranded in Space
-stories re space station derived from NASA site.
The two astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are eagerly anticipating the arrival of NASA’s space shuttle Discovery and their first human visitors in more than two months.
No Take-Off soon to bring relief to the men up there.
ISS Expedition 11 commander Sergei Krikalev and flight engineer John Phillips said they look forward to nightly dinners with Discovery’s STS-114 astronauts, and are planning something special to welcome the shuttle crew aboard.
“If I told you now, it wouldn’t be a surprise,” Phillips told reporters Friday during a space-to-ground news conference. “But I do have a surprise for them.”
Discovery’s STS-114 mission, commanded by veteran astronaut Eileen Collins, is slated to launch on July 13 at 3:51 p.m. EDT (1951 GMT) and dock at the ISS two days later. In addition to testing out new orbital tools and procedures to inspect and repair space shuttles, Collins and her crewmates will deliver a cargo pod full of much-needed supplies, experiments and replacement parts to the ISS.
“I’m looking forward to seeing my colleagues up here, and seeing another seven faces,” Phillips said, adding that he has been collecting his supply of Mexican food for a theme dinner with the shuttle astronauts.
Krikalev and Phillips have lived aboard the ISS since mid-April, and are expected to be the last two-person crew to maintain the orbital facility. A third crew member, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Reiter, is slated to join them during NASA’s STS-121 shuttle flight aboard Atlantis, which is currently set to launch no earlier than Sept. 9.
The two astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are eagerly anticipating the arrival of NASA’s space shuttle Discovery and their first human visitors in more than two months.
No Take-Off soon to bring relief to the men up there.
ISS Expedition 11 commander Sergei Krikalev and flight engineer John Phillips said they look forward to nightly dinners with Discovery’s STS-114 astronauts, and are planning something special to welcome the shuttle crew aboard.
“If I told you now, it wouldn’t be a surprise,” Phillips told reporters Friday during a space-to-ground news conference. “But I do have a surprise for them.”
Discovery’s STS-114 mission, commanded by veteran astronaut Eileen Collins, is slated to launch on July 13 at 3:51 p.m. EDT (1951 GMT) and dock at the ISS two days later. In addition to testing out new orbital tools and procedures to inspect and repair space shuttles, Collins and her crewmates will deliver a cargo pod full of much-needed supplies, experiments and replacement parts to the ISS.
“I’m looking forward to seeing my colleagues up here, and seeing another seven faces,” Phillips said, adding that he has been collecting his supply of Mexican food for a theme dinner with the shuttle astronauts.
Krikalev and Phillips have lived aboard the ISS since mid-April, and are expected to be the last two-person crew to maintain the orbital facility. A third crew member, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Reiter, is slated to join them during NASA’s STS-121 shuttle flight aboard Atlantis, which is currently set to launch no earlier than Sept. 9.
NASA report on Current Crew of Space Station
International Space Station Status Report #05-36
4:30 p.m. CDT, Friday, July 15, 2005
Expedition 11 Crew
The International Space Station Expedition 11 crew worked this week on final preparations for the arrival of the Space Shuttle Discovery on its STS-114 Return to Flight mission, now on hold.
Commander Sergei Krikalev and NASA Science Officer John Phillips worked to wrap up packing of items to be returned to Earth on Discovery, while continuing their scientific experiments, physical exercises and routine Station maintenance.
On Friday, the crew tested their Soyuz capsule's motion control system. The test was in preparation for a relocation of the Soyuz spacecraft. The Soyuz is the crew's lifeboat in the event an evacuation of the Station is needed and is the crew's ride home at the end of its six-month stay on the orbiting laboratory.
4:30 p.m. CDT, Friday, July 15, 2005
Expedition 11 Crew
The International Space Station Expedition 11 crew worked this week on final preparations for the arrival of the Space Shuttle Discovery on its STS-114 Return to Flight mission, now on hold.
Commander Sergei Krikalev and NASA Science Officer John Phillips worked to wrap up packing of items to be returned to Earth on Discovery, while continuing their scientific experiments, physical exercises and routine Station maintenance.
On Friday, the crew tested their Soyuz capsule's motion control system. The test was in preparation for a relocation of the Soyuz spacecraft. The Soyuz is the crew's lifeboat in the event an evacuation of the Station is needed and is the crew's ride home at the end of its six-month stay on the orbiting laboratory.
15 Dawns in Space
The concept of a "day" aboard an orbiting spacecraft is a little abstract: every 24 hours, astronauts on board the ISS will experience 15 dawns as the station speeds around the world. But human beings have been conditioned by millions of years of evolution to a 24-hour daily cycle, and so-called circadian rhythms of waking and sleeping are hard-wired into our brains and bodies. So astronauts work and sleep to fixed schedules that match these ancient rhythms. Any other arrangement would soon have crews living in a state of permanent jet lag.
24 hours lost in space
The crew are awoken by an alarm each "morning" - perhaps interrupting the dreams of weightlessness that many astronauts experience - and stir out of their beds to begin their day. Most astronauts would have hooked their sleeping bags to a wall the night before. Sleep spots need to be carefully chosen - somewhere in line with an ventilator fan is essential. The airflow may make for a draughty night's sleep but warm air does not rise in space so astronauts in badly-ventilated sections end up surrounded by a bubble of their own exhaled carbon dioxide. The result is oxygen starvation: at best, they will wake up with a splitting headache, gasping for air.
A few brave souls try floating free, but their sleep is likely to be interrupted by collision with an air filter that is trying to suck them into its grill. Along with other station equipment, all these fans and air filters make for a noisy night - some astronauts have compared duty on a space station to living inside a giant vacuum cleaner - so some of the crew prefer to sleep with earplugs. But most eventually acclimatise to the noise, just as people on Earth get used to living on a main road. The background sound of these systems dedicated to keeping them alive actually seems reassuring.
Once stirred, the astronauts tend to adopt a foetus-like posture as they move weightlessly about the station. Sometimes referred to unflatteringly as the "simian hunch", it seems to be the natural human attitude in microgravity; perhaps it really is an echo of the weightless months that every growing embryo spends floating in its mother's womb.
The crew dress as quickly as they can: no easy task when your limbs float out at odd angles. They wear disposable clothes, replacing them once every three days: there are no washing machines in space. But the ISS does have a shower. Water squirts out of the "top" to be sucked down by an air fan at the "bottom". The shower has to be used sparingly to conserve water, but it is a luxury item that earlier space pioneers would have envied. and today's astronauts cherish.
For the men on board, wet shaving remains a laborious task. Surface tension generally keeps water and shaving cream stuck to an astronaut's face, while cream and stubble stick to the razor blade until wiped on a towel which is then rolled up to prevent the deposits escaping. Electric shaving is also possible, although it has to be done next to a suction fan to ensure the hairs don't float away. Many male astronauts prefer to shave as little as possible, and all agree that it's one area in which their female colleagues have all the advantages.
A few brave souls try floating free, but their sleep is likely to be interrupted by collision with an air filter that is trying to suck them into its grill. Along with other station equipment, all these fans and air filters make for a noisy night - some astronauts have compared duty on a space station to living inside a giant vacuum cleaner - so some of the crew prefer to sleep with earplugs. But most eventually acclimatise to the noise, just as people on Earth get used to living on a main road. The background sound of these systems dedicated to keeping them alive actually seems reassuring.
Once stirred, the astronauts tend to adopt a foetus-like posture as they move weightlessly about the station. Sometimes referred to unflatteringly as the "simian hunch", it seems to be the natural human attitude in microgravity; perhaps it really is an echo of the weightless months that every growing embryo spends floating in its mother's womb.
The crew dress as quickly as they can: no easy task when your limbs float out at odd angles. They wear disposable clothes, replacing them once every three days: there are no washing machines in space. But the ISS does have a shower. Water squirts out of the "top" to be sucked down by an air fan at the "bottom". The shower has to be used sparingly to conserve water, but it is a luxury item that earlier space pioneers would have envied. and today's astronauts cherish.
For the men on board, wet shaving remains a laborious task. Surface tension generally keeps water and shaving cream stuck to an astronaut's face, while cream and stubble stick to the razor blade until wiped on a towel which is then rolled up to prevent the deposits escaping. Electric shaving is also possible, although it has to be done next to a suction fan to ensure the hairs don't float away. Many male astronauts prefer to shave as little as possible, and all agree that it's one area in which their female colleagues have all the advantages.
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