Today, the city of West Hollywood made a proclamation of my departure
and gifted me with a certificate and a proper send off at city Hall.
The mayor promised me the keys of the city upon my return!
Earlier in the day, KTLA came by the house to run a story on the
technology that will be with us on the ice. I will run this blog using
an HP iPack PDA and Iridium satellite phone liked though a Human Edge
software to upload text and lo rez photographs. Additionally we went
through the declination of magnetic North Pole versus geographic North
Pole (they are not the same) and why a GPS is critical on top of a
compass for distance traveled, speed of travel, etc. We covered the
custom clothing Napapijri made for me and the importance of a fur ruff
around the hood—and no, it is not a fashion statement! The ruff is
critical to create a “micro climate” around the face and to trap
moisture to reduce excess freezing around the face.
Later, Warren Alny from NPR’s All Things Considered had me on the show
discussing the importance of creating an international treaty for the
protection of the Arctic, and how different the Arctic is today than it
was a hundred years ago.