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Here is a nice Antarctic story.
My neighbor is a scientist at MBL. A quiet, humble man, he has spent his life studying deep water snails that apparently live off Cape Horn. He is an old man now, but very fit and still active in science. All his life he has walked or ridden a bike everywhere he could. Several years ago he wanted to go to the Antarctic on a WHOI/MBL research cruise. The government funds these trips and the evacuation costs are high if someone gets ill so the government has strict criteria on who could go. My neighbor, at 79, was told he was too old. So he came to see me and we did a stress test that he passed with flying colors. I wrote a letter and he got on the trip. While down there he turned 80 years old. The ship's crew and other scientists held a party for him on shore surrounded by penguins. He is likely to be the only human who has ever turned 80 on the continent of Antarctica. Something nice about that.
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