Antarctica base gets 16,500 condoms before darkness

[HURAKAN]

Antarctica base gets 16,500 condoms before darkness

Mon Jun 9, 2008 10:54pm IST

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - One of the last shipments to a U.S. research base in Antarctica before the onset of winter darkness was a year's supply of condoms, a New Zealand newspaper reported Monday.

Bill Henriksen, the manager of the McMurdo base station, said nearly 16,500 condoms were delivered last month and would be made available, free of charge, to staff throughout the year to avoid the potential embarrassment of having to buy them.

The base only has a skeleton staff through the long winter.

"Since everybody knows everyone, it becomes a little bit uncomfortable," Henriksen told the Southland Times newspaper.

About 125 scientists and staff are stationed at McMurdo base, the largest community in Antarctica, during the winter months when there is constant darkness.

The first sunrise will occur on August 20 and McMurdo's population will start to increase again in September when supply flights resume, peaking at more than 1,000 during the summer period.

(Reporting by Kazunori Takada, editing by Miral Fahmy)
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Not everyone is trying to copy the Penguins!!!

[feederband]

I hope the remembered to send some women as well....

[mf_dolphin]

That's over 1,300 a month! Where do I sign up??????

[Derek Ortt]

pathetic by the company. Absolutely pathetic!

Is this what society has become that we are encouraging this type of behavior? Or am I stuck in the old times (but correct according to biblical teaching) that sexual activity is to be reserved until the commencement of the sacriment of marriage

[Jason_B]

pathetic by the company. Absolutely pathetic!

Is this what society has become that we are encouraging this type of behavior? Or am I stuck in the old times (but correct according to biblical teaching) that sexual activity is to be reserved until the commencement of the sacriment of marriage

Aren't people allowed to have a choice though? Some couples believe in reserving that till marriage, some couples don't.

[CajunMama]

pathetic by the company. Absolutely pathetic!

Is this what society has become that we are encouraging this type of behavior? Or am I stuck in the old times (but correct according to biblical teaching) that sexual activity is to be reserved until the commencement of the sacriment of marriage

What else ya gonna do down there during the dark months?

[Brent]

That's over 1,300 a month! Where do I sign up??????

[Meso]

Haha,Send some this way too.I'm tired of the cashiers "What are these for" :|

Indeed @ Jason_B. And some of us purely aren't Christian

[Cryomaniac]

Haha,Send some this way too.I'm tired of the cashiers "What are these for" :|

My response would be "What do you think?!"

Indeed @ Jason_B. And some of us purely aren't Christian

Even some Christians aren't against sex before marriage.

[Ed Mahmoud]

Dark season is Northern Hemisphere Typhoon and Hurricane Season. They should be on the interweb looking at S2K when not working and sleeping.

[TexasStooge]

Coming soon to CBS: "Swingers in Antartica".

[gtalum]

pathetic by the company. Absolutely pathetic!

Is this what society has become that we are encouraging this type of behavior? Or am I stuck in the old times (but correct according to biblical teaching) that sexual activity is to be reserved until the commencement of the sacriment of marriage

Two points: it's not as though the government has any authority to stop people from having sex, and if they ARE going to have sex the government has a vested interest in ensuring that nobody gets pregnant there.

Remember, not everybody subscribes to the same religious dogma.

[HURAKAN]

125 scientists, lets guess that half are females, which means that there are about 63 females and 62 males. 16,500 / 62 = ~266 per males. What kind of experiments are they performing in Antarctica????

Has any human been born in Antarctica yet?

[gtalum]

That's only during winter. In summer there are more like 1000 scientists at the base.

Regardless, is having sex 266 times in a year really that outrageous?

[Ed Mahmoud]

That's only during winter. In summer there are more like 1000 scientists at the base.

Regardless, is having sex 266 times in a year really that outrageous?

For newlyweds and swingers, no. But as an average?

[gtalum]

For newlyweds and swingers, no. But as an average?

Hey, scientists can be swingin' cats.

I guess you're right, as an average.

As I noted, though, there are actually ~1000 people there for a large part of the year.

[Ed Mahmoud]

IIRC, a study of early HIV patients in NYC and LA in the early 80s showed an average of several hundred sexual partners per year. Part of the 'bath house' culture.


It would make sense, intuitively, as men generally want sex more often (from personal experience and observation of world around me) than woman, that gay men probably have sex more often than straight men. On average. (I have read some possible scientific explanation of this as well, if one gets Darwinian, even though gay men don't normally reproduce, it doesn't change the fact that men can produce dozens of children per year, woman about one, so from an evolutionary standpoint, woman seek quantity, not quality, from a mate, men seek quantity).


Maybe there is a substantial population of gay men at the station?

[Squarethecircle]

I'm not entirely sure the scientists plan to use their entire supply.

[feederband]

I still want to know the girl/guy ration....What if there is only 10 girls?

10 divided into 16,500.....

[feederband]

I'm not entirely sure the scientists plan to use their entire supply.

Well that would be a waste.......