Chair: Lee Langan The Explorers Club 415 567-8089 [email protected] Vice Chair: Alan Nichols 415 789-9348 [email protected] Northern California Chapter Treasurer: Anders Jepsen 925 254-3079 December 2005 - January 2006 [email protected] Secretary: Stephen E. Smith Webmaster: Mike Diggles Newsletter: Lee Langan Web site: http://www.diggles.com/ec/ Douglas Capone a look at a tiny tough Doug’s Talk follows the population Ocean Film Festival Planet of the Reception Prokaryotes

Doug Capone is inter- Here’s a film festival that celebrates the ested in microbial life joy, power, and mystery of the sea. Fol- in the world ocean. His lowing a successful debut in January research focuses on 2004, the San Francisco Ocean Film the marine microbes Festival (SFOFF) continues to build in the cycles of nitro- on its success, featuring documenta- gen and carbon, from ries and narrative works by filmmak- the fundamental ecology of marine ers from around the world who want to ecosystems and interactions with share their passion for the earth’s last environmental perturbations. frontier. Prokaryotes* are the original This unique festival had its pre- inhabitants of this planet. They miere January 10 and 11, 2004, at Fort are the toughest of the tough; they Mason’s Cowell Theater with films on hold all the records for living in the saltwater sports, oceanography, coastal coldest, hottest, driest, most acidic and snows. He has participated in over culture and more. Hundreds viewed most highly pressurized environments. thirty major oceanographic expeditions the beauty and mysteries of the ocean’s Also for the longest time! Come learn and has served as the chief scientist depths, experienced the thrill of ocean about these tiny creatures from the on over ten.. Dr. Capone is gener- sports, explored the coastal cultures man who knows them best and find out ally acknowledged as one of the lead- that are shaped by the sea, and paused how they impact upon our world from ing experts on the marine nitrogen to reflect on the importance of the an engaging speaker. cycle and, in particular, a key pro- oceans’ vital ecosystems. Throughout his career, Professor cess determining the capacity of the The festival is the first of its kind Capone has studied systems as diverse tropical oceans to take up atmospheric in the United States. Only the Festi- as the coral reefs, mangroves, tropi- carbon dioxide. He produced a highly val International du Film Maritime et cal open ocean, temperate estuaries, regarded edited volume, Nitrogen in d’Exploration, a week-long festival in groundwater aquifers and Antarctic the Marine Environment (1983, Aca- Toulon, France, has been devoted to demic Press), and he will update that subject matter from the sea. It has had volume in 2006. a strong following for 34 years. NEW LOCATION Since 1999, Doug Capone has held Details for this year’s films and Date Friday, 13 Jan 2006 the Wrigley Chair of Environmental reception are at Place: Dolphin Club Biology at the University of Southern http://www.oceanfilmfest.org/ Aquatic Park, California. The Opening Reception will fea- San Francisco ture seafood, sea chanteys, and wine Time: 8:30 pm, lecture from Quivira Vineyards; tickets are 6:00 SFOFF Reception $50, and entry may be purchased two Cost: Lecture: FREE ways: 1) Mail your check for $50/ticket Reception: see SFOFF to SFOFF, PO Box 475668, San Fran- Otherwise: dine before. cisco, CA 94147 or 2) online via our Reservation Form on page 5 Acteva box office. (A service charge of Please respond promptly! $3.07/ticket will be levied by Acteva.) Tickets will be held at the door (so we have adeqaute seating) * An organism of the kingdom Monera (or Prokaryo- This event may sell out, so pur- [email protected] tae), comprising the bacteria and cyanobacteria, chasing tickets in advance is recom- or 925 254-3079 characterized by the absence of a distinct, membrane- mended. The free Explorers Club talk bound nucleus or membrane-bound organelles, and by DNA that is not organized into chromosomes. will follow immediately. page© 2005 1 The Explorers Club L Breaking Trail — the Feminine Way ANGAN Arlene Blum San Francisco Arlene Blum is a dynamic speaker, she discovered the glory of the and she has the breadth of the outdoors heights. When she began to to draw upon. Her mountain photog- learn the skills of climbing she raphy mesmerized an enthusiastic was limited by the ‘fraternity.’ group of explorers at our November To combat this she organized 18 meeting. Spinning humour into the Damsels (five female what many might consider tragic or climbers which included our daunting events throughout her life, Chapter’s Dana Isherwood) Sue Estey (left) suggested Arlene’s talk she concluded that these experiences who topped ’s high- and bought a book. developed, in her, an overwhelming est peak in 1970. Within a few Chairman Steve Smith and Arlene Blum (below) L

tenacity. She finishes what she starts. years she led thirteen women ANGAN Sometimes this is extraordinarily chal- to climb and crest Pakistan’s lenging. . She contributes much of her suc- These are the widely rec- cess to women role models, for her ath- ognized achievements, but letic and academic life has transcended there are many more. They the period when the gentler sex was include scientific success in not welcome to compete. She was part showing the dangers of home- of those women dedicated to proving present chemicals. Dr. Blum the fallacy of this position. As a moun- is an expert on RNA. Having taineer her achievements rank with the now finished her autobiography greatest. She has climbed on all the (Breaking Trails, A Climber’s continents. As a trekker she has strode Life,) she is returning to the the length of the and the labs. Alps— the latter with a babe in arms. You can get Breaking Trails has focused upon her goals just as Her first mountain hike, on Wash- from her (www.arleneblum.com) she did that bright day when crossing ington’s , was completed or through Amazon. A fascinating the knife-edged snow ridge high on by sheer will power. As a Midwestern story; clearly it has resulted in a life Annapurna. Whew, what a picture! flat lander she knew not what to expect; well lived—with more to come. She M Beebe Saving and Showing Old Photos Robert Johnson San Francisco the body in motion, the Golden heightened appreciation of the depth of Gate pre-bridge, olde China- content of each picture and an aware- town, Weston, Steichen, Brady, ness of the emotion and information pre-and just-after-the-quake the images communicate. These are from 1906—mentioning but a not idle snapshots; they have grown to Robert Johnson’s passion for photo- few—are hung in a shadowed section become works of art. graphic art was evident as he proudly of the museum to the left when you Check them out. The modern showed members of the Explorers Club climb the grand stairs. copper-clad de Young beckons. and the American Society of Media On December 9, Curator Johnson M Beebe Photographers the new permanent spoke lovingly of each picture, many photographic gallery in the spectacular which he collected, many provided by new de Young Museum in Golden Gate Paul Sack, a museum supporter and Park. ardent photographic collector, who was This is the first such gallery estab- present. Johnson is justifiably proud lished by the Fine Arts Museums of of the growing collection and plans to San Francisco to display their growing change the gallery about three times collection of 19th and 20th Century each year. photography. Muybridge studies of One left the roving lecture with a page 2 A Sunday Morning to Remember The Dolphin Club Charles Merdinger Our Host on January 13 San Francisco

S The Dolphin Club was founded in ARA

S 1877, and today is a nonprofit, public-

HOEMAKER waves. They did use the five-inchers; maybe 10% of access athletic organization with a

L diverse membership of about 900

IND the Japanese planes were destroyed that day. women and men. Once he reached the Members swim in the waters of bridge that afternoon, the Aquatic Park, row in the Bay and on view was horrific. There Lake Merced, play in handball tourna- were fires everywhere; ments, work out in the bay-view weight many ships sunk—there room, and participate in the annual had been over one-hundred Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. They ship in the harbor! We lost also have great parties. almost as many killed as The Dolphin Club and South End were lost on 9/11! Club buildings are owned by the S.F. Dr. Merdinger was Recreation and Parks Department and not injured during that leased to the clubs. Both facilities are war or in Korea or in Viet- open to the public on alternate days nam— he attributed this each month, Tuesday through Satur- to his good fortune. Good day, for a daily fee of just $6.50. Guests fortune that allows him to and members of the public must sign a look back on a life filled waiver and an attendance log, or take with rich experiences. He the plunge and become a member! noted that General Billy The facilities: Mitchell had anticipated an • Boathouses for rowboats and kayaks aerial attack on the enclosed • Men’s and women’s locker rooms harbor at Oahu as early as with showers and saunas 1923; a planning exercise • Two upstairs lounge areas at the Naval War College • Ground-floor toilet and shower facili- predicted the same in the ties Chuck Merdinger told us the sweetest mid-thirties. The U. S. anticipated, as • Three inflatable motor craft to main- air he ever smelled were those breaths well, that war with Japan was just a tain safety during Club swims at the top of a vertical cableway five matter of time. Still, when it happened, • Weight room with free weights, pul- decks above, as he followed his sailors it was a surprise; the Japanese navy leys, leg-press machines, exercise exiting the flooding plot room below had managed to cross a vast ocean to bikes, Stairmasters...and the best view decks. He bunk room had been blown within 250 miles of Honolulu, unde- in town. away. He had spent seven hours in tected. Super-secret radar, in its true • A flat-water rowing facility at beauti- what had become a communications infancy, may have detected the planes ful Lake Merced, on the western edge center during the Japanese attack; his once airborne, but a squadron of U.S. of San Francisco in the Golden Gate ship, the USS Nevada was the only bat- B-17 bombers was scheduled to arrive National Recreation Area. tleship that had managed to get under- about the same time. Distrust of the The Club has an exterior ramp for way. But, this was brief; once hit she new-fangled tool, and knowledge of the handicap access. was beached so she would not block Army Air Corps plans, discounted an the entrance to Pearl Harbor. alert. We were simply caught off guard. He kept the group of explorers He does not hold a grudge against enraptured by a simple rendering of the Japanese; they were highly profes- his thoughts during and since the day sional. As a military they exercised World War II began for the United their maneuver flawlessly. Since the States. Ten months before he had expe- war he has met officers who par- rienced an accelerated graduation from ticipated; there was mutual respect. Annapolis; he was assigned as the We won; he put the war behind him! Fire Control Officer on the battleship; Almost. His Naval Academy sword, in his job: sight the twelve- and sixteen- his room on that day 64 years ago, was inch big guns. On this, his first day of found months later when the ship was battle, they were of no use against the refloated. It was with him this evening. 350 planes that flew over Oahu in two page 3 Innovation sleep, becoming a desirable deprivation ductions revealed that they were Gary among members of Manhattan’s execu- Kotliar, a spiffy Russian of indetermi- As all members know by now, our tive class.) nate age, who had founded Hypoxico, national President Richard Wiese will “At first, the mountain air got to among other businesses; a press atta- be resigning in March; a new slate has him. He couldn’t stay in the chamber ché named Jared Rice; and Kotliar’s yet to be selected (at this newsletter’s for more than a few hours at a time, associate, a tall blond woman named publication.) For those of you who may and in telephone conversations with the Yulia Soukhanova, a former Miss not receive The New Yorker, an article club’s board of directors (who took to U.S.S.R. Kotliar began enumerating published in the October 24, 2005 calling him B.O.B., for Bubble Office the chamber’s powers of rejuvenation. issue is copied below. Richard, a true Boy) he found himself growing irri- “Did you know it is used already for explorer, has been pretty innovative! table and woozy. But after a couple treating untreatable diseases?” he said. of weeks he began to adjust. Thirteen He mentioned a few. It can also, appar- thousand feet felt like flatland. ently, serve as both a sleep aid and an RARE AIR “On a recent afternoon, just prior aphrodisiac. “You are like bull,” he to the Mexico trip, Wiese made room said. “I’m, like, nineteen years old! It is “There isn’t much a guy can do to in his chamber for a sea-level visitor. the equivalent of ten thousand oysters.” improve his physical fitness while sit- Wiese is a youthful forty-six, tan and “Wiese mentioned that a lot of ting all day at a desk except maybe to sandy-haired. He wore a Beretta shoot- climbers in the city work on Wall squeeze a rubber ball, jiggle a leg, or ing sweater and cargo pants. Once Street and are “cash-rich and time- eat a lot of bananas. This was the prob- he closed the door, the percentage of poor,” and wondered whether Kotliar lem that confronted Richard Wiese, oxygen in the air, as measured by a might donate a hypoxic chamber to the the president of the Explorers Club, as handheld monitor, began to drop, and Explorers Club, for members to use. he planned an expedition to climb a along with it the amount of oxygen in “Richard, Richard,” Kotliar said. pair of volcanoes in Mexico. His big- the blood. A mild light-headedness set “That is a great idea.” gest obstacle would be the altitude (the in. After a few minutes, the feeling was — Nick Paumgarten, ©The New Yorker volcanoes, Orizaba and Iztaccíhuatl, not unlike that of sitting atop the Grand are, respectively, 18,700 and 17,343 feet Teton, if you were to factor out wind, above sea level), and the fact that he cold, vistas, exhaustion, vertigo, and Chapter Dues would have very little time to become the problem of getting down. acclimated to it. Even seasoned climb- “The chamber came equipped 2006 ers need weeks to get used to the thin with a mask, which Wiese could strap Your officers are asking that each air. Wiese, experienced as a mountain- over his mouth and nose. The air member of the Northern California eer but encumbered by a nine-to-five coming through the mask was even Chapter pay Annual Dues of $25. This job, would have merely days more hypoxic, like the air at twenty- amount is payable in January. “His solution, the fruit of some one thousand feet. After issuing a few Why chapter dues? Each member Internet poking around, was to have disclaimers, Wiese had the visitor strap already pays ‘national’ dues. What is an altitude chamber installed in his on the mask. “It’s going to be a hor- going on? office, on the third floor of the club’s rible experience, and at some point The dues paid to our New York headquarters, a Tudor-style mansion you’ll say, ‘Take this off!’ ” he said. Headquarters cover the privilege and on the Upper East Side. The chamber, The mask went on, and within a minute rights of membership and the costs of made by a company called Hypoxico, the world grew heavy, the light pre- administrating the Club and maintain- is a transparent plastic box, nine feet surgical. The pulse sped, as the blood’s ing its superb facilities. No chapters by six feet by seven feet—the size of oxygen level dropped. “More of your have a local drop-in facility, and those a walk-in closet. Amid all the club’s cells are being killed than are being members that are ‘residential’ to New artifacts (Admiral Peary’s sledge, Thor rejuvenated,” Wiese explained. To York pay an added fee for this routine Heyerdahl’s globe, Peter the Great’s mimic conditions inside a snowbound privilege. The rest of us are welcome side table), the chamber seems out of tent, Wiese and the visitor played a few whenever we are in town. place, like Pei’s pyramid at the Louvre. hands of blackjack. “Look at you bob- Our chapter has approximately The air inside simulates that which you bing around,” Wiese said. “Your eyes ten speakers each year and a picnic. would breathe high in the mountains: it are looking a little buggy. Try standing In the past we have undertaking more contains less oxygen. A month before up.” This experiment did not go well. extensive gatherings (the Golden Gate- leaving for Mexico, Wiese moved his Nor did a brief one involving a step aways.) The dinner meetings are priced desk into the chamber and began con- machine inside the chamber. Finally, to cover the costs of each event. ducting his daily business at the equiv- the revelation that the visitor was feel- In addition we have about eight alent of thirteen thousand feet. This ing an unfamiliar tingling in the vicin- newsletters mailed to some 350 people was, as far as he could tell, “the first ity of his left femoral artery prompted and added expenses that seem to crop instance of an altitude chamber being an immediate removal of the mask. up. Thus, the Chapter dues. Please used in an office setting.” (And it may “A small group of people had respond, one and all. not be the last: it’s not hard to imag- been watching all this from outside Non-member newsletter recipients ine oxygen, like carbohydrates and the chamber. Back at sea level, intro- are urged to respond as well page 4 The Chapter Chair Dear Northern California Explorers: Thank you for selecting me to chair the Merdinger enlightening, Robert Johnson picnic. We need two of you to step up Northern California Chapter of The educational. The de Young is a grand for April and May. Explorers Club; I shall do my utmost to addition for the Bay Area. The Marine’s A goal I would like to set for the continue our traditional high quality lec- Memorial a lovely venue, particularly near future is the on-going growth for ture series and to seek out other events warming with the crackling fire at our our Chapter. Take a few moments to that might prove of interest. dinner. We continue to seek out the right reflect on why you belong, and then We begin with our second-year lec- venue/price balance for our meetings. find someone else who will have a ture following the January reception of Suggestions are always welcome. similar appreciation. Propose they the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival. In organizing our meetings I am belong. Again the speaker will be at The Dol- calling upon individual members to The Northern California Chap- phin Club, adjacent to the City’s other manage all aspects of individual events: ter is vying for third in the number of Bay-swimming club (The South End the locale, the logistics for items needed members, with the Chapter based in Rowing Club)—both near the corner and coordinating with the speaker. Austin. , D.C. is second of Beach and Hyde Streets at San Fran- Lesley Ewing has undertaken the Janu- and New York, of course, first. The cisco’s Aquatic Park. Members of these ary meeting in cooperation with the more members we have the greater clubs can be observed any day of the Ocean Film Festival folks and the visit draw we are to exciting speakers and year as bobbing white caps within the by our speaker from Southern Califor- the more diverse are our already- park’s enclosed waters. nia. Steve Smith is cordinating Febru- diverse interests. December was very rewarding: ary. Alan Nichols will help himself in See you in January for a very sur- Arlene Blum was inspirational, Chuck March! Dave Moorer is working on the prising talk. —Lee Langan, FN99

Cowell Theater The Dolphin Club SFOFF Explorers Club Film Theater

Aquatic Park San Francisco

The Maritime Museum San Francisco Ocean Film Festival Reception

Reserve ___ spaces for January 13, 2006, at the Dolphin Club, San Francisco. Please mail this forms to The lecture will be free. Dr. Anders Jepsen Attend the SFOFF Reception before or grab a bite nearby. Guests welcome. 23 Dos Posos Name: ______Orinda, CA 94563 Guest(s): ______or, preferably, email [email protected] Enclosed are my Chapter Membership 2006 Annual Dues of $25. or call 925 254-3079 page 5 Northern California 2005-2006 Event Calendar

(Mark the dates! Venues will be identified at time of event.) October 14, 2005 (Friday) Dan Liebowitz The Last Expedition, Stanley Across Africa Delancey Street, San Francisco November 18 (Friday) Arlene Blum Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life Sinbad’s Restaurant, San Francisco December 7th (Wednesday) Charles Merdinger Remembering Pearl Harbor on the USS Nevada Marines’ Memorial Club, San Francisco December 9th (Friday) Robert Johnson Photographs at the new museum DeYoung Museum, San Francisco

January 13 (Friday) Doug Capone Planet of the Prokaryotes The Dolphin Swim Club, Beach Street, San Francisco

February 24 (Friday James McLane Egypt -Exploration and Preservation of Ancient Sites March 18 (Saturday) ECAD (NYC) What’s Left to Explore? March 24 (Friday) Alan Nichols Cycling The Silk Web April 7 (Friday) Don Walsh to be determined May 19 (Friday) June 17 (Saturday) Dave Moorer Annual Chapter Picnic (unlisted events are all in the process of confirmation; see subsequent newsletters for the update.)

In full and lively color! To experience this newsletter in color, see the PDF version at our web site. Please note venues and dates with care. At 8:30 on January 13th, a FRIDAY meeting at the Dolphin Swim Club in San Francisco

(When copying the URL addresses be sure to keep them all on one line; most are also available as links on our Chapter web site.)

December 2005 - January 2006 Lee Langan The Explorers Club Northern California Chapter 2660 California Street San Francisco, CA 94115

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