Dear Chris,
Very sneaky!! Very droll!!
BUT, that band has a finite width and based on my own antarctic
experience, I very much doubt if the population density is as high as
a band of similar width in any large city with high rise tenements.
Or even the tent city at Mecca. Or the 104,000 people that attended a
football (Rugby League to all you non-Australian members!) game in
Sydney's new olympic stadium. Yes I know that these were only
transients, and didn't live there, but boy, they sure ate a lot of
food, drank a lot of beer and queued to use the vast number of
toilets!
Good try, but I don't think that you win the prize.
Cheers (through the rain and drizzle in Sydney)
John
PS: Scott-Amundsen Station is not actually at the Pole anyway. It is
built a little bit away so that the Pole is kept clear and
undisturbed for "science" or tradition or something. Even the
ceremonial Pole with its circle of flags, etc. is not on the actual
Pole, apparently for the same reason. Of course, any supporter of
conspiracy theories may well think (do these people actually think??)
that the reason all these installations are off the Pole is so that
the CIA can claim sovereignty! It certainly couldn't be ASIO (the
Australian equivalent) as they are too inept to even find the Pole.
Dr John Pickard
Senior Lecturer, Environmental Planning
Graduate School of the Environment
Macquarie University, NSW 2109 Australia
Phone + 61 2 9850 7981 (work)
+ 61 2 9482 8647 (home)
Fax + 61 2 9850 7972 (work)
