September 2009 Archives

Once again, Ed's being quite the trooper and staying up until 2am UK time to be here! I guess that's nothing compared to surviving in the wild for 50 days...

Alone in the Wild: Hunger premieres tonight at 9P et and we're lucky enough to have Ed online with us to answer questions throughout the show. Ed will also be commenting on the show during the premiere.

So ask your questions here on the blog comments or on Nat Geo Channel's Twitter page.

Here are a few we got earlier today that Ed has answered:

Viewer question: How easy was it to sleep?
Ed: I was so tired at the end of each day I slept pretty good. I just had to blank out the worries of being investigated by a bear in the night.

Got a question for Alone in the Wild's Ed Wardle? Read some of the questions Ed answered during the premiere of last week's episode here.

Ed's going to be with us here on the Inside NGC blog tomorrow night, Wednesday September 30 9P et to answer any questions you have while watching the new episode, "Hunger." Here's what Ed had to say about what we could expect:

My favorite question asked was actually by a coworker of mine:

Question: Did you have a toothbrush? Toilet paper? Deodorant? Or was it au-naturale?
Ed: I took a toothbrush and toothpaste. Sphagnum moss is better than toilet paper and deodorant was completely unnecessary.

Ask your question now on the blog or on Nat Geo Channel's Twitter page or ask Ed during the premiere of Alone in the Wild: Hunger Wednesday September 30 9P et.

From the Baltimore Sun's Unleashed Blog:

"Have you heard of the Rescue Ink guys? They're a gang of heavily tattooed, none-too-dainty chaps on a mission to, perhaps surprisingly at first blush, stop animal abuse. 

They've got a new TV show that premiers Friday night on the National Geographic Channel. And they've also got a new book -- a few copies of which I'm willing to give away to folks who can come up with the best pleas to get the guys to come to Baltimore.

This city has animals in need. Big time. So write up a few lines beseeching the be-inked crew to get down here and start busting some heads or whatever they do in the name of furry ones.

They say they "stop at nothing within the bounds of law" to help helpless, abused and abandoned animals.
Don't you think we could use them? Get your pleas in.... I'll pick some winners by the end of the day..... And I'll do my best to make sure the guys see what you write..."

**snip to today**

"In response to the Unleashed throwdown yesterday, asking readers to make pleas to the muscled, inked men of Rescue Ink to come to Baltimore in the name of stopping this city's animal abuse....not one but TWO brave readers offered to get paw print tattoos if the guys come to town."

Be sure to check out this amazing public urge for people that want Rescue Ink to come to Baltimore. And be sure to check out Friday's series premiere of Rescue Ink  at 10p et/pt to see why they want these guys to hit the streets of Baltimore.

We're talking online now with Ed Wardle. Ed's really quite a trooper as it's about 1:30am right now for him, and he'll be staying up with us until the end of the show at 3am his time! A new episode of Alone in the Wild premieres tonight at 9P et/pt on the National Geographic Channel (U.S.). Send us your questions for Ed on the Nat Geo Channel Twitter page, or leave them as comments here on the blog.

(8:46pm) Leslee: When you were dropped off in the wild, did you feel prepared mentally and physically?
Ed: Physically I had been bulking up for a month since returning from Everest and I felt strong. Mentally I felt under pressure with photographers and journalists following me around. I knew I was heading for something very difficult but I wasn't entirely sure what I was taking on.

(8:49pm) Leslee: What did your family think about the adventure you were about to go on?
Ed: My family have got used to me being away for long periods of time and doing dangerous things. My partner Amanda says she proud of what I do. On this adventure the worrying thing was that I would be alone and there was a significant danger in that. Also that we wouldn't be talking again until I returned.

By: Puja Verma
Researcher and Translator, The Girl Who Cries Blood
Premieres Sunday September 13 9P et/pt

It's the 28th of March and a popular Hindu festival is in full swing. I and the other Hindu crew members are observing this and, much to my dismay it means consuming no alcohol, no meat, and no delicious omelettes for breakfast in the hotel coffee shop!

After a day of filming with Twinkle and her Mother in the Hospital, the crew decide to leave the hotel complex and have dinner at a famous Mumbai restaurant. Twinkle and her mother are tired and so opted to relax in front of prime time Indian TV and order-in room service. Our sound recordist and camera assistant also opted out and as they were staying on the same floor I left knowing that someone would be on hand if there was a problem.

By: Paul Woods
Producer Director, The World's Smallest Girl
Premieres Sunday September 13 10P et/pt

ENTRY 1
It is the morning of the first days filming in Nagpur. I'm standing outside the hotel reception when our transport turns up. It's a big white 4x4 driven by our smiling Indian driver. I look down at the front bumper and see something I was not expecting. Painted in bright orange paint is a sign that looks suspiciously like a Swastika.

Having grown up and gone to School in Western Europe I tend to associate the Swastika with only one thing - Hitler and the Nazis. It is an emblem of a thankfully distant and dark time that is now banned in Germany. So what is it doing painted on the bumper of a 4x4 in the middle of India?

By Paul Nelson
PD, The Girl Who Cries Blood
Premieres Sunday September 13 9P et/pt

A gentle rocking motion wakes me up. Immediately, I'm aware that my feet are hanging over the end of a 6 foot foam padded vinyl surface and there's an awful stench emanating from the next compartment. The nauseating smell of excrement and urine is mixed with the odour of about seventeen packed lunch and dinner boxes stacked around me. These were prepared by our hotel nearly twenty hours ago and even then they didn't smell particularly appetising. Why would anyone put French fries in a cold packed lunch box?

It takes me a moment to remember that I'm on a sleeper train in India called the Haridwar Express. It's a bit of a misnomer. The train is making achingly slow progress to the city from which it takes its name; and I've been reliably informed that making the same journey by road would have had us at our destination five hours ago. Nevertheless, I'm glad I here. Travelling on India's famous railways is really not an event not to be missed and is surprisingly comfortable - so long as you're prepared to pay a few extra rupees for an AC carriage.

We began our journey five hundred kilometres south east in the City of Lucknow and now some fifteen hours later we're approaching one of India's most famous cities.

Hi, I'm Laura. I'm the lead techie on the natgeotv.com website, and every month or so I'd like to keep you in the loop on some of the enhancements and changes taking place around here.

Over the past few weeks, you may have noticed a few small changes on natgeotv.com. First, there's a new "mobile" link (up at the top between games and community) that collects all sorts of National Geographic Channel videos, wallpapers, and ringtones for your phone into one place.

Next, we've made it easier to peep ahead to tomorrow night's show schedule. Just use the new "on tomorrow" link halfway down the page to quickly switch back and forth between tonight's and tomorrow's evening show line-up.

Finally, you can keep track of the evening shows for the next 7 days (including today) using the new TV Schedule RSS feed that we just put up yesterday. Look for the little orange RSS icons on natgeotv.com and the TV Schedule page. Click on the icon to subscribe to a 7 day list of primetime shows that gets updated every day.

That's the major stuff for now, but there's a lot more around the corner - you'll be hearing from me again soon!

The avalanche is one of nature's most poorly understood killers. Review the facts about these massive slides so that you can understand them better.

At least 90,000 avalanches occur every winter in the U.S. -- most between November and March.

Most avalanche accidents -- 99.9 percent -- occur in the backcountry which is outside of ski areas with avalanche control.

Asphyxiation, or breathing carbon dioxide, is the cause of 75 percent of avalanche deaths. The remainder of deaths are from trauma caused by hitting trees and rocks on the way down. Only 2 percent of victims live long enough to die from hypothermia.

Avalanches pick up speed as fast as a race car -- they can go from 0 to 80 mph within about 5 seconds after the fracture occurs.

Avalanches are the only natural disaster in which human casualties are most often caused by the victims themselves.

Contrary to popular belief, spitting to determine which way is up will not help you if caught in an avalanche because once the snow stops moving, avalanche debris becomes like concrete -- you can't dig yourself out.

The odds of surviving burial by avalanche are less than 50%.

In North America and Europe, avalanches kill 150 people per year on average.

People ages 21-30 are the most likely demographic to die in an avalanche.

Snowmobiles are more likely to be caught in avalanches than hikers, skiers, or snowboarders.

Read More Avalanche Facts >>

Then, tune-in tonight at 9P et/pt to "Buried Alive" to find out how avalanches accelerate, what g-forces they create, and how they bury their victims.