Cool Under Pressure

Another Occult Science Reservist. I painted all the minis of this type with speed paints. They are indeed speedy, but I'm not sure I like the look as much as...non-speed paints? 
 

Occult Science Reservist

What eldritch horror compels this man to rend his hair asunder? 

 

Monitoring Antarctica

I'm pretty happy with the neatness of this console. I'm getting better at steadying my hand and applying the right amount of paint to tiny, tiny details like the buttons and switches seen here. 
 

Guarana Antactica

Guarana, the Brazilian soft drink from...Antarctica..?

It's not bad. Sort of like a Cherry 7-Up. 

Swimming to Antarctica

I'm swimming off the snow-white coast of Antarctica, but I don't feel the chill of the frigid waters thanks to the snowsuit I'm wearing. A buoy bobs up and down on the waves, containing a large orange emergency light. I activate the buoy and the light begins to flash.

Having done my duty, I turn back toward the continent. The ocean stretches out forever, all around me, vast and terrifying. I recall an emergency manual that contained advice on how to avoid being swept away into that deadly eternity, but I don't remember the lessons themselves, so I just keep swimming for the shore. It's so small on the horizon.

Eventually I wash up on the rocks. I check the data pad on my wrist and see that there are a number of escape options. I could fly straight north to Australia, straight north to the empty expanse of the Pacific, straight north to Chile, or straight north to a tiny coastal community of South Africa, called Freepoint. Evacuation to Freepoint is, appropriately enough, free, and advertised as a $400 value. Moreover, Freepoint is supposed to be extremely welcoming to tourists and refugees. I touch that option, and am whisked away.

Showering at the South Pole

I consider my ability to enjoy a hot shower every day one of the greatest luxuries in life and a great achievement of science and civilization. It's a pleasure I never take for granted, and even understanding the environmental costs, one I hope to never surrender. But a stray thought made me wonder if we could redesign the typical shower to improve its efficiency.

When I shower on a chilling fall or winter morning, I notice that even while surrounded by the heat of the water I'll still feel a chill in my extremities thanks to the cooler air beyond the shower doors (or curtain, if I'm downstairs). While observing this phenomenon this morning, I wondered what would happen if the shower and I were suddenly transported to the South Pole, with the shower still, somehow, in operating condition, pumping an endless supply of hot water. How long would it take you to freeze to death? Shower doors provide virtualy no insulation, being glass; a curtain wouldn't be much better. My own shower is open at the top, since the doors don't extend to the ceiling. Even given an unlimited supply of hot water, I imagine the exothermic reaction would quickly suck most of the heat out of the shower and into the frigid Antarctic, dooming the showering human to an agonizing death.

Barring the intervention of sadistic deities or advanced aliens, such an event is, I admit, unlikely. But it does make me wonder about all that wasted heat. Could we design showers to trap all that waste heat and pump it back into the hot water tank somehow? Or distribute it through the vents to help heat the home? Would it be cost-effective to do so? Do they already do this in the top-secret underground lairs of shadowy spy agencies?


Could we design and build a more environmentally friendly, less wasteful shower...one I don't have to feel guilty about using?