Science, Songs, Uncategorized

Goldfish Bowl on Head

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Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano has written a blog post about the experience of having his helmet begin to fill up with water during a space walk. I think it’s fair to say this is a sensation most people will never know – the feeling that you are floating 240 miles above the Earth’s surface, moving at 17,000 miles per hour, and drowning.

It’s definitely not one anyone’s top ten list of things to worry about – or at least it wasn’t. Though I have this vague recollection that I’ve seen a cartoon where an astronaut’s helmet (Bugs Bunny?) fills with water and he watches goldfish swim in front of his eyes. Could that have happened?  Probably.

goldfish-bowl-head

At any rate, it’s not hard in the year 2013 to find an image of someone with their head inside a goldfish bowl. Thanks, Internet!

In his account, Parmitano describes reluctantly informing mission control that something wasn’t right, suspecting (correctly) the ground controllers would respond by deciding to end the space walk early. He is told to head directly back to the airlock while his partner, Chris Cassidy, attends to some other details before joining him. At this point water is floating inside Parmitano’s helmet.

“… the Sun sets, and my ability to see – already compromised by the water – completely vanishes, making my eyes useless; but worse than that, the water covers my nose – a really awful sensation that I make worse by my vain attempts to move the water by shaking my head. By now, the upper part of the helmet is full of water and I can’t even be sure that the next time I breathe I will fill my lungs with air and not liquid.”

Parmitano has to wait for Cassidy to return to the airlock so pressurization can begin, and then he has to wait a few minutes more for the process to complete before he can remove his helmet. All the while the amount of moisture increases and he is losing communication with those outside his space suit.

“The water is now inside my ears and I’m completely cut off.”

I’m not sure how a person could manage to stay calm in such a situation, though one possible technique would be to sing a song.  Any popular song would do as a distraction, but the disc jockey in me wonders which song would be most appropriate for waiting to see if one will survive an outer-space helmet flood.

Here’s one possibility:

What song calms your nerves?

60 thoughts on “Goldfish Bowl on Head”

  1. Rise and Shine Baboons!

    If I need a calming or inspiring song, I usually drag out the an old Keepers CD — especially the one with “The Mary Ellen Carter” on it. That does it.

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  2. Luca Parmitano’s predicament sounds terrifying to me. I’d need something deliberately created to relax and calm me. This might do the trick:

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  3. Anything by Eva Cassidy does the trick for me. Other favorites are Connie Evingson and Ella Fitzgerald. Come to think of it, almost any female voice singing in the middle to low part of the voice range is soothing.One can’t relax when any soprano is shooting for that high C that may or may not be in tune.

    Chris in Owatonna

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      1. Yes, Steve, I have two of her CDs. I like her a lot, very mellow music, but more of a one-trick pony than some other female vocalists (at least judging by what I’ve heard her sing).

        Chris in O-town

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        1. I also thought Norah Jones was good and somewhat limited in what she could do until I heard her duet with Ray Charles. Her voice was strong enough to match up very well with Ray and I think she is not really a one-trick pony.

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  5. I was very nervous when taking my driving test–so nervous, in fact, that I failed it twice just for not paying attention to things. On my third attempt, I took the test at Hastings, reasoning that since it was on real town streets instead of a course, I’d be more aware of the markings and signs. During the test, I ran one of my then-favorite songs, “Johnnie Cope” by the Tannahill Weavers, through my head over and over, to help deal with my nerves. The instructor passed me–probably only just, but he passed me! Since then, whenever I’m under stress, I try to find something to distract me from my nervousness. I’ve gotten deeply involved with several fandoms, polished off a lot of mystery novels, and suffered a number of earworms over the years, that’s for sure.

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  6. What a timely question, given I had yesterday what is probably one of the worst days at work ever due to a conflict with a coworker. I nearly resigned, but calmed down and was able to stop and think. If I swing it right I can retire in three years. That will be the ultimate win. Anyway, just about any music will help me calm down. I find orchestral works by Delius really helpful. Most anything from Radio Heartland will, as well.

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    2. My profoundest sympathies. I’ve been having a similar problem at my current assignment. I also wanted to walk out immediately–I actually cried during a meeting with the department manager–but calmed down enough to start contacting temp agencies and applying for other jobs. With luck I’ll be out of here before the end of next month, and it won’t be a moment too soon. My stomach will be much happier. I don’t envy you having to deal with a situation for 3 whole years, though friends of mine had dealt with bad coworkers longer than that and lived to tell the tale.

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    3. So sorry to hear that, Renee. The prospect of having to stick it out for three with a coworker who drives you nuts isn’t pleasant. Hope you can minimize whatever contact you have with him or her.

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    4. I’m on a similar countdown with the exception that I like my job and coworkers. Liking makes it easier to hang on, but I’ll be ready. This is one of those times when I suspend “I can hardly wait . . . ” because I know the time will fly. Thirty months to go, but who’s counting?

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    5. that same twit you report on every now and again?
      you have 3 years to figure out how and when to tweak her!
      plan carefully and have fun.
      dog poop and little dead animals in her desk drawers every 5 or 6 weeks then ramping up to every 3 days and then nothing…….
      thats the first year.
      limburger cheese behind her desk drawers, we have a couple years of baboon fun in store… banana peels above the ceiling tiles
      oh what fun.
      what can be done with peanut butter

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    1. I’m revising my answer. Today is going to be a very emotionally draining day, with very conflicting emotions, all made worse by waiting five months for it. Silence is not working, so I just built myself an itunes playlist of Gregorian chants, Navaho, flute music, Andean flute music, and the two Paul Winter Grand Canyon albums.

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  8. This one is soothing:

    My nerves need calming because August is slipping away rapidly. So rapidly, in fact, that I COMPLETELY MISSED wishing Jacque a happy birthday yesterday.

    Hope it was a good one, Jacque.

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    1. Thanks so much. It was a “0” birthday! OMG. The real celebration was 2 weeks ago when I treated myself to a week long art class. It was heaven.

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  9. This one isn’t soothing, but I used to start it to get the kindergarteners back on track, and it worked every time.

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  10. When my daughter was about six or seven we learned that our cat, Pippin, was riddled with cancer. We decided to tell Molly that Pippin would go to the vet’s the next day . . . go to, but not come home from. She took Pippin into her crib when she went to bed. She spent the night holding Pippin while listening to the most soothing music she knew, George Winston’s “December” album:

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    1. Sherrilee, that was me 🙂 I love love love her books. Now you’ll want to go on to read “Le Road Trip”. Bon voyage!

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    1. Great choice, Edith. I’ve been lucky enough to catch Archie Fisher in concert 3 times. The last time, at the Celtic Junction a couple of years ago, the audience consisted of a few stragglers like myself plus a who’s who of local musicians and performers of traditional music. A marvelous evening.

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  13. I’d be very surprised if there’s anyone on the trail who isn’t familiar with James Keelaghan. He’s not only a gifted songwriter, in my estimation, but a very dynamic performer. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen him perform live, but he must have broken, and replaced, a guitar string without missing a beat, at at least half of them. Perhaps it’s a bit of a stretch to claim that this is a song that calms me, but it certainly is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit; I find comfort in that:

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  14. My apologies in advance, baboons, for I’ll be silent until Monday. I’m heading back to my old hometown, Ames, for a history society celebration of the company my dad used to work for. See you Monday.

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  16. I found today that Bob Collins featured my Dad’s Last Man’s Club on News Cut on August 13th. There is a picture of the group. My dad is the one right in front of Bob wearing a white polo shirt. It is a nice article. That really lifted my spirits today.

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    1. That is a good story, Renee. My Dad would have probably fitted in with that group of men. He wasn’t a veteran of the war because he was needed at home to repair and maintain electric power plants along the Wisconsin River. However, he did serve his country in his own way during WW II and would have a lot in common with those men who were in the war.

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    2. wonderful story. your dad is looking good. my dad loved his group. his group had the last man idea but passed on it. i wonder how many are left today? there were 12 i can only think of 4 left. all ww2 vets from fargo.. great stories great memories great lives great men

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  19. It’s late enough in the day that I don’t feel too bad about stretching the boundaries of today’s question a bit. I just saw this on FB, and since I know there are a bunch of Steve Goodman fan’s on the trail, thought I’d share this tape of a live performance by Steve in 1972, a year before Arlo Guthrie made a hit of it:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ0JgqoF2W4

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