Renato (Fairbanks, Alaska, USA) -52C
Piero (Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada) -42C
Bolot (Yakutsk, Yakutia (Sakha Republic), Russia) -42C
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Today I received a message from Claire, of the online project Global Voices en Français. She gave a link to the blog of Boukary, her blogger-friend in Mali, West Africa, precisely to the post dedicated to the cold season in his area where they suffer heat.
While in town, each between home and shut the door because it is cool outside, the cold season is the period of family reunification in the rural night.
If during the cold season everyone is focused on his show or his favorite movie on TV in town, deep in the house with less noise for fear of not escape some of the broadcast or film, the cold season is the period of exchange between old and young people in rural areas. (more…)
Hm. I’ve never experienced the following problems with video and audio. Wally Young, Abilene/TX, USA, is wondering via Abilene Reporter News and Abilene Reporter-News:
“I have run into something that is a mystery to me. Ever since the change from analog to digital for TV and the cold weather, all I can get on the four channels is useless. If the temperature is below 65 degrees, the audio is silent and the video is scrambled. When the temperature reaches 70 degrees, all is well again.”
I have a German friend, Bjorn Steinz. He is a pro photographer based in Prague. Two years ago he visited Yakutsk in November. He spent a few days just walking around on streets and taking pictures of people. Since then I promote his works and website oka2 Photography on every occasion, and I am grateful to him for giving such an permission 
Here are what he came out with.
This video was shot during Fairbanks’ 2009 annual Festival of Native Arts, where artists from all around Alaska and the Outside come to celebrate their native heritage by showcasing arts and crafts, dances, native games, and other cultural activities.
These are Nunamiut dancers from Anaktuvuk Pass, one of the coldest towns in Alaska. The Nunamiut are inland Eskimos, who hunt caribou rather than whales. Anaktuvuk Pass is only accessible by airplane, or by going through the bush in the winter, using snow machines or SnoCats.
They performed a couple of dances, most of them from 30 seconds to 1 minute long. Sometimes I wished they went on for longer as they were quite entertaining, you could tell the dances told a story and I wish I understood their language. On all dances the males stomped one foot on the ground to the beat of the drums, while the women did not stomp. Their drums were large but light, made of some animal skin (possibly caribou) stretched over a round wooden frame. They were the only instruments used by the performers.
Looking by the number of people on stage it looks like most of the village came down to perform; the total population is only 249!
Yesterday, on Nov. 1, I wanted to participate in the local GPS orienting, but failed. At the last moment, I couldn’t find my fur boots. They were left in a wardrobe at work the last spring. “Damn,” I said. Without extra warm boots I couldn’t bring myself to stay outdoor the whole day, when the temperature was frozen at minus 20 degrees centigrade.
Well, I missed the event. My wish to take pictures of frozen competitors was great. I do regret, but not so much. My colleague Ekaterina, who managed to compete as a trekker, promised me to bring photographs tomorrow and share them with the rest of the world. So, rejoice.
Meanwhile, check out how trekkers can look like, when it is extremely cold. Here we go!
That's Katerina. She was trekking along the hills around Yakutsk at -30C. Nov 16, 2008.
ColdUnited Flickr
Hoisted flags
Statistics since Dec. 21, 2009.