QUESTION:
Did anyone really ever get a part of their body stuck to
metal, and have to have someone urinate on it to release it?

        Kelsey, 4th grader
        Betty Groesbeck's Class
        Peter Boscow School
        Hillsboro, Oregon


ANSWER from Ralph Bovard, Resident Doctor, Palmer Station
            Antarctica, Thu, 13 Feb 1997 12:41:33 -0500

Dear Kelsey, 

What I want to know is who put you up to asking this question? 
Anybody who gets a body part stuck to metal in the cold and has to
"pee" on it to get it unstuck is in BIG TROUBLE, and as Dave Barry
would say, I am not making this up.  You are clearly "an alert
reader" and a well educated individual, who incidentally would
probably do very well in the specialty of "urology" as they all seem
to have a well developed sense of humor and know all the good jokes,
but don't try this at home!  Actually I was told of a person at
McMurdo (or the S. pole?) station who breathed on a pipe to warm it
up, I think this person was said to be a plumber, and got it stuck
on his/her lips and had to walk into a building looking like a
clarinet player to let it warm up.  If they did anything else there
I don't know.  Have you seen the film "My Life as a Dog"?  Somebody
gets their tongue stuck on a cold object outside there too... so
DON'T DO IT!  You need your tongue for ice cream cones and besides
having all these tongues stuck on jungle gyms outside in the winter
is really gross. 

Sincerely, 
Dr. "Dogear" Bovard