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NASA "Bed Rest" Contractor Blogs the Days

Arguendo writes "It seems that earning $5000 a month for bed rest as a NASA contractor may not be so enjoyable after all. A 38 year-old woman selected for the study is blogging about her experience as test subject for NASA's study about the long-term effects of microgravity on people. There's quite a bit of information on her page, including info about the screening process, the food options [.xls link], and the not-so-great days of testing and immobility. It definitely sounds like work."

18 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. Stay immobile and eat all day? by Yvan256 · · Score: 4, Funny

    NASA owes most slashdotters a whole lot of money!

    1. Re:Stay immobile and eat all day? by MyLongNickName · · Score: 4, Funny

      You forget about wrist action.

      --
      See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
    2. Re:Stay immobile and eat all day? by martin_henry · · Score: 3, Funny

      So immobile now
      In bed my body will stay
      Head in Blogosphere

      --
      www.purevolume.com/martyd
  2. Just need to learn to live "in the moment" by oldspewey · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm thinking meditation practice would be extremely helpful in this situation (and by extension also for long-term space travel) ... since there is nothing you can do to alter your current (sucky) situation, you just need to be at peace with it and experience it moment by moment.

    --
    If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
    1. Re:Just need to learn to live "in the moment" by sakdoctor · · Score: 4, Funny

      Or you could just play world of warcraft. Shame about the ping times though.

  3. Food Options Bad? Huh? by garcia · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You know, I haven't tasted the food that they list but the menu options honestly don't sound that bad. While I am a capable cook, we typically rotate the same meals throughout every two weeks. What they were offering looked like a great and varied selection.

    Perhaps the immobility is what's making this person grumpy about everything else?

    1. Re:Food Options Bad? Huh? by stoolpigeon · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think the thing that makes it tough above all else, at least by her accounts, is the chronic pain. That would make anyone cranky.

      --
      It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
  4. I would hate this by Wiarumas · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I would hate this. I already feel "bleh" from sitting at a desk for 40+ hours a week. As much as I'd like to lay around and play video games, I know my body would hate it.

    --
    I will bend like a reed in the wind.
  5. Re:Ahhh by MyLongNickName · · Score: 4, Funny

    You have a typo on line 132.

    --
    See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
  6. Stuck in a bed for months = torture by Badmovies · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I sustained a serious eye injury when I was about 12 that required me to stay in bed, on my back - only on my back, not my side - for a month. The injured eye was covered with a bandage. I could not read, watch TV, or do anything that might cause the eye to be used (apparently the covered eye would move in unison with the uninjured one if I read or watched TV).

    So, except for necessary restroom breaks, and a short bath every 2 or 3 days, I was stuck in that bed with just a radio for entertainment. It was not pleasant. Even less pleasant because Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus" was the big hit at the time. That song still causes an unpleasant Pavlov reaction over two decades later.

    --


    Andrew Borntreger
    Champion of cinematic disasters
    1. Re:Stuck in a bed for months = torture by oldspewey · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I'm not at all surprised to read about your experience. Similar research was done in which patients had far worse complaints.

      --
      If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
  7. McSweeney's by olclops · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There was another guy that was doing a similar study about a year ago. He made a big deal about how he was going to keep a journal and post them on McSweeneys.net. He started out really excited, and then day by day, the posts got more and more terse and depressing. Until finally they just stopped. Only two weeks in. Never heard how that turned out. But it was enough to convince me to never, ever volunteer for a study like that.

  8. Stop complaining! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Where else can an attractive young lady make that much money just by lying on her back?

  9. science.slashdot.org by Culture20 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Shouldn't this be in science.slashdot.org, not idle?

    1. Re:science.slashdot.org by geekoid · · Score: 4, Funny

      Maybe they're trying to be funny? 'cause, you know, she's idle.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  10. Seen the Movie by fm6 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It definitely sounds like work.

    I'm reminded of a movie by my favorite Spanish director. In Talk to Her, two actresses spend most of the movie pretending to be in a coma. Sounds easy, right? But Almadovar claims its the hardest kind of acting there is.

  11. Credit check? WTF? by SuperBanana · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Criminal, residency & credit checks came back clean.

    Why the hell do they need to do a credit check?

  12. Re:Credit check? WTF? by arbitraryaardvark · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why the hell do they need to do a credit check?

      I'm not sure. Maybe they want to avoid people doing the study and meanwhile sending spam or posting dupes to slashdot or other stuff that might not reflect well on NASA.
      Maybe, based on the their experience, a clean credit record is correlated usefully with being able to do the study successfully.
      I applied for this study and didn't get in. My blood sugar was a little high they did the blood test. I do studies like this for a living, although none of them pay as well as the NASA one. Info at jalr.org, just another lab rat dot org.