Word: inuits
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...rotation. But before Telesat's Anik 3-C reached its resting place over the Pacific, controllers discovered that they were unable to "talk" to the satellite on any of the programmed frequencies. The radio silence perplexed and panicked Telesat's control room on Guam. Unless Anik (Inuit for brother) accepted their commands, the controllers could not angle it properly toward the sun or keep it locked in place. Thus its critical maneuvering propellants would quickly freeze. Without this fuel, the $24 million bird would be a dead duck...
...classic encounter. Restless, acquisitive men of iron, canvas and hemp confronted a communal society of bone, skins and thong. The outcome, too, was familiar. Skilled at catching birds in nets, the Inuit themselves were about to be scooped up in the cash nexus. A hitherto unknown clock was imposed on the culture, and its days were numbered...
...blends in. He dresses in native furs, cracks the whip expertly over his sled team, and gnaws blubbery popsicles in the glow of an igloo oil lamp. He falls into the rhythms of polar life and begins to view this white-on-white world through the eyes of an Inuit...
...culture defined by extreme hardship keeps its values simple and its instincts honed. "The hunter in the North, for whom fear and courage are interallied," writes Malaurie, "would smile if one talked to him about heroism." Indeed, he notes, there is no word for heroism in Inuit: "One lives, one struggles, one dies. If there is nothing to eat, you lie down and wait. Emotional involvements are brief. Trouble always lies in the offing...
Malaurie does not romanticize the passing of the old ways. A people whose total energies were geared for survival no longer turns from new things that make survival easier. What the author wants is a balance that might preserve the Inuit spirit. The threat to that spirit is illustrated by an American businessman who asks an Eskimo carver to mass-produce an ivory figurine. Naturally, the American wants a volume discount. The native craftsman has a more natural idea. Turning to an interpreter, he says: "Tell this silly qallunaaq that the more of them I make alike, the more expensive...