teringlijer

What can you say about the "lost cosmonauts" rumor? (Edit: Wikipedia link borrowed from MarcoTozzi, who also asked this question.) According to this rumor, the Soviet Union sent other astronauts into space just before Gagarin in 1961. These astronauts were supposed to be the real First Men in Space, but when they died in their capsule, their death was kept secret. Gagarin was merely the first to come through alive. Two Italian brothers recorded what is apparently the heavy breathing of a dying Soviet cosmonaut. (Quite disturbing stuff, very Major Tom.) There may also have been a female. [Edit: recording and transcript of her final broadcast as flames engulf the module on reentry; if it's real, it's the saddest thing.]. There is some more information here. The whole subject is both fascinating and tremendously gut wrenching.

Great subject for an AMA and thanks for your participation!

What was the power balance in the gulag like? I know that there was a big war between the Suki and the Vory in the '50's, but Solzhenitsyn doesn't say much of what happened after '54. Who had the power base in the '70's, what was the group dynamic, who was in control? What was the best survival tactic?

How did the work as a prison guard affect your father's outlook on life and humanity? I mean, in that capacity you get to see humanity at its base. Your father came to the camps from a privileged position, from where you can choose to empathise or to ignore. If you emphatise, you destroy your soul. If you ignore (and you must ignore), the same thing happens. So there must be some tension. Can your father still trust people, believe in humanity? Or can people start afresh, shed the past?

As a guard, which kind of prisoner did you have to look out for? In the sense of being cautious for double-play.

Did you work with Banksy on his Simpsons intro? What was it like to work with the famously hooded and secretive street art svengali? What are your working conditions in North Korea like? What strings did you have to pull to petition for internet access in Pyongyang?

So how did that mess with you, wanting to become a prisoner but ending up the warden? It must be a power trip for someone who fears the penal system to find out that they're the dealer and not the receiver.

Now that is a good question.