www.thegilmours.co.uk

I’m writing this in the hope that one day it will reach the world, or at least the world-wide-web. By “one day” I mean tomorrow, as things should be fixed by then. On the other hand you could find this message in 5 years time, after a search party turns up my remains in the middle of the desert. You see, at the moment Paranal is semi-dead, and could be gone by the morning (ever the pessimist). The generators are dying and we have just enough power to control the telescopes, which of course take priority over humans. Apart from the control building the site is lit by eerie emergency lighting, with just enough power in each light to guide you through the blackspots without serious injury. The dining hall is full of candles and the rooms are pitch black. I have turned off my torch to preserve power and am very glad that I can touch type. All communication with the outside world from here is dead - phones, internet, satellite link.

It’s just hit me that Paranal is very remote. At 1 1/2 hours drive from the nearest settlement, and with no water pipes, electricity cables or any other link to the world, we could disapear in a puff of smoke and no-one would notice for days. The only lights on the horizon come from a distant mine, and they probably wouldn’t care if we evaporated - astronomers and miners don’t see eye-too-eye; they look down and we look up.

Normally on Paranal I feel like I’m just stuck in the office for 10 days - I can phone Doug, e-mail and browse the web just like in Santiago, and I don’t feel like I’m too far from home. Now I’m stuck in a dark building, with only engineers and astronomers to talk to. There are no options for procrastination or for work, the pool is too dangerous, the keyboard needs power, dinner will have to be raw, and I’ve got a cold and am feeling grumpy! So, I’m going to save and sign off before my laptop batteries die, and wish you all a good night.
I’m off to read my bible under an emergency lamp in the corridor!

A recent announcement from an international organisation not unrelated to Chile or the identification of supermassive stars or the study of the impact of sun storms upon earth’s vulnerable telecommunications infrastructure…. Absolutely classic!

Every day we are faced with risky situations that sometimes have unforeseen consequences. Often perhaps the majority. We “jump in” unthinkingly, either because we are in hurry or because we are unclear as to what the priority is at the time. Crossing a street on foot against a red light, passing through an intersection when the light turns yellow, getting off a bus that is in movement, eating unwashed fruit, drinking water from a cracked glass, turning on a light switch when your hands are wet … and many examples more.

It is our pleasure to invite all of you to our safety talk on this matter, entitled “Risk assesment” (poorly calculated risks), next Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. This talk will be different, and will use examples from our everyday life.

We laugh at translation sometimes, but that is not my point. Every individual calculates risks, often subliminally or even simultaneously, but the majority are consigned to the junkmail tray in our brains. The chosen examples of calculated risks above are, ironically rather poor examples.

In reaching this event, individuals are required to cross roads without a pedestrian crossing, to climb stairs which just might have been washed and now be slippery. If they catch a bus in Chile, then they will have to jump on, probably while it is still moving or else catch a taxi, without question.

Furthermore, by adding the incentive of

we will end the talk with a delicious snack and a raffle for two dinners at a restaurant of choice.

they are in fact, encouraging irresponsability and poorly calculated risks, inflating the value of the seminar and influencing their decision to ago, without regard to inherent risks!

How many real risks shall an individual overlook if they consider possible but non-pressing risks in their decision-making? And in a country which thrives on risks, particularly in investment (and driving), does an international organisation really want to demonstrate european ideas, principles and standards in this way? I don’t think so.

If I applied the kind of risk assesssment indicated in this email to my life here in Santiago, I would never leave the house and i wouldn’t do anything. Oh, hold on…

This film was made by my sister and two others attending a media academy.

In the words of my sister, “It relates to online communities and social networking tools (such as Myspace and Facebook) and the way that people use them to construct their own self-concept and present an image of themself to anyone who’s watching.

The film intends to portray how God calls us to be honest in those ‘places’ and have integrity, because it is through us being honest and transparent that God will speak through us to others and use us. Indeed, we are called to witnesses in those online ‘worlds’ and communities, and yet many people use them to present a false image of themself as glamorous and always having fun.”

This is a nice addendum to my blog about Facebook.

Click here to view the film.

So i’m leaving Facebook to join Twitter.com, the new “hip” version of Facebook which asks for less and apparently gives me more….”information about what my friends are doing at every moment of every day”, that is.

Excellent. I feel so much better for knowing that friends are procrastinating, avoiding work, are unemployed or surfing the web from their toilet! Yipee.

However, there is one problem which will ensure that Facebook continues to dominate the cyber-social networking world, dictated by its name. I can imagine one day there will be a verb: to facebook. However, consider the alternative-

Verb infinitive: to twit
Present continuous: twitting
Past participle: twat
Any past tense conjugation: twat

They’ve not thought about this have they?

I would like to share a tale of moderate-woe, in the hope that this would be a caution to all you folk who, like me and Douglas, pick up all sorts of random things in the supermarket that you never get round to eating. (Emma, who plans her meals in advance, need not take heed).

The cabbage sits on the shelf. Deep purple-red, looking healthy, shiny, full of vitamins. It calls out to you. Ooooh cabbage, you think, just like-a mama used to make in your distant and slightly distorted memory. You add it to the trolley.

Fast forward 2 weeks, and you’re out of food, hungry and desperate you rummage through the fridge. Nothing…..except, hiding at the back of the vegetable rack…..the cabbage is lurking. Not looking quite so healthy now, it is nevertheless surely still full of leafy goodness and vitamin Purple. You can’t ignore it. It would be wasteful to go and buy something else. But what to cook?

The recipe books, which include 100s of years of granny-wisdom, include “broiled cabbage”, “sweet and sour cabbage” and “spicy baked cabbage”. All of which take 2 hours in the oven, hence ensuring that the cabbage is truly dead. “Never eat an undercooked cabbage”. Yours truly not having 2 hours to spare before extreme grumpiness sets in, I cobble together bits of the recipes - an apple, some wine vinegar, lemon rind, and bung it all together in a pan for 10 minutes.

Well, boys and girls, I’m going to surprise you - this tale actually has a happy ending. The cabbage was dead enough after 10 minutes and both Doug and I lived to tell the tale. It actually tasted OK. However, it was very nearly a disaster, and in the spirit of “health and safety first”, next time I’m going to write a shopping list.