walkersmith.net weblog

BP 132 over 81

132/81 is my blood pressure. Thats during my first day in Paranal, which I think is not too bad. Why do I know my BP, well an electronic blood pressure monitor arrived today from Amazon, it was going cheap so I thought I would get it. This afternoon in the office all BP's were taken, in the afternoon mine was a lot higher, now it seems to have settled a bit. I will be really interested to see what it will be like in the morning, hopefully after a good nights rest. Last night I felt thirsty all night, this time from some chinese food I ate, hence the bad night good night reference. Any goodnight to you all.

UX50 day

This is coming to u from the ux50 handheld that came today, boy what a great toy. web and camera all in same package. Will report more in following days. Over and out.

Two things

1. The Union flag made it on the front page of "El Mercurio" with a picture of concorde in the background. If only I was rich enough to fly on it.

2. David Attenborough and Micheal Palin were on TV last night. Palin was interviewing Attenborough. These two people are both heroes of mine. Palin because of his travel programs and his comedy, Attenborough because I grew up on his nature programs, without which I would probably never have known I liked science. The program was covering the life of Attenborough, boy I did not know that he had done so much at the BBC.

Private moments

This morning I had a private moment with my unborn baby. Andrea was fast asleep and I rolled over and put my hand on her belly. S/he was kicking away there in the little womb space, I think doing a little martial arts practise before coming into the big wild world.

The kicking was a lot stronger than I had felt before. The other time it was like pressing against Andrea's stomach, now its more forceful. I wonder when I can teach her/him taisabaki?

The s/he and him/her are being used as we don't yet know the sex. It's still a secret known only by our Doctor. In fact quantum physics wise isn't he the one that fixed the event, the knowledge it was a he or she, before that is was like the cat, in two states at the same time. Or is that only for cats?

Whats missing

For me an English man living in Chile there are a few things missing, quite a lot really, but thats for another blog. What's missing though today is Shower Gel. It just does not seem to exist in this part of the world. I have two favourites, Lynx Africa, which exists here as a deodorant (under a different name), but alas not as a shower gel, and the other favourite is Jean Paul Gautier, which does exist but only inside airports for some reason, and is far to expensive for me to use everyday, only to wash it down the drain.

Today I almost used up the last of my supply of Lynx Africa. What I shall do after this I am not to sure. Smell I suppose :-(

And this just in:

Alan Alda is,
- in Chile, and
- doing a documentary about Telescopes, and
- in hospital, and
- with an apendicits.

Ian Walker-Smith,
- lives in chile, and
- works at Paranal, the place of the largest optical telescopes in the World, and
- has been in hospital, and
- for apendicitis, and
- loves M*A*S*H

If only he could come up here to Paranal, I would love to meet him.

Baby Stuff

Baby stuff

Yesterday Andrea sent me a document of the stuff we need to buy for the baby. It was so sweet, we have just been talking about it on the phone. All these little things, and all in Spanish as well. It's amazing I can understand something like that in a foreign language, there were just a few things that I missed. Words like "Peluchos", which I think mean an all in one overall type thing, I am not sure of the name in English. A thought: never before have I had a baby, so some of the words relating to babies and their things I don't quite know in English, so QED, I probably never will do. Cool.

So we have to start to buy in earnest soon, its only a few months to February. Today whilst touring the Internet I came across the RFU website, with it being Rugby World Cup time and all. Getting off the point, why is RFU hosting their website in the .com domain, terrible. OK back to the point, the point is in the shop on the website you can buy English Rugby baby clothes. Next month I am definatly putting in an order. Just how sweet will that be, my child born in Chile wearing with pride (if it will understand the concept) it's English Romper. Just found out the english name for Peluchos. Ins't the Internet a great place.

A few things are changing in me at the moment. I am slowly, slowly starting to find things sweet which are connected to babies. Maybe it's my hormones. How far will this metamorphesis go.

The Streets: English Rap

Just tabbed (new verb: opening tab inside web browser) to the New York Times on the web and who do I find on the front page? Non other than Mike Skinner, rapper from The Streets, although as I understand it, he is really all of The Streets. This is great news for him, making it to the NY Times, he must be trying to make it over the olde United States of America.

I found his first album to be the only rap album I have ever heard that is English rap, if you are English, you understand it so well. Of course there could be other English rappers out there, but I have yet to hear them. I heard someone somewhere liken him to the William Shakespeare of today but of course with a cooler haircut.

Another big explosion

Yet another large explosion shook the house again today which took out the telephone and Internet connection to our house. I am not sure if these two things were related but you only have to put two and two together.

Again no prior warning to the explosions, nothing.

Wireless iPod's

An iPod fitted with wireless network card, software to run the file sharing. Where
will companies fit into such a world where at any moment perfect strangers walking past each other in the Street or on a train can dump their data to somebody else, only because they were close to each other, and their iPods talked wireless.

If I was in any media business I would be scared of this, its going to happen, so time to change business practices ahead of time, not see it as a problem, adapt to it. Not sue two perfect strangers sharing some music across a local wireless network. It's inevitable.

Big bloody explosions and Bad Boys 2

It would seem unbeknown to me that my real life, bad boys 2 the film and explosions are all mixed up. Well for yesterday at least. Andrea and I came home from buying carpet for the nursery when as we entered the house there was an almighty explosion, we are talking earth moving type explosion, not your normal type of blasting. We both jumped out of our skins, the baby almost out of his womb. It felt like it was right outside. I am sure it wasn’t or else we would not have been standing if this had been the case. About five seconds later came the second explosion, just as big. We all jumped out of our respective organs, Andrea and I the skin and the baby its womb. What the hell was going on? We don’t know and it’s likely we wont find out, which is terrible. My theory is that they (please define "they") are blasting over the other side of the mountain that we live on, were they are building a new road.

Not long after all these explosions and stuff I went to see Bad Boys Two where none of the explosion sounds matched that real life explosion. It was a good film though, kept me interested all the way through with action and wit. Bad Boys the first was so long ago I cannot remember if this was better or not however two is worth a look-see if you like action and some wit, but don’t expect drama.

Mad World

Listening to Virgin radio tonight whilst messing on my computer I came across this song that can only really be described as a classic little nugget of pure gold, a diamond in the rough. The song/lyrics originally done by Tears for Fears, and messed up big time, and then covered by Gary Jules, with a classical feel, completely revolutionized for me the lyrics. Which when read stands alone quite well without any music. I suggest you search for “Mad World” and “Gary Jules” in those terrible napster like applications, which still inhabit the grey part of the Internet.

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
And their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
'Cos I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad World

Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
'Cos I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad World

Street Lights

Last night I was out on an evening shop so Andrea and I could have hot dogs; could be a start of a craving there. As I was driving back from Blockbusters, we also rented a video, The Core, it was not too good, and I noticed the lights out in the City, up on the desert mountains. I could actually see individual streetlights. I took the glasses off, and I was back into the world of mushy not so true site. It’s amazing.

This got me thinking, how many people are also deaf in a way and are not hearing so well. I don’t remember the last time I had my hearing tested; it was probably in School. Maybe people are missing out on sounds as well as sight, and not really being aware of it.

I first knew my eyes had gone down hill when I arrived back in the UK last December to get married with Andrea, driving was OK, but seeing all the signs and stuff I was almost lost. Strange, as over here in Chile, there are very few roads across the country, on the whole with small resolution map of Chile you can always get to be you want to go. Not like in the UK that has roads all over the place.

What's left?

Since the day I was born are any of my original atoms still in my body? Any at all?

I am now thirty, what left of me that was orginal?

book: Colony, by Rob Grant

Colony (ISBN: 0-140-28975-5) is written by one half of the Red Dwarf creators made me excited about reading this book. It came from Amazon with several others books and I chose this one first. Well overall there was great disappointment. Story was weak; plot weak and laughs few and far between for a book that puts itself in the obscure genre of science fiction humor. Shame really as Red Dwarf, the books and the UK TV series, are so well put together.

book: Chronoliths, by Robert Charles Wilson

My first outing with the author Wilson was with his book called Chronoliths (ISBN: 0-812-54524-9), and good start it was to. I feel like the time when I first read a book by Robert Sawyer, it could be the start of a great reading relationship. I wish these guys themselves have blogs, in fact I will look later you never know. Chroniliths was an excellent book, you only have to look at its reviews at Amazon to see this, they ascribed to great character projection, which is one thing that really got me with this book. Written in first person, you really feel the character is real and talking to you. It could well be an autobiography.

The books main idea is the future effecting the past, a making of self-prophecy of the character Kuin. Kuin wins wars that have not yet happened. He creates the Chroniliths and sends them back some twenty years into the past. The rest I will let you find out yourself.

Read all about it! MP's Visit Paranal

Yesterday early morning three flags were flown from the Paranal flag poles, the Chilean, ESO and Union flag. This was in expectation of the arrival of six Members of the British Parliament. They arrived around midday and as customary given the tour of Paranal and the telescopes.

In the evening some of us from Serco were invited to cocktails and dinner. It was a great opportunity to meet MP's. They I imagine were relaxed, Paranal is not a big Political melting pot, and we ourselves felt at home. For the most part of the night I was lucky to be speaking with Kevin Barron MP. Conversations shifted from the NHS to those missing WMD with lots in between.

MP's present in Paranal were,

Ann Taylor MP
James Arbuthnot MP
Kevin Barron MP
Alan Howarth MP
Joyce Quin MP
Michael Mates MP

The flag of the Union

This is Chris, Gordon, myself and our flag.

Putting up the flag here in Paranal in advance of the arrival of six Members of Parliament. In the background stand the four worlds largest optical telescopes.

Think diferent

Its so good that people don't all think alike. If they did then I am sure we would still be sitting around the African plains thinking the same thing about the
same rock and not trying out other rocks to see if they would work better. The downside though is understanding other people and the way they think. Some peoples thoughts and I suppose perception of the world, their world view can be so many degrees away from yours it can cause problems. I don't think I need to mention nearly every war since time began to proove my theory that thinking differently can be a problem. One other anology to go along with my still sitting on the African sunlight thinking the same thing about rocks is Cancer. This disease has confused medics and biologists for some time. Why do we have it? One big theory is without it there would not be evolution. Its a bi-product that has made us what we are today. Thinking differently has allowed us to go from an species without conciousness to one which can make remote controls and DVD players, oh and of
course rage war, drop atomic bombs and make other humans slaves.

How though do we deal with the downside of this. With cancer we cut and irradiate. With people thoughts and their perception there is no such thing. I think a good idea is the following. If I could experience somebody elses thoughts, as they do, experience there perceptions and they mine, a sort of virtual world were they could see the world as I do then maybe, just maybe it could lead to better understanding.

I was not going to talk about love here, as I don't really like to talk about such a personal thing, especially in this medium, but doesn't love give us an ability to understand one another even though we can think so differently. However to love someone it usually means they think pretty much in the same way as you do. So maybe if we could love our fellow man we could do without all the negative
side of thinking differently, but then perhaps we can only love those who more alike than not.

iBook dying...

I felt it was coming and now it almost has. My iBook of less than a year old is having severe problems. The problem seems to lie with the screen, I get many horizontal lines across the display and the mac freezes, and sometimes now it wont even boot at all. I feel so naked without my own computer to do things how I normally do them. I am back on Redhat 9 and Windows XP for the time being. Not nice.

One good thing though is .Mac, for me its seems to be working sterlingly (no spell check with this linux box). I have email, bookmarks and contacts. Bookmarks seems be at present the most important, I seem to keep information tied up within them. Work stuff, like HP tech forums, or work webpages etc... But is it worth the seventy quid they want you to spoon out, not sure, would be a real catch for Apple if this was free.

Phoned apple support today over in the UK, it seems if it is a physical problem, then repair can only be done in UK. The international support option for laptops only seems to be in countries where they want us to be, not Chile, I can see the DHL charge being steep.

No iBook, whatever shall I do?