Twitter feeds | Paranal. Chrismas 2008

  1. snooze-a-thon queue at arlanda airport. machine won't let me check in to santiago. maybe humans will. 1:10 PM Dec 19th, 2008
  2. @ivh - don't worry. i'll be back once i have put right all the things that went wrong last time i was at the vlt. expect a more positive ... 2:26 PM Dec 19th, 2008
  3. damnit. stop listening to the songs that teenagers listen to and act your age. just because there is nobody you know here. 2:29 PM Dec 19th, 2008
  4. ...the infamous heathrow t5. doesn't seem so bad, except for being so far away from t2. and the bus driver doesn't seem to prioritise ge ... 6:57 PM Dec 19th, 2008
  5. omfg - the terminal bus is stuck behind a luggage trailer it can't pass. the airport equivalent of the tractor on a country road... 7:04 PM Dec 19th, 2008
  6. sorry @milko9000 - next time. 7:07 PM Dec 19th, 2008
  7. o @milko9000 - you are at work and i am clean. that's one sorry party. 7:53 PM Dec 19th, 2008
  8. boarded the flight to santiago after a little craziness. more eye patches for my collection. food then sleep. starving. 11:46 PM Dec 19th, 2008
  9. aaaany minute now i will clear chilean immigration. 2:10 PM Dec 20th, 2008
  10. dreamed of convoluted word games for 5 hours. i repeatedly lost to different words for icecream. 2:12 PM Dec 20th, 2008
  11. taxi driver started pointing out girls in short dresses. i pretended to sleep. when i 'woke' he started complaining about the traffic. 4:07 PM Dec 20th, 2008
  12. so! the filter arrived at paranal on the 3rd. do they put it in the telescope and test it? or throw it in the warehouse? what do you think? 4:19 PM Dec 20th, 2008
  13. @maltesk: given the history of this programme, we do not joke about things like that. they are testing it now; 1 day before i arrive. kill! 4:24 PM Dec 20th, 2008
  14. found the filter, installed it in its holder and then into FORS1. SR focus measured and HR this afternoon. flatfields and standards tonight 4:55 PM Dec 20th, 2008
  15. from the daystaff: "I believe we are in good shape for your run". that's one big and expensive sigh of relief you just heard. 4:56 PM Dec 20th, 2008
  16. when @maltesk decides to be cryptic -- and i do wonder how often it's a decision -- he really manages to confuse me. melitta what now? 5:55 PM Dec 20th, 2008
  17. thanks @ivh. i can take being clouded out... i'd survive, at least. hopefully we are now past all hurdles that would kick me over the edge. 5:58 PM Dec 20th, 2008
  18. thinks... googles... oh... oh @matlesk, that was _awful_ ... 6:01 PM Dec 20th, 2008
  19. oh... if i leave the guesthouse now i am only going to buy cigarettes... take a bit of money, just in case... those signs are too obvious 6:41 PM Dec 20th, 2008
  20. @quickwhiskers: some days ago i suggested you quit your job and write a book. i stand by that, but please leave poetry to others. thanx ;) 9:29 PM Dec 20th, 2008
  21. stupidest thing i've done today: plug a 9 amp boiler into the mains with my right hand, while testing the shower temperature with my left 9:54 PM Dec 20th, 2008
  22. today i (a) ran for 45 minutes and (b) swam 100 lenghts (of a short pool). that's just one event short of triathlon! 10:17 PM Dec 20th, 2008
  23. say: does anyone want to call me? no, not in general, i mean specifically. at 09h20 central european time. swedish mobile and/or skype. 12:02 AM Dec 21st, 2008
  24. make sure i'm up and packing. and remind me i need to buy lip-balm and headphones. no need to r.s.v.p., the more the merrier. cheers. 12:03 AM Dec 21st, 2008
  25. can't believe i got the same cab driver. fortunately it's too early (or late) for girls in short dresses and there is no traffic 10:12 AM Dec 21st, 2008
  26. now 2 hours of bus through the atacama. am applying lip balm already. it will not be like last time. 1:38 PM Dec 21st, 2008
  27. coast road. rough black mountains on the left. super dark blue pacific on right. read a whole instrument handbook- enough work for today! 2:06 PM Dec 21st, 2008
  28. sleep and forget the fact that my stomach is made of every known kind of hunger. 2:09 PM Dec 21st, 2008
  29. 1.5 hours ago i typed this into my phone: "the bus has broken down 1/2 way between antofagasta and paranal. cellphones: yes; water: no" 4:48 PM Dec 21st, 2008
  30. but it turned out that it was also cellphones: no. fortunately 15 minutes of rest seemed to be all the bus needed. 4:49 PM Dec 21st, 2008
  31. lunch with daytime support staff. they are going to tell me that everything is cool. aren't they. 5:09 PM Dec 21st, 2008
  32. sacrificing chrsitmas to cosmology. new and terribly edited (sole selection criterion: is it in focus?) photographs: http://is.gd/cPcQ 7:30 PM Dec 21st, 2008
  33. here she is, kids! the bastard filter that cost 2 weeks of my life, 50 nights of sleep, and USD 9,000 (so far): http://is.gd/cPZy 9:20 PM Dec 21st, 2008
  34. so, @darthnoor, did you make it back to baltimore in the end? or are you still lying on the floor in chicago? ;) 9:48 PM Dec 21st, 2008
  35. ripped my jeans. am now cooler than you. 10:51 PM Dec 21st, 2008
  36. just walked up the appallingly named 'star track'. it's hot and i am super dusty. 11:11 PM Dec 21st, 2008
  37. sun is depressingly high for 19h00. am concerned about the length of the night. realised i've never observed +/- 2 months from midsummer. 11:12 PM Dec 21st, 2008
  38. SEVEN AND A HALF HOUR NIGHTS?! how can i live with 7.5 hour nights? 1:36 AM Dec 22nd, 2008
  39. back from telescope introduction. met operators and night staff. should probably prepare observing blocks now. or maybe go swimming. wwjd? 1:38 AM Dec 22nd, 2008
  40. thought i was suffereing altitude sickness - tingling always gets me on day 1. but it could be that i've eaten 11 courses today. 1:48 AM Dec 22nd, 2008
  41. looks like swimming won that one. 2:35 AM Dec 22nd, 2008
  42. your air humidifier crackels and sparks. do you (a) unplug it, (b) figure you've survived this: http://is.gd/cSKJ so you must be on a roll? 3:51 AM Dec 22nd, 2008
  43. ohhhh, all of europe is signing in and i haven't gone to sleep yet. 9:31 AM Dec 22nd, 2008
  44. managed, somehow, to stay up until 5.30. and to sleep until 12.30. that was better than i was expecting :) 4:42 PM Dec 22nd, 2008
  45. ok. today we do it all: exposure times, standard stars, finding charts. a proper night plan. all the observing blocks. 4:44 PM Dec 22nd, 2008
  46. and more importantly, walking and swimming. but of ultimate importantance, consuming a four course breakfast. 4:47 PM Dec 22nd, 2008
  47. typing in bed really doesn't get easier with time. we really need a better solution to that. 4:47 PM Dec 22nd, 2008
  48. @bigswindle - the best answer to that would be 'as much as i can fit on a plate' or perhaps multiple plates. 8:09 PM Dec 22nd, 2008
  49. @bigswindle - but remember that getting up time is around 1pm. 8:10 PM Dec 22nd, 2008
  50. @maltesk, @ivh. FLAMES/ARGUS proposal approved! :) but i must wait before telling everyone cos i owe people other mails first... 8:12 PM Dec 22nd, 2008
  51. night before last: seeing 0.6 arcsec all night. last night: 1.0 all night. do we extrapolate or assume it oscillates? 10:26 PM Dec 22nd, 2008
  52. so what is the best superstition-based method to relate previous nights conditions to those of tonight? 10:32 PM Dec 22nd, 2008
  53. @ivh : there should be something quite cool about having 3D maps of the stars, the ionised ISM, _and_ the neutral ISM 10:34 PM Dec 22nd, 2008
  54. current seeing is > 2 arcsec and the wind is at the pointing limit. don't want tonight anyway. 3:08 AM Dec 23rd, 2008
  55. and while we're on the subject. exactly *why* do i not have any OBs? 3:08 AM Dec 23rd, 2008
  56. note to self: bring data with you next time, instead of scping 200MB to the mountain at the last minute. 3:43 AM Dec 23rd, 2008
  57. well, that was an hour of inelegant splashing. no rhythm, not mental off. just length after length of struggle. 5:34 AM Dec 23rd, 2008
  58. ok. we appear to be up slightly before anticipated. 11h00. 3:17 PM Dec 23rd, 2008
  59. science exposure times: check; standards: selected; pointings/dithering: almost check; observing blocks: uncheck. breakfast: not yet earned 3:20 PM Dec 23rd, 2008
  60. and ESO: where is my system throughput curve? you promised! (i think that means you, @paranal) 3:24 PM Dec 23rd, 2008
  61. well. still 0 work done so deserve no breakfast. but (a) made it to the visas office (b) uploaded new photos. so life owes me 1 coffee 4:47 PM Dec 23rd, 2008
  62. coffee: claimed. and food smells *good* today. pointings! presto! 4:58 PM Dec 23rd, 2008
  63. why don't they just tell you which header keywords override other ones? i.e. which ones are simply misleading. 6:42 PM Dec 23rd, 2008
  64. so i will observe without knowing (a) the peak transmission (b) if the filters leak. THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DUMP BOXES IN WAREHOUSES! 6:48 PM Dec 23rd, 2008
  65. I HAVE COMPLETED MY SCIENCE OBs!!!! (at least the narrowband ones) 9:21 PM Dec 23rd, 2008
  66. twilight in 3.5 hours -- that's bags of time 9:26 PM Dec 23rd, 2008
  67. i'm getting a little nervous 9:49 PM Dec 23rd, 2008
  68. Now I have my broadbands sorted 9:52 PM Dec 23rd, 2008
  69. now i have my specphots sorted 10:30 PM Dec 23rd, 2008
  70. some cirrus but it appears minor. wind calm by paranal standards. CLR without pointing restrictions is fine. night in 1.5 hours. 11:28 PM Dec 23rd, 2008
  71. night astronomer said 'no hurry' immediately before giving me 10 minutes for dinner. this relationship is going to be a turbulent one. 12:04 AM Dec 24th, 2008
  72. nobody restricts how long i eat for. nobody. 12:04 AM Dec 24th, 2008
  73. night astronomer: oh! it's dead! -- NOT COOL! 12:26 AM Dec 24th, 2008
  74. next thing we have to take the flat fields. that's all part of it.... and it's veerrrrryyyyy important. 12:27 AM Dec 24th, 2008
  75. narrowband flatfields complete. whatever broadbands we can. 1:01 AM Dec 24th, 2008
  76. aaannnndddd we wait... endlessly... for it to be dark enough for the active optics system. 1:19 AM Dec 24th, 2008
  77. guide probe seeing: 0.9 arcsec. 2:12 AM Dec 24th, 2008
  78. wind is going a bit crazy. dimm telescope is talking shit and the guide probe just says "can't do"... 2:30 AM Dec 24th, 2008
  79. there is something unnerving about receiving the astro-ph mailout while still working. like it's even more pressure than usual. 3:13 AM Dec 24th, 2008
  80. @NoisyAstronomer- once a dentist who had recently seen a documentary about the CMB... hard to talk about with hands in mouth (& without) 3:25 AM Dec 24th, 2008
  81. today is day 30 and 32 3:39 AM Dec 24th, 2008
  82. night is over (for me) in 20min. last 2 hours with seeing <0.75" and <1 throughout. night 1/5: as good as realisitcally can be expected. 5:39 AM Dec 24th, 2008
  83. as good as can reaslistically be expected. i have NEVER said that before 5:40 AM Dec 24th, 2008
  84. @NoisyAstronomer - ahem, er, yes. routine.. that's the word. 22 unread. awwwwwwwwwwwwwww. maybe tomorrow. 5:41 AM Dec 24th, 2008
  85. nine point eight on the annoyed scale: http://is.gd/dfGC 5:57 AM Dec 24th, 2008
  86. business hours are over 6:04 AM Dec 24th, 2008
  87. oh! it's christmas! merry christmas to all those who celebrate 24th. 4:22 PM Dec 24th, 2008
  88. final chocolate in calendar. every year it annoys me that the last chocolate isn't like eight times the size of all the others. 4:42 PM Dec 24th, 2008
  89. day 2: clear; day 3: clear. day 4: got altitude tingles again. how's that? 7:25 PM Dec 24th, 2008
  90. there were a few too many bits of crunchy shell in that seafood soup. 7:31 PM Dec 24th, 2008
  91. tonight i even have backup obs. and they're not really for my project. feeling quite magnanimous. 10:04 PM Dec 24th, 2008
  92. why is it that i have only encountered one other person in the entire world that hates bananas? 10:11 PM Dec 24th, 2008
  93. just went to the restaurant to get coffee. smells A1 in there. and there are lots of nibbles around. christmas dinner may be ok :) 10:44 PM Dec 24th, 2008
  94. (well, it's not going to be lasagne, but that's not the only food...) 10:46 PM Dec 24th, 2008
  95. three hours until we can open on target. the wind is 4 km/hour and the sky is cirrus free :) 10:49 PM Dec 24th, 2008
  96. (trying really hard to not think about how badly things can change in three hours) 10:50 PM Dec 24th, 2008
  97. fastest. christmas dinner. ever. (partially because it was the smallest) 12:17 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  98. an hour walking in the sun. forehead hurts while putting on cap. arms pink. nationality embarrassing. 12:35 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  99. @cosmos4u - thanks!! :) 12:38 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  100. still 1h10 from astronomical dark time on paranal. flatfielding is on the go. 12:41 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  101. followed by an hour of waiting and watching the wind monitor 12:42 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  102. all visible spectrophotometric standards at reasonable airmass have crappy spectral resolution. 12:51 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  103. it doesn't matter what observatory or what time of the year i observe, i always seem to fall back to GD50. i hope nobody messed up on that 12:54 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  104. the wind speed has sat at 3-4 m/s for the last 8 hours. that might even be a bit too low... 1:02 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  105. seeing 1.3" on the dimm telescope (if that is meaningful information in any way...) 1:14 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  106. FORS2 says the sky is photometric and the FORS1 guide probe says seeing is 1 arcsec. this could be a good start. 1:34 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  107. dark time arrives. one 2-hour OB kicks off. and we... er... well, do nothing. wait for christmas. 1:48 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  108. something in the VLT control room is uses a sample that says 'there is no cause for alarm...but there probably will be'. where is it from? 2:07 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  109. @cosmos4u - that looks pretty interesting. any chance of advance information on who those 24 bloggers will be? 2:14 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  110. due to anxieties brought on by yesterday's twitter activity, i'm actually going to work on my astro-ph backlog. merry christmas ho ho ho. 2:42 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  111. luxury nomables arrive in the VLT control room: http://is.gd/doaK (almost makes up for my 13 minute christmas dinner.) 3:03 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  112. BOOZE!!!! WINE ARRIVES IN THE CONTROL ROOM!! http://is.gd/dojM ... i thought i was safe here. this is going to be *hard* 3:26 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  113. santa came to the control room at midnight :) 4:49 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  114. guide probe: seeing = 0.6 arcsec ---- lossam: sky = PHT ---- night astronomer: you only have one hour left. 5:02 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  115. some bastard ate all the guacamole while i wasn't looking. 5:02 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  116. the next life is looking pretty bleak for you, @TaviGreiner ;) 5:42 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  117. detailed selection criteria in the abstract is a definite turn-off. 5:44 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  118. night over. 4 hours on target. plus christmas. plus i ate a lot of cheese. plus i parsed 14 astro-ph emails. 6:02 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  119. oh! there was an earthquake in the final seconds of my last integration: richter 2.6 at 136 km. we can probably live with that. 6:06 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  120. 02.25: leaving the observatory. [ and make that 18 astro-ph emails ] 6:26 AM Dec 25th, 2008
  121. dear body clock. in going to sleep at 4, sick, in was implying that i didn't want waking up at 8. try to read between the lines in future 3:18 PM Dec 25th, 2008
  122. ok, thanks for the pointers, @cosmos4u and @amoroso. guess it's public in a week. 3:19 PM Dec 25th, 2008
  123. @mrthomson- as a teacher, no. but as a learner, i benefited a lot from tape-to-tape vhs. but then i am old. don't reinvent the wheel 3:35 PM Dec 25th, 2008
  124. a calm morning in the southern atacama. vitamins then caffeine. then the random number generator. 4:37 PM Dec 25th, 2008
  125. @NoisyAstronomer is @BadAstronomer 's book that expensive? i guess i'll have to give it a miss. 6:10 PM Dec 25th, 2008
  126. @mrthomson - that's the spirit. just show them some grainy pornography. they'll fill in the details from daytime tv. 7:32 PM Dec 25th, 2008
  127. in the absence of a real doctor, does anybody have any good tips on how to diagnose an ear infection? (and stop it spreading for 4 days) 7:33 PM Dec 25th, 2008
  128. there is blood on my white laptop. that's commitment, people! 7:35 PM Dec 25th, 2008
  129. @kayhan - hmm. that examination could probably be performed with a risky pointing and the laser guide star from the adaptive optics... 8:06 PM Dec 25th, 2008
  130. @kayhan - and it would be diffraction limited! just need to get far enough away 8:11 PM Dec 25th, 2008
  131. @kayhan - technically yes. but hold on, you said we needed a CCD sensitive in the optical? do ear infections radiate at 0.5 to 9 mm? 9:04 PM Dec 25th, 2008
  132. @kayhan - or will it leave some tell-tale absorption feature against the continuum of my brain if i face towards the north west? 9:14 PM Dec 25th, 2008
  133. @kayhan - bah. multi-wavelength studies are so 2008. 9:14 PM Dec 25th, 2008
  134. i have had 7 espresso today. i don't know whether i'm hot or cold. 9:55 PM Dec 25th, 2008
  135. they change my day support without telling me, and my night astronomer says she is 'sick and will not accompany you to the telescope'. 10:49 PM Dec 25th, 2008
  136. i'm assuming that 'sick' means i get to do it myself and therefore try out some setups 'not explicitly described in the phase I proposal'. 10:52 PM Dec 25th, 2008
  137. beginning night 3/5: broadbands -- landolts -- specphots -- narrowbands. 12:32 AM Dec 26th, 2008
  138. wind 3-4 m/s; nothing visible in the sky. same as last night :) 12:34 AM Dec 26th, 2008
  139. flatfields on the go. dark time in 1 hour. 12:42 AM Dec 26th, 2008
  140. sick and exhausted. it's going to be impossible not to drink coffee tonight. and hopefully not turn to jelly before the final OB starts. 12:51 AM Dec 26th, 2008
  141. and it appears to be dark enough. 20 minutes in B and V. 1:43 AM Dec 26th, 2008
  142. @TaviGreiner - out of curiosity, if you don't know what it is, why do you want it? 1:46 AM Dec 26th, 2008
  143. pretty good exposure times in B (given that i guessed) 1:50 AM Dec 26th, 2008
  144. @cosmos4u - see the HUDF at number 25 -- that's inside the field i am integrating on RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND! 1:54 AM Dec 26th, 2008
  145. measured seeing of 0.58 arcsec in a science frame. both FORS1 and HAWKI say the sky is photometric. 2:26 AM Dec 26th, 2008
  146. @kayhan- almost. the star of bethlehem must have been a naked eye object. definitely m_V < 7 and probably m_V < 2 since it was 'brilliant' 2:56 AM Dec 26th, 2008
  147. @kayhan- we're currently guiding with a star of m_V=11. with awful seeing we may need to go to m_V=8, but brighter sources saturate the CCD 2:58 AM Dec 26th, 2008
  148. @kayhan- i hope these units are acceptable for you. or would you rather i converted to f_lam or Jy? or kilo-calories per week per bucket? 3:01 AM Dec 26th, 2008
  149. photons fall just where they should ---- seeing: 0.5 arcsec. 4:18 AM Dec 26th, 2008
  150. two earthquakes tonight. richter 3.1 and 4.1 at 400 km. maybe a big one soon? 4:37 AM Dec 26th, 2008
  151. another quake at 4.1 at 350 km. 4:58 AM Dec 26th, 2008
  152. i can't see straight. 5:40 AM Dec 26th, 2008
  153. beginning the last integration of the final OB. which will for sure be read out prematurely by the operator. 5:44 AM Dec 26th, 2008
  154. end of night 6:04 AM Dec 26th, 2008
  155. i slept until 10h30. six hours. i'll take it! 2:38 PM Dec 26th, 2008
  156. walk time: residencia -> road -> vista telescope -> road -> vlt deck -> star track -> residencia. or that's the plan. 2:42 PM Dec 26th, 2008
  157. this time wearing shorts. this time with sun cream. this time with water. this time with hat on. but before all that: coffee. 2:47 PM Dec 26th, 2008
  158. dusty 5:11 PM Dec 26th, 2008
  159. @kayhan - it's a pity you didn't go for kcal/week/bucket. i'm going to try and get that past a referee one day. 6:52 PM Dec 26th, 2008
  160. in the control room 7 hours early. day staff are doing 12 hours of daytime calibration for FLAMES. what needs TWELVE HOURS of day calibs? 7:22 PM Dec 26th, 2008
  161. two coffees. one cup. 7:38 PM Dec 26th, 2008
  162. i sorted my inbox! and by sorted i mean deleted or moved things that don't require attention. i haven't yet replied to the ones that do. 9:11 PM Dec 26th, 2008
  163. left keys at the telescope. can't access room or office. that i means can't make OBs. that means i can go swimming instead. 10:22 PM Dec 26th, 2008
  164. beginning night 4 of 5. twilight flats. 12:39 AM Dec 27th, 2008
  165. to use a sporting analogy, the current score is me: 3 -- weather: 0. however, 5 -- 0 would be a much more convincing win than 3 -- 2. 12:39 AM Dec 27th, 2008
  166. started to get disappointed when i see a seeing of 0.8 arcsec on the guide camera. spoiled. 3:51 AM Dec 27th, 2008
  167. i just assumed there were 100 seconds in a minute. actually i might have assumed there were 100 minutes in an hour. 4:48 AM Dec 27th, 2008
  168. it was one of the two. i was too tired to get the number 60 just then, and i'm too tired to remember which it was now. 4:48 AM Dec 27th, 2008
  169. also, during recent days i have had difficulty understanding that the number 3 and the number 5 do not have the same value. 4:50 AM Dec 27th, 2008
  170. oh! there are some clouds passing by! sky transparency: THN. 5:05 AM Dec 27th, 2008
  171. this wasn't on the forecast! clouds must be local. transparency: THK. 5:10 AM Dec 27th, 2008
  172. operator loses the guide star. 5:10 AM Dec 27th, 2008
  173. DIMM telescope says the sky has returned to PHT. but still the guide camera says there is no star... 5:12 AM Dec 27th, 2008
  174. guiding stopped. 5:13 AM Dec 27th, 2008
  175. and the dimm telescope seems to have given up too 5:14 AM Dec 27th, 2008
  176. telescope closed 5:16 AM Dec 27th, 2008
  177. visitor mode sucks 5:16 AM Dec 27th, 2008
  178. night is over. i lost 45 minutes. 6:00 AM Dec 27th, 2008
  179. classic anxiety: lying in bed at lunchtime, watching cracks of light around the blackouts. and they get darker. how cloudy is it out there? 6:14 PM Dec 27th, 2008
  180. a worse thing than cloud, of course, would be to miss lunch 6:14 PM Dec 27th, 2008
  181. 16.20 and there is stuff in the sky. white stuff. not much of it but it's clearly there. humidity soared with the morning twilight. 8:21 PM Dec 27th, 2008
  182. maybe i should comfort eat. 8:21 PM Dec 27th, 2008
  183. white stuff seems to be passing. largely because the wind has got up again. dark time in five hours. 8:45 PM Dec 27th, 2008
  184. smashed knee on bar that runs under desk. owwwwwww... why do they put bars at knee height? 8:58 PM Dec 27th, 2008
  185. continuum flat lamp with slit+blue grism and no filter. same but with filter. wavecal. god this is boring. good thing i have help. 9:00 PM Dec 27th, 2008
  186. oh, man... this afternoon is about as dreary as it gets. get me off this mountain, please. anyone. 9:18 PM Dec 27th, 2008
  187. did i really promise to write a section of an article while i was here? how can i have done that? 9:33 PM Dec 27th, 2008
  188. the white stuff has gone from paranal but there is cirrus on the ocean that looks high. 3.5 hours until dark. 10:13 PM Dec 27th, 2008
  189. have a terrible terrible headache. bed doesn't look appealing but somehow the floor does. is that really screwed up? 10:27 PM Dec 27th, 2008
  190. alright. 1930. the wind may have done its work -- the sky is pretty clear. mountain in 30 minutes. before that dinner. not remotely hungry 11:28 PM Dec 27th, 2008
  191. was told that since my keys didn't show up anywhere where they should have been, that my room _would_ be broken into. 11:58 PM Dec 27th, 2008
  192. so i am carrying everything that isn't clothes to the telescope. i have a lot of things that aren't clothes. feel pretty stupid right now. 11:59 PM Dec 27th, 2008
  193. control room for the final time :) sky is clear locally but wind just below the pointing limit. 12:19 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  194. 4 x espresso after dinner. that's wise, right? 12:21 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  195. more coffee 12:48 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  196. hey, i found a cigarette lighter! in terms of the number of items, that's half of what's needed! 12:48 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  197. 2 x more espresso. 1:09 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  198. humidity going up. dew point going up and temperature coming down. DIMM telescope comes online: seeing = 1.0 arcsec. 1:12 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  199. preset for the last spectrophotometric standards 1:12 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  200. ... but it's still too bright. 1:14 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  201. earthquake: richter 3.8 at 100 km. 1:16 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  202. wind, humidity, temperature and dew point all seem to have stabilised (they are not independent parameters). sky is photometricish. 1:38 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  203. we have a new telescope operator tonight. the old one requested to be transferred to a different UT. 1:41 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  204. but the new one just described me as 'the funnest PI'. 1:41 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  205. and then she said 'we love these programmes....'. and then she said '.... in service mode' 1:42 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  206. just began the execution of the last observing block. probably this is the last thing i need to do tonight. 3:26 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  207. matthew in not saturating his standard stars shocker. 3:51 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  208. i wrote the heading for the article section! 4:14 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  209. the final read-out is done. what a nice way to end an observing run: http://is.gd/dMDD 5:58 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  210. according to policy we should have had 18h20 which includes acquisition, readout, standard and slewing. 6:02 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  211. we leave with 19h40 of pure integration, on the science target only (i.e. excluding standards). no - it doesn't add up. 6:05 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  212. leaving the observatory. 6:15 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  213. somehow i think that the number 19 and the number 7 are the same. this must be leakage from the 24-hour clock lobe of my brain 6:38 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  214. also i'm quite please that my room wasn't (obviously) broken into. 6:38 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  215. actually, can't we just agree that all numbers are basically the same. it would make my job an awful lot easier. 6:48 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  216. you know, @kayhan, if god created everything, from the from neutrinos to the multiverse it's pretty likely he thought in log-space. 6:51 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  217. the more i think about it, the more convinced i am that the magnitude system is god's preferred flux unit. just not vegamags, obviously. 6:54 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  218. @kayhan : he works in mysterious ways... maybe the goal of astronomy should really be to determine god's zero-point. 6:57 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  219. i am not tired 10:09 AM Dec 28th, 2008
  220. now i am 3:44 PM Dec 28th, 2008
  221. interesting - the door to my room is open. did i leave it like that all night? 3:54 PM Dec 28th, 2008
  222. also, it's really cloudy right now. 3:54 PM Dec 28th, 2008
  223. right. gotta catch a bus to antofagasta. very very happy about that! 7:39 PM Dec 28th, 2008
  224. was asleep all the way between paranal and sea level. it's unbearably hot. want less clothes. 9:50 PM Dec 28th, 2008
  225. feels good to leave this insane latitude. tomorrow i fly to a different kind of insane latitude. temperature difference of 45 celsius. 10:29 PM Dec 28th, 2008
  226. the poncho shop was closed and the duty free didn't sell pisco. i had been relying on both of those. what kind of airport is this? 10:59 PM Dec 28th, 2008
  227. taxi driver that shuts the hell up and doesn't mind overtaking on the inside. just what you want when your flight is late. 2:53 AM Dec 29th, 2008
  228. met a guy today and stared at him for like 20 seconds. i said 'ok, i give up. where?'. he said 'alpbach, 2005'. was ok. 2:54 AM Dec 29th, 2008
  229. arrived at the guest house and i am the only one here. so why didn't they give me a room with a bath. god i want a bath. 2:57 AM Dec 29th, 2008
  230. just spent a little time choosing between apricot cake and genuine fruit. guess which won (three times)? 2:58 AM Dec 29th, 2008
  231. should i lie in bed or get up and fly? motivation where now? 2:32 PM Dec 29th, 2008
  232. o hai @biscuit_case! despondent, huh? looks like you and i are on the same mode of transport today. 3:09 PM Dec 29th, 2008
  233. they book me a cab but don't tell me when. '19 minutes time' they say when i ask. breakfasted, showered, packed in 22 3:12 PM Dec 29th, 2008
  234. and btw, ftr, fwiw: i've missed you, @biscuit_case. start living in switzerland again. 3:16 PM Dec 29th, 2008
  235. now i'm going to watch the mountains behind santiago for the last time in ... imprint them on my retinae like a shitty monitor. 3:19 PM Dec 29th, 2008
  236. @whoeverthatwas- in the outland, one image costs a thousand tweets. the title was enough for now though. thanx. 3:45 PM Dec 29th, 2008
  237. some stereotypes really hold. as a british person in south america i don't see the difference between a queue and an extended family sta ... 4:14 PM Dec 29th, 2008
  238. seat 39h. h? doesn't that mean sandwiched between 2 people? plus ipod seems to have finally quit on me. this is gonna suck. 4:58 PM Dec 29th, 2008
  239. madrid airport: insane. lists gates in order H, J, then K. everyone knows it goes J, H, K. or K_s. 9:06 AM Dec 30th, 2008
  240. smell and look awful. realise i am 3 hour wait + 3h flight + 3h wait + 3h train away from soap. sucks to be pat next to me 9:09 AM Dec 30th, 2008
  241. alcohol confiscated at security. bastard grinned at me evilly as i said yeah, throw it away then with airquotes. 9:38 AM Dec 30th, 2008
  242. didn't sleep at all on a 13 hour flight. finished the book of dave instead. only took me 5 transatlantics. baffling. 10:14 AM Dec 30th, 2008