Posts
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Farewell Chile!
I moved to Chile almost exactly three years ago, first to Concepcíon. A year and a half later I moved up to Santiago, and have spent the past year and a half there. But my three year postdoctoral position is coming to an end. I am moving to Florida to start a new postdoctoral position and have just begun that move.
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A Pollution Mask for Winter in Santiago
It is no secret that the winter smog in Santiago is bad. The fine particulate (PM2.5) levels are typically above the WHO guidelines for annual (10 μg m-3) and 24-hour (25 μg m-3) exposure. The occasional rain storms clear out the pollution, but it rebounds surprisingly quickly. Exercising with these high pollution levels generally leaves me with a sore throat and feeling lousy. During the winter of 2016 I did not exercise nearly as much as I should, because I did not feel like being out in the pollution while inhaling deeply. So this winter I resolved to buy a pollution mask to wear while outside exercising.
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Attempting to Receive Images from the International Space Station
One of the ways people can interact with astronauts on the International Space Station is via amateur radio. The ISS is equipped with several transceivers in the VHF (2m) and UHF (70cm) bands. The various equipment facilitates voice and data communication, with the latter including a mode called “Slow Scan TV”. To celebrate twenty years of amateur radio communications from the ISS, the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station organization has organized a SSTV transmission event which occurred this weekend. After seeing a number of people posting copies online of the SSTV images they received, I thought I would see if I could receive the images myself.
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Snow in Downtown Santiago
The proximity of Santiago to the Andes ensures snow is visible year-round, though its accessibility obviously varies with the season. In winter months, the Chilean central valley gets more rain than the rest of the year, but usually the snow is restricted to the mountains. Before today, I had yet to see snow (or even frost) outside of the Andes.
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Saturday 24 June 2017
A day wandering through the center of Santiago and around Providencia.