Communication

The only means of communication with the outside world is a satellite phone, which is activated once or twice a week to upload and download text messages (basic emails) to and from the camp laptop. This is apparently a very slow and expensive process, so emails are brief and infrequent. It's like a 14k modem (from the '80s), charged by the second for all downloads.

I use this camp infrastructure to update this blog. I cannot access the internet at all, I can only send and receive basic text emails. But at least I can post stories here for people in the rest of the world to see. I cannot send photos or any other attachments. Sorry.

This also means that I can be contacted. But this is not email, it's a satellite phone that has an email interface. Please keep this limitation in mind! If you want to write to me, please do so, but don't abuse it. It's not my infrastructure - it's the camp's. If you write, please only include your message text, in text format only - no html. Don't 'reply with history' - just include what you want to write. Don't include internet links - I can't access the internet. Don't include attachments - they're huge relative to text. Put my name in the subject heading so we can easily sort the emails by recipient at the camp, and to recognise good messages vs. spam.

I am glad that this communication infrastructure exists, but again, it is not mine. If I get too many personal messages, I may be asked to curtail them. I don't want to have to do that. I've created this blog to be able to share my life in the camp with my friends and family in the outside world - in essence to respond preemptively to questions of the sort 'so how's life?'. By all means, I'd love to hear how your lives are going too, but please don't be offended if I don't respond personally.

Please please please DON'T ALLOW THIS EMAIL ADDRESS TO BE CAPTURED BY SPAMMERS. This goes as far as not putting it in your online address book, or even in your computer hard drive's address book. If spammers obtain the email address and start sending crap to the address, we will not be able to get any messages. In fact, please only write down this address on paper, use it only to write an email, and check back to this blog for the address again the next time you want to write.

Remember, this is a satellite phone uploading messages at 14k and operating on solar power from the middle of the jungle.

Sorry to be so paranoiac about it. It's just gotta be clear. By all means write; just be aware of the limitations and work with them. Reach me at luikotal (at) eva (dot) mpg (dot) de.

-Ryan