"Comes with lots of time to paint..." Topic

The island of Tristan da Cunha is hiring for three positions:
link

Lots of time to paint, but you wouldn't want to forget anything when you went.

Good place to be if you wanted to be "nowhere"

All residents are descended from 7 families. I guess that far from anything else you can't get too picky.

That's pretty awesome. If you are one of those that just wants to be left along, now is your big chance!

All residents are descended from 7 families

Anyone here able to speak to the generational problems of inbreeding?

Population: 275 (approx.)…Asthmatic Rate: Over fifty per cent of islanders have partial evidence of asthma and twenty-three per cent have a definite diagnosis

You dig too deep JJ. The most important question I got from the article is what kind of coffee was served at the cafe in the picture?

Perhaps so… but given the isolation, lack of transportation, lack of knowledge of all of the island's secrets, and the close connection of everyone there, and the lack of internet contact with the outside world…I've seen horror stories with less premise than this place has.

(cue spooky music)

Well, that begs the question. How ARE you going to get the mystery machine on the island? Jinkies! We have a mystery on our hands!

I'm not in any of the three career fields they're hiring for, but I've been idly day-dreaming about this since I read the article, and went on and dug around a bit more on Wikipedia and the island's website (Note: about every other island newsletter cover has a picture of a penguin…).

Other idle thoughts for a pulp/spy/horror scenario (copied from Wikipedia):
- During World War II, the islands were used as a top secret Royal Navy weather and radio station codenamed HMS Atlantic Isle, to monitor Nazi U-boats.
- In 1958 as part of an experiment, Operation Argus, the United States Navy detonated an atomic bomb 160 kilometres (100 mi) high in the upper atmosphere about 175 kilometres (109 mi) southeast of the main island.
- The 1961 eruption of Queen Mary's Peak forced the evacuation of the entire population via Cape Town to England. (so it's a live volcano)
- On 23 May 2001, the islands experienced an extratropical cyclone that generated winds up to 190 kilometres per hour (120 mph).
- On 13 February 2008, fire destroyed the fishing factory and the four generators that supplied power to the island. On 14 March 2008, new generators were installed and uninterrupted power was restored.
- On 16 March 2011, the freighter MS Oliva ran aground on Nightingale Island, spilling tons of heavy fuel oil into the ocean, leaving an oil slick threatening the island's population of rockhopper penguins. (so ANGRY penguins)
- A total solar eclipse will pass over the island on 5 December 2048. The island is calculated to be on the centre line of the umbra's path for nearly three and a half minutes of totality. (pretty sure that's what Cthulhu is waiting for)
- The other islands of the group are uninhabited, except for a weather station with a staff of six on Gough Island (395km away), which has been operated by South Africa since 1956.
- Various species of whales and dolphins can be seen around Tristan from time to time with increasing sighting rate. (yeah, "whales")
- The island is located in the South Atlantic Anomaly, an area of the Earth with an abnormally weak magnetic field. On 14 November 2008 a geomagnetic observatory was inaugurated on the island as part of a joint venture between the Danish Meteorological Institute and DTU Space.
- There are no political parties or trade unions on Tristan. Policing in Tristan da Cunha is undertaken by one full-time police officer (Inspector) and three special constables with the Saint Helena Police Service.
- Tristan da Cunha's isolation has led to an unusual, patois-like dialect of English described by the writer Simon Winchester as "a sonorous amalgam of Home Counties lockjaw and nineteenth century idiom, Afrikaans slang and Italian."
- According to the island's January 2014 newsletter, the summer season gets underway with Sheep Shearing Day held on a Saturday in mid-December.

Plus Poe, Verne, O'Brian and Heinlein all wrote about it, so it has solid, solid props.

The other key question Joker is how often the pub gets re-supplied! Or do they brew onsite?

And I think you could get away with Mystery Bicycles, the long end is only about 11km.

How could I forget beer!? I do home brew. So really the water is already there. Just need hops and malt.

Do you suppose the island residents are eligible for Amazon Prime delivery?

I wonder if 275 people is enough for them to get their own satellite for TV and internet?

Finally, will this island be sufficient to put to the test our answers to the poll question, "If you could take just 5 games to a remote island, what would they be?"

It would be a good test for Amazon Prime, according to Wikipedia they finally got a UK postal code to help them with online ordering, but they only get about 3000 kBITS/s of service, so ordering will be hard. And only three BBC channels (since 2001, before that it was three nights of taped TV a week…)

Lotta potatoes on the island, might mean vodka.

It would suck though to carefully pack up one's microarmour only to find everyone there plays 40K…

It would suck though to carefully pack up one's microarmour only to find everyone there plays 40K…

* Common illness could kill because of lack of medical help. I'll take the chance.
* Tough to get beer. OK. I can live with whatever the locals drink.
* Limited TV selection. I don't watch much anyway so that's OK too.
* There is a chance that I will be stuck playing 40K the rest of my life!? That's just too big a risk to take! I am staying here in the states!

Nice one, Joker!
You'd figure they wouldn't need to outsource for new and brilliant ideas because of inbreeding. After all, don't they say two heads are better than one?

And if a local female did find you attractive and was herself better looking than a cute ewe, what is the likelihood that the local boys would take you up the volcano for the odd pagan human sacrifice?

That could go entirely the other way though Streitax – I had a friend who worked for a while in various isolated outports in Newfoundland/Labrador, and he was scarred (mentally, if not physically) by the enthusiasm of their matchmaking with outsiders, particularly by parents.

And he somehow found a den of open marriages that lead to a kitchen party one night that he found terrifying, but everyone who's heard the story has found hilarious.

Huh… I'm actually in agriculture… and would love to get away. Now what's the weather look like? No internet to play remotely though… not great.