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npub18qzypexrj4f0ehhuq7264y3d6q0kqmrvetgtmj9efwdjxw6z2w4q7hn84a

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsrspzqunpe25humm7q09d2jgkaq8mqd3kv459aezu5hxer8dp982sprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmntmqu7ft

Publishing to

relay.momostr.pink

Last Notes

2026-08-22 20:04:18 CEST

I seem to be developing a collection of cool small things: an iron meteorite older than the Sun, a gram of Trinitite, New Mexico desert sand turned to green glass by the first nuclear bomb, and a 40 million year old piece of amber with a midge embedded inside.
So what's next? Suggestions welcome! (max budget in the £100 range)

2026-08-20 23:19:37 CEST

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PICNIC here: Problem In Chair, Not In Computer

2026-08-20 20:47:21 CEST

Neighbour dropped off a present she'd made for J, a little trinket box. If you're thinking "that looks like it's made from..." then yes, you're right.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/117/129/314/945/590/963/original/bf391f3db760c40b.jpg

2026-08-18 17:21:51 CEST

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Yeah - the first few episodes looked like they were going to do something clever with him rejecting the gung-ho, gun weilding bravado and helping people in tricky situations by just being calm, experienced (with people) and street-smart, hence the Vimes comparison, but that seemed to fade.

2026-08-14 18:54:19 CEST

My present to myself for the tedious job of stocktaking and organising the chemical store has arrived. This is a piece of amber that's around 40 million years old, containing a midge. I got it under a microscope at work, very cool, the kids are going to love this.
Sadly from about 15 million years *after* the big asteroid strike that took out most of the dinosaurs...and this is a non-biting type anyway. The whole sample is around 20mm across.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/117/094/888/399/582/312/original/e4cd9db22c3a4e11.jpg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/117/094/888/091/009/933/original/e6089e5ea02933a4.jpg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/117/094/888/371/787/152/original/0bac05c5da2155c4.jpg

2026-08-14 02:16:38 CEST

Big Nathan Fillion fan, "The Rookie", which I'm new to, is infuriating. He's very much a Vimes character, representing how Policing *should* be done. But the other 95% of it (I'm only 3 episodes in) is a study of how Policing shouldn't be done. Even with guns.

2026-08-08 18:25:46 CEST

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The council make half-hearted efforts to prevent it, more serious plans have been petitioned against. It's considered a cultural artwork by many, including Banksy, and sometimes gets topically themed cones. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equestrian_statue_of_the_Duke_of_Wellington,_Glasgow

2026-08-08 18:12:56 CEST

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Quite the reverse, generally.

2026-08-01 19:20:22 CEST

RE: https://mast.eu.org/@TartanGenerator/117018667480816909
Interesting how this random tartan generator tends toward instinctively "not real", but has a definite percentage (~10%?) that look perfectly plausible.
#note1qgq…8yrz

2026-08-01 13:56:41 CEST

Ship of Theseus: Trigger's broom (UK), Jeannot's knife (Fr), grandfather's axe (var).
Thank you for reading my Theseusaurus.

2026-07-29 20:10:56 CEST

Today I learned....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYdXa_yp0fc

2026-07-29 01:14:50 CEST

Old photo, still relevant.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/117/000/137/478/269/062/original/200c61f5f0541329.jpg

2026-07-25 21:18:13 CEST

Nice little memorial to artist/photographer Richard Blosse in Portmahomack.
Camera aperture motif with inset glass, and:
SO LONG
AND THANKS
FOR
ALL THE FISH
IN MEMORY OF
RICHARD BLOSSE
ARTIST & FRIEND
Nice touch is that dolphins can sometimes be spotted in the background.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/982/186/404/977/435/original/09c9fb3fdcfe1b49.jpg

2026-07-22 20:51:43 CEST

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(Alpaca ;)

2026-07-22 20:13:36 CEST

Just play it cool, nobody's noticed so far, blending right in, you've got this...
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/964/940/455/163/925/original/1db0b4564a7f150b.jpg

2026-07-21 23:03:05 CEST

Has anyone told Andy Burnham he can tax incredibly rich people a little bit to pay for almost any reasonable policy?

2026-07-18 00:03:45 CEST

Ann Droid is very, very Diane Morgan. If you like her work you'll find it hilarious (as I do). If you're not sure, imagine Toast Of London does Humans. Mostly very silly gags, but some incredibly touching little moments. Give it the first two episodes.

2026-07-16 01:50:44 CEST

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My astronomy Prof was Alan Heavens.

2026-07-08 16:06:54 CEST

Nice line from Adam Savage on a Mythbusters episode: "Bring in the Immovable Object!"

2026-07-07 00:25:12 CEST

This is particularly lovely. In the #ProjectHailMary film the practical effects folk (and Andy Weir) worked out *how* Rocky would build the little models first, then built the screen models on that basis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozqw1uAEDZc

2026-07-05 01:28:57 CEST

Old friend visiting. Pottering around, trip to the air weapons range cos he works in that area (comment from an engineer mate: "yeah, pretty sure that will hammer out"), fired the tandoor up for a whole (jointed) chicken and then a glorious Dollhouse binge cos we're both fans and haven't watched in years. Not a bad day.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/864/160/712/473/541/original/9ebc3f0c49f20b06.jpg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/864/161/493/226/181/original/863e6b63650a739b.jpg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/864/161/719/295/932/original/917a1c282e762635.jpg

2026-07-04 01:05:08 CEST

I had a question on Tom Scott's "Lateral" podcast quiz today, yay! Downside, they edited about two words and the team nailed it almost immediately 😂
But here's my original:
The BFI Southbank cinema in London is the only one in the UK allowed to show a particular film. Why?
[BFI = British Film Institute]

2026-06-29 23:13:15 CEST

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This is another favourite paper: all but one of the 30 authors is 9 or 10 years old, the other is their primary school teacher. But it's a legitimate paper, refereed and accepted by a journal, about what bees remember. The crayon diagrams are awesome.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3061190/

2026-06-29 23:09:24 CEST

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Nice opportunity to introduce them to the concept of reading a scientific paper- "you're not expected to understand all of it, just let it wash over you and see what you pick up".
It helps that this is from the physics-communication side of things. (When I've done this before it's been Wigner's "Unreasonable Effectiveness", but hey, if they have an interest...)
https://arxiv.org/pdf/0911.2761

2026-06-29 18:58:23 CEST

Higher Physics students (so ~16yo) arguing over quantum gravity today. That's way, way beyond what we teach. Nice. The main thread was whether theories that we have no idea how to test count as real science. Also nice.
(My take is that it never hurts to have a self-consistent theory with no testable predictions in your back pocket, but you still need to go outside and catapult water balloons at technicians from time to time.)

2026-06-25 23:39:41 CEST

Northern Highland #Scotland folk: if you live near a beach it could be worth looking for fulgerite tomorrow, patches of sand that have been hit by lightning. If you (very gently, they're fragile!) dig down you may find a branch-like structure where the lightning fused the sand into a kind of glass. Rare, special thing to find.

2026-06-22 22:42:15 CEST

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The PM doesn't have to be the leader of a winning party. They don't even have to be the leader of ANY party. They don't need to be a MEMBER of any party. They just need to be an MP and convince the monarch they can do the job, which basically means being able to pass legislation.
It's entirely conceivable that we have a parliament that is ~5% each of 20 different parties (not unrealistic the way UK politics is going) and an independent, hugely popular MP (say, David Attenborough) is made PM.

2026-06-22 22:25:18 CEST

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So yes, a PM can just quit. There doesn't have to be an immediate replacement, cos we don't actually have to have a PM.
Although there will generally be either a leadership contest and/or the PM will announce a departure date to allow the replacement to fill in the paperwork in time to make it seamless.
But it's all still technically down to the monarch, who can appoint, or not, any MP they wish (in theory).

2026-06-22 22:21:23 CEST

Some international confusion on how the position of Prime Minister works in the UK:
It's not a constitutional position, other than by habit*. The Monarch is, technically, the ruler. However, after a certain amount of awkwardness surrounding our first two King Charles's, the monarch has chosen, voluntarily**, to temporarily deputise some powers to an MP who can demonstrate they're really quite popular.
*We don't have a written constitution
**On the basis they keep the thing the crown goes on

2026-06-19 15:53:10 CEST

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(On a wider theme, if you ever want to read a science paper that is behind a silly $200 paywall, the author/s are allowed to send copies to whoever they want. A polite email, even if you're just Joe/Jane Public with an interest in the topic, will usually be met with delight that someone outside academia is interested. I've done it myself quite a few times.)

2026-06-19 15:09:10 CEST

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Sarson ka saag looks really good as a side! We generally treat "saag" as spinach here, guessing it's a broader term for any big green leafy thing you cook?

2026-06-19 15:00:31 CEST

[EDIT: sorted in minutes, thank you hive mind 😎 👍 ]
Before I pester a retired emeritus, does anyone have a legal way to send me a PDF of a 1987 physics paper that's not on arXiv?
Specifically "Can Planck-mass relics of evaporating black holes close the Universe?", J.H. MacGibbon.

2026-06-18 20:25:37 CEST

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No, *YOU'RE* standing over the stove shovelling mutter paneer directly into your mouth from the pan.
Really good...

2026-06-18 20:20:29 CEST

Celebratory work department lunch next week, including someone who doesn't do gluten. So trying besan roti out. Basically chickpea/gram flour flatbread, plus a bit of oat flour to help it bind. Bit crunchier than wheat roti, but very tasty.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/772/486/597/601/015/original/6c2d0d965e587ac7.jpg

2026-06-15 00:08:37 CEST

"Deal" (n): an agreement between two parties. For example, if party A launches a military attack on party B, then realises this causes greater harm to A than B, they may cease the attack and claim a "deal".

2026-06-13 21:34:31 CEST

Going through some old seabird photos. (Yeah, humblebrag 😜)
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/744/458/400/515/347/original/b34b09dc1c21c6a9.jpg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/744/458/463/180/086/original/4aa6b255ff0ea449.jpg

2026-06-13 11:33:50 CEST

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You can, in principle, buy your own TLD, then you own everything under it. But you're looking at a couple of hundred thousand dollars, plus other ongoing costs like DNS hosting etc.

2026-06-08 23:09:18 CEST

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Machine Learning, on the other hand, very useful and fills in stuff we can't do for minimal cost. The protein folding Nobel was spectacular and well deserved, it solved a problem that we'd been working on in "human ways" (see a mate of mine in the 90s) at a stroke.
But all LLMs do is fail to solve the problem of sounding human. They get close, but they fail.

2026-06-08 23:03:46 CEST

I have a proposition for an AI that will reach adult human ability in around 18 years, for very minimal costs, maybe $100,000 tops. From there the abilities accelerate, it may take several thousand instances, but that is likely to produce new science, maths, art etc that will more than repay the investment. One in a million will change the world. A few billion? Just guess.
So fund education. It's the most efficient "AI" we have.

2026-06-07 23:42:33 CEST

Anybody do trading as a hobby level thing? Is there any point shorting AI related companies, or will there just be no organisation left to pay out / value in the money when it collapses?

2026-06-03 20:02:07 CEST

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(From the guy who also flagged up a colleague to the boss for being fricking awesome an hour ago. Yeah, Nobel Prizes mean something career-wise, but not as much as a bunch of colleagues singing your praises. Sing those praises.)

2026-06-03 19:57:53 CEST

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From around 4m30s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1_NXWjmwhc

2026-06-03 19:56:22 CEST

Gerd Faltings on winning the Abel Prize for mathematics:
"I've decided there's a mechanism going on: the prize giver gains in prestige if the winner has prestige, and the prize winner has prestige if the prize giver has prestige, and so the prize giver looks for people who have prestige, and how does he find them? They have to have gotten other prizes. And so it comes that prizes go to few people and there are many people who deserve recognition that don't get it. So it's not a fair system."

2026-06-02 22:05:11 CEST

What happens if we all start calling random utility support lines purely to complain that they don't seem to estimate "usual call volumes" very well?

2026-06-02 19:53:36 CEST

But on the move to the new school, heroic effort from the entire science department (me, 0.6 of a technician, plus 4.9 teachers....by hours) getting 800 boxes mostly opened and stowed in two days. It took us 6 weeks to pack them. The place is chaos. But, according to fire regulations (corridors clear, chemstore checked, extinguishers etc in place), we're safe to start teaching tomorrow.
Fluid, organised department will start to kick in after the summer holidays, mostly this time next year.

2026-06-02 19:49:03 CEST

Had a dream last night that the new school building had converted all of the toilet cubicles to "contemplations booths" or similar, and simply installed an open-plan toilet, no walls, in the centre of each classroom because that was more efficient. I have no further comment on the dream/reality ratio.

2026-05-31 17:39:16 CEST

Just caught myself searching how long the North Coast 500 is *facepalm*

2026-05-26 20:31:20 CEST

Great cross-franchise SF actors: René Auberjonois, Sigourney Weaver, Dean Stockwell...others?
I do like it when an actor isn't afraid to do SF "cos it's not real literature" and then deliver some of the great performances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPnx3zO3SDc

2026-05-22 22:21:08 CEST

Had a skim through the Nat5, Higher, and Advanced Higher physics exam papers today (roughly age 15, 16, 17 respectively). Each had at least one "being a dick" question where needless distractions were introduced. No marks available for spotting the irrelevant stuff, purely there to trip students up. Not sure that's fair. It's not a pub quiz.

2026-05-22 21:55:58 CEST

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I'm sure that there's a hidden multinational corporation, probably with robes and secret handshakes, devoted to bad menu translations for social media boosts ;)

2026-05-22 14:53:33 CEST

The main problem with AI, currently, is people behaving as if we've got AI when haven't.
We've got LLMs (worse than nothing for most applications) and ML (great for very specific applications that most people never directly interact with).

2026-05-21 19:11:08 CEST

It's probably time to retire the verb "google" like they asked us to in 2006.

2026-05-20 18:03:24 CEST

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crocs****?

2026-05-18 19:50:23 CEST

This is a Teltron tube, basically a simple version of an old CRT television. Put a couple of amps across a heater, it kicks off electrons, and put about 5,000 Volts across the right bits, it accelerates the electrons into a beam you can see with phosphor-coated stuff, like the graph paper. But electrons tend to get stopped by bigger things, like atoms, so the inside has to be a reasonably good vacuum.
I had the privilege of hearing one implode today.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/596/834/610/229/417/original/466e9c71ba9a1cb5.jpg

2026-05-09 19:07:41 CEST

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I noticed there was one frame of that GIF where you can see a Muppet's skeleton. I'm slightly disappointed it isn't a human arm.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/545/710/781/910/652/original/a7b6dc4e90909ed0.gif

2026-05-09 19:01:53 CEST

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+See also Jocelyn Bell-Burnell.

2026-05-09 18:57:07 CEST

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Muppets are highly recommended, even as an adult. Basically a traditional variety show by being run by a bunch of well-meaning but anarchic puppets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-4xyg4PU-U

2026-05-09 18:55:42 CEST

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Franklin is a good one. I was in a pub quiz once where the quizmaster gave a correct answer and a bonus point for "Rosalind Franklin's lab notes" in answer to "What did Crick and Watson discover?"

2026-05-09 18:53:10 CEST

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Dexter's lab is just at the tail end of my adolescence (although some would argue I've still not left it!). Q is a good one, but I'm trying to go for real world people, cos otherwise it's obviously Beaker.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/545/653/017/743/980/original/86ea02427a653018.mp4

2026-05-07 23:10:48 CEST

Wondering about naming the science labs (and my preproom) in the new building for scientists (technicians). What would you go for?
For scientists I'd pick Emmy Noether, one of the few scientists (a term first used to describe a Scottish woman) who Einstein fan-boi'd over.
But it should really be a technician. Beaker? MacGyver? B.A. Baracus? Rocky?

2026-04-29 22:55:01 CEST

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Does look a little like it needs a half-buried Statue Of Liberty at the end of that point.

2026-04-28 22:01:08 CEST

Any of my folks up for a knitting commission? How much would a Jayne Cobb hat cost me? (Yeah, yeah, can buy them cheap online, not the point!)
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/484/096/323/517/123/original/5a78cc811aa0e660.jpg

2026-04-28 21:47:47 CEST

RE: https://mastodon.com.br/@xkcd/116480390342730879
There's honestly a certain element of truth in this. A mathematician specialising in topology once got chatting to a lady who was knitting, fascinated by the parallels, of which there are many.
He approached her, very excited, a week later, with a whole new way of doing it.
"Yes, dear, that's called a purl stitch."
#note1wv9…9sxy

2026-04-26 01:28:45 CEST

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The film is similar the The Martian. Skips some of the detail (notably the whole process of evolving the Taumeoba), but does hint that they filmed that, so maybe a directors cut to follow. But still a brilliant, faithful version of the book, totally recommended. Nails the humour too.

2026-04-26 00:53:13 CEST

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Project Hail Mary is at least as awesome if you haven't read/seen it. Film is great, but skips some of the more detailed book stuff.

2026-04-26 00:30:55 CEST

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Mars will come to fear your botany powers.

2026-04-25 02:14:50 CEST

"You've got gold on you..."
Literally. Coating a thermometer bulb in gold leaf to show how satellite insulation works, e.g. #JWST. Really strong result, even with this coating which is maybe a few tens of thousand atoms thick?
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/462/452/227/945/472/original/078652cac4741ca6.jpg

2026-04-21 20:39:18 CEST

Pulled an "Apollo 13" yesterday with some help from a prefect. Teacher wanted a plant that had been growung without CO2 for a few days, so we sealed up a disused fume cupboard with cling film and sellotape, with the plant and an air pump inside circulating the air through a litre flask of limewater, which precipitates any CO2 out as calcium carbonate, basically chalk. So I should be able to filter it off, dry and weigh it, to work out how efficiently it worked.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/444/147/801/570/222/original/c4507d93eab59931.jpg

2026-04-17 21:59:45 CEST

Doing my first full watch-through of #StargateSG1. Spotted Dwight "Howling Mad Murdoch", "Reginald Barclay" Schultz the moment I heard his voice, brilliant :)
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/421/816/374/905/035/original/ce11e74857451ac0.png

2026-04-06 22:48:05 CEST

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Funnily enough, a popular technique in archaeological survey. Watch out for the "large rectilinear shadow" ;)

2026-04-06 22:40:42 CEST

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Crew free to take photos of whatever they want, and both the photographers have gone with The Terminator. Seriously, no thought for Alien, straight for The Terminator.
(I jest, for anyone who doesn't know, the terminator in this context is the bright/dark bit of the lunar sphere, great for looking at stuff in high relief.)

2026-04-06 20:26:16 CEST

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"Amaze, amaze, amaze" from mission control to #Artemis, nice #ProjectHailMary reference :)

2026-03-31 23:12:51 CEST

Cracked open the cyanotype stuff as an end of term thing for the 6th years (~18yrs). "Wait, so this is like science AND art?"
Well isn't everything ;)
I got a nice effect from a translucent plastic pipette, 6th years have been running around looking for feathers and making cool stuff. Luckily caught a couple of non-science photography students taking shots and gave them a couple of sheets with instructions too.
No pics till I clear copyright with the cyanophotographers...

2026-03-26 23:08:42 CET

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See also UK slang: Trump (v/n): A fart/flatulence, or the act of creating one.

2026-03-19 18:21:59 CET

Ladybirds are coming out of hibernation and there's a whole not-entirely-PG-rated party going on.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/256/982/847/310/489/original/87b0c0468cbf049f.jpg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/256/983/199/415/323/original/2ade666bce763c2c.jpg

2026-03-17 19:42:07 CET

Chatting to a student who happened to be in the same screening of #ProjectHailMary as me. She was asking how much of the science was real. (Long answer short, enough to make it a very respectable bit of "hard" science fiction.)
We established that if Rocky's species did the Scottish physics course they've done Nat5 and some, but not all, of Higher. Their Craft, Design & Technology courses are significantly more advanced though.

2026-03-14 20:51:38 CET

#ProjectHailMary - skipped over some aspects, lingered a bit long on others, but generally a pretty faithful adaptation. Very pretty, and got the humour.

2026-03-13 19:54:08 CET

[@Theorem_Poem](https://mstdn.social/@Theorem_Poem ) Don't know if I mentioned it before, but tonight I finished the jar of garam masala that J bought in Iceland when she was performing there! There's got to be some sort of remotest-spice-sold record?
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/223/382/077/803/702/original/f39d9d56ada8157a.jpg

2026-02-18 19:47:25 CET

Fun "Techiebears Picnic" today, one of our too-rare school science technician meet-ups. Somebody from Timstar, one of our main suppliers, ran a PCR and electrophoresis course (basically DNA fingerprinting), very handy for me being a physicist by training and trying to brush-up on my biology.

2026-01-07 17:53:23 CET

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The US does have 240V to the home these days I think, as two phases that get split at the distribution board? 1955 I don't know about.

2026-01-04 18:22:11 CET

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Doesn't surprise me, the rain is so heavy it's visceral. Then add a few bass thunder notes on top! This kind of thing? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMGrjpDLT30

2025-12-14 00:17:13 CET

Another from last night, love the foreground definition and Ursa Major, depth of field FTW ;)
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/714/784/489/500/890/original/be776cf0d25d2499.jpg

2025-12-08 18:20:36 CET

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And if you're not aware of the Langley Schools Music Project, it's wonderful. Music teacher working across four Canadian schools in the 70s had vinyl pressings of their work made, which were re-discovered in a charity shop in 2000. This was much of the inspiration for School Of Rock. Absolutely beautiful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1_EnWAwAT0

2025-11-03 19:47:56 CET

Hivemind! Useful physics for a veterinary student to do at undergrad level? (For a vet student who wants to do more physics at undergrad...)
I'm thinking imaging/radiography/ultrasound stuff, biomechanics/ergonomics. Any other ideas?

2025-10-19 00:52:35 CEST

Need new ways to answer the school science dept phone (which happens to be on my desk) when it's an internal call. Suggestions welcome. So far I have:
"Hello, science, toying with the very fabric of life."
"Hello, science, now we are become death, destroyers of worlds."
"Hello, science, I don't suppose you've seen quite a large snake anywhere?"

2025-10-11 23:04:54 CEST

Because my girlfriend has a completely normal job like actual proper humans. Not that I'm any better on that count.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/357/556/558/227/431/original/4c1ae8c73fd98a00.jpg

2025-08-29 19:02:09 CEST

Prepping a presentation on what school science technicians actually do, and want to finish with our "Three Laws".
So far I have the following, but suggestions welcome:
"We do these things not because they are easy, but because we thought they were going to be easy."
"It was on fire when I got here."
"No, you can’t do that, it would catch fire / explode / catch fire then explode / break several international peace treaties."