Technical Reports and Papers from my work. Message boards: Muon1 Project Forum Software here General/Rubbish Discuss things. Miscellaneous: Black hole images Obtained by tracing light through warped space, done during my final degree year. |
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Browser Wars 4-in-a-row tournament by browser Colunms Columnar matching... Tubetris Cylindrical Tetris. NCGi website An experimental Asteroids game! | ||||||
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2025-Dec-12 18:40:45 Went for a walk in the pine forest yesterday.
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2025-Dec-11 20:30:44 Huge undersea wall dating from 5000 BC found in France
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crk7lg1j146o |
2025-Dec-10 20:29:29 Fit test in the vacuum chamber seems to work and I can see the screens. #physics
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2025-Dec-10 02:28:26 Installed Steam and played The Talos Principle 2 on my new Debian system with no issues. #LinuxI say "no issues", the install process is not exactly one-click: sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list add "contrib non-free" after the first two lines sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 sudo apt update sudo apt install steam-installer Run the Steam installer from the applications menu |
2025-Dec-09 21:18:59 Doing a first assembly and fit test of ion trap's next configuration. This time, the electron beam is going through the trap and can be switched on and off rapidly via deflection electrodes and a small hole. The blue plastic is modelling the Micro-Channel Plate that is still in storage vacuum. #physics #accelerators
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2025-Dec-08 18:11:38 Simulation of a long bunch breaking up into solitons in the BNL booster synchrotron. #accelerators #physics This required setting focussing magnets to much weaker than normal and starting with a dense, high space-charge bunch. Doing this experiment in practice could be a precursor to crystalline beams, as when Coulomb crystals are put in place of the solitons here, they heat up by less than 1 Kelvin/second. |
2025-Dec-07 19:51:33 LOL this was why my lawnmower was vibrating a bit.
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2025-Dec-07 19:28:12 Added an extra extension lead so now the lights can go four times round the tree without any wasted going up to the top.
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2025-Dec-06 21:54:10 Put lights on the tree in the garden.
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2025-Dec-06 21:53:12 Nice winter #sunset on a walk just now.
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2025-Dec-05 21:24:33 Space charge solitons forming in a simulation of the BNL booster (with unusual magnet settings). #accelerators #physics I was trying to figure out if the stability of 3D crystalline bunches I'd found was because they were solitons and it appears to be the case.
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2025-Dec-05 03:12:54 The moonlight is very bright right now - being a full "super" #moon, clear night and near midnight and midwinter, making it higher in the sky. Jupiter, near Gemini is also impressively bright. It's cold though, -4C and falling. #astronomy |
2025-Dec-05 00:34:59 Another of my backup scripts ported to #Linux. This one searches for various source code files scattered across the disk, makes a 7z archive and ftps it to my website each night (hopefully, I'll have to check if the scheduled job works next). |
2025-Dec-04 19:56:32 Behold: some stuff.
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2025-Dec-04 03:12:14 Interesting free online book about constructing objects in Conway's Game of Life. #maths #computing
https://conwaylife.com/book/conway_life_book.pdf |
2025-Dec-04 02:15:58 Oh, Juk just crashed nevermind. |
2025-Dec-04 02:14:55 QMMP in skinned mode looks like a great WinAmp-like for #Linux, but the sound doesn't work, so that's a minus point. Juk it is. |
2025-Dec-04 01:49:37 You have to jump through some hoops to get a script in #KDE to pop up a console like Windows would do. I eventually made a desktop shell script
----- #!/bin/bash konsole -e /bin/bash -c "echo Testing; sleep 3" ----- ...and chmod +x on it. If you're running a program you can just do konsole --workdir /path/to -e /path/to/program #Linux |
2025-Dec-02 23:42:49 https://poki.com/en/g/level-devil |
2025-Dec-02 22:45:35 Glucose and ribose (RNA precursor) found in bits of #asteroid. #NASA #space
RT https://x.com/NASASolarSystem/status/1995896692462301235 https://www.nasa.gov/missions/osiris-rex/sugars-gum-stardust-found-in-nasas-asteroid-bennu-samples/?utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=NASASolarSystem&utm_campaign=NASASocial&linkId=884357106 |
2025-Nov-30 21:41:18 Amusingly, KDE's volume slider is on a log or dB scale (I think Windows might have been linear), so it goes from very quiet to blasting your ears. Overall slightly better I think. |
2025-Nov-30 03:34:25 Got the 3D maze game engine compiling here on #Linux. I'd already done this on another install a year or two back, so not much needed changing.
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2025-Nov-30 00:34:50 Got my code highlighting colours in Kate.
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2025-Nov-29 02:39:35 Well folks, I just formatted the Windows 10 partition on my main PC and put Debian 13.2 on there instead. #Linux Currently copying 570k files from the backup disk. |
2025-Nov-28 18:54:51 Wolf-Rayet star casts off shells of dust in Webb telescope image. #space #astronomy
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/webb-first-to-show-4-dust-shells-spiraling-apep-limits-long-orbit/ |
2025-Nov-27 02:04:14 3-day week this week. Finished a conference paper, reviewed a paper, and did some error studies of the crystalline beam in a ring. It can go 25mm off axis and bounce around, not heating up much, but more sensitive to its internal velocity distribution. #physics #accelerators |
2025-Nov-25 02:41:56 Completely missed the completion of the 2nd tallest building in the world back in 2023. #skyscraper
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merdeka_118 |
2025-Nov-24 23:03:28 #Starliner down to 4 missions, first one is cargo. #space #NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/commercialcrew/2025/11/24/nasa-boeing-modify-commercial-crew-contract/ |
2025-Nov-24 22:42:09 We're between
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_mouse and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhlonectes_natans Re: https://x.com/ShiningScience/status/1992143908747534715 |
2025-Nov-24 20:43:57 Just finished the paper to go with my COOL'25 talk on crystalline beams. There are some rings in which a Coulomb crystal can make 20000+ turns without cooling. #physics #accelerators
https://stephenbrooks.org/ap/report/2025-10/WEB3.pdf |
2025-Nov-24 00:48:17 Interesting experiments on this channel: making a flame that absorbs (sodium) light and viewing supercritical CO2: #physics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o8ktldjcog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_vXK9uvRf4 |
2025-Nov-23 20:49:05 Unmanned Ground Vehicles being used to deliver supplies in Ukraine.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgkg4zr33lo |
2025-Nov-23 20:14:23 Contents of the solar system as a big #cube. #space #astronomy
RT https://x.com/JessePeltan/status/1990824836260626739 |
2025-Nov-23 18:43:33 While mowing the lawn, I noticed some trees at the back of the garden were still red, although most have lost their leaves now.
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2025-Nov-22 00:11:25 Organic compounds found in freshly ejected ice grains from Enceladus. #space
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/nasa-cassini-study-finds-organics-fresh-from-ocean-of-enceladus/ |
2025-Nov-21 01:49:48 Merlin's Mound in Marlborough.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpwv44ey144o |
2025-Nov-20 16:23:10 Upgrades to the #NewGlenn rocket engines, as well as a 9x4 variant (instead of the current "7x2" 7 engine 1st stage, 2 engine 2nd stage). #space
https://www.blueorigin.com/news/new-glenn-upgraded-engines-subcooled-components-drive-enhanced-performance |
2025-Nov-20 00:36:58 QR codes are outdated, cameras can just read written URLs now. |
2025-Nov-19 22:59:13 #BlueOrigin large deployable aerobrake. #space [video]
RT https://x.com/blueorigin/status/1991251070979391796 |
2025-Nov-19 18:20:13 Looking out of my office window and noticed an apple climbing up a tree(?)
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2025-Nov-19 02:35:44 Now I'm thinking the original headphones I had were the "fakes" because a more expensive set sound just like the recent ones I bought (with less treble by default). |
2025-Nov-19 01:51:41 I remember a period in the 00s where everyone was using instant messengers but a few years later everyone collectively decided having these things pinging at them was annoying. I suppose that's what they mean by internet time is 10x faster than normal time. |
2025-Nov-19 00:39:15 Where the #soil goes from the Boring Company's tunnels [video].
RT https://x.com/boringcompany/status/1990892949153173588 |
2025-Nov-16 19:52:21 Much windier at the beach today. I had to walk into a sandstorm on the way back. |
2025-Nov-16 04:12:58 Although there is a way to make them sound more like real headphones by boosting the missing bass and treble back in.
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2025-Nov-16 03:47:21 Looks (or rather, sounds) like the Sennheiser HD206 headphones I found cheaper on Ebay were actually fakes. They sound different, even though external appearance is a very good match. |
2025-Nov-15 23:59:21 #accelerators #physics Rectangular bends are OK, horizontal tune 0 (but different path lengths). Sector bends are a complete disaster! But an in-between one gives you roughly equal path lengths and a horizontal tune of 1.
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2025-Nov-15 23:16:33 Someone (me) forgot to put the cardboard recycling out last week so I've been stamping on boxes to flatten them so another 2 weeks' worth will fit in the bin. |
2025-Nov-15 20:07:34 Went down to the beach today. |
2025-Nov-15 17:34:19 Rocket is big. [photo] #BlueOrigin #space
RT https://x.com/JeffBezos/status/1989704582025679295 |
2025-Nov-15 00:40:07 Ah, so that's why the rocket landed sideways! #BlueOrigin #space
RT https://x.com/JeffBezos/status/1989358416532488406 |
2025-Nov-14 18:27:16 Crash.
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2025-Nov-13 22:40:54 Hmm it goes sideways
RT https://x.com/JeffBezos/status/1989092331635765378 |
2025-Nov-13 22:14:54 Looks like New Glenn flight 2 landed the booster successfully. #space #BlueOrigin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sT4Hr-Il30 |
2025-Nov-12 23:58:50 Blue Origin New Glenn launch 2 delayed because of the aurora. #space
RT https://x.com/blueorigin/status/1988621902881914961 |
2025-Nov-12 23:57:59 New #Valve hardware announced today, including a wireless #VR headset and a cube.
https://store.steampowered.com/hardware |
2025-Nov-12 23:57:12 You can see hyper-green (olo) yourself by looking at a GIF:
https://dynomight.net/colors/ |
2025-Nov-11 22:16:05 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leat |
2025-Nov-11 18:02:24 Tiny bit of snow this morning. ❄️🌨️
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2025-Nov-09 23:29:19 Spent half an hour trying to work out why my CSS to stop a table expanding worked on desktop Firefox and not on mobile Firefox, and it turned out I just needed to restart mobile Firefox because it was ballsed up for some reason. |
2025-Nov-09 21:40:28 Autumn leaves in my garden this evening.
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2025-Nov-09 20:15:12 Went for a walk in the drizzle.
Noticed a knife sticking out of a lamppost, probably a halloween decoration someone forgot. Also noticed the power lines going to this house go through a tree branch (which has grown around them). |
2025-Nov-08 21:54:09
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2025-Nov-07 16:54:06 One part of the task is multithreaded on the CPU and the other on the GPU. 😆 Probably not optimal for thermal cycling.
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2025-Nov-07 01:04:25 Frankensteined two pieces of code together and running (hopefully) for 10 hours overnight. |
2025-Nov-06 01:01:05 Oh no, I've missed my chance to see the 29th "once-in-a-lifetime comet" in my lifetime. |
2025-Nov-06 01:00:53 Windows 11 decrappifying guide.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/11/what-i-do-to-clean-up-a-clean-install-of-windows-11-23h2-and-edge/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned |
2025-Nov-05 01:08:43 We finally got a clear night. The full Moon is really bright! 🌕 |
2025-Nov-04 00:23:17 For laptops, "sleep" mode is an absolute disaster, but it works quite well for the desktop PC in my kitchen so it doesn't take too much power when idle. |
2025-Nov-03 23:13:05 All the #rockets launched in 2025 (to scale). #space #SpaceX
https://www.flightatlas.org/ |
2025-Nov-01 22:16:05 A 2021 PC won't upgrade to Windows 11 but I'm plugging the new one into a monitor that says "Works with Windows Vista" and has a VGA port. Still works fine. |
2025-Nov-01 20:32:57 Looks like this rock split in two. 🪨
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