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Technical Reports and Papers from my work.

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Miscellaneous: Black hole images  Made by tracing photons through curved space, something I did during my final degree year.
Distributed Particle Accelerator Design  (Now dormant).

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Particle beam focussing game

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3D Star Map
Cirieth Series
Condensation
Decent Fractals
Dendrite Growth Simulation
File Segmenter
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Internet Mapper
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2025-Feb-16 05:58:58
I noticed that most of the errors the AI is making in its code are because it can't anticipate the _behaviour_ of the program.  The syntax is fine.  Then I realised "oh yeah, that's the Turing halting problem". Undecidable.  No AI or human will ever solve it in general.
2025-Feb-15 19:15:54
Put PARROT food in the bird feeder, let's see what sorts of bird I get.
2025-Feb-15 01:27:35
Car turned the check engine light _off_ this morning; never seen that before.
2025-Feb-14 21:34:32
Don't need the online integrator any more when I can do this: #maths #computing #python

from sympy import *

b,C,D = symbols('b C D')

print(integrate(C/(1+(b*D)**2)*2*pi*b, b))

Output: pi*C*log(D**2*b**2 + 1)/D**2
2025-Feb-13 22:54:12
Decided to run something I'd been doing this week through Grok 2 step-by-step.  It did the algebra correctly and generated working C code, which was embarrassing because when I tested it, the AI's code was correct and I'd made an algebra mistake!
2025-Feb-13 04:47:37
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/02/11/democrats-tricked-strong-economy-00203464
#economics
2025-Feb-13 01:58:20
Air-breathing ion engines for very low orbit satellites:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250207-sky-skimmers-the-race-to-send-satellites-into-very-low-earth-orbits
2025-Feb-12 19:52:30
Kanazawa, Japan in recent snow.  [video]
RT https://x.com/cram_box/status/1888898391608013167
2025-Feb-12 19:29:31
I am now trained to put up barricades (caution or danger tape) at work, although the training title said "Barrricades" at one point.
2025-Feb-12 15:19:57
Last night I dreamt that I was being chased around an abandoned shopping mall by a turtle carrying a smaller turtle in its mouth that had a smaller turtle in its mouth that was high enough to bite my finger.
2025-Feb-12 02:58:14
Formula for the roots of a cubic polynomial --> "I'll never use that"
I actually used it for something sensible for the first time today.
2025-Feb-12 01:08:39
Clouds on #Mars.
[timelapse] #space #astronomy
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-science-laboratory/nasas-curiosity-rover-captures-colorful-clouds-drifting-over-mars/
2025-Feb-11 01:21:53
The planetary "alignment" is quite good.  I walked out (in the snow) to see the Moon, Mars, Jupiter near Aldebaran ("fake mars") and Venus about to set. 
#space #astronomy
2025-Feb-10 23:45:41
39m Extremely Large Telescope under construction.  #astronomy
https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2506a/
2025-Feb-10 03:24:56
In modern 3D games they put yellow paint to guide you, but I'm curious about the opposite: a relatively small game map that is designed to be as unintuitive as possible to navigate.
2025-Feb-10 02:00:14
Baltic states unplug from Russia and join EU power grid
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crlkwyljl8lo
2025-Feb-09 18:05:01
2.3% probability #asteroid impact arc for Dec 22, 2032. #space #astronomy
RT https://x.com/astroEdLu/status/1887939413054996494
2025-Feb-07 19:11:20
Walked past the radio telescope at work.

2025-Feb-07 00:12:01
ESA Solar Orbiter may have found the origin of the solar wind.  #space #astronomy
https://scitechdaily.com/solar-orbiter-just-solved-a-major-mystery-about-the-sun/
2025-Feb-06 22:50:09
Apparently, in my calculation, the orbits of mutually repelling particles with an inverse square law have negative eccentricity (hyperbolic orbits with e<-1).  If I make them attractive, I get positive eccentricity again.
2025-Feb-06 22:49:33
AI calculates the wrong amount of #cheese.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2j15r1g09o
2025-Feb-06 22:49:10
Nice video of a smaller boat and crew docking to a #SpaceX droneship with a booster on it.
RT https://x.com/JerryPikePhoto/status/1887308840271491088
2025-Feb-04 23:19:46
Concentric star-forming rings formed from galactic collision:
#space #astronomy
https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2025/news-2025-006
2025-Feb-04 02:31:03
60kW laser fired from US destroyer [photo]
https://x.com/dustinemills24/status/1886531917186527687
2025-Feb-03 20:57:12
They took so many disused cables out of the underground laboratory!  Also there is wi-fi down there now.

2025-Feb-02 21:30:48
The groundhog says we get 6 more weeks of wintry weather.
https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/c78xeg59y83o
2025-Feb-02 21:15:40
Could I use the reflections on the trombone bell to reconstruct the rest of the AI world?

2025-Feb-01 19:59:11
Had a really funny dream where there was a + shaped tug-of-war with four people at the corners and the goal was to make the fifth person attached to the middle fall down a hole.  Later on there was a less-unfair 2 v. 2 version (not sure where the person in the middle fit in).
2025-Jan-31 21:03:44
The Swan and Mallard.
RT https://x.com/NoContextBrits/status/1885276335909544272
2025-Jan-31 19:06:21
Five key impacts of Brexit five years on, facts and figures.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdrynjz1glpo
2025-Jan-31 19:01:05
India doubles tiger population in just over a decade from a combination of conservation techniques.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly9d4n1rgmo
2025-Jan-31 16:09:16
Sometimes I have to revise #physics things, like "Why does the Larmor frame work?"
Suppose you have circular motion at two angular frequencies A and B:
x(t) = R(At)a + R(Bt)b
Now define the average C=(A+B)/2 and difference D=(A-B)/2 and "un-rotate" at rate C:
R(-Ct)x = R(Dt)a + R(-Dt)b
Looks hopeful, the rotation rates are now equal and opposite.  We can use R(x)+R(-x)=2cos(x)I and R(x)-R(-x)=2sin(x)R(90°) but first have to rearrange to:
R(-Ct)x = (R(Dt)+R(-Dt))(a+b)/2 + (R(Dt)-R(-Dt))(a-b)/2
= cos(Dt)(a+b) + sin(Dt)R(90°)(a-b),
where the first step uses (p+q)(r+s)+(p-q)(r-s)=2pq+2rs.  The second line is two-dimensional simple harmonic motion at angular frequency D, in a frame rotating at rate C, as required.
2025-Jan-31 01:53:11
They have two-for-one chicken wings, but you have to have the same sauce on both.  🫤
2025-Jan-30 23:03:07
Fancy #bollard:
https://streetartutopia.com/2025/01/30/i-found-this-bollard-last-week-and-i-still-think-about-it/
2025-Jan-30 22:31:29
Tax season is one of the few times I use Adobe's PDF reader rather than Foxit PDF, because the latter corrupts the fillable forms somehow.
2025-Jan-29 18:12:52
What's in an asteroid?  14 of 20 amino acids found in 120g of gravel from asteroid Bennu.
#space #astronomy
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7vd1zjlr5lo
2025-Jan-28 20:29:17
Boom Aerospace just broke the sound barrier in the first American civil supersonic jet.
https://boomsupersonic.com/
RT https://x.com/boomaero/status/1884320653840392587
2025-Jan-27 18:25:14
Bald eagle nest cam, 🦅 currently in the snow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4-L2nfGcuE
2025-Jan-27 18:20:52
🪨
RT https://x.com/SheriffAlert/status/1221881862244749315
2025-Jan-27 03:35:49
I used pliers to crack some pistachio nuts that wouldn't open.  Now there are shell pieces scattered 10ft across the room.
2025-Jan-26 20:29:38
There's a stone missing from the sea defences.

2025-Jan-26 17:13:54
Look at those cats!
https://x.com/RaminNasibov/status/1882443208191353111
2025-Jan-26 17:12:42
AI LLM bots are inserting fake backdated posts in online Physics Forums:
https://hallofdreams.org/posts/physicsforums/
2025-Jan-25 21:30:24
Early Medieval manuscripts now open access (copyright terms are ridiculous aren't they?)
https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/news/2025/01/more-than-300-medieval-manuscripts-from-the-bibliotheca-vossiana-now-available-in-open-access
2025-Jan-25 19:48:31
Not sure if it's still alive.

2025-Jan-25 19:46:12
Ice formations at the beach.

2025-Jan-25 03:10:58
Noctua (the PC fan company) is suggesting you use fans to increase convective heating from household radiators.
https://noctua.at/en/active-radiator-ventilation-benefits-and-efficiency
I don't _think_ this was published on April 1st...
2025-Jan-23 16:33:02
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subterrene
2025-Jan-23 15:30:52
RT https://x.com/like_gudim/status/1881782162003034561
2025-Jan-22 21:14:43
My office phone only makes outgoing calls now, because incoming calls are redirected to Microsoft Teams, which I never use.
2025-Jan-22 15:41:03
Large domestic cat travels between Australia and New Zealand twice on its own.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70qn5yyw57o
2025-Jan-21 18:19:26
I don't like all these prompts to back up my photos on Android and "proactive" notifications sound pretty bad too.

2025-Jan-21 16:31:55
It's cold outside (20F) and a small bird is now sitting in this corridor, not sure how it got in.  🐦
2025-Jan-21 15:46:36
Found I pressed Windows-L (for lock screen) with my simulation focussed on Friday, meaning the "L" made an error instead of it running through the weekend.  At least it had an autosave I could pick up from... #physics
2025-Jan-20 20:53:40
Zoomable Andromeda Galaxy image.
#space #Hubble #astronomy
https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2025/005/01JGY8JKWBHBWJ71V3QQTKM382?news=true
2025-Jan-20 19:56:08
#Hubble #space #telescope gets 2.5 GigaPixel mosaic of the Andromeda #Galaxy, resolving over 200 million stars (and obviously hundreds of times more actual stars too faint to resolve).
#astronomy
https://esahubble.org/news/heic2501/
2025-Jan-20 19:34:57
US Army driverless equipment transport system.
[video]
https://x.com/ArmedwScience/status/1881325809643712724
2025-Jan-20 18:04:28
1-2" of #snow this morning.  ❄

2025-Jan-19 20:20:59
Findings about life's common ancestor ~4.2bn years ago.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/jan/19/luca-is-the-progenitor-of-all-life-on-earth-but-its-genesis-has-implications-far-beyond-our-planet
2025-Jan-19 20:09:22
Turtles in Singapore.
RT https://functional.cafe/@loke/113853715252167301
2025-Jan-19 19:50:05
Wait, they eat mice?
RT https://x.com/trivia_hour/status/1880439556027138193
2025-Jan-18 21:06:11
For British citizens - you can sign this petition asking to stop companies disabling video games people have already bought.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/702074/
2025-Jan-18 20:47:58
Inside a cornflakes bag (this photo is on the Wikipedia article for "Cornflakes").
https://panoviewer.toolforge.org/#Inside_a_cornflakes_bag_%E2%80%93_360%C2%B0_photo.jpg
2025-Jan-18 01:13:10
My car is leaking oil at the rate of 1 quart per 8 days.  It's going to the garage tomorrow.
2025-Jan-17 20:38:50
Roman bath complex unearthed in Pompeii, complete with paintwork.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c15zgvnvk4do
2025-Jan-17 01:19:24
Initial Starship v2 explosion analysis:
RT https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1880060983734858130
2025-Jan-16 23:29:42
The cool booster catch video.
#space #SpaceX
RT https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1880024050048589841
2025-Jan-16 23:28:03
Starship Flight 7

the booster:
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1880025578398720330

the upper stage:
https://x.com/adavenport354/status/1880026262254809115

#space #SpaceX
2025-Jan-16 15:25:53
RT https://x.com/MasashiJSHIRAKA/status/1879871952179101977
2025-Jan-16 15:22:40
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket reached orbit on the first launch attempt last night.
#space
https://www.blueorigin.com/news/new-glenn-ng-1-mission
2025-Jan-14 23:25:47
Ryan is installing a permanent magnet irradiation experiment. 
https://mastodon.online/@evenkolder/113829281432989186
2025-Jan-14 22:51:19
Loop-the-loop with a barnacle washed up from the sea.
RT https://x.com/LegoLostAtSea/status/1879163892812910763
2025-Jan-14 18:29:46
Moment slackliner conquers highline walk between Dubai towers
https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cdjd3rgdxj2o
2025-Jan-14 02:33:32
#Mars disappearing behind the Moon.
#astronomy #space

2025-Jan-13 23:37:24
Mars is about to disappear behind the Moon.
#space #astronomy
https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/lunar-occultation-mars-13-january-2025
2025-Jan-13 23:32:21
Always thought wireless keyboards were a stupid idea.
2025-Jan-13 15:23:56
Finally managed to turn off Google Assistant (voice recognition), that keeps popping up when I don't want it on my Android phone.

Settings -> Google (services) -> All services -> Search, Assistant & Voice -> Google Assistant -> General -> slide "Google Assistant" to off.
2025-Jan-13 01:33:05
The big X3D Ryzen 9000 chips are here:
#CPU #computing
https://fudzilla.com/news/pc-hardware/60334-amd-officially-announces-ryzen-9-9000x3d-series-desktop-processors-with-3d-v-cache
2025-Jan-12 05:24:00
My social media posts now show on the bottom of my website https://stephenbrooks.org/ . I hope to add an RSS feed of this later.
2025-Jan-11 21:50:00
Just a dusting of snow this evening.

2025-Jan-11 20:09:00
The McRib is back, but not available after midnight because it becomes evil.
2025-Jan-11 01:35:00
Single Rotor Moiré Clock
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubjwEHqmXWg
2025-Jan-11 00:16:00
They've re-used a Falcon 9 booster 25 times, which is about how many times I can drive my Audi before it wants a quart of oil.
2025-Jan-10 03:41:00
https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/amd-says-intels-horrible-product-is-causing-ryzen-9-9800x3d-shortages
2025-Jan-09 23:08:00
Apparently #VLC has skins.
#video #software
https://videolan.org/vlc/skins.html
2025-Jan-09 22:36:10
New images of #Mercury captured by UK spacecraft.
#space #astronomy
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2v2r1jm7go
2025-Jan-09 22:36:00
Can you get two totally different particles to have the same optics in the same place at the same time?  I think this note shows it is possible, at least approximately.  #physics #accelerators #iontraps
https://stephenbrooks.org/ap/report/2025-3/ponderomotive.pdf
2025-Jan-09 01:51:00
Why am I making ice cubes in my freezer when I could just put them outside?
2025-Jan-09 00:00:00
RT https://fosstodon.org/@foo/113795261121148837
2025-Jan-08 23:57:00
Starship Flight test 7 is scheduled for no earlier than Monday, January 13.
#SpaceX #rocket
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-7
2025-Jan-08 23:56:00
Cat getting on a bus.
RT https://x.com/CatWorkers/status/1876800740062294038
2025-Jan-08 23:54:00
My well-used and battered Sennheiser HD206 headphones finally fell apart.  I don't think they sell them any more.  I look in the drawer and there's a spare pair!
2025-Jan-08 01:55:00
😆
https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/c70e2g09ng9o
2025-Jan-08 01:07:00
🤨

2025-Jan-06 23:50:00
Growing lettuce on the ISS.
#space #NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/station/iss-research/space-gardens/
2025-Jan-06 23:27:00
Talk that a Raptor engine from Starship Booster 12 will be re-flown on Flight 7 in a few days.
#space #SpaceX
[infographic]
RT https://x.com/spacesudoer/status/1875950119071445433
2025-Jan-04 15:00:00
RT https://banderkat.social/@sciencetechimages/113479028611911172
2025-Jan-04 14:00:00
RT https://astrodon.social/@cgbassa/113770318993975063
2025-Jan-04 13:31:00
Saw a widgeon on a lake today.  #bird
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wigeon
2025-Jan-04 13:00:00
Optical illusion (I see blue and yellow).
[video]
RT https://x.com/shapoco/status/1875247116358217736
2025-Jan-04 12:57:00
New Year's cat.
RT https://x.com/sanrinoq/status/1875486124317274304
2025-Jan-03 20:34:00
Bournemouth beach.

2025-Jan-03 17:07:00
Upgrades to be tested on Starship flight 7:
https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1875219215390757043
2025-Jan-03 16:59:00
The Moon is right next to Venus now.  #space #astronomy

2025-Jan-02 23:11:00
The forestry commission land had a fence around it to stop the trees from getting out.  🌲
2025-Jan-02 22:42:00
A mole farted through grass, having swallowed a handful of grains.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Str%C4%8D_prst_skrz_krk
2025-Jan-02 22:03:00
UK's biggest #dinosaur footprint site discovered.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c24nzeqq1l2o
2025-Jan-02 20:50:00
A few hours later Mars 🔴 is visible further on.  Also very bright but not as red as I expected.
2025-Jan-02 17:32:00
In the early evening sky in a row:

Crescent Moon 🌒 - Venus ⚪ - (Saturn 🪐) --- (Aldebaran 🟠) - Jupiter ⚪

--- is a big gap to the other side of the sky and (bracketed) things are dimmer.
#space #astronomy
2025-Jan-02 16:58:10

2025-Jan-02 16:58:00
Lichen dripping water.

2025-Jan-02 16:52:00

2025-Jan-02 16:47:00
Went for a walk in the New Forest.
2025-Jan-02 16:09:00
RT https://x.com/BobGolen/status/1874600577835155680
2025-Jan-01 21:00:00
RT https://social.avali.zone/@avali/113752197580397306
2025-Jan-01 20:18:00
Tomorrow's World predictions from 1995 for 2025. #future
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjdn10yk0k1o
2025-Jan-01 19:07:00
These job ads are a little worrying.
2025-Jan-01 14:00:00
RT https://infosec.exchange/@david_chisnall/113752873453490050
2025-Jan-01 13:59:00
😶
2025-Jan-01 13:26:00
Left-over spaghetti is now on the bird table.  Will the crows eat the spaghetti?
2025-Jan-01 01:00:00
RT https://astrodon.social/@esoastronomy/113752700085566049

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