Emeritus professor of astronomy at the University of Nottingham. All my own views. Here for interest, so anyone who doesn’t interest me gets blocked.
Nottingham
Joined June 2011
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Time to update my pinned post, just because this selfie makes me very happy.
(Monku View Point on @hermisland, 26 July 2022 at 11PM. 2s exposure on @SonyAlpha 6600 with Samyang 12mm f2 lens, pushed to ISO 10000, just reprocessed with @Lightroom’s amazing AI noise reduction.)
Very conflicted. I understand the psychological challenges that adults who were adopted may face, and their desire to explore their biological origins, but also feel deeply for adopters, for whom such exploration can reenforce a message that they were less than complete parents.
The good old “World Series”. So called because… only North America gets to play in a game the rest of the world largely stops playing at about the age of 12. And this one wasn’t even Donald Trump.
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
Ah, the tedious annual dance for my car insurance:
Insurer: good news — your policy renewal has only gone up from £450 to £560.
Me: a price comparison site offers me the same policy from your company for £450.
Insurer: good news — your revised policy renewal is now £440.
Tempted to apply just for the entertainment value. The good news is that they can’t possibly appoint any internal candidates, since none of the current crop of PVCs meets the requirement of “a record of… improving performance.”
Oh, who am I kidding?
timeshighereducation.com/uni…
A miserable evening, so needed a Saturday-night movie full of foolish hooey. “Mayday” from @AppleTV hit the spot perfectly, with its 007-esque stunts, its 1980s soundtrack, and, best of all, Kenneth Branagh’s Russian accent.
Today I found myself contemplating the sensitive randomness of human history, and how many people would not be here if it weren’t for local engineer, Thomas Hawksley, whose memorial I happened to walk past in Arnot Hill Park on a stroll today. 1/3
When cholera struck the UK in 1848, Nottingham was almost unaffected. The reason was that Hawksley had set up the country’s first large-scale constant pressure water supply here in 1831, using a steam engine to pump a head of water up to a reservoir, ensuring a clean supply. 2/3
Progress in scientific research draws on both conformists and iconoclasts.
astromikemerri.substack.com/…
“I don’t have a clue what I am doing, but I’m doing it anyway.”
(arxiv.org/abs/2610.28575)
