Communications

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iPhone Apps

Here are some of my favourite iPhone apps and why:

General apps:

  • Podcaster – I listen to lots of podcasts! There’s a list here.
  • Tunein Radio – when I do the washing up I listen BBC Radio 4 via the internet as the FM signal in the kitchen is a bit iffy. I also listen to Radio Rock – Helsinki
  • Met Office – Get the weather and rain maps. Just great.
  • WordPress – for editing this site on the move and when I am away from a computer.
  • Wolfram – for maths stuff and finding out things that require time series or comparisons.
  • Flickr – puts my family photos onto the Flickr site.
  • Twitter – I can follow my favourite people and occasionally tweet about the aero-fauna I see.
  • IMDb – ever recognise someone in a film and wonder what else they have been in? If so then you need IMBd. I remember it when it was based in Cardiff (that’s a long time ago).
  • GTPlanet – I use it to check out interesting things about the Gran Turismo series.

 Sport apps:

  • WTCC – keeps me in touch with the World Touring Car Series.
  • William Hill – I can place my usual amount on the sporting outcomes on offer.
  • Spurs – just to keep up to date with the score and Premiership table. Football on the whole bores me as a sport.
  • ECB Cricket – because cricket is a sport that matters.
  • NFL – after motorsport this is probably my favourite sport.
  • F1

Games:

  • F-Sim Shuttle – in top 3%
  • X – Plane – 4G
  • RC Plane 2
  • F.A.S.T.
  • Real Racing 2
  • Slayer Pinball HD
  • Angry Birds – in the top 9%
  • Sailboat Pro
  • Flick Golf

My GameCentre name is Kurtz72 

Random:

  • Wind Tunnel – as an aero engineer (by degree) this is fascinating.
  • Star Walk – it’s always good to know what stars you are looking at.
  • Fractile – zoom into the Mandelbrot set which is just lovely and fascinating.


 

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Jumping the shark?

This is me jumping the water sprayer. It was a cold day, hence the fleece. I was quite worried that I was going to slip on landing and end up looking the fool. Maybe I look the fool anyway!

Jumping the sprayer
Jumping the sprayer
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Start of a solar farm

Here are the foundations of a solar farm. I guess it has received planning permission as the last I knew it was just a proposal. Clever work though as the panels are bolted to the concrete sections that were part of a packing site.
If I remember I’ll link to the company doing this. Just imagine that Eccles and Aylesford might be leading the way in green tech.

20110716-191633.jpg

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Icons

Just put new icons on the mobile version of my website. They are from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. I like them and many thanks to the person who made them. When I remember I’ll link to that site. Link here.
Going to try and find some way of having the icons on my main site, I think that’ll look really cool. At the moment I am still bothered by time out errors and 500 errors. I think my server shares its time with other sites or it spends a long time doing site maintenance. Will try to find out.
I secretly hope that this site will take off and be very widely read but in reality I don’t want that responsibility. I could, of course, post stuff that isn’t well written and doesn’t make sense but in reality I want to use this to improve my writing skills which are currently poor.
Here’s to the web allowing me to indulge myself and make writing feel like fun, even with the iPhone touch pad.

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More work

Been spending some time trying to lower load times for the site and seeing if I can customise the look. All of this takes a lot of time, which I am willing to give. It is not difficult though. I have to say I have found that WordPress is pretty good. I google things when I am not sure and the answer is pretty much there. Editing php files and the such is quite enjoyable even though I have no idea what I am doing.
One thing though, people. I am using the Twenty10 theme and not another because I like it and not because it is the default theme. I have tried other themes and I don’t like them. Maybe I’ll create my own theme.

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The Radar Fallacy

So, I mentioned The Octonauts in a previous post and I still think it is brilliant however there is another scientific flaw I have noticed. The Octopod’s Radar system seems to have the tv / film fallacy (it’s not a real fallacy, I made it up).
When a radar turns it discovers the position, as a distance and direction, from the radar. There are many types but they all work roughly the same. For a radar system to update the position of an object it must turn through the space where that object is. The radar sweep line on the Octonauts display turns at about 30 rpm meaning that the position of the decorator crab would jump every 2 seconds as it gets scanned. However, the position of the crab as marked by the blip on the screen moves smoothly even while the radar sweep is well away from the crab. This could, of course, be because of an auxiliary system that is not mentioned in the show.
I am sure there are films and tv shows where the radar has a finite refresh time but the movement of planes are smooth. Time to start looking at radar shots more closely!

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How do you washup a sieve?

The short answer is: you don’t get it messy in the first place

A sponge or cloth is not very good at getting the food detritus from the sieve. You wipe and just move the particles around. A running tap might work if the upturned sieve is washed through with running water but you have to ensure that the whole surface area has been douched. The bristles from a brush might be pushed through the grill on the sieve, but this is somewhat tiresome and tends to move dirt from one place to another.
Ultimately it is a lengthy job and not one that need be done. Drain the veg with the saucepan lid. Maybe use coffee filter inserts but never use a sieve. It’s just not worth the cleaning effort. That’s why you never see them in Star Trek.

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Mathematics – the path to understanding

Science is about observing our world, making predictions and then seeing if we are correct. What a wonderful and beautiful method for understanding our world. Much preferable than relying on an ancient book and a mystical bearded man in the sky.
Mathematics is the key to science. Understanding mathematics gives you the tools to probe scientific models and to make predictions. It’s also how we know what we know and allows us to decide what works. Bit by bit our models of the natural world change and improve and feed on the evidence presented by our research.
Be good at mathematics, or at least be hard working. It can be rote learnt but it’s much better to have the flair and natural ability. This system is rather hard on those who can’t follow the maths, but there are plenty of people willing to popularise science in TV shows and books. There’s just not an excuse for trying, or trying to find out.

I advise my students to listen carefully the moment they decide to take no more mathematics courses. They might be able to hear the sound of closing doors.
James Caballero

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