Stuart Swales

Zoom OK here.

I think that to save a file to tape on the Beeb from BASIC simply called " you had to use ten quotes.

As a small child once said "It's Venus, Nana." on hearing "Look, it's the Star of Bethlehem" early one Chrismas morning.

Comments are good!

Have you remembered to fit a magic smoke dispenser?

Eyebrow raising claims have been made to justify Scot Gov’s bond issuance plan.

Repeated FOI requests for the calculations underpinning these claims were refused. Scot Gov eventually released the relevant spreadsheet, with its entire contents redacted. Every tab looks like this.

Sad little error message

I confused it.

Diagram showing the boundaries of the habitable zone for stars of different surface temperatures. The habitable zone is defined as the zone in which liquid water can exist. The models on which these results are based include the effects of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, tidal locking, and other effects, some of which involve complex feedback mechanisms. These effects mean that at any given level of starlight incident on the planet, the habitable zone boundaries depend upon the temperature of the star, which is why the habitable zone boundaries are curved in the diagram. Various planets within our solar system are shown, along with selected exoplanets. Kasting, J.F., et al. (2013), PNAS 111 (35) 12641

Photomicrograph of the diamond anvil used in Shahar’s high-pressure experiments. Between the diamond tips is a gasket that holds a silicate magma ocean-like sample prepared in the lab and the hydrogen. The diamonds are between 1/2 to 1 carat in size with the tip facing the sample being about 300 microns across.

Interaction of a hydrogen-rich gas with a magma ocean. Left: hydrogen dissolves in the magma ocean and water is produced in the magma through the reduction of iron oxide. Right: on a small body that is not fully molten, water may only be produced where molten magma (red) is present. The other colors represent the rest of the differentiated planetesimal. Courtesy of Francesca Miozzi

Conceptual illustration of three possible scenarios for interior–atmosphere interaction in big planetary bodies, often referred to as sub-Neptunes (between 1 and 17 Earth masses). Left: free fluid water and Fe-enriched blebs are entrained in the magma ocean. Centre: water is outgassed to create a steam atmosphere while the Fe-enriched blebs sink toward the centre. Right: extreme scenario in which all phases are miscible. Courtesy of Francesca Miozzi

🧪⚒️Just released: Anat Shahar of Carnegie Science on what makes a planet habitable. Her work shows that water may be very common on rocky exoplanets as a result of interaction between a hydrogen atmosphere and a magma ocean. #geology #exoplanets

For those of you without an aeronautics degree, this outcome is considered bad

A screenshot from a Google AI search states that direct flights between London and Austin don’t exist on 23rd December. Direct flights have actually been running between these cities on BA since 3rd March 2014 and do indeed run on that day.

A screenshot from a search on BA website showing that direct flights from London to Austin do, in fact, exist on 23rd December.

My god AI is so terrible/useless/wrong. Please don’t use it!!

Here is a godawful joke in chart form to ruin your Christmas season 🤪🎄

Yay! 🥳 ⚒️

Headline reads "Authentic Cornish pasties: The taste of Cornwall from anywhere in the UK". The accompanying photo is a scone.

Er...

Very much so. I waft mine off the drive so as to avoid more organic matter accumulating promoting grass/weed growth in the tarmac, get a few more years out of it.

Model A was £235+VAT when it first came out I think?

Leaves do not need to be in such places. Waft them over onto the grass.

I often get 25kg sacks of bird food delivered for economy! Worst one was the 200kg lawn tractor: put on the truck with a forklift but me and the delivery guy had to work out how to get it to the ground at a not too excessive speed as they'd not sent their truck with the tail lift...

The BBC Micro is 44 years old today, Happy Birthday! However, many customers had to wait until early 1982 for delivery of theirs due to limited supply availability before Christmas. During its lifespan just over 1.5 million were sold - exact figures are not known. I still have my original one.

Evolution of the trash icon, showing the various changes to the Windows Recycling Bin icon from 1995 through to 2022. The 2025 icon is for Microsoft Copilot.

Has it been open in recent Doors Open events? We visited about fifteen years ago, v nice.

Fish and chips for 20p? The Powys chip shop menu frozen in time One of Wales' oldest chippies has dusted off a menu board

20p for a bag of chips? That's steep! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

YouTube video by Matt Godbolt [AoCO 1/25] Why xor eax, eax?

If you fancy another (much more informative!) advent series this December, do check out @matt.godbolt.org 's advent of compiler optimisations, first episode here: youtube.com/watch?v=eLjZ48gqbyg

⚒️ #MineralMonday

I started down that road this summer - gave up after about half a mile as the surface was heavily cratered.

Don’t think much of the Amazon Black Friday sales. I ordered The Two Ronnies on DVD but instead I got four Kindles

My most-ascended hill! Scotland - not bad.

I have a couple of lacewing that have decided it's too parky outside and have come into the sitting room to overwinter

🌊🧪 Of this some is rejected in fecal pellets which fall toward the sea floor. - Broecker and Peng (1982), Tracers in the Sea

It wants the money

These are amazing!