Phelonius Friar

It's amazing what can be "machined" into silicon wafers these days... a "pop-up" electromagnetically controlled gold plated mirror, and eight mirrors on an electrostatic motor that's less than a millimetre wide.

A sketch showing a proposal for an integrated laser display consisting of integrated semiconductor lasers, silicon nitride waveguides, a spinning micromotor with a multifaceted mirror for the horizontal scan, and a vertical electrostatic micromirror for the vertical scan, to produce a raster display image on any surface.

I finished and made my presentation in class last Wednesday, it sucked farts. The basic idea was good, but there were no details to back up its feasibility. The prof had given everyone until Friday to incorporate feedback, and I managed to get it into passable shape yesterday to submit (on time).

Madeline Horwath on two kinds of nostalgia – cartoon Hankering after 20th-century culture just isn’t what it used to be

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Carrie Everson in 1864 B&W headshot

Carrie Everson, US inventor, patented processes for extracting valuable minerals from ore using froth flotation. The Mining Journal noted in 1916 that "as a metallurgist she was a quarter of a century in advance of her profession". d. #OTD 3 Nov 1914 #WomenInSTEM en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_...

I finished my homework (Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems, MEMS, basically microscopic machines built on silicon chips) yesterday around noon. My next assignment is a presentation on a full MEMS display system I need to design from scratch. It is due tomorrow at 11:30AM. I have not started.

Still reeling from what life's thrown at me these past few weeks (and months). Haven't been able to catch up with anything I need to get done and the weeks keep keep comin' (cue All Star 🎶). I'll try to get up at 5AM and finish my overdue homework and prep for teaching this afternoon. So tired.

5pm on November 1: let’s go for a walk, it’s still light out!

5pm on November 2: an early darkness blankets the land. Fallow fields lay bone-bleached by moonlight. The last memories of summer fade into oblivion. The last echoes of hope lapse into baleful silence.

!!! <APPLAUSE> !!!

when I worked in community services in the US, I helped fill out SNAP applications for people who'd once had successful careers as lawyers, healthcare professionals, bankers. The jaws of poverty can snap shut on anyone.

Come check out what KG made this month for the candy challenge, find out what November’s challenge may be & check out our awesome guest chef for the demo, Canadian Nightmare BigKettle!

Live streaming October 31 @ 8:30 PM EST on twitch.tv/serendipx !

So fierce! 🐉

I have a very bad feeling about this...

Bowl of soup thick with many ingredients. A ceramic spoon is beside the bowl.

A bowl of the hot and sour soup I finished making an hour ago.

Comic. Confusion matrix showing renditions of different combinations, colored yellow, tan, or gray. [Air: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles G, light Y, sound Y, heat Y, swords Y, toxic dust Y, radio Y, sharks G] [Lead: gamma rays G, neutrons T, alpha particles G, light G, Sound Y, heat Y, swords G, toxic dust T, radio G, sharks G] [Water: gamma rays T, neutrons G, alpha particles G, light T, sound Y, heat Y, swords Y, toxic dust Y, radio G, sharks Y] [Vacuum: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles Y, light Y, sound G, heat T, swords Y, toxic dust Y, radio Y, sharks G] [Oven mitts: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles G, light G, sound T, heat G, swords Y, toxic dust Y, radio Y, sharks Y] [Armor: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles G, light G, sound Y, heat Y, swords G, toxic dust Y, radio G, sharks T] [Biohazard suit: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles G, light G, sound Y, heat Y, swords Y, toxic dust G, radio Y, sharks Y] [Faraday cage: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles Y, light Y, sound Y, heat Y, swords Y, toxic dust Y, radio G, sharks Y] [Shark cage: gamma rays Y, neutrons Y, alpha particles Y, light Y, sound Y, heat Y, swords Y, toxic dust Y, radio Y, sharks G]

Shielding Chart

xkcd.com/3158/

A large steel bowl of homemade tomato sauce with onions, mushrooms, and herbs.

Five bags of tomato sauce, each about 700 millilitres or about 3 cups before they were put in the freezer.

Made 3.5L (15 cups) of pasta/pizza/whatever tomato sauce (with onions, mushrooms, garlic, and herbs). Divided it into 700 ml bags (3 cups) and put it in the freezer. 5 family sized servings ready to go. Super flavourful!

A large pot with a large amount of diced tomatoes mixed with onions, mushrooms, and dried herbs.

Phelonius, thy name is hubris. I bought 9kg of tomatoes for the sole reason they were being sold for $9.99 CAD at a store I was at. No plans. Head empty. This is the last 5kg of them, diced for tomato sauce (with onions, garlic, mushrooms, dried herbs, and some red wine). Simmering as I write this.

Happy Anniversary!

For my work on the sTGC detectors that are part of the (installed and commissioned) New Small Wheel muon detector, and the work I've done on the upgrade of the ATLAS experiment's inner tracker (ITk) ahead of the overall upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to the High Luminosity LHC.

Breakthrough Prize – Fundamental Physics Breakthrough Prize Laureates – ATLAS Collaboration

Huh... I just received notification today that I'm a Laureate of the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (along with the rest of the ATLAS Collaboration at CERN). Go me. I am truly amazed at the utterly unpredictable directions my life has taken.
breakthroughprize.org/Laureates/1/...

Hope you had tons of fun!

Always the scientist...

And there was frost on the ground yesterday when I got up...

I thought you were supposed to be a satire site, but you just keep reporting actual believable news...

It is 30°C outside right now where I am. This is nightmare fuel.

Photo of a pint glass with golden/brown coloured mixed cocktail garnished with a lime wedge and cherries on a skewer. Tea candles in the background.

Eldest crafted a new mixed drink called "Mule on a Hoverboard"... it's an elevated mule! Muddle 4 lime slices in a British pint glass, 4-6 ice cubes, 3 oz. Lot 40 small batch rye whiskey, 3/4 oz. Grand Marnier, fill with spicy ginger beer (Island Soda), 3-4 dashes Angostura bitters. Garnish + straw.

the thing about that “first they came for” poem is that we’re already at least 2-3 lines deep and it’s not a very long poem

Teaching two classes at the college as well: intro to C programming (which mysteriously also includes teaching soldering), and an electrical drafting course with AutoCAD (which mysteriously also includes teaching MS Word and Excel).

Time for a university update, eh? Managed to be allowed to pay for a parking pass because of disabilities. Am taking one formal class in MEMS and a directed studies working on the CERN DRD3 R&D program, TAing 4th year FPGA lab (prof is a legit nightmare), started research work into LIG on polyimide.

I have taken
the Tylenol
that was in
the medicine cabinet

and which
they think probably
is the reason
you like trains

forgive me
but that’s bullshit
you got autism
from your dad

Corn Bling