@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

birchbirch

@birchbirch@mastodon.social

40+ years as an IT professional (retired) but I look to the skies when I can. Grew up in the Apollo era, so bookshelves are creaking under biogs and mission reports (and Pratchett and Banks). Gave impromptu guided tour for 4 families at KSC one day. Also presented Apollo 11 40th anniversary event for son's class at local infants school, then invited back to repeat for the whole school. Live too close to London for light pollution not to be an issue. Did I mention Lego? Or Single Malts? MUFC.

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markmccaughrean, to random
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

It’s on, sports fans 🙂

That said, it’s a couple of hours before sunset still here in The Netherlands, but this is definitely worth keeping an eye on 👍


birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean Not a hope :-( The neighbours' PIR ruins our night vision before we can leave the house... Moonlight, tree cover, and good ol' light pollution, does for the rest...

markmccaughrean, to LiverpoolFC
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

Was reminded today that this past weekend saw the 50th anniversary of the FA Cup final between Liverpool & Newcastle, which the former won 3-0 ⚽️

Which in turn reminded me that I have an original programme from the day – I didn't go, but someone I knew did & they gave me this immediately after 🤷‍♂️

For some reason, I think it might've been my dad, but then why didn't I get to go ... 🧐

The centre page spread of the 1974 FA Cup final programme, listing the teams, as well as advertising two upcoming England international games at the bottom.
A picture of the Liverpool FC 1973-74 team, from the 1974 FA Cup final programme. The 16-man squad , including many famous faces for Liverpool fans of a certain generation, is shown along with the manager, Bill Shankly.
A picture of the Newcastle United 1973-74 team, from the 1974 FA Cup final programme. The 17-man squad is shown along with the manager, Joe Harvey, and trainer Keith Burkinshaw.

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean Had you been at the stadium you might have missed one of the all-time great post-match comments which was broadcast live on the BBC... "What about your f**king Super-Mac now then?!"

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean This touched a nerve too. My father exclusively smoked No.6 until he gave up in the early 70's... But my angst comes from my Grandad always sending me "up the road" to buy him a packet of 10 filterless Woodbines at the newsagent and to use the change to buy whatever sweets(*) I wanted.

In modern terms, I was a sugar-addicted, pre-teen mule of nicotine and assorted carcinogens.

Oh, and Larry Lloyd grew up across the cul-de-sac from his house.

(*) Trebor Mints

markmccaughrean, to Netherlands
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

Well that (partly) sucked 🙄

Meant to ride about 50km, but the conditions were ok, so detoured to a longer route 🚴‍♂️

Starting drizzling around 60km 🌧️

Hadn’t taken any food, so bonked at 70km 😰

Had a puncture at 78km, about 3km from home. Too far to walk in cleats, so fixed it.

Much heavier rain came at that point, of course ⛈️

Managed to sit on cycling glasses when I got home, soggy. Superglue time 💧

Oh well … 🤷‍♂️

#CyclingLife 🚴‍♂️
#Netherlands 🇳🇱
#Photography 📷

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean Where's the 'Tuneless Whistle' emoticon when you need it?

markmccaughrean, to random
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

It has been a tricky few weeks 😬

Shite weather for cycling 🙄🚴‍♂️

Struggling with a sense of loss of identity after retiring from ESA 🛰️🙃

Our daughter breaking her kneecap in Edinburgh, problems with the post-surgery recovery, & my wife having to fly there yesterday for the third time to look after her 🤕

Trying to get ready to move house & country next month 🇳🇱🇩🇪

And Liverpool FC. Oh, Liverpool ⚽️😭

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean Sorry to hear about your daughter's predicament, I hope she recovers soon.

Although I didn't experience a problem in retiring myself, I've had to counsel the other half struggling through her professional separation...

Despite 30 years in the same house, the move sounds exciting! ;-)

To paraphrase an earlier comment, "shite weather" is one of the reasons I don't cycle. 🏌️ ⛳ ?

As to the final topic... Long may the current trend continue!!!

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean Well, the first 3 were from the heart, but the latter 2 were more "personal assertions" and therefore can't really be considered as "wrong"...

Regardless, just trying to bring a small smile to your day... ;-)

markmccaughrean, to Netherlands
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

Found this bumblebee lying on the ground in our car port. Many insects get trapped under the glass & die, unfortunately 😕

I put the bee on a flower to feed, but when I checked back a bit later, it wasn’t active 😬

So exceptionally I gave it a little sugar water – I know it’s contentious – and it recovered 🙂

Not sure what species: perhaps a tree bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum), but with no trace of the normal white tail 🤨

#iPhone15 📱
#Netherlands 🇳🇱
#Photography 📷
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean Contentious? Why might one fail to offer a fellow creature succour in its time of need?

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean As luck would have it, as I was preparing to play a golf shot earlier today, I noticed the body of a bee lying in the grass just where I intended to place my right foot. I paused and gently moved it to a safe place before proceeding. In doing so, it was obvious that that bee had not yet expired but, alas, I had no sugar water to give it...

Such is nature...

Now, had it been a wasp, I would have used the cleats in my shoes to grind it into the ground!

(Nice photo BTW!)

markmccaughrean, to Netherlands
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

‘Tis the season 🤤

Homemade pesto with wild garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, parmesan, lemon juice, & salt.

No food processors were harmed (or used) in the making of this picture.

#Foodie 🙂
#SpringTime 🌷
#Netherlands 🇳🇱
#Photography 📷
#ElbowGreaseRequired 💪

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean Thanks! I'd always wondered what the ingredients of "Mushy Peas" were...

markmccaughrean, to random
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

Another sunny, breezy spring day in NL 💨

The Moon is also in this shot albeit invisible, in the upper-left-middle moving towards the Sun 🌞🌑

And tomorrow evening our time, the Moon will pass in front of the Sun, totally or partially blocking it if you’re lucky enough to be in North America, Iceland, or the far west of Europe 🌎

I’ve seen one total solar eclipse, on Maunakea in Hawai’i in 1991 🌋

It’s one of the most truly awesome things you’ll ever witness 🙀

A timelapse movie of clouds blowing from the southwest over our garden in the Netherlands. The sky is blue between the white clouds and the Sun is visible most of the time to the upper-left.

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean We were in Cornwall for the 1999 Total. Typical British weather... 100% cloud coverage started about 15 minutes before the start and ended 15 minutes afterwards :-(

markmccaughrean, to photography
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

Hefeweizen 🍺🙂

📷

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean According to Rheinheitsgebot: Stop photographing the stuff and just enjoy drinking it!

markmccaughrean, to Netherlands
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

iPhone 15 Pro ultrawide camera in macro mode: not horrible 🤷‍♂️🙂

Taken in RAW with LightRoom mobile.

🇳🇱
📷
🐜

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean So plentiful today that we frequently had to gently move them aside in order to play our shots!

markmccaughrean, to random
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

First working day after the Easter holiday & my email inbox is resolutely empty 📭

The silence is deafening – feels weird 😬✌️

https://youtu.be/xhm-EqcPta0?feature=shared

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean Enjoy it! And enjoy the lack of guilt about not doing the things that other people wanted you to do!

markmccaughrean, to Netherlands
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

Dodging the showers coming in on a cold wind off the North Sea during this evening’s 44km ride 💨🌧️

Made for some pretty clouds around sunset out in the Vlietland 🙂👍

🚴‍♂️
🇳🇱
📷
🌳
☁️

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean Lucky old you. As we stepped up to the 12th tee earlier a squall broke through to pepper us with pea-sized hail and Beaufort=8/9 winds. No photos because we were all running for shelter...

markmccaughrean, (edited ) to random
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

An unexpected “tribute” at my leaving do at ESTEC this evening that I’m sure comes with a degree of ribbing that’s entirely deserved 🤷‍♂️🤪

It’s people that design, build, & operate space missions & do the science which opens our eyes to the universe, & I’ve had the privilege to work with many amazing scientists, engineers, managers, administrators, & communicators over the past 15 years.

I shall miss my friends & colleagues here deeply, but very much hope we stay in close touch 🙇‍♂️

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean Must have been kinda scary to be confronted by so many "mirrors"! Hoping you had something other than bottled water on the table to the left to celebrate!

markmccaughrean, to photography
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

Warning: this image of our local member of the feline monarchy may have been slightly edited – is a purrfectionist, after all 🤷‍♂️😽

Hard to believe that he’s almost 14 though – still a curious kitten at heart 😻

📷
🐈

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean I'm struggling as to whether edited the drying rack into the picture...

markmccaughrean, to Netherlands
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

A somewhat unusually brisk easterly wind today, a good time to revisit one of my classic routes out to Boskoop through the Bentwoud & back past the Rietveldse windmill 💨

A 62km ride of two halves – slow going out, whizzier back 🤷‍♂️

🚴‍♂️
🇳🇱
📷

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean "unusually brisk"? We call it a lazy wind... As in too lazy to go around you

markmccaughrean, to random
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

Tech check done for my talk at the SYNAPSE conference in Delhi tomorrow morning 👍

A strange day today, with tech & AI evangelists selling their philosophically-twisted (IMO) view of the future of our planet, tempered by some excellent critical questions from the moderators & more reflective interactions with members of the audience 🤷‍♂️

My challenge for tomorrow is to explain how studying the Universe should give us cause for humility when contemplating what it means to be human.

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean Break a leg.

markmccaughrean, to random
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

Comedy timing 🤪

Landed at Heathrow yesterday to a message asking me if I happened to be in London & able to come on BBC Newsnight to talk about the Odysseus moon landing.

I replied yes, by coincidence I am, but only for two hours before flying to India. 🤷‍♂️

Then arriving in Delhi this morning, I saw another message from several hours earlier asking me to come on BBC Radio 4 Today on the same topic.

By which time I just wanted to sleep 😬✌️

Anyway, talks to prepare now 🚀🛰️🔭

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean You possibly dodged a bullet there, R4Today might have pulled your piece in favour of the "mansplaining on TikTok" story anyway... ;-)

markmccaughrean, to random
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

Vulture club.

Six large lappet-faced vultures over at the waterhole in the Namib desert just now, with temperatures around 39ºC.

But don't go there – it's very addictive 😉

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydYDqZQpim8

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean The family couldn't see what the attraction was for me of the Icelandic volcano webcams in recent years. Until, that is, I pointed out that the whole family's favourite seaside pastime is to dam streams and change their route to the sea.

OooO! Oryx!

birchbirch, to random
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean You've mentioned before that you quite like a beer... Rheinheitsgebot it's not!

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean Circumstances have worked against me trying it so far, but I'll let you know when I do.

birchbirch,
@birchbirch@mastodon.social avatar

@markmccaughrean LOL! A day-trip from Cornwall to Gloucester (and back) via hired van put paid to a timely tasting. Was delighted on our return to see that the skies were clear enough to see the Milky Way from horizon to horizon. Such a shame that I left the DSLR at home! 😞

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