@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

happydisciple

@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org

Physicist, sailor, reader, organiser, geek. He/him or they/them. Was https://mendeddrum.org/@happydisciple on Twitter.

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dgar, (edited ) to random
@dgar@aus.social avatar
happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@dgar @ionica I’m going to have to get creative with fried rice to make a fibo-nasi spiral now, aren’t I?

happydisciple, to Eurovision Dutch
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

Wanneer wordt de EBU uitgesloten van deelname aan het Eurovisie Songfestival omdat ze zich niet houden aan overeengekomen gedragsregels? https://www.avrotros.nl/article/nederland-gediskwalificeerd-van-eurovisie-songfestival~527/

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 👍


happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@markmccaughrean And, did you see any? I saw your post, checked out the space weather, NL weather, and NL dark sky map, booked a MyWheels and zoomed over to the Hondsbossche Zeewering!

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Due to the wonders of joined up thinking and integrated public transport. The ferry arrives at 0630. The train goes at 0631. The next train is at 0728...

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@quixoticgeek …and the greasy spoon is gone.

(I have tried to catch that 06:31 many times, but nope, it just cannot be done. They could start disembarkation earlier, the lorry drivers have pretty much left by the time you hear “Don’t Worry […]”, but noooo.)

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@quixoticgeek insult to injury is: there’s the 07:28, and then the 07:33, and then it continues half-hourly, more or less.

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

Welcome to 2024 Extra Day 20 March – Bruxelles – Essen – Rosendaal – Kapellen – Charleroi – Berzée

Today I’m crossing these borders
Essen 🇧🇪 - Rosendaal 🇳🇱
Former 1000mm tramway - Zandvliet 🇧🇪 - Bergen op Zoom 🇳🇱

Map of today’s route
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-extra-days-2024_1030682#10/51.3791/4.4934

Today’s Live Blog
https://crossborderrail.trainsforeurope.eu/live-blog-2024-extra-day-20-march-bruxelles-essen-rosendaal-kapellen-charleroi-berzee/

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@jon That ex-tramway isn’t even on OpenRailwayMap! Gosh.

Also, I’ve driven there during my driving lessons, when I accidentally ended up in Belgium (we took the Langeweg back into NL)

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Success. Had a lovely ride. Took a bit of a circuitous route to get to the hardware store, and an equally circuitous route back. Got almost everything I needed. Only thing I didn't get is something to clean the algae off the balcony. As they only had huge bottles of it. And my balcony is tiny.

Now sitting enjoying the fresh air, flowers, and sunshine.

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@quixoticgeek Would you like suggestions for potential algae-cleaning alternatives?

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@quixoticgeek On our big garden tiles I’ve had success with cleaning vinegar (but it’s quite bad for the plants immediately next to the tiles, too, so oops), and groene zeep. The latter is now my go-to. It takes a bit more effort maybe than the dedicated anti-algae stuff, but IME not that much more, and I think it’s not as poisonous/herbicidal/biocidal? Hopefully?

happydisciple, to random
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

:gnutp:

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

I'm guessing someone broke trains via Schiphol. Just seen a Eurostar go through Sloterdijk.

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@quixoticgeek I saw one[1] stationary in Leiden, south of the station.

[1] A Eurostar Red FKAThalys

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

I have been told the carriage I need will be by the clock...

This is the platform...

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@quixoticgeek If only we had some sort of system for indicating positions along a platform, maybe with distinctively shaped graphics. Not too complicated, something you could reproduce by hand so people could scribble it down, yet standardised so conventional printing and computer systems can (re)produce them with ease… 🤔

Nah, madness, that would never work. You’d need something that’s as easy as ABC!

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

As an addendum to my most recent thread about programmer incentives. If you work in management, remember that your coders have probably studied game theory at some point in time. They are going to find a way to game the system if you let them. If only cos they are better at playing that game than you are.

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@quixoticgeek I sometimes break out this one when KPI’s or metrics are raised.

(Source: Reddit)

If your KPI’s aren’t right, their effect may well be counterproductive.

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Fibre CPE for impending network connection upgrade has been delivered. Now waiting for the actual fibre to be delivered into the building...

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@quixoticgeek Our FTTK was upgraded to FTTP yesterday[1]. It is now 5 cm from our outside wall. Presumably yet another subcontractor will come to poke it through the wall and into the meterkast.

(Whether we’ll actually switch to fibre from Ziggo cable is still tbd)

[1] All part of ODF rolling out fibre throughout Leiden.

markmccaughrean, to random
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

万丈！/ Banjō! / Congratulations!

JAXA's SLIM spacecraft has successfully landed on the Moon 🙇‍♂️

Not an easy feat, as other recent mission attempts have demonstrated 😬

#SpaceFlight #SpaceExploration

https://mastodon.social/@markmccaughrean/111783242960416367

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@markmccaughrean Before they paused the livestream, with most of the TM dashboard reading 0s, the IMU acceleration was still fluctuating slightly, at about 1.628 m/s^2…

Gives me hope: 1. Ongoing TM; 2. Moon surface gravity acceleration…

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

Thanks to loads of useful feedback, my answer everything about through trains through the Channel Tunnel post is now up to version 1.2.0

Now added:

  • more explanation on why reversing trains at Stratford International cannot work
  • Hitachi A-Train as a rolling stock option
  • explanation of problems with night trains to London

The whole 9500 words are here 👇
https://jonworth.eu/the-future-of-long-distance-train-services-through-the-channel-tunnel/

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@jon Great read!

Edit: ow wait, I hadn’t reloaded your updated version yet, Stratford Int’l comments already addressed 😄

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

Right then, it's done 🥵

The longest and most complex blog post I have ever written

Everything about the future of long distance through the Channel Tunnel

  • Routes
  • Stations (and passport, luggage scan constraints)
  • Rolling stock
  • Operators

No single problem is insurmountable, but in combination I’m not hopeful for new or expanded services - from Eurostar or anyone else

https://jonworth.eu/the-future-of-long-distance-train-services-through-the-channel-tunnel/

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@jon @quixoticgeek No need to build a tunnel.

“Doggerland - It’s NL’s 13th Province!”

johncarlosbaez, (edited ) to random
@johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz avatar

I've been pondering this puzzle at night when I have insomnia. Say you have a cube inside a cube. How much bigger does the big cube need to be so that you can rotate the small cube by a full turn while keeping it inside the big one?

I'm interested in this for all the Platonic solids, but let's talk about cubes.

We have to make the question precise. Should we require that the small cube turns around a fixed axis? If we don't, it becomes harder to know what "a full turn" means, but topologists know what it means: we want the small cube to return to its original position after tracing out a noncontractible loop of rotations.

Should we require that the center of the small cube stay at the center of the large cube?

(𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗧: we might as well - see the replies below. If the small cube can make a full turn while its center moves, it can also do so while its center stays at the center of the large cube.)

Under the most restrictive conditions - the center of the small cube stays fixed at the center of the large one, and the cube turns around a fixed axis - I can turn the small one all the way around if its edges are up to 1/√2 times as long as the edges of the big cube it's inside.

I'll stick my neck out and conjecture this is the best you can do.... even for the least restrictive version of the puzzle! Maybe I'm just uncreative, but I don't see how changing the axis of rotation as we go will actually help us here.

You may wonder whether this puzzle is a good way to deal with insomnia, but that's another question.

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@Lisanne @johncarlosbaez @isaackuo Jumping off from that reasoning: as soon as the symmetry of the inner & outer object is sufficiently different things could start getting interesting? Not nesting like inside like, but, say, a tetrahedron inside a cube… 🤔

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Most of my nuts, bolts, screws, related hardware are stored in tobacco tins. A system I find works great. Then I end up with these 150mm and 200mm M8 bolts. Which don't fit in the tins.

I need to find a better place to keep them...

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@quixoticgeek For shits & giggles: line up a bunch of tins, drill four right-sized holes through the sides of ‘em, and put the bolts in the tins. Useless, but great for boggling on-lookers.

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

I'm on a train and have mobile signal. So it's time for another look at a climate stat someone has sent me in the last few days. Today's stat is a gooden. "If shipping was a country, it would be the 6th largest emitter of CO2".

Yikes. That's scary right? There's like 190+ countries, that means shipping has got to be a huge emitter right ?

Right?

Well no. You see there's a lot of inequality between countries (understatement much?).

So let's break this one down. Buckle up, thread time. 1/n

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@quixoticgeek We (mis?)quote Ben Goldacre quite regularly at home, “I think you’ll find it’s a little bit more complicated than that.”

The example that I like[1] is: cleaner shipping fuels may negatively impact global heating, through reducing the cooling effect of SO2. Does that make low-S fuels a bad idea? Not at all, but it was masking that we were already even more fucked.

[1] I hate it, but TANSTAAFL

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Purchased a cup of tea at the station. And asked them to put it in my travel mug. This was a mistake. Tea was served as super heated plasma. And insulated cup means it's still too hot to drink. 15 minutes later.

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@quixoticgeek I used to have a cooked breakfast at HGX whenever I came back (when we still lived in London), but I think the greasy spoon there is now gone?

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Mort popular destination of Metro's on the Rotterdam metro in the 15 mins I've been sitting here is "geen dienst".

Which is I guess a village near Maasland...

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@quixoticgeek Is it close to Buiten Dienst? I think the 999 bus from Leiden goes there.

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

The North sea is weird.

English: North sea, location relative to England? East.
Dutch: Noordzee, location relative to the Netherlands? West.
Norwegian: Nordsjøen, location relative to Norway? South west.
Danish: Nordsøen, location relative to Denmark? West.
German: Nordsee, location relative to Germany. West.

There is no country that borders the North sea for which the North sea is North of their coast.

Why the fuck is it the North sea? North of what ?!?!?

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@quixoticgeek I’d say NL & Belgium have the best claim, tbf.

DJDarren, to random
@DJDarren@mendeddrum.org avatar

I’ve not looked outside yet, so it’s entirely possible that my house has indeed been carried off and is now floating in the south Atlantic, just off the Ghanaian coast.

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@DJDarren Just like Point Nemo is a named place, we should call this Point Oh Oh.

I’d definitely say “oh oh” if I unexpectedly found myself there, without actively sailing there.

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

On the way to the Gaststube also found a geocache. There are 2 more on the walk back to our hotel. Shall hunt for those with a full belly.

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@quixoticgeek Dammit, you have me pronouncing “Geocache” auf Deutsch!

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Osnabruck Hbf really is showing it's age isn't it? Lots of signs of wear and neglect.

happydisciple,
@happydisciple@mendeddrum.org avatar

@quixoticgeek @th The only reason I ended up at Schiphol was because I fell asleep and woke up just as the doors were closing in Leiden.

And then we had a brief delay in the Schiphol tunnels, as I heard the train back to Leiden rumble past.

😭

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