Author | Lightnews

Nick Gibbins

Nick Gibbins

@nick.gark.net

350 followers 350 following 780 posts

Computer science lecturer, film and SF geek, gaming nerd (particularly the #TravellerRPG), manned spaceflight aficionado (but nothing Musky). cis, he/him.

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Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 16h

One of the few games that was best on the Atari 800, purely because it had four joystick ports.

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 16h

I, uh. How does that even happen?

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 1d

The Afanc legend is, shall we say, flexible; the different versions put the lake at various places in Gwynedd and Powys.

Perhaps the Afanc was elsewhere in one of its second homes when you visited?

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 1d

* Hu Gadarn. Autocorrect hates Cymraeg.

Why the Afanc? It’s a giant beaver-crocodile that (supposedly) lives in a sublime mountainous region that you can just visit. I was first told the story at the age of seven by a family friend from Llanfairfechan, and was fascinated by it.

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 1d

The Afanc! A monstrous Welsh lake beast, said to have dwelled inconveniently in Llyn yr Afanc near Betws-y-Coed in Eryri (Snowdonia) until relocated by Hu Gardan and his oxen.

Also linked with the Arthurian myths in other tellings via a story in the Mabinogion involving Peredur/Percival.

The Afanc: part crocodile, part beaver, all Welsh horror.

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 2d

But that’s normal, surely?

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 2d

What, you didn’t make a matchbox paddle boat? I bet you didn’t even make the cotton reel and candle tractor on p.24!

An illustration of a “tractor” made out of a wooden cotton reel, a drawing pin, a candle stub, a matchstick and a rubber band. The picture is taken from the Ladybird Book of Toys and Games to Make, first published in 1966.

We didn’t have much when I was a lad, but we were grateful.

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 3d

I wouldn’t rule out him going the Full Türkmenbaşy and building a giant gold statue of himself that turns to face the sun. Completely on-brand.

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 3d

“Pour encourager les autres.”

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 3d

You’re absolutely right about drag. There’s a trade-off between altitude, the size of the reflector, and the amount of propellant required to maintain altitude, and it doesn’t help that the satellites will probably have all of the aerodynamic grace of a full sheet of plywood strapped to a roof rack.

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 3d

tbh, I’m just waiting for the American right to start championing a geocentric view of the universe (no doubt with the willing acquiescence of a media that will “both sides” the “debate”).

E pur si muove!

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 3d

Fuel isn’t an issue; you’re only changing the attitude of the satellites (i.e. where they’re pointing) and not their orbits, and that can be done with reaction wheels rather than thruster-based reaction control systems that expend propellant.

It’s still an utterly crazy idea, however.

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 8d

Notably, the ability to save it for future viewing.

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 8d

Ryan has just gone up hugely in my estimation (and I was already impressed with Mr Beckwith compared with the younger wastrel Ryan).

I have the utmost respect for anyone who completes an OU degree - it’s doing higher education on the hard setting.

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 8d

Booths doesn’t feel like a very Tackleford thing.

One thing is certain, however: there’s definitely no Booths in Wendlefield.

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 8d

It’s astonishing how much worse they look in real life.

I’m still perversely proud of this photo I took last summer in DC of a rubbish truck (and behind it a municipal waste vehicle).

A photo of a rubbish truck with a matte black vinyl wrap on a leafy street in Washington DC. Behind it is a municipal waste vehicle.

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 9d

Don’t you dare go all Goodwin on us…

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 10d

Which museum is that? It doesn’t look like IWM, and I seem to recall that Cosford’s Polaris isn’t upright.

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 10d

Indeed - and I was pleased to see that the first few replies all expressed the wish that the student should get well soon.

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 10d

And I’d add: the poor hapless student is entirely blameless in all of this. There’s no way that they could have known that cc’ing that email address when replying to their tutor could have caused any problems. The real question is why the list is unmoderated (unlike the all.soton addresses).

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 10d

To be fair, the issue is that there’s an innocuous email address in the cc: that turns out to be a list containing every member of academic staff, and the email address doesn’t immediately make that clear.

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 12d

And as it happens, I drove through Portsmouth NH last summer and found that it compared favourably to Actual Portsmouth.

(full disclosure: I live in Southampton, and being rude about Pompey is traditional)

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 12d

HOW DARE YOU!

(I’m a relatively well-read computer scientist with a heightened sense of the absurd)

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 12d

Of course Manchester has a beach - you can see it from Wigan Pier.

Nick Gibbins @nick.gark.net · 12d

I once heard MBTI described as astrology for HR, but I don’t think it has even that much rigour