The topic of explosive decompression generates a lot of nonsense, particularly in science fiction films and television series, but also scattered across the internet generally. We actually know quite a lot about what would happen if a human being were exposed to the vacuum of space—and it turns out not to be like the movies. … Continue reading Human Exposure To Vacuum: Part 1
Kruger & Dunning: Unskilled and Unaware of It – How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments
Well, that’s the news from Lake Wobegon—where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average. Garrison Keillor, Lake Wobegon monologues, passim My paper this time comes from the June 1999 edition of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Here is a link to the original … Continue reading Kruger & Dunning: Unskilled and Unaware of It – How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments
Sidlaws: Lundie Craigs to Newtyle Hill
Lundie Craigs (NO 281378, 353m) Keillor Hill (NO 281385, 334m) Donald’s Brae (NO 293396, c280m) Auchtertyre Hill (NO 293398, 278m) Newtyle Hill (NO 296399, 270m) Ardgarth Hill (NO 277372, 320m) Smithton Hill (NO 276366, 324m) 15 kilometres 460 metres ascent In my continuing campaign of Sidlaw-bagging, this walk fills in a missing chunk of the … Continue reading Sidlaws: Lundie Craigs to Newtyle Hill
Nacreous
ˈneɪkriːəs nacreous: pertaining to or resembling mother-of-pearl Nacreous clouds are in the UK news at present, with multiple sightings in Scotland. There was an interesting divide in the BBC news coverage of the phenomenon this evening, with national newsreader George Alagiah intoning some twaddle about “forming at sunset” and “caused by refraction” in a sing-song … Continue reading Nacreous
Advesperate
ædˈvɛspəreɪt advesperate: to draw towards night Writing about crepuscular rays recently reminded me that there are two kinds of crepuscule (twilight): matutine, from the Latin matutinus, “morning”, and vespertine from vespertinus, “evening”. Vespertinus is of course the origin of vespers, the evening prayer in some versions of Christianity. And it gives us my headword for … Continue reading Advesperate
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Crepuscular Rays
Crepuscular rays are rays that occur during the crepuscule, which is a fine old word for “twilight”. They’re the rays of brightness and shadow that seem to fan outwards and upwards from the setting or rising sun when it is masked by cloud. What’s happening is that the shadow of the clouds is being projected … Continue reading Crepuscular Rays
Levison Wood: Walking The Himalayas
“You come all this way to see the views and get out of breath? What a strange people you are.” This is the successor volume to Levison Wood‘s Walking The Nile, which recorded his journey on foot from the source of the Nile to the Mediterranean. It’s a companion to his TV series of the … Continue reading Levison Wood: Walking The Himalayas
Sidlaws: Ballo Hills
Ballo Hill (NO 263351, 301m) Southballo Hill (NO 256348, 303m) Northballo Hill (NO 251352, 319m) Hill of Dores (NO 257360, 268m) 7 kilometres 270m ascent A shorter excursion this time—four hills tucked into the space between the roads at Ballo Glack and Tullybaccart. Mainly chosen because it was the first outing for a new pair … Continue reading Sidlaws: Ballo Hills
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Airfix 1/72 Sikorsky SH-3D Sea King: Part 3
Go to first post of this build log So there’s another weird, reclusive model-builder featuring in Fringe, season 5, episode 11. But, hey, he’s helping to save the world, so that’s all good. Here’s a good view of how the canopy turned out, after the blue glass paint: Things have gone a little slowly since … Continue reading Airfix 1/72 Sikorsky SH-3D Sea King: Part 3
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Floccinaucinihilipilification
ˌflɒksɪˌnɔːsɪˌnɪhɪlɪˌpɪlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən Floccinaucinihilipilification: The act of estimating as worthless Flocci, nauci, nihili, pili, assis, hujus, teruncii, his verbis, aestimo, pendo, facio, peculiariter adduntur. Eton Latin Grammar (1758) What the sentence above was telling generations of Etonians is that the verbs aestimo (“to value”), pendo (“to weigh or consider”) and facio (“to make”) take certain objects irregularly in … Continue reading Floccinaucinihilipilification