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Archive for November 2019

Half-Life: Alyx

posted in Virtual Reality by Cargo Cult on Thursday November 21 2019

Sorry for being a bit quiet lately. I've been busy. Half-Life: Alyx

Archive for December 2018

Photogrammetric Catch-up, part 1 of WHO KNOWS

posted in Virtual Reality by Cargo Cult on Tuesday December 25 2018

I really ought to post more to this blog-beast. So, in a brief moment of calm and as a Christmas / Saturnalia / Newtonmas / Whatever gift, have some recently posted photogrammetric captures for VR! ...

Archive for March 2018

Photographic Catch-up, part 1 of MAXINT

posted in Photography by Cargo Cult on Sunday March 11 2018

Starting to catch up with unposted photos, starting from August last year and making it all the way to October. Beautiful Derbyshire Ugly old Canada There's some Belgian ones in there too. These ...

Archive for November 2017

Apocalypse Now

posted in Photography by Cargo Cult on Tuesday November 14 2017

Incoming Powerless Post Windmageddon reference material #63759 Post Windmageddon reference material #66743 Post Windmageddon reference material #61244 Post Windmageddon reference material #68763 Pos ...

Archive for July 2017

Sunday Things - something is wrong edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday July 9 2017

What, this? It's the Sunday Things. Remember? Broken News Broken News - something has gone terribly wrong.​ Huw Edwards takes several minutes to reboot, it turns out. Apparently a computer glitch ra ...

Still more Hawaii in VR

posted in Virtual Reality by Cargo Cult on Thursday July 6 2017

Capturing all those beautiful tropical beaches again - actually, a nicely hideous desolate volcanic hellscape slowly being reclaimed by plant life. Shot in a bit of a hurry (less than fifteen minutes ...

Archive for June 2017

Yet more Hawaii in VR

posted in Virtual Reality by Cargo Cult on Tuesday June 27 2017

Please excuse the recent lack of Sunday Things. I've been busy. Also, forgetful. I've been building up a nice stockpile of links, though... Meanwhile, have some more virtual Hawaii. If anyone was c ...

Now visit Hawaii in VR

posted in Virtual Reality by Cargo Cult on Thursday June 1 2017

When it's not been too warm, the weather's been decent enough in Seattle - but if it does start raining again, I can always retreat to the simulated baleful glare of the vicious day-star courtesy of a ...

Archive for May 2017

Sunday Things - last minute edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday May 28 2017

Too bloody warm in Seattle. I'm almost tempted to move somewhere with shite weather, like San Francisco. SPANG! What Does A Meteorite Hitting A Spacecraft Sound Like? - using wobbles in image data ...

SteamVR Home

posted in Virtual Reality by Cargo Cult on Sunday May 21 2017

That oft-mentioned Destinations is going away - and is being​ replaced by SteamVR itself. Concrete on the right is 'borrowed' from a bus station in Seattle. The previously unannounced SteamVR Hom ...

Sunday Things - tiny code edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday May 14 2017

The text for this article is likely longer than most of the things I'm linking to - tiny pieces of algorithmic sculpture​ that makes things like elevated look positively obese. A Mind Is Born A Mi ...

Sunday Things - still not Monday edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday May 7 2017

Sunday evening is the new habit. So, enjoy some space-themed​ links. Spaaaaaace! Approach above Sunset - looking like a gorgeously colourful 1970s science fiction novel cover, here's a Cygnus supply ...

Archive for April 2017

Sunday Things - not quite Monday edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday April 30 2017

It can be handy living this far west of Greenwich. It gives more time for procrastination. Cosmic cinema! Seven Soviet sci-fi films everyone should see​ - further to last week's Tarkovsky micro-ex ...

Sunday Things - entirely on time edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday April 23 2017

Last week's Sunday Things was a special edition exclusively for the IRS (the contents weren't exactly riveting stuff) - and in keeping with these modern times, I have decreed not to share it with the ...

Sunday Things - belated photographic edition

posted in Photography by Cargo Cult on Sunday April 9 2017

Late again? I've been away. More scenes have been captured for VR, and I even took a few conventional shots too. Mystery tree Volcano Metrosideros polymorpha A few extras on the photos page. I h ...

Sunday Things - late edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday April 2 2017

It's still Sunday! ... Depending on where you are. Vault-Tec: Revolutionizing safety for an uncertain future. Dustbin of History: Project Greek Island - new employee at hotel complex audits the boo ...

Archive for March 2017

Sunday Things - yet another edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday March 26 2017

More random linkage dredged from the bookmarks! Not exactly an MD5 hash. Kit Williams's Golden Hare - an ARG​ long before ARGs existed, Masquerade was a 1970s puzzle book​ which reached out into the ...

Still another non-photo

posted in Virtual Reality by Cargo Cult on Wednesday March 22 2017

Yet another digitised segment of Derbyshire to explore in room-scale VR, this time some wintry Beech Woodlands on the Destinations Workshop. I really do need to digitise more of Seattle some time. ...​

Sunday Things - nuclear wasteland edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday March 19 2017

Prompted by no recent events whatsoever, here's a guide to nuclear wastelands of various types - and the apocalyptic events that might trigger them. "We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know ...

Sunday Things - photographic interlude

posted in Photography by Cargo Cult on Sunday March 12 2017

Since I've been thoroughly neglecting to upload any photos recently, have a purely arbitrary selection from the past year or so on the photos page. (I'm still sorting a load out​ in Lightroom, and real ...

Sunday Things - miscellaneous edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday March 5 2017

Greetings, readers across the world! I had a quick peer at my web-stats whatsits, to see followers from as far afield as Austria, Latvia, Peru and New Zealand. Hello, whoever you​ are. This week is ...

Archive for February 2017

Sunday Things - eccentric edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday February 26 2017

Thematic! Pullies, springs and knotted string. W. Heath Robinson's Inventions - I was thinking the other day about Heath Robinson and his splendid inventions, having seen some of the works of Rube ...

Sunday Things - obsolete video edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday February 19 2017

Are you following Techmoan? You probably ought to be - a northern gadget nut who's been acquiring, repairing and documenting all sorts of weird and wonderful old bits of home entertainment systems. Mo ...

Sunday Things - warbird edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday February 12 2017

A hangar, neglected and abandoned since soon after the war became irrelevant. Sunlight streams through grimy windows on​ to faded plastic and tarpaulin sheeting covering unidentifiable mechanical shape ...

Sunday Things - dredged from the bookmarks edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday February 5 2017

Quick selection this week - opening up 'Other Bookmarks', waiting for it to slowly (so slowly!) scroll near the end, then randomly clicking on a few things. Going underground... Train to Nowhere - ...

Archive for January 2017

Sunday Things - aeronautical aedition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday January 29 2017

It continues. Somehow. Excuse the random arm in shot Photos: An Inside Look of an Antonov An-124 - while recently walking to the bus in Seattle, I heard an apocalyptic rumbling noise from above. Lo ...

Sunday Things - mostly retro edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday January 22 2017

Old hardware, new techniques. Or something. It's almost as if I choose the theme after throwing some random links together. Spaaaaaace! Serene Saturn (or the “Glutton for Punishment” mosaic) - gorg ...

Sunday Things - delving too deep edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday January 15 2017

So yes, the Sunday Things is back. Surprised yet? I definitely am. Now, to rummage through some​ of the masses of links I've been building up... The exciting bit of the Bullet Time stuff in the M ...

Yet more non-photos

posted in Virtual Reality by Cargo Cult on Sunday January 8 2017

It's 2017? Crikey. Have some more non-photos on Destinations: Raufarholshellir Lava Tube, Iceland - or a close simulation thereof Raufarholshellir Lava Tube, Iceland - as seen in The Lab, only rep ...

Archive for November 2016

Colourful post-apocalyptia

posted in Media by Cargo Cult on Friday November 11 2016

In a bit of a post-apocalyptic mood lately, for potentially obvious reasons. Ciclope, a beautiful little animation made for the opening of a film festival, cheered me up a bit: Ciclope Anyway, I ...

Archive for October 2016

Also not photos

posted in Virtual Reality by Cargo Cult on Saturday October 29 2016

More work on that increasingly world-spanning Destinations -​ a couple more non-photos for you to explore. The full-3D versions are included with recent Destinations updates, while those of you lacking ...

Archive for June 2016

This is not a photo

posted in Virtual Reality by Cargo Cult on Friday June 17 2016

I think you're all witnessing the future of my holiday photography - here's a VR-enabled, photogrammetric scan of Thingvellir National Park, Iceland as photographed in August​ 2015 and processed just r ...

Get your arse to Mars - and now everywhere else too

posted in Virtual Reality by Cargo Cult on Friday June 10 2016

Anyone for a Workshop-enabled, virtual reality scene-sharing​ system? In an initial step towards some sort of dystopian metaverse (that, or glorious virtual tourism across our planet and beyond), pleas ...

Archive for April 2016

That 'reality' thing was overrated anyway

posted in Virtual Reality by Cargo Cult on Tuesday April 5 2016

Something I've been busy with for a while is finally released: A glimpse of the future. I've been using the HTC Vive (from dodgy 3D-printed prototypes onwards) for over a year now, and it still ...

Archive for March 2016

2016-03-22

posted in General by Cargo Cult on Tuesday March 22 2016

Solidarity

Archive for November 2015

Get your arse to Mars

posted in Space by Cargo Cult on Friday November 6 2015

Another one of my side-projects went out of control, this time becoming part of a temporary exhibit for the Museum of Flight's Spacefest event. Disclaimer: Our HMDs are not hermetically sealed agai ...

Archive for October 2015

That's no Moon!

posted in Media by Cargo Cult on Thursday October 29 2015

The Last Man, a short(-ish) film from Gavin Rothery, art director bloke for Moon. Goes well with the dismal Seattle weather. Having a lovely day? All bright and cheerful? Destroy it all​ with th ...

Archive for September 2015

Teleportation, today

posted in Virtual Reality by Cargo Cult on Friday September 25 2015

Who needs a holodeck? Fellow adventurer in photogrammetry David Finsterwalder has recorded a video of my scanned scenes as uploaded to Steam. The first two are office scans (while he merely gets th ...

An elaborate ruse to get people to look at my holiday photos​

posted in Virtual Reality by Cargo Cult on Monday September 21 2015

Oh, hello again. I've been busy. Viewing this at home melted my brain. That brief mention of photogrammetry in an earlier article turned into a fully-fledged obsession. Viewing things on a fl ...

Archive for June 2015

Buran(s)

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Monday June 15 2015

It's okay, you can all stop emailing me this link now. Actually, please don't - it's bloody fantastic. In case you're not aware, a certain Ralph Mirebs somehow got​ access to a forgotten Baikonur ...

Archive for October 2014

Analogue

posted in Photography by Cargo Cult on Sunday October 5 2014

That whole 'digital' idiocy was just a passing fad. Everyone, myself included, is going back to tried-and-tested​ film technology - with self-developed photographic emulsion,​ a camera older than me and ...

Archive for September 2014

Intermittent Electronics

posted in Electronics by Cargo Cult on Sunday September 14 2014

Been slacking a bit. Will catch up with this blogging malarkey sooner or later. For now, have an unrepresentative prototype. Rat's nest of wiring.

Archive for November 2013

Intermittent Things - Soviet Space edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday November 17 2013

Why, hello. Remember this, where I'd post interesting links to interesting things on a regular basis? Perhaps restricting itself to posting in a purely arbitrary manner, it's back. And it has some thi ...

Archive for October 2013

Gravity

posted in Media by Cargo Cult on Sunday October 6 2013

SPOILER WARNING: this article indirectly mentions major plot​ points in the film! Alfonso Cuarón may not realise it, but he's a director of video game movies. But he's definitely no Uwe Boll. I h ...

Sunday Things - catchup edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Thursday October 3 2013

Oh hello. This still on? Apologies for the extended silence - no real excuse, beyond being busy with loads of stuff at work and in my spare time. Working on a personal Flickr-replacement for one. With ...

Archive for September 2013

Sunday Things - Monday edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Monday September 9 2013

Is this Sunday Things late - or exceptionally early? You decide. I still have four minutes left of Monday. So there! ​ In media news, go see Upstream Colour, from the creator of Primer. People claim ...

Sunday Things - glory to Arstotzka edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday September 1 2013

Been busy simulating US border control, thanks to the glorious Papers, Please. Anyhow. Sunday things! Clever girls. Use of location (relative direction and distance) information by jumping spider ...

Archive for August 2013

Sunday Things - what-if space edition

posted in Space by Cargo Cult on Sunday August 25 2013

SPAAAAAACE! PPD-11 Hitchhiker Storage Container What might have been: Visiting Mars and Venus with Apollo-era hardware - expecting a wave of public enthusiasm following the Apollo landings, NAS ...

Sunday Things - guess what more links edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday August 18 2013

A quick selection this week: A hideous artefact intruding into our world from a separate universe. The Art of 3D Print Failure - Flickr group chronicling 3D printers' less successful attempts, wi ...

Sunday Things - Sunday edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday August 11 2013

Links! On Sunday! Gelatinous socialism. Be afraid, Daily Mail readers. 12 Reasons Pyrosomes Are My New Favorite Terrifying Sea Creatures - giant coordinated colonies of tiny invertebrates. The next ...

Sunday Things - catchup edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday August 4 2013

It's still Sunday here! Just... Try wearing this through a TSA checkpoint. Behold, the Innards of a Spacesuit - spacesuits are an incredible mix of​ flexible textiles and hard engineering - individu ...

Archive for July 2013

Sunday Things - road trip edition

posted in Photography by Cargo Cult on Sunday July 28 2013

Just returned from a slightly ridiculous Grand American Road​ Trip. Of note: free WiFi in cheap motels can be a bit lacking, thus the absence of last week's Sunday Things. The horror! The first one mis ...

Sunday Things - kerbal space edition

posted in Media by Cargo Cult on Sunday July 14 2013

Saturdays are for getting confused about dates and setting the following day's article to appear on Monday. Oops. Anyhow, one brief edit later, here are a few screenshots from a few weeks' escapades i ...

Sunday Things - miscellaneous edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday July 7 2013

Considering it's artificial stone, concrete can decay remarkably quickly. I suppose it's that decidedly reactive rebar inside. This place will appear in a million computer games in six months or so. ...

Archive for June 2013

Radio-4-Matic - AC power update

posted in Electronics by Cargo Cult on Sunday June 30 2013

Analogue electronics? Terrifying. And something other than the Sunday Things? Heresy! ... I suspect more through luck than judgement, I've successfully upgraded the Radio-4-Matic to run complete ...

Sunday Things - launch site edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday June 23 2013

Unidentified launch site #1 Unidentified launch site #2 Unidentified launch site #3 Unidentified launch site #4

Sunday Things - reading list edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday June 16 2013

Enough pictures and videos. Have some readings to read instead! Iain Banks: the final interview - political, profane and hilarious - much missed already. If you have a UK IP address, see also BBC ...

Iain (M.) Banks - 1954-2013

posted in Obituaries by Cargo Cult on Monday June 10 2013

My heroes are dying. I knew it was coming, but now it's Iain​ Banks' turn. At least I had the chance to thank him first. I've never been able to look at furniture in the same way since. I thin ...

Sunday Things - quick edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday June 9 2013

Couple of links. You get the idea! Ariane 5 rocket-o-matic On-rocket video of ATV-4 launch - 20-tonne European monster carrying supplies to the International Space Station, launched atop an Arian ...

Sunday Things - anniversary and disk crash edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday June 2 2013

Good news! This blog has been going for an entire year, and I haven't missed a single Sunday Things. Bad news! My laptop's hard disk has just died, taking with it numerous bookmarks I'd been collat ...

Archive for May 2013

Sunday Things - ruinous edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday May 26 2013

Various ruins, caves, bunkers and abandoned cities for this week's edition of ... the Sunday Things! An echo of an image fished out of a dead area of the internet. Guardian telephone exchange - h ...

Sunday Things - Soviet space edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday May 19 2013

Yet more space? Indeedy. This time with post-communist leanings. Two-thirds the mass of Mir in a single launch. The secret laser-toting Soviet satellite that almost was - in the late 1980s, the S ...

Space Oddity

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Monday May 13 2013

Next step: launch Bowie into space as a permanent fixture on​ the ISS. Commander Chris Hadfield? Already people's hero. Now? In his​ last video from the International Space Station before returning t ...

Sunday Things - yet more space edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday May 12 2013

Links! In spaaaaaaace! This 1970s-designed space hardware is still more advanced than the Nostromo Space Shuttle Full Fuselage Trainer - this​ is perhaps the closest a random member of the public ...

Sunday Things - miniature egotism edition

posted in Media by Cargo Cult on Sunday May 5 2013

Brain has been eaten by re-release of a side project. For anyone here due to Raspberry Pi hacking or whatever, my previous hobby of computer game modding accidentally turned into a job. Anyway, for va ...

Archive for April 2013

Sunday Things - Edité-Frignim edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday April 28 2013

Important information! And some rust and decay. Our fantastic leader uses Helvetica (I checked) Building a Human - pay attention to this important message from our fantastic leader, Arpoovian She ...

Sunday Things - still another edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday April 21 2013

Catching up again. Sunday is imminent. Have some links! Geographical constraints mean more interesting environments.​ Architecture of Density - high-rise flats in Hong Kong, distilled down to thei ...

Sunday Things - photogenic edition

posted in Photography by Cargo Cult on Sunday April 14 2013

Haven't had much in the way of intertubes. Have some photos instead - a couple shown below... Peering at an invisible world, again. Spider! A holiday isn't being complete without being ejected from ...

Sunday Things - packet loss edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday April 7 2013

Stuck behind a really slow internet connection. Please accept some text-only links: Namie, Fukishima Prefecture, Japan - the world has a new Pripyat with the evacuated lands around the Fukushima ...

Aww, crap

posted in Media by Cargo Cult on Wednesday April 3 2013

Iain Banks - both with and without the 'M.' - diagnosed with​ terminal cancer. If you haven't already noticed, his writing's a bit of a major personal influence.

Archive for March 2013

Sunday Things - post-infinite edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday March 31 2013

Today's somewhat abbreviated Things has been slightly delayed due to finishing Bioshock Infinite. Oops. Mini-review: excellent. Also, people claiming the ending doesn't make sense? Amateurs. Any fan o ...

Sunday Things - rocketry edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday March 24 2013

Quick space-oriented edition while I catch up with stuff. What goes up must come down. F-1 Engine Recovery - if you launch a skyscraper-sized monster up into the air, it's not going to disappear. ...

Sunday Things - demoscene edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday March 17 2013

Never excuse 'programmer art'. Witness the demoscene - hackers making hardware do audiovisual things it wasn't supposed to. Like a tiny tiny Skyrim. elevated by Rgba and TBC - fantastic 4kB demo ...

Sunday Things - early flight edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday March 10 2013

Go read about aviation history on Wikipedia. A few brief highlights: Like a bat out of ... France? Ader Avion III - primitive, steam-powered, ineffective - but looking like an escapee from an alter ...

Sunday Things - Weekend edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday March 3 2013

Multiple links from readers this week! Cheers muchly. BORING PHOTOS Railway tunnel construction beneath Grand Central Terminal, New York - New York has extended upwards, and downwards. Now they'r ...

Archive for February 2013

Sunday Things - Sunday Things edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday February 24 2013

More links! You get the idea. Robot wondering when it's time to come home. 360º Curiosity self-portrait panorama - this clever blend of MAHLI and Mastcam imagery gives a full 360º view of everyth ...

Sunday Things - brief edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday February 17 2013

Sundays are for waking up, jet-lagged, with an hour to spare​ until the Sunday Things must be posted. (Go see the recent photos for a clue to where I've been.) So here, a thumbnail-free edition of this ...

Sunday Things - historical edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday February 10 2013

Apparently, the UK is prepared for a solar superstorm, like the "'Carrington storm' of September 1859". The what, I thought? Cue the intertubes - the solar storm of 1859, in which the Earth was hit by ...

Sunday Things - photographic edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday February 3 2013

Various photographic links for today, coincidentally pointing towards that Flickr-thing. Engage the photonic experimentalism! Move over, tilt-shift. Chicago in Synthetic Focus - effectively capturi ...

Archive for January 2013

Sunday Things - Sunday edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday January 27 2013

Links! Links links links. Also, I've thought of a short-term, very silly Raspberry Pi project. Wahey! Surprising amounts of wilderness. Census Dotmap - US and Canadian census data, plotted to make ...

Sunday Things - continuing edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday January 20 2013

More things. On Sunday. You get the idea. Is that bit supposed to fall off like that? Lana Sator, post-Soviet urban explorer - she of rocket factory infiltration fame, somehow her rust-laden blog ...

Sunday Things - oh-hello edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday January 13 2013

So it would appear after the Radio-4-Matic escapades earlier​ this week, I gained some more readers! Hello. To you, I shall explain the Sunday Things - essentially, every Sunday I post some Thing ...

Radio-4-Matic - part 4 - Radio 4

posted in Electronics by Cargo Cult on Saturday January 12 2013

So, it seems someone at Radio 4 spotted this thing, and one thing led to another and I ended up being interviewed on PM.​ Yes, me on national radio! On a proper news programme! Blinking heck. Like a ...

Radio-4-Matic - part 3 - software

posted in Electronics by Cargo Cult on Friday January 11 2013

I promised 'Friday' for this third, code-containing article,​ and according to my radio it's still Friday (Today in Parliament's playing) - so here we are. Before I even had a chance to fully docume ...

Radio-4-Matic - part 2 - hardware

posted in Electronics by Cargo Cult on Wednesday January 9 2013

Continuing this series on the hacked-together, time-travelling Radio-4-Matic, time for some hardware. This was going to have been a guide to dismembering an old, non-functional radio and rebuilding it ...

Radio-4-Matic - part 1 - introduction

posted in Electronics by Cargo Cult on Monday January 7 2013

So, there have been vague hintings at a Raspberry Pi project​ I've been building. It's been functional for a while in its time-travelling lunacy - but first, what the hell is it? Something one encou ...

Sunday Things - urbex edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday January 6 2013

What would we do without intrepid photographers infiltrating​ abandoned buildings? Probably have to go infiltrating more of them ourselves, of course. The science of corrosion. Abandoned biologica ...

Archive for December 2012

Sunday Things - end-of-the-year edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday December 30 2012

Last article of 2012! At this rate, I need to extend the archives to split things into separate years - fifty articles in just over six months? Not bad going... Astronauts should cut down on the ca ...

Sunday Things - post-apocalyptic, pre-Newtonmas edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday December 23 2012

So, the Mayan apocalypse turned out to be deeply disappointing - and the anniversary of the birth of Sir Isaac Newton isn't quite upon us. Ignoring calendrical differences for the latter, obviously. S ...

Sunday Things - experimental aeronautical edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday December 16 2012

A Sunday Things with a cohesive theme! That's not space! But​ lots of weird-looking planes instead, courtesy of Wikipedia's list of experimental aircraft. Here are a few picks: For something nomin ...

Sunday Things - interminable edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday December 9 2012

This 'ere blog-thing has been going for over six months now.​ How long can it continue? Let us find out. I'm amazed it's never leaked. The Underwater Ballroom - hidden somewhere at the bottom of a ...

Sunday Things - another edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday December 2 2012

Big-endian FTW Motorola MC68000 processor die, imaged by the​ 6502-simulating-from-base-principles Visual 6502 project. They've also got an RCA 1802 CPU, as used in various spacecraft. A cosmic coinc ...

Archive for November 2012

BREAKING NEWS - ROCKS DISCOVERED ON MARS

posted in Space by Cargo Cult on Sunday November 25 2012

I love the raw images service provided by the Mars Science Laboratory teams. Inexplicable lumps of an alien world appearing like jigsaw pieces, just asking to be reassembled into something more unders ...

Sunday Things - Sunday edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday November 25 2012

More links for your perusal. Please note: additional additions greatly appreciated! Post 'em in the comments. Or send an email. But enough of that, back to the Sunday Things: MY HOUSE HASN'T BEEN B ...

Mystery Project - part 2

posted in Electronics by Cargo Cult on Friday November 23 2012

I'm good at having weird things arrive through the post. The​ latest acquisition? Observation: box is labelled 'potatoes'. Plenty of bubble-wrap! Not seen: the Royal Warrant of Appointment. Plenty o ...

STOP PRESS - THE SPACE-ROBOT HAS MOVED

posted in Space by Cargo Cult on Wednesday November 21 2012

That Martian space-robot has gone for another space-drive - having poked and sniffed and ingested lots of Martian space-dust over the past weeks. Did it detect something important? We don't know yet! ...

Sunday Things - miscellaneous edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday November 18 2012

Google Translate declared this to be the 'Combine DAG'. Hmm... Kombinat DAG Alfred Nobel Krzystkowice - ruins of a WW2-era German munitions factory in the forests outside Nowogród Bobrzański, Poland ...

Sunday Things - electrical edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday November 11 2012

Electricity. What can't it do? Nikola Tesla - commemorated with a shockingly powerful unit of magnetic flux Tesla coil electricity fight - to be honest, they look more concerned about falling off t ...

Sunday Things - phobic edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday November 4 2012

Multiple phobia-tickling videos and photos for your amusement today. We start with... Dank, dark, underwater and rusting. What's not to like? Flooded Titan missile silo dive - both the claustrophob ...

STOP PRESS - THAT SPACE-ROBOT IS STILL ON MARS

posted in Space by Cargo Cult on Thursday November 1 2012

Raw images spotted! Self-portaiture using MAHLI instrument verified! Unofficial MSL Curiosity self-portrait assembled using Hugin! Dust-covered camera lens cap retracted! MSL Curiosity self-portrai ...

Archive for October 2012

Lebbeus Woods - 1940-2012

posted in Obituaries by Cargo Cult on Tuesday October 30 2012

High Houses Lower Manhattan Vertical Vibrations Lebbeus Woods - May 31, 1940 to October 30, 2012.

Mystery Project - part 1

posted in Electronics by Cargo Cult on Monday October 29 2012

Clue: it's all terribly British. Second, newly self-contained prototype for my Raspberry Pi project is up and running! Now I just need to get the rest of the parts. Oddly, the main section can't be fo ...

Sunday Things - digital archaeology edition

posted in Computers by Cargo Cult on Sunday October 28 2012

This Raspberry Pi is well-travelled. RISC OS for Raspberry Pi released - come see what the ubiquitous ARM processor was​ originally designed for. While I never actually owned one of​ the peculiarly Brit ...

Sunday Things - abandonment and auroral edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday October 21 2012

SCIENCE! Also, rusty. Remains of the High Power Auroral Stimulation (HIPAS) Observatory in Two Rivers, Alaska - according to Wikipedia they got up to all sorts of things, including heating the ionosph ...

Sunday Things - silicotype edition

posted in Photography by Cargo Cult on Sunday October 14 2012

Everyone else was busy prancing around with Tumblr, Instagram, Twitpic and the like, so I decided to join in on the fun with my home-made Silicotypes. Needlessly referencing older photographic systems ...

Sunday Things - media edition

posted in Media by Cargo Cult on Sunday October 7 2012

Sundays are for reflecting on science fiction - past, present and future. Or is that nonlinear future/more-future,​ ultra-future and alternate-past? Looper trailer - may contain traces of dubstep ...

Archive for September 2012

Sunday Things - miscellaneous edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday September 30 2012

Sundays are for realising the combination of a cold and jet-lag has prevented the Saturday night compilation of the latest Sunday Things. So in a way, this is late - and for the first time ever - but ...

Sunday Things - Seattle LiDAR edition

posted in 3D by Cargo Cult on Sunday September 23 2012

What to do on long train journeys with no intertubes and no books to read? Instead of succumbing to tedious modern media​ consumption with a Kindle or iPad, why not break out the high-end modelling and ...

Sunday Things - underground edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday September 16 2012

Quick subterranean edition, assembled while waiting to board​ a plane... Yet more real-life Minecraft. Given the opportunity to dig, people will dig. Caves of Nottingham - the mighty BLDGBLOG goes e ...

STOP PRESS (again) - THE ROBOT IS LOOKING AT US

posted in Space by Cargo Cult on Sunday September 9 2012

Beady little spider-eyes? That Martian robot has gained sentience, and is looking at us. It can see itself, and it knows we can see it. Forget the cute, cuddly and anthropomorphic mastcam self-port ...

Sunday Things - biological edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday September 9 2012

This week, only one mention of a particular Martian robot! Instead, an attempt at a biological theme. I found lots of things in my bookmarks, but mostly vomit-inducing anatomy...​ Close relations: ...

STOP PRESS - THERE IS A ROBOT ON MARS

posted in Space by Cargo Cult on Friday September 7 2012

CURIOUS ROBOT Telemetry indicates that the robot naming itself 'MSL Curiosity' has gained self-awareness and is now observing itself using its own imaging hardware. Fortunately it has yet to fig ...

Sunday Things - accidental space edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday September 2 2012

I was going to create a list of non-space-oriented links, but one thing led to another, and before I knew it I had nothing but. I'm obsessed! Space-potato! Reprocessed space imagery - courtesy of ...

Archive for August 2012

Neil Armstrong - 1930-2012

posted in Obituaries by Cargo Cult on Sunday August 26 2012

Apollo 11 Launch Neil Armstrong - 5 August 1930 - 25 August 2012

Sunday Things - nuclear propulsion edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday August 19 2012

While reading up on the oft-mentioned MSL Curiosity and its nuclear-fuelled RTG power supply, I got distracted by some altogether less safe nuclear options starting with the heady​ days of the Cold War ...

Sunday Thing - miniature Mars Science Laboratory edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday August 12 2012

Previously, details of landings on alien planets were left to the imagination. The barest minimum of links this week, thanks to an extended​ trip to Canada - so, here goes. Want updates on NASA and ...

Canadian Science

posted in Photography by Cargo Cult on Saturday August 11 2012

Expect some jumbo-sized uploads to Flickr quite imminently, but I've recently found myself unexpectedly exploring multiple Canadian research establishments with a camera. Your intrepid corresponden ...

Sunday Things - emergency Mars edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday August 5 2012

Following a vast journey across unfathomable emptiness, a lone explorer shall survey the empty, potentially lifeless wastes of ... Canada? In case they don't have the intertubes in Canadaland, here ...

Archive for July 2012

Sunday Things - non-Olympic edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday July 29 2012

The Sunday Things series continues its unstoppable march with a miscellaneous batch of non-Olympian links this week: ​ I'm sure Walter Bishop is somehow to blame. Mirror Wall - a mirror that respon ...

Sunday Things - MORE SPAAAAAACE edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday July 22 2012

First of all, let's get the particularly SPAAAACE-oriented link out of the way: Spheres that insist on going into space are inferior to spheres that don't. Wheatley in Spaaaaaaace! - laser-etched ...

Sunday Things - Sunday edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday July 15 2012

Sunday mornings are for reading the Sunday Papers, drinking tea and planning new photographic excursions. Instead we got online tax returns, cheap tat from China and videos of cats on YouTube. Th ...

Timelapse-o-Tron™ 9000, part 1a

posted in Photography by Cargo Cult on Tuesday July 10 2012

I'm still writing up parts two (and three) of my how-does-my-intervalometer-work series of articles, but in the meantime have a summery, Space Needle-y, Sunday Seattle sunset sequence that I shot the ...

Sunday Things - miscellaneous edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday July 8 2012

First, we celebrate CERN's discovery of the Higgs boson and their gloriously inappropriate use of Comic Sans! At last, the world of physics has cast aside the dreadfully tedious Computer Modern and re ...

Antiquated Polish Explorations - Modlin

posted in Photography by Cargo Cult on Tuesday July 3 2012

Finally getting around to uploading photos I took nearly four years ago - here's a wider selection from the Modlin Fortress, a vast 19th century fortress north of Warsaw. Next time, we'll get furt ...

Sunday Things - science and engineering edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday July 1 2012

Almost a month of the blog-thing. How's it going? Plenty of people reading, not so many commenting. Like it or not, I'm going to continue! BWUAHAHAHA, etc. Solaris? Deep Blue Sea - splendid image ...

Archive for June 2012

Mystery packages from the former USSR

posted in Photography by Cargo Cult on Monday June 25 2012

How to scare the postal operatives. Nuclear materials? Explosive devices? WHO KNOWS???? Wait. That looks familiar... I've got one like it already, but bent! LOMO BIOLAM microscope, now in focus! ...

Sunday Things - SPAAAAAACE edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday June 24 2012

What’s your favourite thing about space? Mine is space. Now try putting them back together again. Decommissioning the Space Shuttles - now neatly installed in museums, they required gutting first ...

Friday Fings - ancient edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Friday June 22 2012

Another assorted selection of things entirely derived from the bowels of my bookmarks list... Anyone else feel hungry? Anatomical Atlases - from the National Library of Medicine's collection. Des ...

Sunday Things - happy fun edition

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday June 17 2012

"Oh, don't mind the tripod. I'm just taking some deeply sinister photos. Carry on!" City of Shadows - long, black-and-white exposures of a newly post-communist Saint Petersburg, from Alexey Titarenk ...

Thursday Things

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Thursday June 14 2012

Top. Men. Fifty greatest matte paintings - yeah, it's a list, but it's got some weird and wonderful stuff. And Hitchcock was an absolute master of showing things that weren't there, it turns out. L ...

Timelapse-o-Tron™ 9000, part 1

posted in Electronics by Cargo Cult on Wednesday June 13 2012

Computers are way too fancy these days, with their gigabytes​ of memory, gigahertz of multiple processing cores, hyper-parallel GPUs and terabytes of storage. Sometimes we nerds yearn for a simpler age ...

Sunday Things

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday June 10 2012

LV-002 Splendid transit of Venus from the Japanese Hinode satellite. cs_firenze1528 Michelangelo was a level designer - designing​ and optimising sniper balconies for ideal camping opportunities. L ...

Prometheus

posted in Media by Cargo Cult on Saturday June 9 2012

So, I braved the mixed reviews and went to see Prometheus - being of the opinion that the original Alien was by far the best of the franchise. Prepared for abject disappointment, I​ was quite surprised ...

Space is Big

posted in Space by Cargo Cult on Thursday June 7 2012

Surprisingly, the weather in Seattle on Tuesday was utterly and totally cloudy - just like it had been for the annular eclipse of the sun a few weeks ago. Fortunately, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observa ...

Tuesday Miscellany

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Tuesday June 5 2012

My bookmarks-list is roughly two thousand screens long - a vaguely-chronologically-ordered mass of things I've found interesting in the last eight years or so. Some of the older pages still operate ...

Sunday Things

posted in Links by Cargo Cult on Sunday June 3 2012

Right, time to actually post some links. Behold, links! Frozen beasts about to eat Arctic explorers? Sentinels of the Arctic from Astronomy Picture of the Day. Iron oxide is a vital part of any ...

Is this thing on?

posted in General by Cargo Cult on Saturday June 2 2012

In keeping with today's ever-progressing consolidation of internet communications into huge, data-farming social-networking ultra-sites, I've decided to catch up with​ the 20th century and set up my ow ...