Arts
Euthanasia Machine
It all started innocently enough with my dad. Namely, with a botched Chinese take away for his 79th anniversary. He got so badly over it he had to go to hospital and had to stay [more…]
Science
Mathematics
Where Astrophysics meets Climate Science
– Astrophysicists have succeeded in decoding Solar activity and the results show that climate scientists have some questions to answer. There is an interesting collision about to take place between astrophysics and climate science. This [more…]
Computing
Civil Contingencies: Preparing for Internet Shutdown and Censorship with Mesh Networks
We have entered the most fraught political and social climate I have yet experienced in my lifetime. Having discussed this with several GPers in person it is clear we need to start seriously considering contingency [more…]
Arts
Inside the Neolithic Mind
This is a rather niche book, but I know there are (at least) a few Puffins keen on archaeology, so I thought it might be of interest. It explores, as the subtitle says, ‘consciousness, cosmos [more…]
19th Century
Milestones in Nineteenth Century Firearms Development, Part Eight
Introduction During the first half of the 19th century great leaps forward were made in firearms technology and by the 1870s soldiers who 50 years earlier would have been supplied with flintlock, smoothbore muskets were [more…]
19th Century
Milestones in Nineteenth Century Firearms Development, Part Seven
Introduction By the 1860s it had become obvious that the days of the muzzle loading firearm were numbered and that any government that failed to re-arm its troops with breechloaders would quickly be left behind [more…]
20th Century
Milestones in Nineteenth Century Firearms Development, Part Six
Introduction Sometime in mid-2017 I casually remarked to the chap shooting at the next bench to me that I had long been fascinated by the Westley Richards ‘Monkey Tail’ transitional rifle but had never actually [more…]
19th Century
Milestones in Nineteenth Century Firearms Development, Part Five
Introduction By inducing a projectile to spin around its own axis its flight is stabilised and accuracy and range are vastly improved. Rifling a barrel by cutting spiral grooves in a variety of forms and [more…]
19th Century
Milestones in Nineteenth Century Firearms Development, Part Four
Introduction Every month my gun club holds a guest day when members can bring along friends and family to ‘have a go’ with their firearms. Maybe it’s because we were raised on a diet of [more…]