Animals
The Devil’s Bird
Some of you may have not read any comments by myself regarding swifts during the Summer months, usually noting their arrival, their numbers and when they leave. I’m not quite sure why but for me, [more…]
Rat Catcher
Engineering
Making A Ruby Laser – Part Five
Melting a hole through steel: The above image needs a little explanation! The Doc messed up his camera settings and under exposed the image. So I loaded it into Gimp and played with the curves [more…]
Engineering
The new bus for London – the original Routemaster
London’s tram network was equally loved and hated by its users and those inconvenienced by it. On the one hand, it was a reliable method of getting about however tracks were expensive to lay and [more…]
Engineering
Making A Ruby Laser – Part Three
More information on laser speckle can be found here: Speckle pattern A Mirror Alignment Tool The most important part of constructing a ruby laser (or any laser with external mirrors) are getting the mirrors alligned [more…]
Engineering
Making A Ruby Laser – Part Two
(a ruby rod lit by two bright blue LEDs. Due to the IR filter in my camera the pink colour is actually red. What you are seeing is the absorption of the blue light and the [more…]
Engineering
Making A Ruby Laser
Introduction For many years the Doc has had the desire to attempt the construction of a ruby laser. After six months of hard work, disappointment, late nights, lots of booze and a drained bank account [more…]
Authoritarianism
How I learned to despise the left and fear the bomb
It was during an English lesson during the late 1970s – English lessons were never about spelling, grammar, creative writing, etymology, poetry or literature, always, always politics – when a short term supply teacher told [more…]
Christianity
Going to Church
As a nipper, I was brought up in what was a fairly typical, English family. Mum, Dad, siblings and normal sorts of stuff. We were what I call typical Church of England. We all went [more…]
Physics
How does a LASER work?
In my youth, I was an avid reader of Electronics Today International. Not only did it cover the more hefty electronic DIY projects but it also liked to look forward in terms of technology and [more…]