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We are getting absolutely smacked by the heat here. The garden Is just dying. Easily the hottest summer I've seen since moving here. Steady 90s this week. Six inches down on rain totals.

Out of surgery and my dog will not leave me alone. Following me everywhere and generally fussing over me. Dogs are just great.

87% humidity outside. It's absolutely vile. Started drizzling thought which is good. The plants and wildlife need it. A lot of skinny rabbits about this year. I think they're suffering.

As we approach the holiday here I'm reminded of the ever hilarious Dennis in Derry Girls trying to flog his dodgy flags
youtu.be/EEYTK6FnyOc

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Looks like I moved up a spot and am now the author of the fourth most-downloaded article in the ACM Digital Library!

And this is why all of your academic publications should have absolutely shameless clickbait titles.

If Lord of the Rings was real, every time Frodo makes it to the volcano he would have to complete 5 forms about his visit, despite having been before and despite Sauron knowing it all anyway. Yes I'm at the doctor, why do you ask?

Jim boosted

Today in 1934, 90 years ago: in Germany, Adolf Hitler orders the assassination of his political opponents (Night of the Long Knives). Nazi serviceman Ernst Röhm is murdered.

#OnThisDay

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Today in 1521, 503 years ago: the Spanish conquerors razed the city of Tlatelolco, an ally of Tenochtitlan, in one of the decisive battles of the conquest and destruction of the Aztec Empire.

#OnThisDay

Watching live coverage of the Spa 24hrs race. Seeing those handful of people in the illuminated grandstands in the small hours..that's fan dedication.
youtu.be/8_iaEpdMUq4

My car is repairable. No frame damage. Huge hit in a small area which I thought would have buckled the unibody. The shockwave broke the interior trunk liner. It will however be a while due to large number of parts and the ongoing CDK outage. Had the wheel and transfer case been dinged it would have pushed it over the underwriter's number. As it happens it did not even lose alignment. So lucky.

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Today in 1969, 55 years ago: in London, the British band Pink Floyd releases the album Music from the film "More".

#OnThisDay

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When a proton and neutron crash into each other, they can stick together and make a deuterium nucleus. After another proton and neutron hit this, you get helium. That's how helium was made in the early Universe. But there was a bottleneck which limited this process!

About 15 seconds after the Big Bang, it cooled down enough for antimatter to go away. Then all we had was protons, neutrons, electrons and a shitload of light.

But neutrons are unstable - they decay into protons - so it was a race against time to make deuterium by smacking protons and neutrons together. And it was still way too hot. All that energetic light destroyed the deuterium nuclei as fast as they got made!

Only later, 3 minutes and 45 seconds after the Big Bang, did it cool down to the point where deuterium nuclei become stable. Alas, by then most of the neutrons had decayed. There were about 7 protons for every neutron.

At this point, most of the remaining neutrons quickly combined with protons and made deuterium and then helium. But a lot of protons were left without dance partners! So the universe was roughly 3/4 hydrogen and 1/4 helium.

By then, it had cooled down too much for heavier elements to be formed. This only happened much later, in stars. And the universe is still roughly 3/4 hydrogen and 1/4 helium... with a tiny bit of other stuff.

(2/2)

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Slept well for the first time in days. I had a very pleasant dream about hiking in the Himalayas, edging steadily towards Everest, which I think I intended to climb. Oddly fitting at the moment.

Amazon AI product summaries are a goldmine that encapsulates the hype. I'm looking at a replacement bike seat and Amazon ensures me people like it for pain. I know cycling attracts all types but I doubt that's what they meant...

On quite a high dose of steroids to control some eye inflammation. They are steadily working, but the side effects are usually mean. I can't get to sleep, wake up early, and feel like I'm jetlagged or in nicotine withdrawal. A nice afternoon nap ought to do...

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