Wind

9°C, strong wind. short and frequent showers.

Strong Wind, see here. What an excellent site, I like things like this.

Saturday morning.

Meal deal.

8C, gales and heavy showers.
The commercial monster loves Valentine’s day. All that kitsch sickly pink plastic packaging has been peddled for weeks now. They have missed a trick though. A fifth of brits live alone, or some figure like that. The gap in the market is here-
The Valentine’s Meal Deal For One. It would look the same as the meal for two. I would include a bottle of wine, but it’s half empty. The chocolate box would be conspicuously missing half of the chocs, the ones you love most are strangely missing.

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On the cusp of spring.

7C, brisk SW, little rain, sunny.
cycle CA: Distance: 55.25mi, time: 04:00:51, speed: 13.4
http://mapmyride.com/workout/480462793
Spring is coming, not here yet even though many Snowdrops are out. The air does not yet smell of spring sweetness  though.
Relief though, my troublesome ankle was no real problem. I was worried about that. I am making a big effort to push long quick pedal strokes, pushing heels low. I suspect that it’s toes down cadence that causes the problem. I have to get this right, if I am to do those big rides later in the year.
Last summer, I did one ride of 100 miles in one day, but this year I want several. Maybe pushing the distance more each time. Wouldn’t it be great to do 140 in one day.

There were floods, four that I had to ride through.
An excellent ride.

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Pulsar visualised

6°C, gales from SE. Some dry patches too.

3DS Max 8: I don’t often find the time to play with 3D software, but here is a still from a longer render that I ran overnight. As I write, I am attempting to upload the clip to YouTube.

Visualisation of a pulsar using 3D animation software. Inspired by the book- Clocks in the Sky: The Story of Pulsars by Geoff McNamara.
To make the job easier, this pulsar spins at only 2 times per second. There is a particle system for each pole and a volumetric light. If I have the right idea, then there is a gas jet from each magnetic pole and an electromagnetic beam too. With a rapidly spinning source, those two would not be colinear some distance from the object.
The particle system doesn’t show clearly; a feature that needs some work. Also, an introductory distance shot would work well. 3D animation takes a long time and only produces a few seconds of video each day. Some shots can be re-used, stills can be overlaid in the video editor.

Storm, storm, storm…

7C, strong SW wind, richer to come.
Achilles tendon- is very stiff now. Perhaps I need to go back to the physiotherapist. I am actually limping now and that gives me back-ache.
Heavy weather, strong winds are hammering the house from the south. My house is cold when it blows across the place. Winds that blow along the ridge are little problem.
3DS Max is currently rendering the latest version of the Pulsar animation. It now has a particle system to represent the polar emissions. There should be a gas stream in addition to the electro-magnetic beams that come from the poles.
Those gas streams are supposed to exit on the rotation axis, but I don’t understand why. My animation has them creating a helical cone expanding outwards.
Hope it works out because the projected render time is nearly 5 hours.

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Storm chain.

7C, strong wind, heavy rain.
The flue is knocking, this storm is so strong that the flue lifts with the strongest gusts. Hope it doesn’t keep me awake- my bedroom is in the room above.
What a remarkable winter- one storm after another, with two day intervals. It’s worst in the south we’re told.
Days like this I drive to work, although I don’t feel well either. So, bed by 8.30 pm.

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50 things.

A break from the rain, 5C, SSW strong wind.
50 things I’d like to do. I am 50 later this year, so my thoughts have turned to a list of stuff I ought to do and want to do:
Cycle more than 6,000 miles this year,
Ride a carbon bike,
Gliding,
Hot air balloon,
Gocart,
Velodrome,
Scuba diving,
Climb Trifan,
Climb Suilivan,
Meet a whale,
Quad-bike?
Whiskey tasting,
Traditional Italian barber,
British Museum- see that rembrandt picture I have liked for so long.
Learn to cook Japanese food,
Oil painting, return to,

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Dog’s Trust.

Sun between rainstorms. Strong winds.7C.
Signed up to sponsor a dog through the Dog’s Trust. It’s only a few pounds a week and you’re supposed to pick one of the dogs from a sheet of photos. I chose the ugliest one. It’s not right that everyone makes decisions on how good-looking something is.It’s money I no longer spend on pet food anyway.
Next I want another charity to support…

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