Ah, saw my first swallow of the year this evening! Always a nice moment.

It's crap but also, it hits different if you know what a Northern Irish accent actually sounds like.

Ronin.

Anyone got any Nutella?

Watched the Artemis crew splash back down to Earth. Wonderful, inspiring - and a small sigh of relief it all went so perfectly!

Might as well re-share this old thread...

bsky.app/profile/chri...

Encredible

And people say pub culture is no longer working class!

It's super cool. Was listening to a bit of a 1990s Ben Folds Five performance on there yesterday.

"somebody's going to emergency, somebody's going to jail" - Don Henley

Similar situation during the 1826 uprising that followed. Good details on that here: History - Weavers Uprising share.google/evmNJ380imPt...

*My* favourite is Khrushchev supposedly saying "the living would envy the dead [in the aftermath of a nuclear war]". An incredible line but I learned recently it's likely apocryphal! JFK used to reference it + Jackie even wrote to Khrushchev himself referring to it: history.state.gov/historicaldo...

If there's any chance of adding a little URL back to the story that would be fab :)

Not quite - the vowel sound wouldn't match so well. The "ah" sound in "bots" is like "bats" in Belfast-ese, whereas the vowel in "thoughts" is more like the "aw" in "flaw".

The world's first view of Earth taken by a spacecraft from the vicinity of the Moon. The photo was transmitted to Earth by the United States Lunar Orbiter I and received at the NASA tracking station at Robledo De Chavela near Madrid, Spain. This crescent of the Earth was photographed August 23, 1966 at 16:35 GMT when the spacecraft was on its 16th orbit and just about to pass behind the Moon. Credit: NASA.

Earthset captured through the Orion spacecraft window at 6:41 p.m. EDT, April 6, 2026, during the Artemis II crew’s flyby of the Moon. A muted blue Earth with bright white clouds sets behind the cratered lunar surface. The dark portion of Earth is experiencing nighttime. On Earth’s day side, swirling clouds are visible over the Australia and Oceania region. In the foreground, Ohm crater has terraced edges and a flat floor interrupted by central peaks—formed when the surface rebounded upward during the impact that created the crater. Image Credit: NASA.

How it started, how it's going

Left: Lunar Orbiter I, 1966
Right: Artemis II, 2026

flic.kr/p/8Grtp2
flic.kr/p/2s68RXM

#Artemis 🧪🔭

Here in Belfast, bots rhymes with "flats".

More coverage about the organ-tuning books climate data - first reported, of course, by The Reengineer 😉

www.thereengineer.pro/p/church-org...

Some have been used to build things! www.newcivilengineer.com/innovative-t... <- e.g. this footbridge

But it's an ongoing conundrum with various ideas on what to do: www.bbc.co.uk/news/busines...

Interesting to see this.

(Also, the "thoughts not bots" slogan maybe works in a New York accent??)

'World’s First' Wind Turbine with CO2-Reduced Steel Tower and Recyclable Blades Installed Offshore Denmark Waters off Denmark’s west coast are now home to what RWE says is the world’s first offshore wind turbine featuring a CO2‑reduced steel tower and recyclable rotor blades.

"The GreenerTower plates are made from steel that produces at least 63 per cent lower CO2 emissions than conventional steel, as the certified production process limits emissions by using renewable-powered furnaces and scrap steel"

www.offshorewind.biz/2026/04/09/w...

Totally fair point that the situation will likely iron out in reasonably good time - I just think it's interesting to consider the possibilities!

"There are so many rooftops in the UK and Germany that we could power our countries many times over if we installed solar panels on every single rooftop"

UK is perfectly placed to use 100 per cent renewable power While Germany powers on with its mission to champion renewable energy, Malte Jansen urges the UK to follow suit

Also interesting! By distributing the resource you're also potentially increasing its resilience.

And, worth noting, the rooftop solar has potentially massive scale. Way back in 2015 I wrote this: www.newscientist.com/article/mg22...

Is there a case for heightening / prioritising electrification efforts in Scotland and other renewables-rich regions? (Or does that just deplete important developments elsewhere.)

What do people think?

Yes this is what I was saying - you can do one or the other but there are reasons for taking the "big above-ground tank" approach. Plus, at the high temps they can use heat to generate electricity (nowhere near as efficient as using the heat for heat, but it's another arrow in the quiver I guess.)

Yes I've spoken to Polar Night before - they insulate the tanks really well and they store at a high temp. It is possible to charge the ground with heat during summer that you use in winter, though! Has some ecological risks, possibly. Nowhere near the same density of energy storage.

Haha, all I can say is it's extremely popular in Belfast - make of that what you will!

Sparrows use the fluff to line their nests (or maybe they have some cushions to fill? I can't be sure). Usually, the fronds are on the plant but I moved the pampas grass over the winter so cut the fronds off to make that easier, then hung them about the garden in Jan. Looks a bit pagan festival 😂

Speaking of gardens and birds... Here's a little video I took the other day of a male sparrow gathering fluff from a pampas grass frond in our garden. Male blackbird behind is drying off after a visit to the pond. He seems to take a dip every evening at the moment!

The really important thing is to think about what you're doing and how you're addressing the risks. Feels like the new RSPB advice is all about foregrounding the discussion and reducing the greatest threats to birds, which really are under pressure by the way.