sequestering carbon, one Christmas at a time XII

His'n'hers Christmas presents (oh, there was also a soldering iron and mat, but they're not books...)

sequestering carbon, several books at a time CXLVII

The latest batch before the Christmas presents drop (which means I'm up-to-date on databasing, for a day or so at least!):

more superpowers

I had an NHS health check today.  Apparently I should have been invited every 5 years since turning 40, but the invitation letter I got a few weeks ago was the first I'd heard of it.  So I went along, had my height, weight, and blood pressure measured, answered some questions about exercise and diet, and had a couple of vials of blood taken for a set of tests.  I should get those results the end of next week.

Then they said I was eligible for the pneumococcal vaccine, and did I want it?  Of course!  After all, who wants pneumonia?  (I had my Covid and flu boosters a couple of months ago.)  When I got back home, I looked it up.  Not only does it protect against pneumonia, but also meningitis, sepsis, sinusitis and ear infections!  And it lasts forever: it doesn't have to be boosted annually.  Excellent.

view from a hotel window

I've just arrived in Dublin for a project meeting.  Yes, I know I'm supposed to have retired, but I'm finishing off a few existing commitments ... before I start some new ones.

This will be our last trip to Dublin on this particular project, so we need to wrap up who's writing which paper, have a nice meal, and say goodbye to some great colleagues.

tis the season to bring trees indoors

We got our tree a few days ago, but left it in the conservatory for a few days, before bringing it in to be dressed.

tree indoors

with lights, tinsel, baubles, and lametta

sequestering carbon, several books at a time CXLVI

If you follow my book reviews over on my website, you may have noticed several reviews for Great Courses lecture series.  Each course is 12-48 lectures, on DVD, accompanied by a coursebook.  These make great watching while, say, eating lunch.  We wait until interesting courses are on special offer, and have watched many of these, from science and economics to literature and history.

Recently, Great Courses decided to discontinue several of their DVDs, leaving only streaming options.  We dislike this, so have bought up a load of cheap courses while they are still available.  These should last us a while!

sequestering carbon, several books at a time CXLV

I am beginning to catch up with my book databasing backlog.  Here's the batch from the end of October.

Doctor Who meets Rocky Horror

I am in awe of the effort that must go into this.  It's brilliant -- especially the two different "jump to the left" scenes.

sequestering carbon, several books at a time CXLIV

These are some books we bought in York on the way home from our Scottish holiday in August, some undatabased books I discovered when I packed up my office in October, plus a few maths books related to a potential retirement project I'm thinking about.

silver and gold

We've recently removed a lot of bamboo from the garden, as it was getting rather large and overgrown.  We had a silver birch sapling growing on the edge of the thicket, but hadn't noticed quite how tall it had grown, desperate to find light next to the tall bamboo until the latter had been cleared away.  

Today, despite that early pink sky, the weather has been glorious, and has highlighted the tree in glorious low winter sunshine against a brilliant blue sky.  Beautiful, if in a slightly etiolated way. 

shepherds' heads-up

Looking west this morning, three minutes before sunrise (in the east, of course), a slightly frosty scene, with a pale pink sky.

7:39 GMT

book review: What are Universities For?

Stefan Collini.
What are Universities For?
Penguin. 2012

---

This book may be over a decade old, and some of the essays included even older, but it is more relevant today than ever. The first half is a thoughtful discussion of the history and purpose of universities in general. This is followed by a series of reprinted essays, dissecting various governmental initiatives in higher education.

The historical overview of the role, size and funding of universities from their inception is fascinating. My personal experience is confined to being a student in the late 70s and early 80s, and an academic during the 2000s. Collini points out most people tend to think that universities had always been the way they experienced them as a student, and only changed since then. But of course, they have always been changing. I am myself guilty of this view! My seven year tenure as a student was during the time of no fees and full grant (and fewer students and universities overall): so no student debt, and only vacation-time jobs. I would almost certainly not have gone to university under the current scheme, as getting into any debt, let alone that much, would have been too terrifying. I feel very lucky, but not guilty: I have certainly since paid enough in taxes from good jobs to cover the costs! I do think that current students should be similarly lucky, particularly as the number of good jobs has not kept pace with the increase in student numbers. (Even jobs that in the past would have required A-levels now seem to require not just a Bachelors, but even a Masters degree: surely they are not that much more complex? I often wonder if this degree-inflation is deliberately used to force people to go to university and get into debt, so making them more willing to take rubbish jobs, or if it is merely an unanticipated side-effect benefical to corporations and governments.)

Collini has a wide ranging and thoughtful discussion of what universities should be for. What should students be taught? How should they be educated? And why? He comes from the Humanities, which some argue are not “useful” subjects, because they do not contribute directly to the economic health of the country. I’m a scientist, and he thinks the arguments for these subjects are easier there. They may be easier, but I think that makes them more damaging, as it tends to encourage a focus on the economic, rather than educational or intellectual, benefits: graduate employability, rather than better, more thoughtful, well-rounded citizens. (If it’s just about job-specific skills, why not raise the status of apprenticeships instead?) Caving to that economic focus can unintentionally strengthen the argument against the humanities.

In particular, Collini’s point is that at university, the student should “study”, rather than be taught, or learn, a subject. This perspective puts the onus on the student to do the work, in depth, and not be a mere passive recipient of whatever the lecturer deems important, merely regurgitating it for assessment. The current insistence on increased “contact hours” (rather than private study) and ever-increasingly detailed assessment encourages this attitude of regurgitation, which helps parrots, but not growth. We are now encouraged to treat students as “customers”, where they pay a fee for the product of a degree certificate. Many students will focus on the certificate outcome, not the process they need to go through to get it. Rather than certificate seller, I prefer the metaphor of “personal trainer”: the lecturers are providing opportunities, resources, and direction, but the student has to do the (sometimes painful) work to achieve the desired goal. No-one goes to a gym to get a certificate (maybe some do? I’ve never been to a gym!), but rather to achieve fitness, understanding that this will require effort on their part.

After this excellent review of the state of universities, and their goals, Collini fills the rest of the book with reprints of earlier articles, which eviscerate various government schemes to measure the “quality” of universities’ performance. These essays are also excellent, and pull no punches. Collini argues that we should not measure (rigid metrics designed by unqualified beancounters), but rather judge (thoughtful analysis by qualified peers), performance.

There is a lot more excellent, thoughtful (and very well-written) material here. I have just pulled out a few points that resonate most strongly with me. Read this, and have good arguments to support universities beyond mere economic gain.

Physical reservoir computing: a tutorial

Susan Stepney. Physical reservoir computing: a tutorial.
Natural Computing, 2024. doi: 10.1007/s11047-024-09997-y

A decade ago (I was going to write "a few years ago", then looked at the date!) my colleagues and I wrote a paper entitled "When does a physical system compute?", which gives a framework to distinguish systems that are computing, from ones that are just doing their thing.

Recently, I was invited to write a tutorial for Natural Computing on Physical Reservoir Computing.  That's about using weird physical materials, like a glob of carbon nanotubes, or a sheet of magnetic material, or whatever, to compute directly, according to the "reservoir computing" model, which is a form of neural network.

I decided to use the framework we previously developed to structure the tutorial.  This framework provides five things you need to consider: (1) the abstract computational model, here, reservoir computing; (2) the physical computing substrate, here, the purported reservoir computer; (3) how to encode abstract inputs and physically inject them into the computer; (4) how to observe physical outputs and decode them to abstract results; (5) and last but certainly not least, how to validate that the physical system is faithfully implementing the abstract model.

If you want to see more of the details, have a look at the paper: it's open access.

sequestering carbon, several books at a time CXLIII

Our Edinburgh bookshops purchases: (yes, I am very behind in databasing new books, but hoping to catch up soon!)

Amusingly, on that one morning we bought two different books, in two different bookshops, by two different Daniel Chandlers.  Neither appears to have a disambiguating middle name.

retired

As of yesterday, I am officially retired, and now Professor Emerita at York.  The "Emerita" status grants me facilities that will help me continue to do research more readily: I keep my IT account (email, cloud storage, Overleaf, PaperPile, ...), library access, and a form of affiliation with the University.  In exchange, they get to claim any publications of mine as associated with them.

So what did I do on my first day of official retirement? Well, I went for my daily walk, and got a bit of a fright.  But the rest of the day I spent on zoom, on an interview panel.  A colleague and I recently won an Aria "Nature Computes Better" project called LoCoMo (Lossy Computational Models).  This was submitted before I had decided to retire, and awarded after.  As Emerita, I can still work on the project ... for free!  Yesterday we were interviewing for the two PostDocs.

So, starting as I mean to go on!

the morning after

 Hallowe'en decor on a nearby house that gave me pause this morning.

sunset

 Another lovely sunset this evening.

view from a hotel window

I'm in Sheffield for G2W: Genomics to Whole Cell workshop, being run as part of our TORC EPSRC-SFI research project.  This will be my last project workshop before I retire, and it should be very informative. 

the hotel has nice grounds

view from a hotel window

I'm in Groningen in the Netherlands for Brainspiration 2024.  This will be my last international conference before I retire, and it looks like it will be very interesting.  However, I have some free time today before the event starts, so I'm off for a bit of an explore.

that's the conference venue: not far to walk!

spotty

We haven't managed to see the allegedly spectacular Northern Lights; it's been too cloudy at night.  But during the daytime, we've been able to see the cause.

oodles of sunspots, seen using our SeeStar telescope with a solar filter

exaugural lecture

I'm retiring at the end of the month.  I'm planning an "academic retirement", in that I want to spend more time with my research.  Here's a recording of the talk I gave today describing the area in which I wish to do more work.

sequestering carbon, several books at a time CXLII

 Our Inverness bookshop purchases:

snap!

On my way down the A1 today, I stopped at a service station for a break.  I hooked up the car to get a bit of charge from the Gridserve system, then went off into the service area for a while.  When I returned, I was surprised to be seeing double.

that's mine on the right, somewhat better parked...

harvest failure

 The carrots have not been a success.

Sutton Hoo

After picking up my mended china yesterday, we then went to visit the nearby Sutton Hoo site.  We arrived just in time for a presentation in the museum, which was helpful, since we then knew what we might be looking at.  Then lunch, and off for a walk around the site, which includes a viewing tower from which to see the various burial mounds.

a field of burial mounds

We then walked back to the start via the woodland walk.

fallen tree still growing

repurposed tree

Then back to the start, for a cup of tea, then off to the nearby house, which includes an exhibition of the discovery and excavation of the burial ship.  

reversing entropy

45 years ago my college friends bought me a lovely 21st birthday present, of a china horse and foal.  Earlier this year the foal suffered a distressing accident (we had builders in, but no-one owned up, despite the pieces being carefully collected and put in a wooden goblet).  I just left them in the goblet, sad that the foal was no more.

Today my other half suggested we go to Woodbridge to pick up the rest of my birthday present.  I hadn't known that he'd taken the pieces to Hythe Conservation for them to be restored. I was amazed, and overjoyed, at the result.

bits and pieces: sob

the ear back in place, with visible filler

final state; no filler visible

completely restored: as good as new!

And there was a bonus.  Even further back in time, my father had given me a horse and foal (there's a theme here), and the larger horse, unfortunately, broke, about 25 years ago.  It wasn't protected enough in the move to our current house.  I'm not sure why I kept it.  But it also is now restored.

cut off at the knees

back on her feet

So, many thanks to my other half for thinking of this gift.  And many thanks to the marvellous skills of Harriet Sylvester at Hythe Conservation that have restored these memories.

more harvest

The cooker and Cox apple trees are bearing fruit.

I predict apple crumbles to come...

Audley End

We went to a garden show at Audley End.  The show was okay, but we would have liked more "show gardens".  The street food vans were better: I had a very meaty tasty duck wrap.  We didn't go in the house, but we did walk round the gardens.  There was a large kitchen garden with vegetables, and more espalier apple trees than you could shake a stick at.  But for me, the best bit was the woodland walk, with some great trees.

harvest

 My other half planted a few potatoes this year.  We have produce!

Not quite enough for full self-sufficiency, I suspect...

travelling back south

We got up at 7am, and, after breakfast at our Edinburgh hotel, we went into the city centre, where we visited three bookshops in a typical book-buying spree: Blackwell's (9 books), Till's (6 books), and McNaughtan's (5 books).  Our tastes are quite eclectic, and so we were intrigued, but nevertheless not tempted, by these:

We then drove down to Bishop Auckland, to attend Kynren.  This historical re-enactment event must be the north of England's best kept secret. Neither of us had ever heard of it (before Googling for things to visit on our travels), yet it was huge: several thousand in the outdoor audience.  It was amazing (we were fortunate with the weather), with a large cast of actors, horses, sheep and geese, telling the history of England from a northern perspective.  

The Kynren staging makes full use of the path, lake, and surroundings.

Their website says "There are plenty of award-winning toilet facilities around the site" and they are not joking! I have never seen such plentiful and excellent facilities anywhere else.  We had a great time, and even managed to get out of the huge car park relatively quickly once it was over.

We then continued our drive south, arriving in York at about half past midnight.  A long day: I clocked up 55 "heart points" and nearly 20,000 steps.  I slept well!

view from two hotel windows

The Inverness hotel overlooks nice greenery, but there is a big dual carriageway on the other side!

We went back to the Tesco's for breakfast, then into Inverness to go to Leakey's second hand bookshop, where we bought 11 books.  We then drove down to Edinburgh, stopping at Aviemore for lunch.

The view from the hotel window in Edinburgh was not as pretty as the one in Inverness:

But at least the advertised EV charger existed.

A rather weird design!

Another evening charge while we have dinner.

A long day ahead of us tomorrow as we head further south.

An unexpected gem

 We got a photo of the "new" Skye bridge this morning before we left our hotel in Kyle.

Then we left to drive up to Inverewe, to visit the gardens there.  On the way, we stopped at Acnasheen to charge the car, via the ChargePlace Scotland app. 

Not sure I'm keen on standing in a big puddle while I hook up an electric charger...

Then off to Inverewe.  Like at Dunvegan yesterday, most of the rhododendrons are over, but that allows the spectacular bark to be seen.

But there are still a few late bloomers.

The woodland walk includes a path down to the loch.

panoramic view of the loch

And there are marvellous trees.

Californian Redwood

After about an hour and a half walking round all the gardens, we had lunch in the garden cafe.  Then time to drive to Inverness.

Just before we got there, we stopped at what looked like a large layby with a Public Convenience.  But it turned out it was the small car park for Rogie Falls.  An information board showed two trails: a half-mile Salmon Trail down to the Falls themselves, and a somewhat longer and "strenuous" Riverside Trail.  It was still early, so we put on our boots and set out on the longer trail.

We took the blue trail

disappearing down the trail

This brought us down to a path along the river above the falls.

an unexpected gem

The path led us to the falls themselves.

We guessed from the name "Salmon Trail" that this is a salmon river, but assumed it was too late to see any.  But no! There was a lot of jumping going on, but we failed to get any photos of fish.  We continued on the trail, back to the car park, and then drove to Inverness.

We chose a hotel that was supposed to have an EV charger associated with it, but it was no longer there.  So we went to a local shopping centre, plugged into a Tesco charger, bought some items in Tesco's to be legitimate customers, then ate in a local diner while the relatively slow charger filled the car.

Off to Edinburgh tomorrow!

Over the Bridge to Skye

After a great time at the Glasgow Worldcon, yesterday we drove up to Kyle of Lochalsh, and today spent the day driving round Skye.  The last time we were here (about 40 years ago!) we had to take the ferry; now there is a bridge, making Skye more accessible, and more crowded.

view this morning from our hotel window

We visited Dunvegan Castle and gardens.  The castle has a fairly standard historic interior.  The formal gardens are interesting, and there was also a pipe band playing. And the woodland walks are beautiful.

Dunvegan Castle

A very well covered pergola

mossy roots

Too late for the rhododendrons to be in flower, but that just makes the twisty shapes more visible

Waterfall, fed from all the water falling from the sky...

We then had lunch in Dunvegan village, and spent the afternoon driving further north around the coast on single track roads, down to Portree for dinner, then back to Kyle for a second night in the hotel.

Off to Inverewe and more gardens tomorrow.