Dissertation writing up...

The last time I had to 'write up' a large body of work I had a job in the university library. Actually I had about four jobs in the library, which basically funded my beer, accommodation, and cheesy pasta that I apparently lived on. The jobs I had in the library were amazing, they were never terribly busy and I was always sat at a computer. This allowed me to type up my work, think about my work and run downstairs to the journals if I needed to look something up. Of course now I can find any journal online... Of course, I also served people when it was required ;-)

Still, I miss having those jobs right now as I have been finding writing up more difficult this time, hence being up since 4am (which is when it gets light) having slept very little last night. This dissertation come in two parts, a scientific paper and a technical report. Thankfully the paper section should be finished off for review today and i can start finishing off the technical section next week.

Lake 15

It has been interesting getting back into a subject that has always interested me (Glacial  Lake Outburst Flood's) and it has been great applying new skills learned during the M.Sc. to that subject. My results have been interesting, lots of histograms and images of glaciers with polygons around their pro-glacial lakes! :-)

Well, it's almost 6am and the rain is steadily falling. Time for some tea I think. 

 

Lake 15 Histogram of Lake Area

Lake 15 Histogram of Lake Area

Falkirk Trinity Church

Vote day for the UK remaining or leaving Europe gave me chance to go home. As it was a sunny day I got a few photographs of from Falkirk's Trinity Church - Faw Kirk. The church stands on the historic site of Faw Kirk and was probably the first Christian structure in Falkirk. It is believed that Faw Kirk gave rise to the town's name, Falkirk. The church is also the burial ground and resting place of William Wallace’s finest knight, Sir John de Graham, whose body is said to have been carried from the battlefield and laid to rest in the kirkyard by William Wallace himself.

Spider-drone

More bleeding edge drone technology from researchers at Stanford University from within their Biometrics & Dextrous Manipulation Laboratory; a drone that can land on ceilings and walls using micro-spines, basically clinging to the wall or ceiling. 

Obviously the real world applications of such a drone are numerous, especially in natural disaster areas where real time updates are required without worrying about battery life. Restricted to areas that are rough at this point, nicely explained in the video below:

 

Depth of Field

A really good, in depth, explanation regarding Depth Of Field when using your camera. The post is a few weeks old on the Petapixel blog and is well worth a read if you like photography. The post explains all the basics and some of the more advanced features that will help you take better photographs, even if you are using a smartphone.

The basic camera app that comes with your phone probably won't have depth of field settings that are adjustable as it is usually a point and shoot (with the camera deciding the right settings for the scene). I recommend the use of the Camera+ application that can be found over at campl.us and has been a staple on my iPhone since the app launched. Even better it costs less than your morning latte from Starbucks, even with the add on packs. Lisa Bettany one of the developers has a great instagram account of which most of her photographs are taken with an iPhone using her app.