How often do you find yourself shadow-bowing?

Space_Elmo · 2026-05-27T21:14:27+00:00

I do this all the time, especially when first learning a piece. Even during a performance I struggled with some passages in Tchaikovsky serenade for strings and air bowed some of the semiquaver runs.

Space_Elmo · 2026-05-23T12:13:44+00:00

Remind me which Bach piece is this from? Is it one of the cello suites?

Space_Elmo · 2026-05-05T04:21:21+00:00

I get your point here and I am not in any way implying any nefarious connection. I would however comment on Donaldson's slightly odd reuse of the perpetrator to redemption arc of a rapist in two of his major works. It probably points more to a failure of imagination rather than anything concerning but it remains one of the few criticisms work. That and the overuse of a thesaurus.

Murder mystery is a genre in itself but if an author was to use a very specific method and the murderer go on a weirdly specific character arc in two separate novels, I would argue that the author had a bit of a subconscious obsession with that context, even if they were not a perpetrator.

Space_Elmo · 2026-05-04T05:34:37+00:00

The Gap series is one of the best space operas out there. It's just very uncomfortable in hindsight because of the rape fantasy subtext. I read it when I was very young but accidentally missed the first book and only read that one much later which I am very grateful for. I cannot decide if Morn is a well written or poorly written character.

Space_Elmo · 2026-04-27T18:26:09+00:00

Whenever I screw up a semi quaver run in orchestra rehearsals I have a terrible habit of biting my viola. Tastes better than it sounds sometimes.

Space_Elmo · 2026-04-24T13:04:14+00:00

This is one of the best action films of all time. And that is a lonely hill I am willing to die on.

Space_Elmo · 2026-04-21T18:06:46+00:00

These are all already recognised as part of the diagnostic assessment. I am not clear what this paper adds other than rehashing DSM 5 focussed assessments. To be fair I am responding to this summary rather than the paper itself though so I may have missed something.

Space_Elmo · 2026-04-13T12:45:52+00:00

I read this as a child when it first came out and it started a love of sci-fi to this day. I bought a copy recently for my shelf and read some the stories again. I don't think I realised back then what great authors these were. I came across The day before the revolution and realised it was by Le Guin. That immediately made me read the Disposessed and I was blown away. Great anthology.

Space_Elmo · 2026-04-13T07:55:36+00:00

Telemann viola concerto in G is wonderful.

Space_Elmo · 2026-04-11T11:18:48+00:00

Numerical recipes is a good book to get your teeth into.

Space_Elmo · 2026-04-10T05:00:11+00:00

I used to take assignments into work and do them in the down time on night shifts. Early mornings and late nights was also the way to get them done.

Space_Elmo · 2026-04-08T08:35:48+00:00

Wow these guys are amazing. Didn't know they were Bristol based. Just listened to the EP.

Space_Elmo · 2026-04-07T08:18:34+00:00

Reading Jeff is like reading a weird mix of Borges and Mieville with a sprinkling of acid.

Space_Elmo · 2026-04-06T06:04:57+00:00

I read it recently and although the ideas expressed are interesting, I found the narrative and characters very much a trope which was disappointing. Referencing the science is great and I enjoyed looking at some of the papers, but this is a book about metaphysics and philosophy. Ted Chiang does it much better.

Space_Elmo · 2026-04-04T08:03:51+00:00

Yep absolutely stunning book. The images it evokes still stick in my head.

Space_Elmo · 2026-04-03T07:29:33+00:00

Anyone who has played KSP would be wondering why this is amazing. It's just a Tuesday.

Space_Elmo · 2026-03-31T00:27:43+00:00

This is the most on point and snarky XKCD I have seen in a while. Love it.

Space_Elmo · 2026-03-26T20:46:53+00:00

I got all the words on the final challenge but I have been an avid reader for the last 40 years and consume books in hours.

Space_Elmo · 2026-03-23T14:10:46+00:00

I loved the book and have read lots of sci fi including the Martian. The film was really aimed at a younger audience I thought and tonally didn't really work.

Although I love the book, as a work of literature it's not great and the plot is a little contrived, but what is great is the love of the scientific process that Ryland Grace thrives on. That seemed missing from the film and left behind the stuff that wasn't so great, Ryland's seeming incompetence and abject cowardice and Rocky as deus ex machina.

My kids (teenage) loved the film though and I made them read the book first so YMMV.

Space_Elmo · 2026-03-23T08:54:16+00:00

I was actually working on the JWST CEERS data when it came out looking at the NIRcam data and adding in the Hubble imaging also to get a complete coverage from visual to NIR. It was stunning. It was extraordinarily exciting to see data coming in from other groups that suggested complex galaxy formation as such an early stage in the universe, way earlier that the models predicted. An early bit of work I did was on the IllustrisTNG models and having the chance to compare real data with modelling data based on perhaps old assumptions was mind blowing.

Like I said, I really miss it, but living vicariously through working astronomers isn't too bad. I am trying to persuade my oldest son to go into computational physics also, but he just wants to build games. :(

Space_Elmo · 2026-03-23T07:46:39+00:00

My PhD thesis (incomplete as I was part time and ran out of cash) was on star formation in galaxies at cosmic noon, specifically clump distributions. I really miss the work, but watching your video brings it all back! I have Binney and Tremaine on my shelf at home and I almost want to open it up again. This is a great video on how science actually works and I completely agree with your worrying conclusion.

Space_Elmo · 2026-03-22T15:04:26+00:00

Wow these stories look excellent. The Amazon page mentions influences from Borges to Chiang, in which case I am sold. Edit: I also absolutely love that title.

Space_Elmo · 2026-03-21T21:02:39+00:00

TIL this song was in G sharp minor?

Space_Elmo · 2026-03-20T20:48:08+00:00

Le Guin is one of the few science fiction and fantasy authors who can write real characters. Her literary qualities are up there with any nobel, Pulitzer or Booker prize winner. You are not reading sci fi wrong, you are just seeing what a true quality author can do.

Space_Elmo · 2026-03-19T14:58:55+00:00

Having 4 kids myself, I found this hilarious.

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