Matt McIrvin
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mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Matt McIrvin
@mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
58 followers 10 following 570 posts
he/him

I'm a programmer who was trained in physics long ago. If on Bluesky, follow @ap.brid.gy so I can see you.

[bridged from https://mathstodon.xyz/@mattmcirvin on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]
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mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
This is what long night-mode exposures of the aurora get me: really dreamlike images. I couldn't see this with my eye at all.
A purple and green wash of auroral light across the night sky, with brightly lit tree branches in the upper left corner, and a few stars Purple and green aurora lights fill the sky above a few wispy clouds and suburban-looking homes lit in yellow The sky above the nighttime trees is lit up with a blue-green glow, and hints of purple
November 12, 2025 at 4:13 AM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Earlier today: the Fireball at the Electromagnetic Pinball Museum in Pawtucket, RI. I hadn't played this #pinball in person before. It had multiball, which was relatively rare in pins of the electromechanical era, and some other peculiar features for the early […]

[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
Detail of Fireball's playfield. The design is colorful and full of flames, but, strikingly, also includes some bare wood color around the edges. The flippers at bottom center are quite tiny. There is a large ridged disc intended to spin at center, with rollover switches all around it. There is a captive ball lane at upper left, and two ball locks for multiball, oddly labeled "Wotan" and "Odin". A pinball machine with a backglass reading "Fireball" in fiery letters, and a painting of a flaming demonic-looking fellow chucking balls of fire at the POV. The scores are shown by mechanical digit reels rather than a glowing electronic display. The playfield beneath is multicolored and brightly lit.
November 12, 2025 at 3:51 AM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Aurora borealis in my neighborhood again. To my naked eye it was hard to distinguish these displays from general haze and light pollution, but the red-purple color in the first photo was strong enough that I could pick it up.
Aurora appears as a slanting, tapering blurry tower of magenta light in the sky, beyond trees and houses in the foreground. Aurora glowing in the sky as an indistinct horizontal green ribbon, over a warmly lit suburban home in the foreground.
November 12, 2025 at 3:29 AM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Brussels sprouts offered with handy ruining instructions
Supermarket price sign reading "Tender Brussels Sprouts - $3.49 lb" with the instruction "Boil With Butter And Salt"
November 9, 2025 at 7:59 PM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
A jack-o-lantern glows with an orange peevish expression
October 25, 2025 at 10:19 PM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Early truck or treat night
A little jack-o-lantern glows with an orange vampiric grin
October 25, 2025 at 10:18 PM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Rutschebanen at Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen, which I believe is currently the second-oldest operating #rollercoaster in the world, opened 1914.

This is a side-friction coaster, which means it has no upstop wheels holding it vertically to the track (one of the […]

[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
View from above of Tivoli's Rutschebanen. An imposing fake mountain peeks out from behind fall foliage, with wooden coaster tracks running along dipping ridges in the mountain and into and out of dark holes. A coaster train is ascending one of the dips, with passengers and a brake operator behind the lead car.
October 9, 2025 at 8:44 PM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Elbow at the Roadrunner, Boston, last night
The English rock band Elbow performs on stage lit by golden lights, against a backdrop with an abstract pattern of radiating zigzag pinstripes. At center, the lead singer bends over toward the crowd standing before the stage with an imploring gesture while singing, directly in front of the drummer. A lead guitarist plays directly to the left of the singer. At the far left of the picture are a violinist and some wind multi-instrumentalists/backup singers. At the far right, a bass player and another drummer.
October 3, 2025 at 11:28 AM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Nate Perry and Ragged Company, Haverhill River Ruckus
September 13, 2025 at 7:27 PM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Griffin statue at the Crane estate, Castle Hill, Ipswich, MA
Statue of a griffin guarding the steps up to a stone mansion. The creature is sculpted with clean Art Deco-esque lines, and has a wingless crouching lion body and the head of an eagle with pointy ears. On its head is a kind of stubby horn terminating in a ball.
August 18, 2025 at 12:20 AM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Castle Hill at the Crane Estate, Ipswich, MA, the summer house of a 1920s plumbing magnate.
Ornate dining room of a 1920s tycoon's summer house, with light coming in though bay windows at the far end, paintings and decorative urns, fireplace on the left, glass chandelier, table set for dinner. Wood-paneled library of the great house, with shelves of books along each wall, deeply padded chairs and couches, bay windows at the far end. Stone great house seen in the distance across an immense landscaped and terraced lawn, with manicured trees and hedges and statuary. Several turkeys pick around for food in the shade of a tree. The scene is on a high hill with the shore visible in the far distance.
August 18, 2025 at 12:15 AM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Scritch on the head
A black cat hangs out on a cat tree by a window looking out into a leafy, sunny landscape. The photographer's hand is scratching her on the head and she has her eyes narrowed and ears down, looking satisfied in the moment but perhaps wary.
August 15, 2025 at 2:55 PM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Behold the ferocious beast
Gray and white cat curled up on the lap of the reclining photographer, eyes half open
August 12, 2025 at 7:41 PM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Sometimes there are affordances you don't want
A large video screen at a restaurant has a sign stuck in the corner reading PLEASE DON'T TOUCH THE SCREEN
August 10, 2025 at 10:07 PM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Here's the shot everyone gets of Loch Ness Monster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. When it opened it was briefly the tallest complete-circuit roller coaster in the world. Today it's dwarfed by other rides at the same park, but it's still the most photogenic […]

[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
July 27, 2025 at 12:09 PM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
I was almost anxious: After all these years, would the old Loch Ness Monster hold up? It does. #rollercoasters
The bright yellow interlocking loops of Loch Ness Monster, a roller coaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, seen from the skyride. A jumble of other, bigger, newer coasters appears in the distance behind it, among copious greenery.
July 25, 2025 at 10:46 PM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
I've been taking a lot of pictures of Jess sleeping lately, so here's one with her eyes open.
Gray and white cat sitting in loaf position looks at the camera, a sunny living room and front window out of focus in the background
July 23, 2025 at 8:52 PM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Jess in the afternoon sun
Overhead view of a gray and white cat lounging in her side on top of a black cloth backpack, on a brownish tile floor. She is half-illuminated by slanting afternoon sun and has her face turned up with eyes mostly closed.
July 22, 2025 at 7:34 PM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Picking the slime mold plasmodia off of the mulch with a shovel does not even remotely stop it from reincarnating whenever it gets wet enough. This was a particularly handsome one. But the bodies always turn mulch brown and less noticeable in short order.
July 22, 2025 at 4:12 PM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
This orange slime mold has been sprouting impressively in my front yard. The masses dry up and turn brown after a few days.

These things have an absolutely wild life cycle. My vague understanding is, what we're looking at here is one enormous multi-nuclear cell.
An area of garden mulch next to a retaining wall, with a mass of bright orange, lumpy fungus-like material about a foot (30cm) long growing along the edge. It is actually a slime mold or mixomycetian.
July 8, 2025 at 12:41 AM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Prowling panther #caturday #catsofmastodon
A black cat with its tail held high prowls the hardwood floor while looking at the camera with its golden eyes.
June 21, 2025 at 6:13 PM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Jess relaxing yesterday #catsofmastodon
A gray and white short-haired cat lounges on a gray knit blanket draped over the back of a sofa, eyes half open, with one paw sprawled wide and hanging down.
June 19, 2025 at 9:14 PM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Another shot of the #rollercoaster Wildcat at Lake Compounce, from our visit on May 24th.

Having spent the whole 2023 season replacing most of the track and large chunks of the structure, Gravity Group came back and did the last few hundred feet during the […]

[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
Detail of the white-painted lift hill structure of a classic wooden roller coaster. There is a coaster train ascending the lift, full of riders some of whom already have their arms in the air, framed by the leafy branches of a tree in the foreground. Just in front of the lift is the very end of the roller coaster's track, rising into the covered brake run, with some of its structure in white and some in unpainted wood. The brake run is supported by a building with a slanted roof at bottom of frame, with a sign in vintage postcard style identifying Lake Compounce as "America's First Amusement Park."
June 15, 2025 at 2:12 AM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
The iconic view of Wildcat's lift hill (and Phobia Phear Coaster and Down Time) looming above the entrance gate of Lake Compounce. The park had short hours today, with a bunch of school trips visiting, and Boulder Dash wasn't running, but Wildcat was. Since […]

[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
The front entrance gate of Lake Compounce amusement park, a festive yellow-and-blue structure with turnstiles beneath. Behind it and some other brightly colored buildings rises the white-painted lift hill of a wooden roller coaster; behind that, an orange steel coaster and a tall drop tower; behind those, a forested mountainside.
June 14, 2025 at 12:43 AM
mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
Jess getting some shuteye on #caturday #catsofmastodon
A gray and white cat sleeping with a white paw over her face, on a plaid blanket on her humans lap
May 31, 2025 at 6:55 PM