Tony Durham
@rhamdu.bsky.social
Now pursuing whatever interests me after a career in journalism and international development. Formerly @rhamdu on Twitter.
I wonder how much will have changed since the same question was asked in 1977. A lot, I expect.
November 11, 2025 at 6:04 PM
I wonder how much will have changed since the same question was asked in 1977. A lot, I expect.
Sensitive instruments have detected waves from one black hole consuming another
November 2, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Sensitive instruments have detected waves from one black hole consuming another
Thanks guys. Nice of you to let me know who the email is from and what it is about.
October 23, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Thanks guys. Nice of you to let me know who the email is from and what it is about.
This blood pressure chart, reproduced in the Guardian, makes its point clearly. But oddly, it includes cases where diastolic pressure exceeds systolic, which is impossible by definition.
October 21, 2025 at 2:46 PM
This blood pressure chart, reproduced in the Guardian, makes its point clearly. But oddly, it includes cases where diastolic pressure exceeds systolic, which is impossible by definition.
This may be cheating. The book is a collection of 29 stories inspired by a brilliant and enigmatic painting, Jeffrey Smart's 'Cahill Expressway'.
October 20, 2025 at 11:47 AM
This may be cheating. The book is a collection of 29 stories inspired by a brilliant and enigmatic painting, Jeffrey Smart's 'Cahill Expressway'.
Excellent book by @neurograce.bsky.social , accessible but not dumbed down. The math takes a back seat during a tour of important historic and current research in neuroscience. Even if you know parts of the story you may find new insights and connections. GL has a good nose for neurononsense.
October 11, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Excellent book by @neurograce.bsky.social , accessible but not dumbed down. The math takes a back seat during a tour of important historic and current research in neuroscience. Even if you know parts of the story you may find new insights and connections. GL has a good nose for neurononsense.
The economy isn't growing because WE ARE NOT DRINKING ENOUGH. Seems legit.
October 9, 2025 at 1:04 PM
The economy isn't growing because WE ARE NOT DRINKING ENOUGH. Seems legit.
Scary, huh? Money now. Or we vaporise your data.
At first I thought this might be one of the endless wrongly-addressed emails that I get: legit message, typo @. But Chrome says the link is insecure (no https). So perhaps this is a straightforward boring old phishing attempt.
At first I thought this might be one of the endless wrongly-addressed emails that I get: legit message, typo @. But Chrome says the link is insecure (no https). So perhaps this is a straightforward boring old phishing attempt.
October 7, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Scary, huh? Money now. Or we vaporise your data.
At first I thought this might be one of the endless wrongly-addressed emails that I get: legit message, typo @. But Chrome says the link is insecure (no https). So perhaps this is a straightforward boring old phishing attempt.
At first I thought this might be one of the endless wrongly-addressed emails that I get: legit message, typo @. But Chrome says the link is insecure (no https). So perhaps this is a straightforward boring old phishing attempt.
Douglas Hofstadter designed an object which cast 3 different shadows. This object would presumably appear as E, G and B in 3 suitably placed mirrors. Admittedly no two of those letters form a symmetric pair (and only 2 out of any 3 letters ever could).
October 3, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Douglas Hofstadter designed an object which cast 3 different shadows. This object would presumably appear as E, G and B in 3 suitably placed mirrors. Admittedly no two of those letters form a symmetric pair (and only 2 out of any 3 letters ever could).
The music is from Herbie Hancock and the video is lifted from OpenAI's website, and I have been too fucking lazy to edit them together. I think you can see that it works, though.
Rough
music.youtube.com/watch?v=4mcX...
Rough! Rough!
Rough
music.youtube.com/watch?v=4mcX...
Rough! Rough!
October 1, 2025 at 6:33 PM
The music is from Herbie Hancock and the video is lifted from OpenAI's website, and I have been too fucking lazy to edit them together. I think you can see that it works, though.
Rough
music.youtube.com/watch?v=4mcX...
Rough! Rough!
Rough
music.youtube.com/watch?v=4mcX...
Rough! Rough!
Only glanced over the original paper but some of the ideas in the short response from @ianbphillips.bsky.social are *wild*. A person's consciousness forks into two branches. Soon afterwards, one of them is erased forever. If two bodies were involved, that would be Philip K Dick material.
September 30, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Only glanced over the original paper but some of the ideas in the short response from @ianbphillips.bsky.social are *wild*. A person's consciousness forks into two branches. Soon afterwards, one of them is erased forever. If two bodies were involved, that would be Philip K Dick material.
Your Brain Is Not an Onion With a Tiny Reptile Inside.
I'm dipping into this paper in preparation for @jimalkhalili.bsky.social BBC2 series on brain evolution. Biologists say psychologists have got it all wrong. How will a physicist navigate these choppy waters? journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
I'm dipping into this paper in preparation for @jimalkhalili.bsky.social BBC2 series on brain evolution. Biologists say psychologists have got it all wrong. How will a physicist navigate these choppy waters? journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
September 29, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Your Brain Is Not an Onion With a Tiny Reptile Inside.
I'm dipping into this paper in preparation for @jimalkhalili.bsky.social BBC2 series on brain evolution. Biologists say psychologists have got it all wrong. How will a physicist navigate these choppy waters? journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
I'm dipping into this paper in preparation for @jimalkhalili.bsky.social BBC2 series on brain evolution. Biologists say psychologists have got it all wrong. How will a physicist navigate these choppy waters? journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Super interesting article. But I am sceptical.
Maybe this small region is simply preparing for auditory feedback, whether it comes or not? This and other evidence of auditory involvement doesn't preclude the (surely plausible) existence of a direct path from linguistic processing to motor control.
Maybe this small region is simply preparing for auditory feedback, whether it comes or not? This and other evidence of auditory involvement doesn't preclude the (surely plausible) existence of a direct path from linguistic processing to motor control.
September 27, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Super interesting article. But I am sceptical.
Maybe this small region is simply preparing for auditory feedback, whether it comes or not? This and other evidence of auditory involvement doesn't preclude the (surely plausible) existence of a direct path from linguistic processing to motor control.
Maybe this small region is simply preparing for auditory feedback, whether it comes or not? This and other evidence of auditory involvement doesn't preclude the (surely plausible) existence of a direct path from linguistic processing to motor control.
The prose is mouthwatering. The crumpets, I have to report, are bland and boring.
September 26, 2025 at 10:51 AM
The prose is mouthwatering. The crumpets, I have to report, are bland and boring.
September 22, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Search for Vegemite on sainsburys.co.uk , and 11 Marmite products come up first. Have the Marmite people paid to push Vegemite down the listings? I like both products but I would also like the manufacturers to play fair.
September 21, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Search for Vegemite on sainsburys.co.uk , and 11 Marmite products come up first. Have the Marmite people paid to push Vegemite down the listings? I like both products but I would also like the manufacturers to play fair.
Again! Brighton getting heavy downpours while most of GB is dry. A band of heavy rain is crawling along the south coast. The SE, remember, is supposed to have a drier clinate than places north and west.
September 11, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Again! Brighton getting heavy downpours while most of GB is dry. A band of heavy rain is crawling along the south coast. The SE, remember, is supposed to have a drier clinate than places north and west.
To the pest control company which has animated spiders and insects crawling over its web pages:
Very clever! Now just stop it!
Even to someone like me, with no particular creepy-crawlie phobias, it's very off-putting.
Very clever! Now just stop it!
Even to someone like me, with no particular creepy-crawlie phobias, it's very off-putting.
September 5, 2025 at 12:14 PM
To the pest control company which has animated spiders and insects crawling over its web pages:
Very clever! Now just stop it!
Even to someone like me, with no particular creepy-crawlie phobias, it's very off-putting.
Very clever! Now just stop it!
Even to someone like me, with no particular creepy-crawlie phobias, it's very off-putting.
Second time this has happened recently. I look at the rain map and Brighton seems to have been singled out for a downpour. It's probably an illusion: frequently there is just one heavy rainstorm in the country. And unsurprisingly, we tend to look at the map when it's raining locally.
September 4, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Second time this has happened recently. I look at the rain map and Brighton seems to have been singled out for a downpour. It's probably an illusion: frequently there is just one heavy rainstorm in the country. And unsurprisingly, we tend to look at the map when it's raining locally.
Why do people (Sainsbury's, for example) insist on calling Chinese cabbage "lettuce"?
August 30, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Why do people (Sainsbury's, for example) insist on calling Chinese cabbage "lettuce"?
This year I have almost forgotten what heavy rain is like. But now it's bucketing down. Patchy showers are forecast today. Right now there is one heavy downpour on the GB map. It's moving E along the Sussex coast. I can confirm that the radar isn't wrong.
August 29, 2025 at 7:24 AM
This year I have almost forgotten what heavy rain is like. But now it's bucketing down. Patchy showers are forecast today. Right now there is one heavy downpour on the GB map. It's moving E along the Sussex coast. I can confirm that the radar isn't wrong.
Amazing new idea. A single heatpump for winter heating and summer cooling. From Scientific American April 1978.
August 24, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Amazing new idea. A single heatpump for winter heating and summer cooling. From Scientific American April 1978.