Paul Boldrin

@paulboldrin

Everything that can be electrified will be electrified. Electrochemist at Ironic Metals Ltd - developing low carbon iron production. Post about science, climate, London, cycling, kids, Spurs and politics.

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Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· 15d

Oh oh, the Spanish have discovered Asia.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· 15d

Swole Doge vs Cheems meme where Swole Doge is "Meme users in 2020" and Cheems is "Meme users in the New Statesman"

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· 16d

Honestly cycling commuting is so awesome that it does make you feel like you should write a book about it. This morning I stopped for far too long watching two swans trying and failing to balance on a large piece of plastic floating in the canal. You don't get that in a car.

Two swans trying and failing to balance on a large piece of plastic floating in the canal.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· 17d

Reminded me of this that I saw recently:

Poster for a play called "The Ghost of White Hart Lane" about John White at Underbelly Boulevard Soho from the 31st July to 2nd August

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· 18d

I seem to remember not six years ago we managed to send police to these places and fine them *just for being there*. Resorting to a ban is just:

We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas Simpsons meme.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· 20d

I think this is the most incoherent thing I have ever read. If I showed this to a hundred 10 year olds I think most would be able to see the contradictions here.

Exerpt from a New York Times article entitled "Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities":

"He also directed federal science agencies to focus on a handful of priorities set by the White House, including physical sciences, chemistry and biological sciences.

Those fields, he wrote, were crucial to what he called the Trump administration’s “national missions” — a list that includes artificial intelligence, nuclear fusion, robotics, quantum computing and space exploration.

The report is less clear on the areas of scientific research for which the federal government should reduce funding. It says federal agencies “should prioritize foundational research in the biological sciences over the life sciences.”"

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· Jul 8

Rage Against the Machine:

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· Jul 7

Are Labour going to go with this guy again?

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· Jul 6

This meme:

Twitter post saying: "Every lifelong Catholic I've ever met is like "I think we're supposed to give this food to poor people" and every adult convert is like "the Archon of Constantinople's epistle on the Pentacostine rites of the eucharist clearly states women shouldn't have driver's licenses.""

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· Jul 1

Hmm, maybe we should get together or something.

Map of solar PV potential across the UK showing the highest potential in the southeast and the lowest in Scotland.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· Jul 1

Look how cute this is!

A pile of 5 or 6 ducklings huddling together by the water with mum sitting slightly to one side.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· Jun 27

Double rainbow in suddenly quite grim north London. I of course do not have a jacket and am soaked.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· Jun 27

Probably not the oldest thing I use regularly but just because I was thinking the other day that this rucksack I still use a lot is almost 30 years old I think.

Purple Adidas rucksack with pink stripes dating from around the turn of the century.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· Jun 25

Mandarin ducks - big fans of the pumpkin seeds I gave them the other day but not so keen on today's nuts and raisins.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· Jun 24

Yeah I'm sure they'll eventually persuade someone to pay them to reopen it.

Tonight queen meme for Centrica wanting to reopen the Rough gas storage facility.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· Jun 23

Fed some ducks on the way in to work this morning to hear their cute squeaks and get a photo for you lot:

A family of Mandarin ducks eating pumpkin seeds in the Regent's Canal.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· Jun 21

"Sure grandma" meme with the grandma saying "and the whole world will pay the US a 20% tax on oil they buy"

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· Jun 16

On the one hand, probably good, on the other, what the hell else would I use this for?

Can you summarise any important information from the last 100 messages in the 6B WhatsApp group?

I wish I could, but I can’t see into your WhatsApp groups or pull messages from 6B directly. I don’t have access to your chats, contacts, or any private messages for privacy reasons.

If you copy/paste the important bits here, or upload a screenshot/export, I can absolutely summarise it for you and pull out dates, tasks, decisions, etc.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· Jun 14

New contribution to the transatlantic food discourse courtesy of the BBC:

A hot dog purchased at the Japan - Netherlands World Cup game looking extremely unappealing.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· Jun 11

Also worth pointing out that the warming caused by escaped methane during LNG production and transport is as bad if not worse than the actual burning of it:

Bar graph showing CO2 equivalent emissions from LNG, demonstrating that the warming potential from escaped methane is similar to or greater than the warming potential of the CO2 released when the LNG is finally burnt.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· Jun 6

Ha, just made this as a joke but obviously because they hate us that's what they actually went and did.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· Jun 4

Suspect that might be short lived... Rainfall radar says we should be more or less clear from ~14:00 to close of play though.

Rainfall radar showing heavy showers all round London at 12:00.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· Jun 1

Easy to forget given the last 15 years but the UK actually had by far the highest growth of the major European economies in the period in question:

GDP per capita for UK, France, Germany and Italy from 1992 - 2007, showing UK started the period with the lowest GDP per capita and finished with the highest.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· May 30

These are the rest of my recommendations from that article:

Only heard of one of these - Thee Headcoatees. They were the first band I ever saw live, supporting Mudhoney in 1995.

I have no idea what a cutoff should be for "obscure", but I arbitrarily picked less than 100 "haves" on Discogs. So I have many obscure records from the late 90s/2000s, and almost all of them are terrible. But ones which spring to mind which I still occasionally listen to (or would love to listen to again but have sadly lost over the years):

Wall of Sleep - Wall of Sleep - there are at least two other bands called Wall of Sleep but these ones are from 1995 Coventry and released this amazing pyschedelic doom album on the Bevis Frond's label Woronzow. And then split up. A perfect one for listening to with the lights down low and the smell of your favourite burning leaves in the air.

Vialka - Curiosités Des Coutumes Populaires - bizarre nomadic French experimental punk. This one is from 2005 but they've been releasing stuff for years and still are I think. My favourite song on this album is called Shitty Monkeys

Among the Missing - Disorder of the Templar. Disclaimer - I know these guys. But still, an absolutely brutal slice of mid-00s sludgecore/grindcore with obligatory British humour and references to smoking too much weed.

Finally, not an album, but I did have an amazing hardcore punk song that I absolutely loved on the compilation album Peace-War, called "Endless Blockade for the Pussyfooter" which was by a Japanese hardcore band called GISM. I never saw a copy of the record it was on, I never met anyone who had it, but I just looked it up on discogs and saw it's going for over £200!

Anyway, god knows why I bothered writing all that seeing as it's unlikely that anyone will have the faintest clue what I'm talking about, but it did fill my lunch break with reminiscences of old bands I liked.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· May 29

It's true, ancient Greeks did just like hot men.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· May 28

This from Simon Case seems entirely divergent from reality. I don't know who he thinks was the previous government or who they put in charge of things like the BBC. I don't think revolutions are famous for their clear and consistent instructions either beyond "execute all our enemies".

Quote from Simon Case: "Those leading the Brexit revolution have never taken control of all of the key institutions of power in the UK – it took three years to deliver a leave prime minister, and parliament has yet to see a leave majority. Whitehall has never been given clear and consistent instructions that an alternative vision of the country’s future is to be pursued. Whilst the constitutional change has been completed, the vision has never been defined and implemented. The revolution has failed."

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· May 26

Slow hand clap. Why even bother? The £500 they're spending on this is totally wasted money.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· May 24

What are we thinking Bluesky - genius or abomination?

Photo of a tin of olives stuffed with blue cheese.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· May 23

"Fetching running shorts"

A politician wearing some shorts which could legitimately be described as short.

Paul Boldrin@paulboldrin· May 22

Important London news - some baby moorhens hatched on the Regents Canal: