John Buckeridge
@johnbuckeridge.bsky.social
I'm a materials physicist pretending to be a chemist and an engineer. I don't think anyone is convinced. Opinions mine. Corcaigh abú. (He/him)
Reposted by John Buckeridge
Boards of Canada "Olson" on a 1959 PDP-1 Computer
YouTube video by Joe Lynch
youtu.be
November 29, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Reposted by John Buckeridge
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
November 28, 2025 at 3:07 PM
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
Reposted by John Buckeridge
Reposted by John Buckeridge
Reposted by John Buckeridge
November 17, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Reposted by John Buckeridge
Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You asked a question at the end of a work meeting. Prepare to die.
November 15, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You asked a question at the end of a work meeting. Prepare to die.
Really enjoyed this one. Yes it's true that grain alcohol would avoid autoignition and engine knock, same as tetraethyl lead (TEL). I was teaching my students about it this week. But ethanol was expensive and you would need a lot hence less profitable. Thomas Midgely Jr introduced lead to petrol 1/2
‘They knew exactly how many people were going to die as a result of running the plant even while the filter was down. And they decided it was worth it.’
On the pod, James Lasdun explores the links between murder and pollution in Caroline Fraser’s ‘Murderland’.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
On the pod, James Lasdun explores the links between murder and pollution in Caroline Fraser’s ‘Murderland’.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
Pollution and Other Serial Killers
Podcast Episode · The LRB Podcast · 05/11/2025 · 38m
podcasts.apple.com
November 15, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Really enjoyed this one. Yes it's true that grain alcohol would avoid autoignition and engine knock, same as tetraethyl lead (TEL). I was teaching my students about it this week. But ethanol was expensive and you would need a lot hence less profitable. Thomas Midgely Jr introduced lead to petrol 1/2
Back to life drawing today. The class did a joint 'frieze' with charcoal.
November 15, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Back to life drawing today. The class did a joint 'frieze' with charcoal.
Reposted by John Buckeridge
I see it's time for me to make the point again that the poppy is a fundraising campaign for the Royal British Legion, a specific, mundane entity that is not exempt from scrutiny and does not own the concept of remembrance.
You can read its 2024 accounts here: storage.rblcdn.co.uk/sitefinity/d...
You can read its 2024 accounts here: storage.rblcdn.co.uk/sitefinity/d...
November 5, 2025 at 11:17 AM
I see it's time for me to make the point again that the poppy is a fundraising campaign for the Royal British Legion, a specific, mundane entity that is not exempt from scrutiny and does not own the concept of remembrance.
You can read its 2024 accounts here: storage.rblcdn.co.uk/sitefinity/d...
You can read its 2024 accounts here: storage.rblcdn.co.uk/sitefinity/d...
Reposted by John Buckeridge
In honor of the upcoming #WomenInPhysics Day, let's create a thread of amazing women physicists. I'll start with one my favorites, Chien-Shiung Wu, who is best known for conducting the Wu experiment, which proved that parity is not conserved. ⚛️ 🧪 👩🔬 🎢
November 4, 2025 at 10:54 PM
In honor of the upcoming #WomenInPhysics Day, let's create a thread of amazing women physicists. I'll start with one my favorites, Chien-Shiung Wu, who is best known for conducting the Wu experiment, which proved that parity is not conserved. ⚛️ 🧪 👩🔬 🎢
Reposted by John Buckeridge
A new preprint and two firsts:
Joana Bustamante's first first-author preprint in our group and us developing a model for thermal conductivity!
Feedback welcome!
arxiv.org/abs/2510.23133
#compchem
Joana Bustamante's first first-author preprint in our group and us developing a model for thermal conductivity!
Feedback welcome!
arxiv.org/abs/2510.23133
#compchem
Thermal Transport in Ag8TS6 (T= Si, Ge, Sn) Argyrodites: An Integrated Experimental, Quantum-Chemical, and Computational Modelling Study
Argyrodite-type Ag-based sulfides combine exceptionally low lattice thermal and high ionic conductivity, making them promising candidates for thermoelectric and solid-state energy applications. In thi...
arxiv.org
October 28, 2025 at 7:48 AM
A new preprint and two firsts:
Joana Bustamante's first first-author preprint in our group and us developing a model for thermal conductivity!
Feedback welcome!
arxiv.org/abs/2510.23133
#compchem
Joana Bustamante's first first-author preprint in our group and us developing a model for thermal conductivity!
Feedback welcome!
arxiv.org/abs/2510.23133
#compchem
Reposted by John Buckeridge
“Now go to sleep, Kevin—or once again I’ll have to knock three times and summon the Floating Head of Death.”
October 24, 2025 at 5:05 PM
“Now go to sleep, Kevin—or once again I’ll have to knock three times and summon the Floating Head of Death.”
Reposted by John Buckeridge
In case you haven't seen it yet, the 2023 film Rye Lane is on the BBC iPlayer and is a total delight
▶️📺 www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
▶️📺 www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
October 14, 2025 at 6:20 PM
In case you haven't seen it yet, the 2023 film Rye Lane is on the BBC iPlayer and is a total delight
▶️📺 www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
▶️📺 www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
Reposted by John Buckeridge
If this intends to make it legally compulsory for every adult in Derry to carry something called a "Brit Card", then I'm willing to offer some high-paid consultancy on why this plan might be flawed.
Every adult in Britain to require new ‘Brit Card’ ID
Every adult in Britain to require new ‘Brit Card’ ID
www.independent.co.uk
September 25, 2025 at 4:14 PM
If this intends to make it legally compulsory for every adult in Derry to carry something called a "Brit Card", then I'm willing to offer some high-paid consultancy on why this plan might be flawed.
Reposted by John Buckeridge
A piece in the Guardian today focuses on the Irish game of road bowling; it reminded me of this work (1941) by Gabriel Hayes showing the game in action - it used to be confined to West Cork. share.google/6u9a5XNcui7J...
September 22, 2025 at 9:40 AM
A piece in the Guardian today focuses on the Irish game of road bowling; it reminded me of this work (1941) by Gabriel Hayes showing the game in action - it used to be confined to West Cork. share.google/6u9a5XNcui7J...
Reposted by John Buckeridge
Worrying - Quarter of UK university physics departments at risk of closing, survey finds | Physics | The Guardian share.google/OloD34Di6p9D...
Quarter of UK university physics departments at risk of closing, survey finds
Four out of five making staff cuts as physicists say findings are ‘great concern’ for UK’s leadership in important areas
share.google
September 20, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Worrying - Quarter of UK university physics departments at risk of closing, survey finds | Physics | The Guardian share.google/OloD34Di6p9D...
Reposted by John Buckeridge
This isn't my idea it's @alicebennett.bsky.social 's as I recall, but I think it's time for this meme to join our HE binfire pantheon.
September 10, 2025 at 8:36 AM
This isn't my idea it's @alicebennett.bsky.social 's as I recall, but I think it's time for this meme to join our HE binfire pantheon.
Reposted by John Buckeridge
Remember this? In the 1990s, a popular view of nanotechnology claimed that molecular gears like this, made of diamondoid carbon, were going to be the components of molecular-scale assemblers and nanobots. But that vision hasn't come to pass. My article in Aeon explores why.
aeon.co/essays/no-su...
aeon.co/essays/no-su...
September 2, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Remember this? In the 1990s, a popular view of nanotechnology claimed that molecular gears like this, made of diamondoid carbon, were going to be the components of molecular-scale assemblers and nanobots. But that vision hasn't come to pass. My article in Aeon explores why.
aeon.co/essays/no-su...
aeon.co/essays/no-su...
Reposted by John Buckeridge
“Oh boy! ... It’s dog food again!”
August 31, 2025 at 3:05 PM
“Oh boy! ... It’s dog food again!”
Reposted by John Buckeridge
In my latest (and last!) column for Science’s Expert Voices series, I write about the reasons behind AI chatbots’ “deceptive” behaviors (and why Claude threatened a fictional CEO with blackmail).
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Why AI chatbots lie to us
A few weeks ago, a colleague of mine needed to collect and format some data from a website, and he asked the latest version of Anthropic’s generative AI system, Claude, for help. Claude cheerfully agr...
www.science.org
July 24, 2025 at 6:24 PM
In my latest (and last!) column for Science’s Expert Voices series, I write about the reasons behind AI chatbots’ “deceptive” behaviors (and why Claude threatened a fictional CEO with blackmail).
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by John Buckeridge
If you’re based in Britain and are hurling-curious, the final will be on BBC 2 tomorrow afternoon: www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...
It might help put the article below (or indeed, my annual fretting about the fortunes of the Cork hurling team) into context.
It might help put the article below (or indeed, my annual fretting about the fortunes of the Cork hurling team) into context.
July 19, 2025 at 9:55 AM
If you’re based in Britain and are hurling-curious, the final will be on BBC 2 tomorrow afternoon: www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...
It might help put the article below (or indeed, my annual fretting about the fortunes of the Cork hurling team) into context.
It might help put the article below (or indeed, my annual fretting about the fortunes of the Cork hurling team) into context.
Claire is very happy with this present! Always love a maths joke. Thanks to @mooseallain.bsky.social !
July 17, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Claire is very happy with this present! Always love a maths joke. Thanks to @mooseallain.bsky.social !
Reposted by John Buckeridge
Reposted by John Buckeridge
Conscientious SUV Shopper Just Wants Something That Will Kill Family In Other Car In Case Of Accident theonion.com/conscie...
July 5, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Conscientious SUV Shopper Just Wants Something That Will Kill Family In Other Car In Case Of Accident theonion.com/conscie...
Reposted by John Buckeridge
Tonight’s huge climbdown is testament to the countless disabled people who have tirelessly fought these cuts. Yes, UC was a loss and there’s more to do on PIP, but let’s not underplay this: a government with a vast majority has been forced to u-turn. Because of the disabled community.
July 1, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Tonight’s huge climbdown is testament to the countless disabled people who have tirelessly fought these cuts. Yes, UC was a loss and there’s more to do on PIP, but let’s not underplay this: a government with a vast majority has been forced to u-turn. Because of the disabled community.