Barnaby Walters

Arranging atoms and pressurising air in a variety of manners, such as:

Pronouns: they/he

  1. Tantek Çelik: Japan airport security is basically pre-2001 (sans theater) * keep shoes & jacket on * metal detector Unlike: American airport security * remove hoodie, jacket, etc. * slower and more radiative millimeter/backscatter I went through both Tokyo/Haneda and Chitose airport security this week. Haneda's security was also ok with using a single tray for liquids, devices, laptop, coins etc. for their x-ray machiens, in contrast to U.S. airport security requiring separate trays for each laptop, and any liquids or anything else. I can only conclude that the TSA's extra procedures and expensive radar devices are a waste of time & resources, no more than a perpetuation of a culture of fear since 2001. I remain hopeful that the TSA will eventually adopt measures similar to Japanese airports and return to just using metal detectors.

    @t sounds about right, see also https://takingsenseaway.wordpress.com/ blog written by a former TSA employee, debunks a lot of TSA practise as nonsense. I’ve found European airports to vary, e.g. some want shoes off, every electronic device in it’s own tray, some don’t care. When traveling with the gurdy I’ve had reactions ranging from highly suspicious with swabs being taken, to people not caring, or wanting to hear it played purely out of curiosity.

  2. We felled a tree at Neumühle and it was exciting!

    This big fir was a perfectly nice tree in a completely ridiculous place. Out with the chainsaw!

    https://youtu.be/4BJ-qoMs1W0

    The tree is replaced by our new firepit, made out of an old cast iron turbine bearing from the mill.

    The tree’s legacy lives on in eight log stools made out of the trunk.

  3. Roopa Gulati: Wish I could have been there - nothing beats British apples. https://twitter.com/SybilKapoor/status/656405338015535104

    @roopagulati German apples aren’t too bad either — there was recently a mobile apple press in town, so we collected ~100kg of apples and pears from the region and had them pressed into 80 litres of delicious apple juice!

  4. for anyone using QtMultimedia QAudioInput with python’s wave module to write PCM data to a wave file: to convert between QAudioFormat’s sampleSize() number and wave’s sample width number, divide by 8, e.g:

    wave_file_to_write.setsampwidth(audio_format.sampleSize() / 8)

    QAudioFormat’s sampleRate() number works as it is.

  5. Event: Tanz auf dem Kornboden

    Duo Gerhardt und Walters (me and Philipp) are playing dance music from Mecklenburg on bagpipes and hurdy gurdy in the Neumühle on the 3rd of October! If you’re in the Brömsenberg/Lübtheen/Schwerin/Hamburg area, come and dance!

    Dance introduction course at 18:30, concert at 20:00, entry free. Cakes and suchlike available to buy, eat and then deposit the remains in our shiny new composting toilet!

    (ha ha, uh, that got weird quickly)

    Neumühle, Ausbau 10, 19249 Lübtheen — once you find Brömsenberg, look for the big red mill. It is quite hard to miss.

    We have a band photo now! I think that means we’re officially a band, or something.

    RSVP on Facebook if that’s your thing. You can also like our page, which apparently means something!

  6. It’s possible, however unlikely, that my new €20 printer is somehow ACTUALLY GOOD. It joined our wifi! Replacing the ink was seamless! It prints blank music stave paper! It has ink available in extra-large cartridges which still cost more than human blood but might possibly be more economical than usual! My computer discovered it automatically! It has nice UI touches, like a old-phone style keyboard for text entry which disappears when not needed! All in all, maybe this is finally a not horrible printer.

    Maybe.

  7. Considering the only poisonous snake in Finland is the (non-lethal) adder, the Kalevala is surprisingly full of warnings about venomous snakes, spiders, insects, etc.