David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science 
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This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.Algo Bait
First there was years of keyword stuffing by spammy websites trying to get up the search engine results pages (SERPs), then there were text link advertising and guest posts that attempted to game the search engines in the name of search engine optimisation (SEO ). Then it was more about clickbait, make a headline attention-grabbing enough (regardless of the actual quality of the content to which it points), people visit those and share those and the spammers attempt to go viral.
Now, it’s Algo Bait, algobait, material created, headlined, and linked in order to game the social media algorithms. It should all be avoide...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 21, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Artificial Intelligence Source Type: blogs
Ticking clocks
About a week ago, I mentioned that I was putting together a new song. I’d recorded a so-called 1+1 demo (just me singing with Martin guitar). But, earlier this week I hooked up with Adam, the drummer from my band, and we worked on the arrangement in his ad hoc studio with me on Taylor guitar (DI, direct injection, into the desk, U-phoria UMC404HD) and he on drums (electronic drums with an acoustic kit setting, also DI into my desk).
Once we had things just about right and had recorded a decent take of the drums and guitar, Adam added some nice retro 70s synth (the synth sound is called “Chick Corea”). I t...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 21, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Music Source Type: blogs
What is trypophobia? #TriggerWarning
Trypophobia is the name for the phobia (intense and apparently irrational fear) of irregular patterns or clusters of small holes or bumps. The term was coined by a web user back in 2005 on an internet forum. I always assumed its etymology lies in the word tripe and the Greek work for fear, maybe that is what she was thinking of. I find tripe repellant to look at (and eat, come to that).
It’s a weird one though isn’t it…why should anyone be scared of holes or bumps? Well, food full of holes might be rotten, whereas bumps might be present on food or skin because of disease. So, it could be that is the expl...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 20, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Psychology Source Type: blogs
Top tip for fellow book authors
Top tip for fellow authors (of books). Register with your national public lending rights organisation (PLR at British Library) and claim the books you wrote or co-wrote. In the UK, an author gets 30 pence every time one of their books is borrowed from a library.
There are about 5000 libraries in the UK lending out 165 million books a year. So it could add up and for some authors probably earns them more than sales!
3D-printed model car and stack of books
I think Ireland and Canada also have this system in place, so worth registering there and with the other countries that do if your books are sold abroad. It’s not av...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 19, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Stuff Source Type: blogs
Werner Herzog ’ s lifehacks
I was always intrigued by the idea of Werner Herzog, although I must confess I’ve only seen a handful of his films, among perhaps the most well renowned, Fitzcarraldo. Anyway, an article passed across my social media timeline today listing 24 pieces of advice from Herzog. Some might apply to all of us, some are rather figurative, others are more pertinent to filmmaking, but could easily apply to other areas of human endeavour. Anyway, 24 seemed like too many aphorisms at the time, it was a Monday morning, and so I turned to ChatGPT and asked it to select just five from the 24 that might be seen as universal advice, l...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 18, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Artificial Intelligence Source Type: blogs
Does a rainbow cast a shadow?
The quick answer to a Sciencebase visitor’s question, do rainbows cast a shadow? Is, no they don’t.
A rainbow is an optical phenomenon. They are seen when light is refracted and reflected by water droplets in the atmosphere. They do not exist as physical objects in the same way that a solid object would and so do not block the path of light from the sun or any other light source so do not cast a shadow. You only see a rainbow when the light source is behind you and you are looking at the region in the atmosphere where the water droplets are present. (Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science)
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 18, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Science Source Type: blogs
Do this if you want your bird photos to really take flight
Recently, I wrote about the beautiful Short-eared Owls that turned up on our patch over-winter in the slightly warmer climes of the Cambridgeshire Fens. I got photos of three hunting in the hour before dusk. The photos were okay, but I knew I could make them better with a few simple tools.
The problem is always hand-holding a big lens when the light’s fading. There’s camera shake and a short shutter speed is also needed to freeze the action. This adds up to the camera switching up the sensitivity, the ISO, and that makes for more photographic noise.
So, what can you do to improve a noisy photo that might also h...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 17, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Birds Photography Source Type: blogs
Do this if you want bird photos to really take flight
Recently, I wrote about the beautiful Short-eared Owls that turned up on our patch over-winter in the slightly warmer climes of the Cambridgeshire Fens. I got photos of three hunting in the hour before dusk. The photos were okay, but I knew I could make them better with a few simple tools.
The problem is always hand-holding a big lens when the light’s fading. There’s camera shake and a short shutter speed is also needed to freeze the action. This adds up to the camera switching up the sensitivity, the ISO, and that makes for more photographic noise.
So, what can you do to improve a noisy photo that might also h...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 17, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Birds Photography Source Type: blogs
Processing bird photos
You may have caught sight of an earlier post about the beautiful and graceful Short-eared Owls that have arrived on our patch from the far north to over-winter in the slightly warmer climes of the Cambridgeshire Fens. We saw three SEOs hunting in the hour before dusk in mid-January, but I am aware they have been around for several weeks and there are others as well as some Long-eared Owls (LEOs) farther north in Eldernell.
Anyway, it’s tough photographing owls at dusk with a big lens, there’s camera shake to take into account and the need for a fast shutter speed to freeze the action, which means high ISO and s...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 17, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Birds Photography Source Type: blogs
The best way to process your digital photos of birds
You may have caught sight of an earlier post about the beautiful and graceful Short-eared Owls that have arrived on our patch from the far north to over-winter in the slightly warmer climes of the Cambridgeshire Fens. We saw three SEOs hunting in the hour before dusk in mid-January, but I am aware they have been around for several weeks and there are others as well as some Long-eared Owls (LEOs) farther north in Eldernell.
Anyway, it’s tough photographing owls at dusk with a big lens, there’s camera shake to take into account and the need for a fast shutter speed to freeze the action, which means high ISO and s...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 17, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Birds Photography Source Type: blogs
My avian photo-processing workflow
You may have caught sight of an earlier post about the beautiful and graceful Short-eared Owls that have arrived on our patch from the far north to over-winter in the slightly warmer climes of the Cambridgeshire Fens. We saw three SEOs hunting in the hour before dusk in mid-January, but I am aware they have been around for several weeks and there are others as well as some Long-eared Owls (LEOs) farther north in Eldernell.
Anyway, it’s tough photographing owls at dusk with a big lens, there’s camera shake to take into account and the need for a fast shutter speed to freeze the action, which means high ISO and s...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 17, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Birds Photography Source Type: blogs
AI: your virtual therapist
None of the following should be taken as a substitute for professional, expert help where it is needed. It is merely an exercise in testing the limits of AI. Please speak to a professional if you need mental or physical health guidance or treatment.
ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence bot, a language model, in fact. You feed it a line and it comes right back at you with a retort. Feed it the right line and it will write you a sonnet or a limerick, a few more lines with the right prompt and it will analyse a piece of prose, you can then ask it to generate a new piece of prose on a different topic with the same tone, style...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 17, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Artificial Intelligence Psychology Source Type: blogs
Short-eared Owls on the Fens
I’ve discussed the Short-eared Owl, Asio flammeus, previously. Beautiful bird that occasionally overwinters in the UK, having spent the summer months in Iceland, Russia, or Scandinavia.
We are lucky to see them hunting on the fens sometimes. These photos were taken in the hour before sunset at NT Burwell Fen. There were three shorties hunting.
We usually anticipate their arrival in October, November, but they can sometimes arrive earlier and will stay until early April. There were half a dozen at Burwell a couple of years ago and one of them with damage to its wing (it could still fly) stayed through the summer mon...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 16, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Birds Source Type: blogs
Security Sunday: Ten tips for protecting yourself online
Here are ten great tips to protect yourself online.
Use strong, unique passwords for all of your accounts. Avoid using easily guessable information, such as your name or birthdate, in your passwords.
Enable two-factor (or multi-factor)authentication on any accounts that support it. This adds an extra layer of security by requiring a code sent to your phone or email in addition to your password. Opt for an authenticator app if possible rather than relying on SMS.
Keep your operating system and all software up to date. Software updates often include security patches that fix known vulnerabilities.
Be cautious when clicking...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 15, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Artificial Intelligence Technology Source Type: blogs
An “ interview ” with ChatGPT where it explains ChatGPT
I asked ChatGPT, the language model I’ve been talking about a lot recently to explain itself in simple terms.
I want you to tell me about ChatGPT but you must assume I have no specialist understanding of any jargon terms like “AI”, “language model”, “algorithm”, so your response must explain those terms if they are used in your explanation.
ChatGPT is a type of Artificial Intelligence (AI) program that is specifically trained to understand and generate human language. It uses a type of machine learning called deep learning, which involves training a computer to learn patterns in la...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 15, 2023 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Artificial Intelligence Source Type: blogs
