Random Photos

pinball1970 · Jul 16, 2023

Not a great picture, not centred correctly, probably because I climbed up the statute opposite to get a better scope. I'm not great with heights.
I spent many an hour here in the 80s, central library, Manchester.

phinds · Jul 16, 2023

pinball1970 said:

central library

Where?

pinball1970 · Jul 16, 2023

phinds said:

Where?

Manchester.

jtbell · Jul 16, 2023

Here's a restaurant where the food is really hot:

Tom.G · Jul 17, 2023

DennisN said:

I just love that the different petals are in different, distinct colors.
Google Pictures says it's some sort of Dahlia.

That Dahlia photo got my wife's attention (she is into colored-pencil artwork and wants to try sketching it).

After a bit of on-line research she came up with:
Sorry, no URL; she is on a tablet and can't display such 'unimportant' things! It was found thru a Google search for Dahlia Mary Eveline. The following came up when she clicked on one of the first few sponsored advertising images.

Call name: Dahlia Anemone Mary Eveline (some American sites use Evelyn)
(Scientific)
Name: Dahlia
Species: Dahlia
Genus: Dahlia
Family: Asteraceae
Order: Asterales
Hardiness: Zones 8-11
Duration: Perennial
Sun exposure: Full Shade
Soil: Loam, Sand, Clay
Soil PH: 6.1-7.5

DennisN · Jul 17, 2023

Tom.G said:

That Dahlia photo got my wife's attention (she is into colored-pencil artwork and wants to try sketching it).

After a bit of on-line research she came up with:
Sorry, no URL; she is on a tablet and can't display such 'unimportant' things! It was found thru a Google search for Dahlia Mary Eveline. The following came up when she clicked on one of the first few sponsored advertising images.

Call name: Dahlia Anemone Mary Eveline (some American sites use Evelyn)
(Scientific)
Name: Dahlia
Species: Dahlia
Genus: Dahlia
Family: Asteraceae
Order: Asterales
Hardiness: Zones 8-11
Duration: Perennial
Sun exposure: Full Shade
Soil: Loam, Sand, Clay
Soil PH: 6.1-7.5

Thanks a lot!

Andy Resnick · Jul 17, 2023

I got some help stringing together a series of images into a video, the idea is a continuous zoom. Hope you enjoy it!

berkeman · Jul 17, 2023

Andy Resnick said:

I got some help stringing together a series of images into a video, the idea is a continuous zoom. Hope you enjoy it!

Fun Easter Egg! What are the black rectangles around the IC? They look too fine-pitch to be wire bonding pads...?

Andy Resnick · Jul 18, 2023

berkeman said:

Fun Easter Egg! What are the black rectangles around the IC? They look too fine-pitch to be wire bonding pads...?

View attachment 329375

If I understand what you mean, those are indeed the bonding pads... I don't think there were actual wires, tho-not sure what the correct terminology is for modern stuff (bump bonding?)

berkeman · Jul 18, 2023

Andy Resnick said:

If I understand what you mean, those are indeed the bonding pads... I don't think there were actual wires, tho-not sure what the correct terminology is for modern stuff (bump bonding?)

Pretty amazing stuff. One of the previous companies I worked for did advanced IC packaging, but I was only peripherally involved in that part of the business. Looking it up now, I guess it is indeed possible...

https://semiengineering.com/scaling-bump-pitches-in-advanced-packaging/

Interconnects for advanced packaging are at a crossroads as an assortment of new package types are pushing further into the mainstream, with some vendors opting to extend the traditional bump approaches while others roll out new ones to replace them.

The goal in all cases is to ensure signal integrity between components in IC packages as the volume of data being processed increases. But as devices continue to shrink and more components are added into advanced packages to process, move, and store more data, new technologies with more I/Os will be required. So while traditional solder balls and/or copper microbumps still will be used for the foreseeable future, new technologies are under development that can augment or replace those interconnect technologies, increasing the number of I/Os and providing more headroom for scaling.

As always, size and cost are the determining factors. Copper microbumps are smaller than solder balls/bumps, enabling more I/Os in packages. In today’s advanced packages, the most advanced microbumps involve a 40μm pitch, which equates to 20μm to 25μm bump sizes with 15μm spacing between the adjacent bumps on the die.

Flyboy · Jul 19, 2023

Doing some formation practice in DCS with some friends.

DennisN · Jul 19, 2023

Flyboy said:

Doing some formation practice in DCS with some friends.

Hmm... I recognize those signs. Swedish aircraft? Three crowns?

Flyboy · Jul 19, 2023

DennisN said:

Hmm... I recognize those signs. Swedish aircraft? Three crowns?

Correct! It's an AJS37 Viggen.

Ivan Seeking · Jul 19, 2023

Same photo with one inverted

BillTre · Jul 19, 2023

The light intensities give it away.
Double reflected light will be less bright that singly reflected light.

DennisN · Jul 20, 2023

Andy Resnick said:

I got some help stringing together a series of images into a video, the idea is a continuous zoom. Hope you enjoy it!

That is so darn cool with the zoom ins!
I feel you are just one step away from getting an electron microscope

.
Probably hard to find in cheap, small versions, though...

Here's one listed, though I somehow don't think it's the real thing

:

Aah, imagine if electron microscopes were available in these sizes and at this price...
...what a wonderful world it would be

.

berkeman · Jul 20, 2023

DennisN said:

Aah, imagine if electron microscopes were available in these sizes and at this price...
...what a wonderful world it would be .

Except, you have to sit in a vacuum chamber to look through it...

Ibix · Jul 20, 2023

berkeman said:

Except, you have to sit in a vacuum chamber

That sucks.

DennisN · Jul 20, 2023

berkeman said:

Except, you have to sit in a vacuum chamber to look through it...

Ibix said:

That sucks.

What's all this fuss about vacuum? It's nothing, really.

Swamp Thing · Jul 20, 2023

DennisN said:

What's all this fuss about vacuum? It's nothing, really.

You can't breathe.

Andy Resnick · Jul 20, 2023

DennisN said:

That is so darn cool with the zoom ins!
I feel you are just one step away from getting an electron microscope .
Probably hard to find in cheap, small versions, though...

Here's one listed, though I somehow don't think it's the real thing :

Aah, imagine if electron microscopes were available in these sizes and at this price...
...what a wonderful world it would be .

The low price is matched by the low magnification! (from site: Magnification ratio: 50X-1000X)

It's practically an electron mAcroscope!

Andy Resnick · Jul 20, 2023

Ibix said:

That sucks.

My shopvac also blows :)

BillTre · Jul 20, 2023

That's an optical microscope mislabeled as an electron microscope by some stupid marketer, probably it is electronic and he got confused.

Even the smallest EMs (electron microscopes) take a table top. And yes, they do require a vacuum (those electrons have to be able to fly free).
They also require high voltages (not usually available at home) and a very vibration free install site.
Scanning EMs look at surfaces and are probably the smallest.
Transmission EMs (electrons going through sections) are larger and often higher power.

Ivan Seeking · Jul 20, 2023

BillTre said:

The light intensities give it away.
Double reflected light will be less bright that singly reflected light.

You can also see a couple of branches floating in the air.

Ivan Seeking · Jul 20, 2023

My favorite photo, when I was studying their work they always seemed bigger than life. But when I look at this, I try to see them as average people and not as the rock stars of physics. I know a bit about some of their personal lives but not much. I have to think their egos were huge! I tend to think an evening with that crowd would not be easy.

BillTre · Jul 20, 2023

I would expect a variety of personalities. it wouldn't surprise if certain types were disproportionately common, but not exclusive.
I haven't know a lot of physicists, but I have known many biologists. Some are quite nice. Some have won Noble Prizes.
Some are assholes, not all do well.

Ivan Seeking · Jul 20, 2023

BillTre said:

I would expect a variety of personalities. it wouldn't surprise if certain types were disproportionately common, but not exclusive.
I haven't know a lot of physicists, but I have known many biologists. Some are quite nice. Some have won Noble Prizes.
Some are assholes, not all do well.

If you could meet one person from that photo today, who would it be?

For me it would probably be Schrodinger. From what I have read he liked the ladies. I do too so we would probably have a lot to talk about.

It might be fun to talk with Heisenberg about the philosophical implications of his uncertainty principle. But what physicist or physics lover could resist an opportunity to speak with any of them?!

DennisN · Jul 21, 2023

Here's a post about a little editing trick in Photoshop...

I took a walk through the park the other day and saw a nice scene, but I didn't have my system camera with me, so I shot it with my mobile phone which doesn't happen very often these days.

What caught my eye was the sky and the reflection of it in the pond.
If I had been using my system camera I would have shot it with a polarizing filter in front of the lens to get a more dramatic contrast of the sky, but I had to do without it.

Here's the original:

In Photoshop you can use can use the Shadows/Highlights adjustment (Menu->Image->Adjustments->Shadows->Highlights) and set it like this...

...which can give a more dramatic sky.
This is a kind of "overexposure compensation".
Another little trick I picked up from somewhere I don't remember.

Here's the edited result:

The colors change a bit, but this can of course be further edited if you like to.

BillTre · Jul 21, 2023

Here is a map of South Asia (land of the Danios) and their drainage basins. I got it from this place.
The drainage basins are a common restriction for where a species can easily spread to.
There are several isolated drainage basins in Tibet and Mongolia with no outlet to the sea.