I haven't written anything for Blogstronomy in AGES but it feels like there might be some space questions in people's minds right now... So is there anything you're wondering about the Moon, the pictures you're seeing, etc?
Blogstronomy.blogspot.com
You start feeling good about great movies and space exploration at long last, and then Trump muscles in and you remember that you need to start welding spikes to your car.
I'm sitting at a table in a pub, with a pint in my hand, wondering who else here secretly likes #maths...
Past. I'm putting the solo act back together. https://kensson.com/
NASA's currently working on developing a Coordinated Lunar Time standard. There'll need to be built-in adjustments as 24 hours on the Moon's surface pass about 60 millionths of a second faster than 24 hours on Earth due to time dilation effects caused by the Earth/Moon mass difference. 🤯
After discussions at open mic last night, I've been persuaded to put my one attempt at recording an album (back in 2002, on a steam-powered black-and-white four-track) on Bandcamp:
kensson.bandcamp.com/album/a-bright-cold-day-...
I guess I'm getting the band* back together.
* solo
Our classic Who journey sees us following the 2nd Doctor through The War Games. A great story with twists, turns & surprises, smooth exposition, & relatively diverse casting for the time.
One of many enjoyments to be had watching early Who is spotting actors you already know from elsewhere […]
I wish I wasn't so tired and busy, otherwise I'd be mainlining Artemis II. As it stands, I'm loving the bits I'm managing to catch.
Back to the Moon, for the first time in my life. It's AMAZING.
A view of Earth from space, shown as a curved, half-lit globe against a deep black background. Sunlight illuminates the lower-left portion, revealing swirling white cloud systems over blue oceans, while the upper-right fades into darkness along a soft diagonal line (called the 'terminator'). The planet appears calm and delicate, suspended alone in the vast emptiness of space.
"I'm looking for Sarah Connor."
View from inside a dark spacecraft, looking out through a small, rounded window. Beyond the thick frame and bundled cables, Earth appears half-lit against the blackness of space—its blue oceans and swirling white clouds sharply defined, with sunlight catching the curve of the planet. The interior foreground is dim and mechanical, emphasising the quiet contrast between the cramped, engineered cabin and the vast, luminous world outside.
I love this photo. Earth looks so furtive. "I'm so sorry, I hope I'm not intruding..."
(Credit: NASA, obviously)
This kind of misleading imagery on political campaign leaflets is not new, but here we have someone involved in creating one stating unequivocally that it's a deliberate misrepresentation of the statistics, rather than a well-meaning error.
Of course, it's not just Reform doing this - it just […]
They're off! The first Moon mission in more than 50 years; the last one was a decade before I was born.
#Artemis2
A pastel-toned reading summary graphic titled “@teakayb’s March 2026 Wrap-Up.” It reports 1 book read, totalling 545 pages, with an average rating of 5.0 stars. The featured “Highest Rated Read” is Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle, by Ben MacIntyre, shown with its red-and-black cover and a 5.0 rating. Additional stats note an average book length of 368 pages and an average of 37 days to finish. Along the bottom, a line chart tracks pages read each day of the month, mostly between about 5 and 35 pages, with a sharp spike near day 28 reaching roughly 80 pages before dropping back down. The StoryGraph logo appears in the corner.
March's reading! Only one book completed this month: Colditz, by Ben MacIntyre (https://uk.bookshop.org/a/16778/9780241986974 It's as brilliant as expected: MacIntyre always makes historical non-fiction feel like a gripping drama.
That's one book finished […]
[Original post on mathstodon.xyz]
This is the best thing I've seen in the whole of today: https://youtu.be/tqIki33mTgs
(Shared by someone via a chat group I'm in)
#MathsToday
BRB: panic-buying Kit-Kats.
I reckon it was Banksy.
I don't know what I'm doing. But I also don't know what I'm *not* doing, so I guess it balances out.
I think Ryan Gosling wearing a cardigan in a movie has probably caused an increase in cardigan sales.
Here's hoping that in his next movie he's wearing nothing but a book about the history of maths.
RE: https://mathstodon.xyz/@TeaKayB/116312871537589429
It's worth noting that I've had the cardigan and glasses (and been a teacher) since long before Project Hail Mary started production, so technically *Gosling* is cosplaying *me*.
A side-by-side comparison of Ryan Gosling and Thomas K. Briggs. On the left is Thomas, a person with shoulder-length brown hair and light facial hair sits indoors against a pale wall, wearing round glasses, a patterned cream cardigan, and a dark graphic T-shirt. They rest one hand on their head and look directly at the camera with a calm, slightly tired expression; a small framed picture hangs high on the wall behind them. On the right, Gosling has shorter but similarly ruffled hair and wears glasses and a similar cardigan. His setting is warmly lit. He looks slightly off-camera with a faint, knowing smile, with one hand resting on his head in a pose similar to Tom's. The lighting and styling give the right-hand image a more cinematic feel, highlighting the resemblance between the two.
Because social media keeps telling me it's all about the cardigan and the glasses and nothing to do with being muscular, 6 feet tall and swooningly pretty...
Similarly non-muscular, shorter, yet bespectacled and becardiganed men assemble!
#ProjectHailMary
Just finished _Colditz_ by Ben MacIntyre: a fascinating history of an aspect of World War II that most people have heard whilst few know much detail. Another page-turner from a master of historical non-fiction.
https://uk.bookshop.org/a/16778/9780241986974
RE: https://mathstodon.xyz/@TeaKayB/116308929988731961
And, apparently, the episode to be released after this one is a conservation between Ben (the host of _The Mathematicians Podcast_ ) and that guy who wrote _The Mathematicians' Library _ !
Ooh, _The Mathematicians' Library_ gets a quick mention in this episode of _The Mathematicians Podcast_ !
mathematicians.podbean.com/e/episode-54-umaswati-mi...
So if you Spoonerise "Hail Mary" you get a description of Ryan Gosling during the first part of the movie.
A dress rehearsal is a beformance.
Only the humpledangs can win against the turbleboos here!
See these randomly generated rectangles we've placed behind some percentages!
Both the rectangles and the numbers are arranged in size order, but are otherwise completely unrelated!
Today I've hit 100 on my @thestorygraph streak: that's a little bit of book reading every day for 100 days.
This is a big milestone for me, having been an avid reader in my youth but slipping considerably in recent years.
https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/teakayb
Early one morning, the sun was shining
I had to take a look
At my local cinema showing The Jungle Book
I've always loved the characters, always loved the story
Loved the animation in its Technicolor glory
My favourite's Kaa the python, 'cause Mr Kipling makes
<extended raise of the eyebrow> […]
Last week I was recorded in top secret for an episode of an as yet unrevealed podcast, to be released at an as yet undetermined point in the future.
In other news, The Mathematicians Podcast is great! https://mathematicians.podbean.com/
#MathsToday
The Mathematicians’ Library shortlisted for Book of the Year
The folks at Chalkdust (a magazine for the mathematically curious) have released their shortlist for 2025's book of the year, and The Mathematicians' Library is on it! The introductory post for the Chalkdust Magazine Book of the Year […]
View through a slightly dusty bus window onto a busy London junction. In the foreground, several pedestrians cross at different angles, including a jogger in bright trainers and a couple of people in coats and backpacks. Cars and a black cab weave through the crossroads, while traffic lights and yellow box markings organise the flow. On the left, a large historic stone building with tall columns sits beneath leafless trees. On the right, a red-brick corner building with white trim houses shops at street level, including an Italian restaurant with blue signage. The road stretches into the distance between rows of buildings, with buses and vans further along, under a pale sky with patches of cloud.
I've got the front seat, up top, on my way to MathsWorld!