Bristol

  • 3D printing for students – a first for UWE

    Steve WoodsBristol, Tech

    Bristol’s University of the West of England announced yesterday that it is leading the way amongst UK universities by making 3D printing technology available to all students (and staff. Ed.) by locating a 3D printer in the main university library.

    It is believed to be the first 3D printer in a UK academic library. The new initiative is made possible through a machine donation from 3D Systems Ltd.

    image of 3D printer during the Rencontres mondiales du logiciel libre 2012, Geneva. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
    3D printer during the Rencontres mondiales du logiciel libre 2012, Geneva. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

    3D print technology, also known as additive layer manufacturing, is a rapidly developing technology with applications in manufacturing, engineering and academic research. It is sometimes available to university students on relevant courses – such as creative product design or engineering courses. For example UWE Bristol already has 3D printers within the Faculty of Technology and in the leading Centre for Fine Print Research.

    The machine, a triple head smoked 3DTouch, will be situated in the main library on the Frenchay Campus, where it will be available for all students and staff to use. During term time the UWE library has over 2,000 users per day.

    This new initiative will enable students to engage with the latest 3D print technology and develop their understanding of how it can be used in different subject areas. Students will be able to ‘draw’ their design in a 3D CAD package. The file will then converted through a process that will make it readable by the 3DTouch printer using free downloadable Axon software. When it is printing the 3DTouch print head moves back and forward, building up layers of thermoplastic polymer, as it prints the 3D object layer-by-layer.

    Andrew Bathchelor, UWE Senior lecturer in Product Design, says, “This initiative offers a valuable new resource for students. By linking with Bits from Bytes we are able to bring the concept of 3D printing to all students. Many of our Creative Product Design, Engineering and Fine Art Students, are already familiar with this technology, and use it within their academic work in their own departments. However, by offering this to the wider student body, we hope to stimulate usage of this technology and help students develop their understanding of how it can be applied. We hope students will come up with interesting applications, relevant to their subject. For example our students who are training to be teachers can familiarise themselves with technology that their pupils may have access to in the future. In addition Architecture and Planning students may choose to use the technology to ‘print’ out models for project work. We are sure UWE students will be inventive once they begin to see the possibilities of this technology. The 3DTouch will enhance the extensive range of resources we offer to students though UWE’s library service.”

  • Snow in Bristol

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language

    A snowflake under the microscope
    A snowflake under the microscope. Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
    It snowed in Bristol yesterday, as it did over a large part of the UK. No more than 2-3 inches of the frozen white stuff caused complete chaos with bus services withdrawn, schools closed and similar over-reactions. A friend called me yesterday afternoon: he works in Geneva and told me that several times that amount – nearly 2 feet in fact – fell there on Tuesday afternoon and life continued as normal.

    When snow settles in the Bristol area, it does something unique that’s not repeated elsewhere in the country or in the English-speaking world (to the best of my knowledge. Ed.): it pitches. When it’s snowing, Bristolians have been known to confuse people from elsewhere simply by asking, “Is it pitching?”

    Chambers 21st Century Dictionary defines the verb to pitch as follows:

    pitch verb (pitches, pitched, pitching) 1 to set up (a tent or camp). 2 to throw or fling. 3 tr & intr to fall or make someone or something fall heavily forward. 4 intrans said of a ship: to plunge and lift alternately at bow and stern. 5 tr & intr said of a roof: to slope • is pitched at a steep angle. 6 to give a particular musical pitch to (one’s voice or a note) in singing or playing, or to set (a song, etc.) at a higher or lower level within a possible range • The tune is pitched too high for me. 7 to choose a level, e.g. of difficulty, sophistication, etc. at which to present (a talk, etc.) • was pitched too low for this audience. 8 a cricket to bowl (the ball) so that it lands where the batsman can hit it; b golf to hit (the ball) high and gently, so that it stays where it is on landing; c tr & intr, baseball said of the pitcher (sense 1): to throw the ball overarm or underarm to the person batting. 9 to pave (a road) with stones set on end or on edge.

    Out of these possible definitions, from whence could this bit of Bristolian dialect come? Sense 9 above, i.e. paving in the sense of covering something over, seems a strong possibility.

    In addition, users of the WordReference Forum have also discussed what snow does when it settles, including pitching in Bristol. In this thread, one user, Loob, suggests that Bristol’s pitching could have originated from Somerset since Somerset dialect for to lie is to pitch.

    Pitch itself comes from the 13th century Middle English verb picchen, meaning to throw or put up.

    One final point: whatever snow does where you are – pitch, settle,lie or anything else – don’t forget to let your inner child enjoy it!

  • Are social media destroying the rest of the internet?

    Steve WoodsBristol, Social Media, Tech

    That was one question discussed yesterday evening over a couple of pints of Cotswold Spring’s Stunner ale in Bristol’s Seven Stars pub with a couple of friends from the Easton Cowboys. More specifically, it the question could be rephrased as: are the likes of Facebook and Twitter pulling in so much traffic that they detract from everyone else’s content?

    Two of us run websites, so the matter is quite pertinent and can be broken down into a couple of simple aspects.

    Firstly, some people thank that if they just post on their organisation’s Facebook wall, everyone in that organisation will see it. They are, of course, mistaken. Some people avoid Facebook for privacy reasons, in addition to which Facebook’s APIs are so obscure, it’s difficult for an organisation’s webmaster to scrape content from Facebook and place it on the organisation’s website.

    Turning to Twitter, is the ubiquitous 140 character tweet replacing proper debate on blogs? We noted that if one blogs and tweets a link to the post, feedback is more likely these days to come via tweets than from actual comments on the blog. One of the great aspects of blogging is that comments on posts can encourage debate. This debate has now been reduced to soundbites of no more than 140 characters. However, the situation is more complicated than that. Whereas at one time, the ability to comment was restricted to blogs, the traditional media have now started to catch up, allowing comments on articles and thus have more interaction with their readers instead of just broadcasting at them.

    In answer to the question of whether social media are destroying the rest of the internet, only time will tell and the jury is still out. You can help the deliberations by commenting below.

    Finally, note that this discussion took place down the pub. Don’t forget that pubs, cafés and their cultural equivalents elsewhere in the world are the original social networking sites. 🙂

  • Is spring on its way?

    Steve WoodsBristol, Oddities

    Celandines (aka Ranunculus ficaria) are normally one of the first signs of spring, emerging around Easter time when the trees overhead have no leaves and the ground around is clear of competitors. Celandines usually flower between March and May each year.

    However, even I was amazed to find celandines in bloom in Bristol on 3rd January on the Bristol & Bath Railway Path at Clay Bottom while coming back from a shopping trip to Fishponds. Gilbert White, the celebrated naturalist who chronicled the natural history of Selborne in Hampshire in the 1800s, only managed to record them as early as 21st February

    A celandine in bloom on 3rd January 2013
    A celandine in bloom on 3rd January 2013

    Is this unprecedentedly early blossoming yet more evidence of climate change? Comments welcome.

  • Henbury Loop petition

    Steve WoodsBristol, Politics

    It’s not very often I agree with a Tory – and even less often that I agree with an elected Tory MP – but Bristol North West MP Charlotte Leslie has started a petition to lobby for the inclusion of the Henbury Loop in any future local rail plans.

    Charlotte’s petition reads as follows:

    We, the under-signed [sic], believe that a Henbury ‘spur’ would be a disastrously missed opportunity of a generation; that a Henbury Loop Line would not only be well used, but transform Bristol’s transport infrastructure; and want to make the strongest possible case for demand for a Loop not a spur.

    Being a regular rail user, I’ve signed Charlotte’s petition.

    Perhaps you should too.

  • Bristol bus petition

    Steve WoodsBristol, Politics

    Upon moving to Bristol from Wolverhampton many decades ago, the most striking immediate difference I can recall was that Bristol’s bus fares were double those of Wolverhampton and the service provided by the Bristol Omnibus Company was far more unreliable than that of the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (WMPTE).

    Much has changed since those days: the Bristol Omnibus Company is now part of FirstGroup, whilst the WMPTE has been rebranded as Centro.

    What hasn’t changed over the decades is the exorbitant level of bus fares charged in Bristol and the unreliability of the bus service.

    image of a WorstBus vehicle
    Worst Bus: eye-watering fares, unreliable service.

    A Bristolian called Daniel Farr has now decided to challenge the high price and unreliable service provided by First Bus in Bristol by setting up a petition on the government’s e-petition site.

    The wording of the petition, with which I couldn’t disagree at all, reads as follows:

    The prices of First groups [sic] bus tickets in Bristol and the quality of their service do not match up. Their fares are the most expensive outside of London, but yet their buses are unreliable and often late. Local government does nothing to improve the service or lower the prices so we call on the government to force First to reduce their charges.

    Sign the petition.

    Finally, frustrated bus users in the city have also set up their own website – http://www.bristolbususers.co.uk/ – to campaign for better and cheaper bus services in the Bristol area.

  • The importance of local knowledge

    Steve WoodsBristol

    Bristol, for its sins, is afflicted with The Post as its (ahem!) newspaper of record.

    Yesterday’s online edition carries a glowing report of the opening of “a new £7 million care home which will treat patients with dementia has opened in south Bristol. Private firm Brunelcare has opened the new home in Whitehall after years of planning”.

    However, there’s one major problem with this story: Whitehall is a district of east Bristol, not one south of the river, a mistake which even the much-maligned Wikipedia manages to avoid.

    Needless to say, this absolute howler drew some very pointed comments from readers, of which this is perhaps the most sarcastic and biting:

    I suppose we must be grateful that the Post didn’t describe it as being in Plymouth. What a truly dreadful “newspaper”!

    Another comment drew comparisons with BBC Radio Bristol:

    Radio Bristol’s just as bad.

    Every weekday morning their travel woman tells of us of traffic queues IN KEYNSHAM on the A4 between Hicks Gate and Emery Road.

    This means that the Brislington Park and Ride, St Brendans College and the Brislington cricket and football grounds have all moved out of Bristol into Keynsham.

    Hicks Gate to the city boundary is a distance of 400 metres; city boundary to Emery Road is over 1200 metres.

    Another Radio Bristol presenter told us that Shirehampton is near Bristol and they all seem to believe that Avonmouth is outside the city too as it’s described as ‘near Bristol’ routinely on Radio Bristol and on the local ITV and BBC news programmes.

    Where do they think is it? North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Gwent, Greater London?

    Oh for the days of Roger Bennett and John Turner, two highly competent broadcasters with an encyclopaedic knowledge of Bristol. Nowadays we get people who aren’t very professional (with one or two exceptions) whose knowledge of the local area is nil.

    Clearly the Post hacks are no different.

    Of course, both The Post and the BBC have shed staff in recent years and the wealth of local knowledge that former staff or those with long service has vanished, as a result of which the quality of local media has clearly suffered.

    To conclude here’s a bit of free advice for Bristol Post journalists: just because the paper’s now printed in Didcot, don’t make it look as if it’s written there too! 🙂

  • Turnip Prize awarded

    Steve WoodsBristol, Oddities

    News can sometimes travel slowly in the West Country, so it’s only this afternoon that I’ve become aware of this year’s Turnip Prize – the antidote to the better known Turner Prize.

    The magnificent Turnip Prize trophy
    The magnificent Turnip Prize trophy

    The Turnip Prize is awarded annually at the New Inn in Wedmore on the Somerset Levels, far away from the glitz of metropolitan London.

    This year’s winner was midwife Sarah Quick, from Clutton, who was presented with the award’s customary winnner’s trophy of an old turnip mounted on a six-inch nail, as seen above. Sarah’s winning entry was entitled ‘The Three Tenas’ and consisted of a pack of women’s Tena incontinence pads with three sticking out of the top.

    Three Tenas - thias year's Turnip Prize winner
    Three Tenas – thias year’s Turnip Prize winner

    Competition must have been more intense this year with 86 entries, 17 more than last year. Popular rumour has it that Bristol’s famous son Banksy has entered in the past, but has been disqualified for making too much of an effort!

    Hat tip: Rich Higgs

  • News from the (male chauvinist) pigsty

    Steve WoodsBristol, Politics, Tech

    Q: What do the Bristol University Christian Union and the village of Suderbari, in the Indian state of Bihar have in common?

    A: They both treat women as second-class citizens.

    The Bristol University Christian Union has passed a ruling that women are not allowed to teach at its main weekly meetings, as well as making it clear that women will only be able to teach as principal speakers at away weekends and during its mission weeks if they do so with their husbands, according to a report posted today on Bristol 24/7.

    This action has since led a Christian Union committee member to resign and prompted one CU member to write to Bristol University’s independent student news site Epigram, saying:

    On a personal note, I believe that Jesus was a feminist and that women should be allowed to teach.

    Up in its Clifton eyrie, the University of Bristol Union is examining whether this move by the Christian Union falls foul of its equality policy (hint: it undoubtedly does. Ed.)

    However, it’s not just the Abrahamic religions that are treating modern women as second-class citizens.

    In Suderbari, as today’s Guardian reports, women in the village have been barred from using mobile phones since mobiles “pollute the social atmosphere” by encouraging women to elope. If women are caught using a mobile, they risk a fine of Rs. 10,000 if they are unmarried and Rs 2,000 if they are married (so much for equality before the law. Ed.).

    The reason given by the village’s leadership was summarised by Manuwar Alam, president of the local social advisory committee, who stated the following:

    Unrestricted use of mobile phones is promoting premarital and extramarital affairs and destroying the great institution of marriage. We are extremely worried.

    However, the real reason is likely to be that traditional male authority in India is now being challenged due to improved education for women and, as Corporal Jones in Dad’s Army used to say: “They don’t like it up ’em!”

    Update 06/12/12: An item has now appeared on Epigram to the effect that Bristol University Christian Union has issued a statement which says they will extend invitations to both women and men to speak at any of their events without exception. However, this might just be a little too late to save their reputation.

Posts navigation