wychwood (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wychwood) wrote2025-09-04 09:28 pm
wychwood) wrote2025-09-04 09:28 pmi won't feel so happy it about it after the third straight month of not being able to feel my toes
I am on a real reading tear at the moment, and my bedside book pile is down to five! Naturally I then celebrated this by buying another six or seven cheap ebooks, because I delight in causing my own suffering. I'm hoping to finish another couple of the bedside books soon and then do a poll so you all can decide which bits of the epic to-read shelf I should use to rebuild it with.
A proper gaming post is in the works, but I have been delighted by the recent changes which mean that all Steam games now work on Linux - I haven't tested it extensively, but I've already played several previously-Windows-only games with no issues at all. Aside from work that was the main thing causing me to spend time in Windows, so suddenly I'm spending a lot more time logged into Linux, which means I'm getting to more of the tasks I do there! Including writing up my booklog, although at the rate I'm reading it's going to be a while before that's ready to post, and I've already finished six books in September...
Miss H and I are going to see Florence + The Machine in February, which was extortionately expensive but I'm still looking forward to it! This is why I don't believe people who say that classical audiences are low because tickets are too expensive, because you can get into most CBSO concerts for under £30 and the cheapest Florence tickets were £45 plus fees for standing room only. Which is not to say that £30 isn't a lot of money, but if pop artists can sell out in ten minutes for an average price over £100 then I just don't believe that price point is the major issue.
It's really funny how the last couple of weeks are suddenly waving AUTUMN IS COMING signs. We've had more rain this week than in about the previous month, and while it's still warm, I'm becoming increasingly aware that the sheet I sleep under is going to need to be switched for the duvet in the near future, and that there is a limited time for shirt-sleeves at home. On the other hand, I'm looking forward to being able to wear my jacket again. I used the hot water bottle on Tuesday night, but it's not back into the regular rotation quite yet...
A proper gaming post is in the works, but I have been delighted by the recent changes which mean that all Steam games now work on Linux - I haven't tested it extensively, but I've already played several previously-Windows-only games with no issues at all. Aside from work that was the main thing causing me to spend time in Windows, so suddenly I'm spending a lot more time logged into Linux, which means I'm getting to more of the tasks I do there! Including writing up my booklog, although at the rate I'm reading it's going to be a while before that's ready to post, and I've already finished six books in September...
Miss H and I are going to see Florence + The Machine in February, which was extortionately expensive but I'm still looking forward to it! This is why I don't believe people who say that classical audiences are low because tickets are too expensive, because you can get into most CBSO concerts for under £30 and the cheapest Florence tickets were £45 plus fees for standing room only. Which is not to say that £30 isn't a lot of money, but if pop artists can sell out in ten minutes for an average price over £100 then I just don't believe that price point is the major issue.
It's really funny how the last couple of weeks are suddenly waving AUTUMN IS COMING signs. We've had more rain this week than in about the previous month, and while it's still warm, I'm becoming increasingly aware that the sheet I sleep under is going to need to be switched for the duvet in the near future, and that there is a limited time for shirt-sleeves at home. On the other hand, I'm looking forward to being able to wear my jacket again. I used the hot water bottle on Tuesday night, but it's not back into the regular rotation quite yet...
purplecat (purplecat) wrote2025-09-03 07:43 pm
purplecat) wrote2025-09-03 07:43 pmEntry tags:
Eliciting Explainability Requirements for Safety-Critical Systems: A Nuclear Case Study
One of my post-docs, and I was previously on the supervisory team for her PhD, has been partly occupying her time generating publications from her thesis. This is one such. She's addressing the question of what people actually want when they ask that an autonomous system provide explanations. In particular, though she doesn't really get into that in the paper, most explainability research has focused specifically on neural networks that are classifying things into groups, not on robotic systems that are taking decisions about what to do next.
Eliciting Explainability Requirements for Safety-Critical Systems: A Nuclear Case Study talks through her approach, and tries to categorise her results into groups. There is also some formalisation of the requirements into logic, though via the use of structured English to make it more comprehensible. Lastly she reports on some lessons learned.
Eliciting Explainability Requirements for Safety-Critical Systems: A Nuclear Case Study talks through her approach, and tries to categorise her results into groups. There is also some formalisation of the requirements into logic, though via the use of structured English to make it more comprehensible. Lastly she reports on some lessons learned.
purplecat (purplecat) wrote2025-09-02 07:30 pm
purplecat) wrote2025-09-02 07:30 pmEntry tags:
Costume Bracket: Quarter Final, Post 2
Two Doctor Who companion outfits for your delectation and delight! Outfits selected by a mixture of ones I, personally, like; lists on the internet; and a certain random element.
( Outfits below the Cut )
Vote for your favourite of these costumes. Use whatever criteria you please - most practical, most outrageously spacey, most of its decade!
Voting will remain open for at least a week, possibly longer!
Costume Bracket Masterlist
Images are a mixture of my own screencaps, screencaps from Lost in Time Graphics, PCJ's Whoniverse Gallery, and random Google searches.
( Outfits below the Cut )
Vote for your favourite of these costumes. Use whatever criteria you please - most practical, most outrageously spacey, most of its decade!
Voting will remain open for at least a week, possibly longer!
Costume Bracket Masterlist
Images are a mixture of my own screencaps, screencaps from Lost in Time Graphics, PCJ's Whoniverse Gallery, and random Google searches.
purplecat (purplecat) wrote2025-09-01 07:22 pm
purplecat) wrote2025-09-01 07:22 pmWish World/The Reality War
I went into Wish World/The Reality War knowing it was likely to be a hot mess and I was not wrong.
( Are we still doing spoilers? )
( Are we still doing spoilers? )
wychwood (wychwood) wrote2025-09-01 06:05 pm
wychwood) wrote2025-09-01 06:05 pm
at least i'm up to date on laundry
Back to work was a slog today! That was my last day off until Christmas, and September is looking like being pretty intense as a month. The "be on campus for a week to act as a reserve for visa checks" has morphed into "three and a half days of being a reserve plus two full days of actual checking" (yes, this does add up to more days than exist in the work week; I have refrained from accepting the relevant calendar invites until someone can clarify quite how they expect me to staff two desks at the same time). I've also been voluntold to attend a full-day meeting on campus the previous week, which is not only on a work from home day but also a day with choir in the evening (not to mention choir the office day before it and choir the work from home day after it). I am trying very hard not to think about the number of things which I really ought to be getting completed before the start of term, because my odds are looking extremely poor.
On the other hand, I did get through the 300 system emails, 84 personal emails, and 31 Teams notifications which were waiting this morning, and only have a dozen or so new actions to pick up from them. And I did the first round of monthly reports, including desperately scraping my brain to extract suggestions as to what I did during August (not very much, apparently!!). I left the intimidating email from Legal for tomorrow morning, and then have ambitious plans to make a proper list of what I want to get done this month and try and make some progress on... well, anything. Something. A Task of some kind. Perhaps if I can manage that I will feel less like the human incarnation of the scream emoji.
On the other hand, I did get through the 300 system emails, 84 personal emails, and 31 Teams notifications which were waiting this morning, and only have a dozen or so new actions to pick up from them. And I did the first round of monthly reports, including desperately scraping my brain to extract suggestions as to what I did during August (not very much, apparently!!). I left the intimidating email from Legal for tomorrow morning, and then have ambitious plans to make a proper list of what I want to get done this month and try and make some progress on... well, anything. Something. A Task of some kind. Perhaps if I can manage that I will feel less like the human incarnation of the scream emoji.
wychwood (wychwood) wrote2025-08-31 12:32 pm
wychwood) wrote2025-08-31 12:32 pmEntry tags:
july booklog
( 63. Our Precious Lulu - Anne Fine ) This isn't what I would normally call id fic, but there's something of that visceral satisfaction in it; "person with rubbish family wins in the end".
( 64. The Gabriel Hounds - Mary Stewart ) Not perhaps one of the top Stewarts, but even middling Stewart is pretty good.
( 65. Enchanted Glass - Diana Wynne Jones ) Even a whole bunch of really annoying elements can't take the pleasure out of this book, but it's not one of her top hits.
( 66. The Return of the King - JRR Tolkien ) The triumphant conclusion, followed by lots of realisations about what happens after the triumph and how much harder it gets, and then a whole bunch of appendices, which I enjoyed more than I expected! This is a cracking book, though, even as I develop more complicated feelings about it over time.
( 67. Stone and Sky - Ben Aaronovitch ) Another fun volume; I'm interested in seeing where Aaronovitch is going to take things from here.
( 68. The Islands of Chaldea - Diana Wynne Jones and Ursula Jones ) DWJ is basically never less than entertaining, but this doesn't manage much more than that.
( 69. The Adventure of the Demonic Ox - Lois McMaster Bujold ) I feel like I'm saying this a lot this time, but: this is fine! I enjoyed it! Wasn't much more than that!
( 70. Kid Wolf and Kraken Boy - Sam J Miller ) Fine but I'm not sure I'd read Miller again.
( 71. Behind Frenemy Lines - Zen Cho ) Deeply delightful; I do prefer SFF to romance, but Cho's romances are so fun I don't mind!
( 64. The Gabriel Hounds - Mary Stewart ) Not perhaps one of the top Stewarts, but even middling Stewart is pretty good.
( 65. Enchanted Glass - Diana Wynne Jones ) Even a whole bunch of really annoying elements can't take the pleasure out of this book, but it's not one of her top hits.
( 66. The Return of the King - JRR Tolkien ) The triumphant conclusion, followed by lots of realisations about what happens after the triumph and how much harder it gets, and then a whole bunch of appendices, which I enjoyed more than I expected! This is a cracking book, though, even as I develop more complicated feelings about it over time.
( 67. Stone and Sky - Ben Aaronovitch ) Another fun volume; I'm interested in seeing where Aaronovitch is going to take things from here.
( 68. The Islands of Chaldea - Diana Wynne Jones and Ursula Jones ) DWJ is basically never less than entertaining, but this doesn't manage much more than that.
( 69. The Adventure of the Demonic Ox - Lois McMaster Bujold ) I feel like I'm saying this a lot this time, but: this is fine! I enjoyed it! Wasn't much more than that!
( 70. Kid Wolf and Kraken Boy - Sam J Miller ) Fine but I'm not sure I'd read Miller again.
( 71. Behind Frenemy Lines - Zen Cho ) Deeply delightful; I do prefer SFF to romance, but Cho's romances are so fun I don't mind!
purplecat (purplecat) wrote2025-08-30 08:37 am
purplecat) wrote2025-08-30 08:37 amRandom Doctor Who Picture
Another blank in my memory. The back makes it sound like there is an underlying quest style narrative which, as I recall, is common in Bulis' works.
purplecat (purplecat) wrote2025-08-28 06:56 pm
purplecat) wrote2025-08-28 06:56 pmEntry tags:
The human factor: Addressing computing risks for critical national infrastructure towards 2040
The award winning paper I mentioned next week, actually had a sequel. In The human factor: Addressing computing risks for critical national infrastructure towards 2040 we performed a similar exercise of asking a number of experts about risks to Critical National Infrastructure arising from computing developments and synthesising the results.
I am honestly, happier with this paper, I thought we had a better range of genuine expertise in the people we talked to, and a more focused area of consideration. We had a little trouble with the third referee, who thought our experts were wrong about Quantum Computing and that we should rewrite the paper so they gave the answer the referee thought was correct. Our experts did not think Quantum Computing was among the biggest risks to be considered in the next 15 years - but instead thought there were a number of issues relating to human factors (sophisticated phishing, difficulty tracing the cause of problems and poor incident response in complex situations).
I am honestly, happier with this paper, I thought we had a better range of genuine expertise in the people we talked to, and a more focused area of consideration. We had a little trouble with the third referee, who thought our experts were wrong about Quantum Computing and that we should rewrite the paper so they gave the answer the referee thought was correct. Our experts did not think Quantum Computing was among the biggest risks to be considered in the next 15 years - but instead thought there were a number of issues relating to human factors (sophisticated phishing, difficulty tracing the cause of problems and poor incident response in complex situations).