The articles in this blog cover all areas of my interests, mainly revolving around my research and work, but also travel, reading and languages. It’s updated relatively infrequently.
Gin & Tonic
18th Mar 2014
Despite having as many ingredients as a martini, the G&T rarely registers as a cocktail to most people. Not unreasonably so, given the straightforwardly British approach to its naming: a vodka and orange is a screwdriver, a rum and coke is a Cuba Libra
The Latin Learner
2nd Feb 2014
The summer before last I decided that, being more than a little interested in the Roman Republic and wishing to read Caesar’s Commentarii de Bello Gallico, I should learn Latin. I also realised the need to learn English grammar formally (something...
Martinis
26th Nov 2013
My friend Joe bought his first bottle of gin today, and asked me what to do with it. The good news was that he’d made an excellent choice in Tanqueray No. 10, but it’s most certainly a martini gin and its delicate citrus flavours would be lost in a...
Creating matthewbadger.com
9th Nov 2013
I have a tenancy for messing around with technology to the point of paralysis.
When I originally created this website I wanted to make writing easier, while ceding as little control as possible to external factors. This resulted in my writing my own...
A LaTeX Preamble
24th Jul 2012
LaTeX is a document typesetting language that is used by anyone writing mathematics on a daily basis, however the default LaTeX document does not look all that great. I’ve created a preamble that I use for most of my work, that improves things in a number of areas.
Birmingham Riots 2011
1st Aug 2011
Photographs of the destruction in Birmingham this morning after last night’s riots. I’d gone in to help with the clean-up but there was nothing to do; hence these photos. They’re not a complete set as I missed the Bullring, but everything I saw I photographed...
WITCH, or the Harwell Dekatron computer
29th Dec 2010
This page contains images of the Harwell Dekatron Computer, known from 1957 onwards as WITCH. This computer was designed and built over the course of two years between 1949 and 1951, at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Oxfordshire, UK. For...
First Past the Post and the U.K. General Election 2010
7th May 2010
For the first time since 1974 the UK has a hung parliament, meaning that no party has an overall majority of 326 (or more) seats in the House of Commons. The Conservatives are arguing against electoral reform which includes changes to the first past...