Lightning verses Trees – FIGHT!

‘Simulating Lightning‐Induced Tree Mortality in the Dynamic Global Vegetation Model LPJ‐GUESS‘ (pdf) is a nice little read about simulating global tree death rates due to lighting strikes. The methods they use to validate their model are interesting and, while the number they come up with (301–340 million trees of a diameter of greater than 10cm) seems rather large, it pales when compared to their cited number of 50 billion trees killed by all combined natural causes.

The Middlecave Yard Demolition and Rebuild – Late July 2025

See more of the Middlecave work here!

Some more photos of the Middlecave Yard demolition and rebuild. As always, bigger images are available with a click.

The view across the junction between Middlecave Road and Victoria Stree. Parts of the footpath remain fenced off.

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York Minster, West Front / James Valentine (between 1860 and 1879)

James Valentine (between 1860 and 1879). From the Getty Museum Collection. Click to Enlarge.

An old photo of what was, back then, a rather new view.

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The cost of a PDP-11 circa 1971

Whilst trying to track down the cost of memory for a PDP-11 I stumbled across The PDP-11 FAQ and it’s rather excellent collection of early 70s PDP-11 price lists. It’s a fun little list, rammed through of interesting little nuggets – today it’s hard to imaging it but in 1972 a line printer would have set you back at least 12,000 USD. That’s almost 92,000 USD in 2025 prices!

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