Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 17hGot a new 3D printer, and it's already got a big job to do. These are prototypes, but they're good to go now so it can start churning them out in bulk while I work. 220
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 29/09/2026She was indeed getting ill. There goes my last day of leave. Yes, I get some more on 1 October, but only 8 and they have to include Christmas. I'm not going to be having many weekends for the rest of the year. 020
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 28/09/2026'See-saw' has devolved into teeth-bared hissing. I dread to think how the nursery staff will interpret this, given that the progressive laziness has happened entirely over the weekend and there is no way someone who didn't witness it would be able to reconstruct 'see-saw' from the current noise. 020
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 28/09/2026It's not like I don't have enough projects on the go and too little time and space for them, but sometimes the urge is hard to resist. This is half-scale, for the sake of my marriage. But, you know, that means I can make 2 of them... 240
Reposted by Dr Philip BoyesDr. Nick Posegay @nposegay.northsky.social · 28/09/2026Rafah, a city which had a pre-war population of 170,000 and once hosted the "humanitarian zone" for over a 1,000,000 Palestinian refugees, no longer exists in a meaningful way. Literally ground to dust. 311576
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 28/09/202640-minute round trip to the library to collect a massive French-language tome in which I needed to find some page numbers for a reference. Had fully expected that to take the rest of today and probably a good chunk of tomorrow. Managed it in about 3 minutes. 030
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Happened to be looking at the Wikipedia entry for Tanis, and this is their suggested pronunciation. Is this a thing? I have literally once never in my life heard anyone pronounce it like this. Even Indiana Jones, who gets pretty much everything else about it wrong, pronounces it 'Tannis'. 231
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Always reassuring when your toddler wakes up in the morning and shouts 'I made it!' 041
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 27/09/2026It's been a while since I watched any Man From UNCLE so I have some catching up to do. Glad I did: I didn't know Vincent Price had been in it, and that was a fun episode. 120
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 27/09/2026The more they announce who's speaking at this Doctor Who books thing I'm going to in October, the more I'm worried I'm going to get terribly starstruck and hide in a corner, or else just incoherently blurt 'I love your writing' at everyone in a terribly embarrassing way that'll haunt me for years. 130
Reposted by Dr Philip BoyesIt's Pipes, Mum! Pipes is here! @scriblit.bsky.social · 27/09/2026*blackadder theme* His head is bigger than a fence He breathes, and everything gets warmer His urge to trample represents A nation's nuclear war trauma Godzilla! Godzilla! The scourge of beast and man! Godzilla! Godzilla! He's flattening Japan! 231025380
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 27/09/2026We're well into day 2 of 'Getting ill, or just really wants to be outside walking?' Currently, the smart money's on 'Both, but milking the former for the latter'. 130
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 27/09/2026You should be able to apply somewhere to get a list of the people who were in your class at school, as a public service to stop you going insane trying to remember anything at all about 30 kids you spent virtually your entire life with for 7 years. 020
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Consultation with the few people from home I'm still in contact with says, yes, I went to school with this woman. We've not quite pinned down if she was in my class or a year either side. Birthdays suggest the year below, but my friend in that year thinks she was in my class. 110
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 26/09/2026All the baby wants to do is walk. She screams and screams till we take her outside and walk with her up and down the garden path. We had to take the high chair outside and feed her in the garden. By the time we got her indoors for her bath she was like Frodo staggering through Mordor. 160
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Wife and daughter are watching The Toddler Club. Thought the presenter's accent sounded like she was from somewhere near me. A bit of googling says she grew up on a street about 400m from me and was born the same year. So there's the very real possibility she was in my class at primary school. 140
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 26/09/2026It's kind of odd that the received wisdom is that Katarina could never have worked as a companion given that Jamie is almost exactly the same character but male and he's one of Doctor Who's longest serving and most beloved companions. 150
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026I've read and cited an academic paper by a Wogan, but I am entirely unable to picture the author as anything other than Terry. 030
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026In other news, I built this custom Lego department store about 2-3 years ago and had all the LEDs installed but not quite fully connected up. I don't like soldering and had been putting it off/forgetting about it, but I finally got round to doing finishing it the wiring. 361
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026This was true for the last few days, but the latest information is that she has learned to say 'see-saw' and now that's the call of choice for the rocking horse. Though I'd be surprised if 'row, row, row!' isn't still in circulation. 030
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Massive leap forward in the toddler's walking ability today - or at least her confidence. This is the second big development that seems to have been prompted by a songs and stories event at the library. The combination of seeing other toddlers walking and having space to experiment seems golden. 150
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026The tot has no knowledge of actual rowing but does know the actions for 'Row, row, row you boat'. Consequently, she thinks rowing is any regular back-and-forth motion and sings 'Row, row, row!' when she's on her rocking horse, or on the swings at the park. 141
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 24/09/2026This picture looks like a better timeline's version of the House of Lords. 26926
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Well this is reassuring, given how Nick Clegg's promises have gone in the past. 010
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Just met the new neighbour for the first time and apologised for the toddler's early morning shrieking. She claimed she'd never heard a thing, which is exactly what the previous neighbour said and even less believable this time, now the little one's lungs are bigger. 040
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Where to even start with this? Maybe the 2 weeks where the deputy head held a daily silent stare-off with the entire school, refusing to let anyone leave until someone owned up to leaving a poo on the pipe in the toilets. No-one did. The assemblies ate up lessons till he kicked us out in disgust. 130
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Deep Space Dilettantes: Performative polymathy among starship captains and the need to protect the archaeological heritage of the final frontier. 150
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Wasn't expecting to see my friend Frances just below the US president on the Guardian front page this morning. www.theguardian.com/science/2026...theguardian.comGlimpses into lives of Roman suburbanites in Bath revealed in rare findsExclusive: Restoration work at Bath Assembly Rooms unearths Roman ditches containing pottery, coins and fragments of a military helmet 020
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Just realised I was singing the toddler the menu music from Tabletop Simulator. Pandemic scar right there. 010
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Probably Super Mario World, but Final Fantasy VII is the first one I became really obsessed with. 210
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 22/09/2026I've been trying to remember where our drill is for months. I thought it was in storage: it doesn't seem to be. Nor in the shed or the loft. Wondering if someone stole it fromthe shed, but if so they didn't take anything else. Couldn't they have left a note so I don't feel like I'm losing my mind? 320
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 22/09/2026The last week or so the toddler just wants to be outside all the time. The instant she wakes up she starts mithering to go out. Her main ambition is to be a feral child. 240
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 21/09/2026On a more positive note, I finished the last Missing Adventure I hadn't read last night, so have now read all the Wilderness Years Doctor Who novels. I don't quite own a full set yet though - I had borrowed a friend's Speed of Flight so still need to get my own copy of that. 140
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Well this is proving to be a significantly more expensive one than expected. Just what we need with my job ending in 3 months. 200
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 21/09/2026They just came to collect our car for the MOT and despite what we'd been told, didn't seem at all confident they'd have it back to us by 5. Which is fine, except we have a 15-month old at nursery who is going to need picking up. 010
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 21/09/2026One more stray Warriors of the Deep thought: for most of my life Icthar read passably well as intended, as an elder statesman who feels he's out of options. Today it's hard not to see him as just another bitter old man who used to be someone long ago and will burn the world to be relevant again. 110
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Actually, I said it starts OK, but they clearly messed up the very first scene, which is clearly meant to be cavaliers thundering across the countryside, only for SHOCK! It's modern-day! But they don't show they're cavaliers till after they've established the contemporary setting. 100
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Watched Doctor Who: The Awakening, which is one of those I always forget exists. It starts OK but episode 2 is just a collection of what look like scenes from a climax without any actual explanations. How does the Doctor stop the Malus? Why does being pushed against a broken wall kill Sir George? 120
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Reading something that uses a thorn in an Icelandic name, but doesn't capitalise it correctly, then immediately treats the patronymic as a standard surname. So that's kind of the orthographic equivalent of trying to do a cool skateboard trick and falling on your arse. 100
Reposted by Dr Philip BoyesSpinky’s Mama @spinkysmama.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln. Doctor Who writing partners. Creators of the Brigadier and the Yeti. When the partnership dissolves one becomes a conspiracy theorist who writes an insane book about Jesus’s children and their influence on history. The other becomes script editor on Howard’s Way. 3284
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Having repeatedly looked at the online 3D asset marketplaces for premade hairs I could just buy for at least the main characters, there is definitely a gap in the market for now-unfashionable 60s-70s hairstyles that don't look cool on standard 20-40 year old game hero characters. 130
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 18/09/2026I'm in the market for a new job from January so if anyone wants to include a well-paid archaeological adviser in their Doctor Who tender bids, I'm your man. 030
Reposted by Dr Philip BoyesDr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 17/09/2026So, first try at an animation in Blender and this is very encouraging. Facial animation is what Unreal could extract from the original clip without any clean up or manual tweaking. The body movement is by me but super crude just so it isn't static. It's miles beyond what I managed in Master Plan. 131
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 18/09/2026I thought the Holy materia was meant to be white? 021
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Been messing around with the Troughton Metahuman again. Got it to import into Blender now. This still isn't proper hair, just me thoroughly messing up the one he had last time to try and get a better feel of the character. I think even this rough, it looks a lot better! 130
Reposted by Dr Philip BoyesDr Selena Wisnom @lswisnom.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Thrilled to be shortlisted for the Wolfson History prize! Writing accessibly about history has always mattered to me, and it's an honour for Mesopotamia to be recognised in this way. I hope it helps more people get into the subject. 5295
Dr Philip Boyes @philipjboyes.bsky.social · 17/09/2026I'm going to bask in a tiny bit of reflected glory here, since before starting my current job I did some research assistant work for Selena on this book: checking references, that sort of thing. So I know this is a very well-deserved nomination and the book is well worth your time! 040