What's this all about

What's this all about
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🌟 About BGH 🌟

Welcome to Big Giant Head! 👋 I’m a retired engineer with a passion for the intricacies of programming, data processing, and mathematical modelling in engineering processes. My journey has taken me from the structured realms of civil engineering to the dynamic fields of geophysics, and beyond.

My Journey

With a solid foundation in civil engineering and a knack for programming, I delved into scientific computing early in my career. One of my proudest achievements was writing a Delaney triangulation program in Fortran, inspired by Donald Knuth’s seminal work, “Axioms and Hulls.” This project set the stage for a lifelong fascination with algorithms and mathematical problem-solving.

Professional Highlights

After modelling water quality, water reservoirs, rainfall, runoff, watersheds, and open channel flow, my professional path led me to a geophysics company that specialized in gravity and magnetic surveys. Tasked with developing in-house data processing software, I embarked on a new learning curve to master geophysics. I created software to:

  • Layout survey grids and manage GPS equipment.
  • Collect and process GPS, gravity, and magnetic data.
  • Convert random data points into regular grids.
  • Apply median filtering, upward and downward continuations, and residualizing techniques.
  • Generate detailed maps.

I also worked extensively with geographic coordinate systems, map projections, and their conversions. One particularly challenging and rewarding project involved using my triangulation routine to calculate outer terrain corrections with sloping topped triangular prisms.

Personal Interests

My curiosity extends far beyond my professional life. I enjoy tackling mathematical puzzles, exploring new computer languages, and diving into the depths of the Linux operating system. My daily computing setup includes an M1 iMac for general use and a beloved Lenovo ThinkPad T430 laptop, which I’ve upgraded to a formidable machine running Linux Mint LMDE (Faye).

Why “Big Giant Head”?

You might wonder about the quirky name “Big Giant Head.” It’s a playful nod to my expansive curiosity and the endless frontiers of knowledge I love to explore. The subheading, “Head Space - Leaving room for Thought,” captures the essence of my journey through the vast and ever-expanding universe of science and technology.

Head space, or in engineering terms free board is an engineering design parameter that allows a container to operate correctly and safely.

  • A water reservoir has a free board which is the height between the maximum operating water level and the very top where the water would begin to spill over. The emergency spillway is often built at this level so that the water level can never rise above the maximum - it would flow over the spillway first.
  • When cooking pasta, you’ve learned not to fill the pot to the rim with water. You need room for the pasta, as well as room for the water to boil without it bubbling over. You’ve learned to leave space.
  • When brewing beer, the air space left at the top of the bottle is important for carbonation. Since a liquid is incompressible, there is no room for the $CO_2$ if you completely fill the bottle. By leaving a head space the increasing pressure will compress the air and the beer won’t end up flat.
  • Propane tanks require head space for a very good reason. Under pressure the propane stays in liquid form, but your BBQ or other burner device is open to the atmosphere. It’s not designed to burn liquid propane and won’t stay liquid anyway. It also has to be mixed with oxygen at the right ratio to burn efficiently. With head space in the cylinder, the liquid and gas form of propane will come to equilibrium. As you use propane more will turn to the vapour form. The pressure in the cylinder will push the propane vapour out, will mix with the oxygen in the air and burn at the right temperature. This is also why it is difficult to use propane in very cold temperatures like $-40°C$. The propane will not vapourize and you risk leaking liquid propane which is quite dangerous.

Let’s Connect

I invite you to join me on this exciting adventure. Whether you share my interests in mathematics, software development, or geophysics, or you’re just curious about the world around you, there’s something here for everyone. Together, let’s push the boundaries of our understanding and explore the final frontier of headspace!

Thank you for visiting Big Giant Head. I’m thrilled to have you here and look forward to sharing my insights and discoveries with you. 🌐