James Pels

Business Efficiency & Performance Consultant, husband, father of two wonderful daughters, STEM Ambassador, hiker, wannabe skier and amateur astronomer.

[James Pels @jamespels]

@MarinaPurkiss And just when we thought you couldn't fit any more Tory peers into Lords, it looks like Sunak may be given the heave-ho too...

[James Pels @jamespels]

@carolvorders Most things, most of the time, it appears, Carol.

[James Pels @jamespels]

Nope, she doesn't speak for me either.

[James Pels @jamespels]

@STEMbySum Lovely vid - simple, easy to understand. Perfect.

[James Pels @jamespels]

@david_DVQ @johnkrausphotos @elonmusk Grid fins are the four "fins" at the top of the booster, used to control it in its descent. Called grids because they are an array of vertical sheets arranged into a grid. The actuators are motors used to move each grid to steer the booster, so essential for controlled landing.

[James Pels @jamespels]

@HumansNoContext Oh will you wash my father's shirt...

[James Pels @jamespels]

@ChrisBirks11 @SoVeryBritish Finally, somebody got it right!

[James Pels @jamespels]

@STEMbySum @fasc1nate You will need a pretty narrow beam torch that is not too bright, or reflected light from the room will spoil the effect. Similarly, the room needs to be pretty dark.

With a bit of care, you should even be able to show what happens in eclipses.

[James Pels @jamespels]

@STEMbySum @fasc1nate Anybody waiting to reach this without the laser... get a white ball (football is perfect, or paper mache round a balloon) and a narrow beam torch. Set up the torch at one end of a dark room, pointing along the room.

[James Pels @jamespels]

@STEMbySum @fasc1nate As they turn around, still holding the ball in front of them as they turn, the "moon" (ball) will orbit the "Earth" (their head) and the changing poses will be visible.

[James Pels @jamespels]

@STEMbySum @fasc1nate Have students stand in turn near the other end of the room, holding the ball out in front, at arms reach, at head level. Their head now represents the earth, the ball represents the moon and the torch represents the sun.

[James Pels @jamespels]

@Jinx_the_future @STEMbySum @fasc1nate By definition, the earth and moon are always on a common plane! This plane is not quite the same as the sun - earth plane, but close enough that they cross over for eclipses. If the two planes exactly aligned, we could have one solar and one lunar eclipse every lunar orbit.

[VeryBritishProblems @SoVeryBritish]

How to know you’ve truly angered a British person:

1. They beg for your pardon
2. They write you a strongly worded letter/email
3. They mutter “charming”
4. They say “you’re welcome” - which you can only just hear because they’ve waited for you to walk away a bit
5. They tut
6. They say “erm” and then pause before saying “excuse me”
7. They say “that was uncalled for”
8. They say “honestly, it’s fine”
9. Their email sign-off goes from “kind regards” to simply “regards”
10. They say nothing at all for three years then bring it up at Christmas dinner

[James Pels @jamespels]

@thatginamiller @mikegalsworthy This is what happens when we outsource thinking to organisations who profit from delay.

[James Pels @jamespels]

@Davidwi6533 @TotherChris @RishiSunak At least this is only a billion. Peanuts on the scale of waste we've seen from Sunak and friends recently. Besides, haven't you heard that we don't like Europe any more? Not giving any money to that MBDA Euro bunch based in, er, Stevenage.

[James Pels @jamespels]

@BobGeor27574923 What, this is the first thing that's raised settings about her leadership and competence???!!!

[James Pels @jamespels]

@supertanskiii Yep, more Tory peers. They'll (hopefully, I wouldn't put it past Labour to throw it away) be out next election so they'll just try to block anything they don't like in Lords instead...

[James Pels @jamespels]

@editingemily Absolutely. What could possibly go wrong? Pass the sledgehammer...

[James Pels @jamespels]

@flikQ @DeborahMeaden @sturdyAlex Possibly somebody who used to own a ferry company with no ferries?!

[James Pels @jamespels]

@RScowler @DeborahMeaden @GoodLawProject Unfortunately, there is absolutely NOT a shred of public interest in our current leadership cabal.