Soldier, Painting
Thomas Wilkinson
How to Paint: The Dead of Dunharrow

In which I finally start delivering on the promised painting guides...

I have been sat on a fully constructed Battle of Pelennor Fields box for just about a year after purchasing it as a Christmas present to myself at the tail end of 2021. Having signed up to a few "slay the grey" style challenges in the New Year I thought it was time to start with a nice easy paint job.

How to Paint: The Dead of Dunharrow
Puddings, Sponge
Thomas Wilkinson
Vegan Christmas Puddings

In which I modify an old family recipe to be vegan friendly...

After successfully turning my hand to vegan Christmas cake I thought it was high time I adapted my old Christmas pudding recipe to be vegan too.

Vegan Christmas Puddings
Tinker, Web, Python
Thomas Wilkinson
Dominant Colour Extraction in Python (for a ...

In which I discuss getting the dominant colour from an image quickly...

I have recently made a Discord bot that searches for online versions of board games to help people find games to play remotely. This link will add it to your server.

Discord embeds have a colour bar down the side that can be manually set. I thought it would be cool to have this display the 'average' (i.e. dominant) colour of the board game box and decided to investigate the best way to do it.

Dominant Colour Extraction in Python (for a Discord Bot)
Tinker, Productivity
Thomas Wilkinson
The Holiday Do List

In which I plan my holiday tasks…

So it may just be because it is 2020 or perhaps I'm just a bit lazy but I’ve found that I often start holiday breaks with a list of things I’d like to do and by the end of the trip* I’ve not achieved most of them. Whether it’s odd jobs or relaxing activities I wanted to get through I just accidental sit around and don’t do them. This holiday season I decided I needed a to do list and though I’d try out the new Todoist Boards feature.

*Or, let’s be real this year: sitting on the sofa at home.

The Holiday Do List
Tinker, Podcasting
Thomas Wilkinson
How to Record a Podcast Remotely And Get It ...

Remote interviews are a fact of life for every podcaster, and in today’s era of social distancing, more so than ever. Since you rarely get the chance at an interview do-over, nailing down your remote recording workflow is essential. We’ll show you how to prepare for and record a remote interview, so you get it right the first time — with some additional tips along the way to make sure all your bases are covered.

How to Record a Podcast Remotely And Get It Right The First Time
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Teavent 2016: 3 Wise Teas

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Teavent 2016: 3 Wise Teas

In which I belatedly start on my advent calendar...

Let me spin you a tale, dear Reader, of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and stock control. Don't worry it isn't that boring. I was sadly on a last minute business trip last week which means I missed the opportunity to purchase an advent calendar. I figured that I would be able to get an interesting and different one in the States but alas I was wrong. I also figured that I would be able to pick up a discounted one in a UK supermarket on the 2nd after I landed but alas Tesco's stock control meant they didn't even have an awful one left!

I had basically resigned myself to not finding one this year.

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Language Immersion: Changing Your Environment

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Language Immersion: Changing Your Environment

In which I walk you through changing the language settings on all the things!

In an attempt to improve my German I wanted to switch the default language of websites and software I use. Also a friend had just switrched their Facebook over for the same reason and I wanted to give that a whirl. Here's how to do that for some common websites/programs.

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Does Wilko Dream of Galactic Fleets?

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Does Wilko Dream of Galactic Fleets?

In which I get hooked on strategic galactic space battles...

The Game

The original Neptune's Pride took the gaming world by storm 3 years ago. The sequel is now out and if you want to try it out head on over to Iron Helmet Games to start playing now for free!

It's a long-term, epic, space game where your fleets take hours to arrive at distant stars. This grand strategy game is reminiscent of Diplomacy where the gameplay is very simple and a large part of the fun comes from diplomatic relations with other players. In short this game is one of the most refined forms of nerd-crack I have ever encountered. I do love it so.

Building a Better Keyboard

Building a Better Keyboard

In which I order a mechanical keyboard...

I've started noticing a bit of back pain recently and couldn't put my finger on the cause until I received an email talking about proper posture. I duly sorted out my desk so my work laptop is on a pile of books at the correct height. Then I realised I could not use the keyboard effectively any-more :/

The answer was obvious - order a new keyboard!

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Site Move in Progress

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I've had a lot of headaches recently with WordPress failing on my blog and was already in the process of moving everything into one place on SquareSpace. With the recent complete failure of my WordPress theme (and several back-end issues) I have decided to initiate the transfer immediately. 

As the WordPress import is not perfect some posts will have issues I will be manually fixing in the next few weeks. If there is an issue a quick comment using the new Disqus system will bring it to my attention. Thank you for your patience!

Tom Out!

Arcadia Quest and Reaper's Bones II Unboxing

Arcadia Quest and Reaper's Bones II Unboxing

In which I unbox some  shiny models...

I'm getting back into painting in a big way. What better way that with two Kickstarter's worth of goodies!

Arcadia Quest

I'm painting the minis from Arcadia Quest for a friend. Just look at all the shiny chibi goodness!

Pictures after the jump!

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Preparing for Bayesian Mathematics in Python

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Preparing for Bayesian Mathematics in Python

In which I run through setting up a Python environment on Windows...

I'm going to preface this post by saying I'm not breaking any new ground here. As is often the case, though, a beginner wanting to set-up an environment to do this will have to go to multiple websites to collect this info so I'm going to distil it into one post.

I am going to talk about Python 2.7 as currently it has the most support for libraries. This method should work equally well for Python 3 but I have not tested this.

The Thirteen Doctors: Before Regeneration

The Thirteen Doctors: Before Regeneration

In which I talk about the actors who played the Doctor in their other roles...

TIME magazine published a video on the other roles of the Doctor. I felt it was too brief however so here is my version:

Owncloud on FreeNAS 9.2

Owncloud on FreeNAS 9.2

In which I set-up a cloud file store on FreeNAS... 

So firstly there is an easy way to do this. You can install the owncloud plugin provided through the FreeNAS GUI. There are a few reasons not to do this:

  • It only supports SQLite
  • The plugin, as usual, is not the most up-to-date version of the software

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Fancy Thesis Tables in LaTeX: An Idiots Guide

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Fancy Thesis Tables in LaTeX: An Idiots Guide

In which I provide a template for generating fancy, production quality tables for theses...

LaTeX as I've mentioned previously, is a document preparation system well known for its brilliant equations and can also be utilised to make very nice looking diagrams. The tables it generates, however, while neat are a little lacklustre.  This is aimed as a very simple guide to editing tables (regular LaTeX users may find this tutorial very basic).

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Tom 3.5 & Life Plan 2014

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In which I talk about fitness and the road ahead...

Tom 3.5

So once again I am unhappy with my level of physical fitness having let it slide a lot with work and other stress getting in the way. I need a new ridiculous goal but first I need to get back to my old fitness levels. I'm back on the old horse having started running everyday again and I've rejoined the gym. Expect a longer post in about 2 weeks time about how things are going.

I'm thinking my next "ridiculous challenge" should either be Tough Mudder or an ultra marathon (~40 miles not one of the 100 mile ones).

Why Tom 3.5? Well my last fitness drive was Tom 3.0. This isn't entirely a new leaf it's just me reminding myself to get back to what I was doing and hopefully take it further.

Life Plan (2014)

These are my goals for the next 10 years. I'm going to start posting the one year goals each January instead of having fixed New Year's Resolutions.

This Year:

  • Start learning Guitar (again)
  • Start learning Piano
  • Get a job
  • Finish my PhD
  • Don’t have a fat graduation photo
  • Receive my QSA at Windsor
  • Receive my DofE Gold
  • Write more short stories
  • Enroll on another marathon/Tough Mudder

In 5 Years:

  • Be earning £40k+
  • Be married or almost married
  • Have a published book
  • Have worked towards grades in Piano
  • Grade 5 music theory

In 10 Years:

  • Have children
  • Grade 8 Piano
  • Have several published novels

Procrastination

So I'm in full thesis writing mode at the moment but that doesn't mean I'm constantly writing. I do procrastinate (though usually with other jobs I need to get done) and this brilliant article explains why that's helpful: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-06/17/jorge-cham-phd

State of the Thesis

The thesis is currently 122 pages long with 29,206 words and 154,203 characters.

Tom Out!

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20,000 views!

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In which I discuss some blog stats...

Firstly thank you everyone who has come to my little corner of the internet to get me to this point. When I started off a little blog about tea 3 years ago I never expected it to be seen by anyone outside my group of friends. Secondly I actually ticked over 20,000 views about a week back but haven't had the time to write this post until now.

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Word 2010: Footnotes and Mendeley

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Word 2010: Footnotes and Mendeley

In which I discuss getting footnotes and Mendeley references to look nice in Word...

I may not have mentioned it before on this blog but I am a Mendeley advisor and a strong advocate of this free reference manager. In fact I cover the pros and cons of it in this video:

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Quick & Easy: Thai Green Curry

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In which I make a quick & easy Thai Green Curry...

So after a weekend where I made a nice traditional Thai green curry I was stuck with some leftover ingredients and not much time to make food before going out to a party. I almost made a quick mushroom soup chicken with rice meal but since I had some spare ingredients around I had a go at making a quick curry. It ended up being very tasty!