Nutation? And Precession

In espresso tamping, there is a technique known as "nutation," highly search-optimised discussions of which range back to 2009 - they did not seem to resolve the definition thoroughly. So let me give it a shot.

SUMMARY:

So it turns out that multiple parties are right, and what we are doing involves both nutation and precession.

THE technique is this:

1. Centre the tamper on the basket.

2. Tip the tamper to one side, slightly, as if you are pressing down on a marble that is on the inside edge of the basket. This is roughly a 5 to 15 degree movement in the SECOND Euler Angle, and so we call it a Nutation.

3. Turn the tamper, in a full circle, as if you are tracing the movement of the marble around the circumference of the basket. This is a 360 degree movement in the FIRST Euler Angle, and so we call it a Precession.

4. Apply step (3.) with whatever tamping pressure is deemed appropriate, as many times as is deemed appropriate, in order to achieve the desired puck resistance/ distribution/ density.

5. Reverse step (2.) and then apply an even tamp to level off the puck - as with simple, standard tamping.

MAIN utility of technique:

Reduces channelling. Your flow may be slower, but it will cone sooner.

REFERENCES:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler_angles

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precession

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutation

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Update 2016-08-13:

I have been discussing nutating tamps with our staff. Then I found this post. (I still recommend nutating tamps because... coping my comment:)

"I find that "nutating" (perhaps it should be "precessing") produces a more even tamp, at any level of fineness. My thought about this tends to be that it increases the probability that larger spaces in the heap of grinds are forced to cave-in. I've compared nutated and non-nutated shots, the latter taking 10-15s longer to reach the same brew ratio... and often enough the former will cone more symmetrically, and taste cleaner. Does anyone else have similar experiences?"

Perhaps I just work in a cafe where most shots are shorter in duration and messier in coning. Who knows. No time to collect all that data on everyone else.

/

Well, it's not like Perger invented it (it's not a hard thing to invent). I was making coffee like that in 2008. I just find nutation to provide a more even tamp. ;)

Death Threats

Extension, matrix exponents, sections and retractions... trying not to stress out. Going home. To bed. Looking forward to a productive day of work in the morning.

//

(Whatsapped) Death threats in the wee hours of the morning. Dum dee dum. Just another aspect of work with this crew, that I've grown accustomed to.

Who knows, but I hope people are merely joking. Where I come from (in the grand scheme of things), joking about killing just puts everyone in the room on killing guard - on guard to the point of being prepared to use lethal force in self-defense.

I guess that one only jokes about killing people, if one has no actual preparation to do so. But I have had the opportunity to kill in self-defense, with my bare hands, and I had decided at the time to abstain. Perhaps if I had killed the first guy, the other three guys would have jointly killed me afterwards. Who knows. I got away that time, less a few segments of a finger, and with a small fracture on my head, cowering behind a few tears and a crippled voice, designed to maximise my chances of survival.

Who knows whom would have won the fight. But I chose not to begin it, by merely shoving aside the first guy.

Who knows.

:(

//

Up for a shift. Not much sleep down. Will try not to break anything.

Garbage Collection

Hi,

I still remember your email address, so here's a longer message. Probably one which you will also not bother to respond to, if you even read it.

I've done everything I can to squeeze value out of this relationship. But it seems that you enjoy neither talking, nor touching, nor co-working with me on anything anymore. I gave you my time of day for the longest time hoping that at some point you would come around, but I guess that's ancient history. Spending time with you after October XXXX was probably a mistake - you were keeping more stories from me, and I made a point to help you pack up the night before you left for YYYY because I had known that it would be a good place for you to find out more about yourself. But you barely spoke to me afterwards, and requested to know less about me, and that was a bit of a let down - for me, but I hope that you truly are in a happier mental place since then, as it seems from your general publications.

You're like a black hole - and at a point in life where I am rather drained of resources, I really need to move farther still away... I've deleted your contact details from my databases because I need fewer options to continue writing to you.

Thank you for a few weeks of calm in ZZZZ Everything else since then has been a bit challenging.

http://instagram.com/p/kSWXssG3Ca/ :)

//

A few days later. My point of view in a conversation.

Friends? I don't seem to do the friends thing very well at this point in life. I have like time (etc.) for like one. Everything else is work. I wish I had more to give everyone. I don't know. It'll be easier to not miss her once I've got someone else to be close to. Not yet. I'm trying to minimise exposure to her, so that I don't think of her unnecessarily. I don't mind hanging out but we have nothing that we both like to do the same way. Otherwise I wouldn't have left. I just miss having the freedom to be with her, and we both know that's not on the cards.

Maybe not one friend. I've been thinking that the only friends I've had time for have been lovers, and it just happens that I've only gone out with one person at a time. Sad. She's chosen a way of life that allows for much social and commercial activity. I've chosen one optimised for entertainment via intellectual pursuit. She doesn't like smart asses of my variety. I'm evidently just trying to talk some sense into myself - I think about this all the time.

She rarely appeared to listen. Which is, if I think about it, just a nice way to call her a ditz. I may need to put her in a little box called "ditzy ex" to better deal with us. I'm afraid that it amounts to making her sound stupid.

I'm just reminded that we wouldn't have hung out much anyway if I wasn't interested in having her as my girl. I stuck around as long as I did to try and make it work. I still don't believe it won't work. Which is why I need to try harder to believe that it won't work. (So I started deleting the physical pointers to her, like her contact in my databases, and the things she gave me.)

Back in the office now. Perfect time to dodge traffic. Hehe.

Mostly Tactical

Not getting enough exercise at work. Need to go run and lift weights more often. Hmm. Between reading math and shopping for jobs... too much intellectual activity. Let's see what other portfolio's I've been ignoring. Hmm. Maybe cooking. Still keeping an eye on cashflow until it eases up.

Next tactical concern: getting to the office, executing the next shift, and then rinse and repeat with perhaps... an hour or two for this sort of reflection each day.

Days later: Awake. On an off-day. In cost-cutting mode. Chasing down loose ends. Because one has some tolerance for loose ends. It's diversification of risk, I suppose.

Someone asked me to pitch for a technology role, and so I am sorting out my own pre-game notes on why I bother to study technology.

I have approached the study of software from two directions. First, I have felt a need to understand it in order to know how to manage software developers in the future. Second, I have a small hobby project towards designing intelligent machines on both large and small scales. This is a horrible cover letter. Delete, delete, delete.