--- title: Posts url: 'https://cooper-davis.net/blog' markdown: 'https://cooper-davis.net/blog.md' date: '2026-08-20' description: Posts --- # Posts ### Posts When I stumble across something that might be of interest to others I post about it here. If you find some of my posts interesting then please consider signing up for email notifications of new posts, or subscribing to the [RSS](https://cooper-davis.net/blog.rss)/[Atom](https://cooper-davis.net/blog.atom)/[JSON](https://cooper-davis.net/blog.json) feed. [![](https://cooper-davis.net/images/c/3/a/5/3/c3a53ac6316912b69911d8e906af99d2ee752686-baukjen.png)](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/privacy-shaming-baukjen) 13th Oct 2026 ##### [Privacy shaming: Baukjen](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/privacy-shaming-baukjen) This is the first post in a new series that I'm calling "Privacy shaming" - where I name and shame the companies that are completely ignoring data protection law, to shine a light on their shady practices. To kick off the series, we start with: Baukjen. Who are Baukjen? Baukjen are a clo... [![](https://cooper-davis.net/images/6/3/9/c/2/639c20fc6c27f2a244e1670bf11cdaa36c1735e1-screen-shot-2026-07-21-at-180823.png)](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/flushing-with-rainwater-choosing-your-butt) 21st Jul 2026 ##### [Flushing with rainwater: choosing your butt](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/flushing-with-rainwater-choosing-your-butt) This is the third post in a series about plumbing my toilet to flush with harvested rainwater (here are [the first](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/flushing-with-rainwater-regulations-airgaps) and [the second](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/flushing-with-rainwater-system-reliability)). This one is a bit of a deep-dive into how you choose the ideal water-butt for a rainwater harvesting system. Practical considerations Now I am very lucky as... [![](https://cooper-davis.net/images/2/7/a/a/1/27aa13eba57eebb1aa275f4a45c50524357614b7-smart-rainwater-harvesting.webp)](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/flushing-with-rainwater-system-reliability) 20th Jul 2026 ##### [Flushing with rainwater: system reliability](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/flushing-with-rainwater-system-reliability) This is the second post in a series about plumbing my toilet to flush with harvested rainwater ([here's the first](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/flushing-with-rainwater-regulations-airgaps)). This one is about how we design our system to ensure a reliable supply of water to our toilet cistern, to minimise the likelihood of failure, and to facilitate use. Read on to find... [![](https://cooper-davis.net/images/9/7/9/9/c/9799cab1cb762f81b7663cf15fc4d6a144cdc680-air-gaps.png)](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/flushing-with-rainwater-regulations-airgaps) 1st Jun 2026 ##### [Flushing with rainwater: regulation and air-gaps](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/flushing-with-rainwater-regulations-airgaps) This is the first post in a series about plumbing my toilet to flush with harvested rainwater. This post is about how wanting a mains back-up will necessitate complying with strict legislation, including ensuring the potable supply is air-gapped. Read on to learn what on earth that means... My... [![](https://cooper-davis.net/images/7/5/2/3/6/75236eda92f508a27e8249933d65b8c063c1f2fe-5868625180358723881.jpg)](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/screen-time-loss-function) 26th Aug 2025 ##### ["Screen time" as a loss function](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/screen-time-loss-function) My life has been hijacked by my smartphone. In some ways it's my fault, because I made a series of incremental choices that led me here, but in many ways it's not my fault, because each individual choice wasn't unreasonable. How could my poor primitive primate¹ brain possibly know what it was gettin... [![](https://cooper-davis.net/images/4/8/6/f/f/486ff28356d52c810b369a2dca5c9b3f6382035b-emisar-dw4.jpg)](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/caving-torches) 14th Dec 2024 ##### [Unsolicited opinions: caving torches](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/caving-torches) Caving (and mine exploring) is an unusual outdoor pursuit in that it's time spent almost entirely in darkness. As such you need a good source of light - usually a torch. After 10 years of caving (and mine exploring) I now feel that I have earned the right to give my unsolicited opinion on what mak... [![](https://cooper-davis.net/images/b/9/b/0/b/b9b0b7da67b3c9b1daa79ef85f8fd0d37d0dbc5f-niv-singer-lkdih8k8k-unsplash.jpg)](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/viseron-and-the-tapo-c310) 26th Aug 2024 ##### [Viseron and the Tapo C310](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/viseron-and-the-tapo-c310) What? A [TP-link Tapo C310](https://www.tapo.com/uk/product/smart-camera/tapo-c310/) security camera streaming audio/video to the FOSS [Viseron NVR](https://viseron.netlify.app/) software running on an [Odroid-C2](https://www.odroid.co.uk/hardkernel-odroid-c2-board) single board computer/home server. Why? Because I couldn't resist the temptation of a technical challenge, despite my dislike of surveillance in general (sorry princip... [![](https://cooper-davis.net/images/a/d/8/6/6/ad8669150cae14847796ec8b6d7bf52a8fd664e7-screenshot-2023-07-06-at-11-53-49-wheal-pell---stacked-deadssmall.jpg)](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/3d-scanning-abandoned-mines) 14th Aug 2024 ##### [3D Scanning of Abandoned Mines](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/3d-scanning-abandoned-mines) I have recently been working on a project exploring how I can use the laser surveying tool that I'm developing to produce high resolution surveys and 3D scans of abandoned mines and caves. With the support of an innovation grant from the [Deep Digital Cornwall](https://deepdigitalcornwall.org/) project, run by the experts at the C... [![](https://cooper-davis.net/images/4/9/9/d/f/499dfa46bcfad44f89d97bc347310fd9abbc1f81-screenshot.jpg)](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/digital-os-maps) 12th Sep 2022 ##### [Liberating digital OS Maps](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/digital-os-maps) When I buy something I like to own it. I'm not against rental or subscription services by any means, in fact in our consumerist world I'd like to see much more sharing of resources within communities, but when I buy something for myself I want to be able to (within reason!) do what I want with it. ... [![](https://cooper-davis.net/images/5/3/4/e/5/534e5546366501c02b90bdd69441f9dd46f94368-rope.jpg)](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/what-can-i-rig) 4th Mar 2022 ##### [What can I rig?](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/what-can-i-rig) When planning a caving trip there are lots of things to consider; whether the difficulty matches your groups abilities, whether the trip will be safe given the weather, and whether you've got the right equipment to actually do the trip. In the Yorkshire Dales this last one is particularly relevant,... [![](https://cooper-davis.net/images/0/8/3/5/b/0835bada80f0766e53b3b413b9c71987214872eb-map.png)](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/sssi-cave-entrances) 1st Dec 2021 ##### [SSSI Cave Entrances](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/sssi-cave-entrances) Sites of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSIs, are nature conservation areas given legal protection from damage, development, and neglect in order to safeguard the natural features that they contain. As their name implies, they are used to conserve features of particular biological or geological in... [![](https://cooper-davis.net/images/6/b/3/9/1/6b391437d21cb09491df05820bb84436e1b49516-flow.png)](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/diystox-the-software) 17th Jan 2020 ##### [DIYstoX: The Software](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/diystox-the-software) This is the third post about a project to build a cave surveying device. You might want to read the [previous post](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/diystox-the-wiring) before embarking on this one. So far we've worked out how we can decode readings from the LDM, and how we can wire it up to a microcontroller with a magnetometer and acceleromete... [![](https://cooper-davis.net/images/3/a/6/3/f/3a63f837d091aa3fc606b1e7798f972f7c0b09eb-board1.png)](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/diystox-the-wiring) 18th Dec 2019 ##### [DIYstoX: The Wiring](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/diystox-the-wiring) This is the second post about a project to build a cave surveying device. You might want to [read the first post](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/diystox-the-laser-distance-meter) before embarking on this one. So far we've worked out how to read the distance measurements that the device writes on the serial pins of its MCU, but we've been doing this by hand... [![](https://cooper-davis.net/images/0/5/4/e/e/054ee5fed2bb26b125afc8ba82255b25d45f19ec-ldm1.png)](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/diystox-the-laser-distance-meter) 19th Nov 2019 ##### [DIYstoX: The Laser Distance Meter](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/diystox-the-laser-distance-meter) In the Venn-diagram of my main hobbies there's a significant subset of Caving and Amateur electronics; in fact [the British Cave Research Association](https://bcra.org.uk/) has an entire journal, the [Cave Radio & Electronics Group](https://bcra.org.uk/creg/), dedicated to the subject. This project falls perfectly into that subset. I'm reverse e... --- ## Navigation - Previous: [Coding](https://cooper-davis.net/coding.md) - Next: [AI](https://cooper-davis.net/ai.md) - Children: - [3D Scanning of Abandoned Mines](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/3d-scanning-abandoned-mines.md) - [Unsolicited opinions: caving torches](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/caving-torches.md) - [Liberating digital OS Maps](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/digital-os-maps.md) - [DIYstoX: The Laser Distance Meter](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/diystox-the-laser-distance-meter.md) - [DIYstoX: The Software](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/diystox-the-software.md) - [DIYstoX: The Wiring](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/diystox-the-wiring.md) - [Flushing with rainwater: choosing your butt](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/flushing-with-rainwater-choosing-your-butt.md) - [Flushing with rainwater: regulation and air-gaps](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/flushing-with-rainwater-regulations-airgaps.md) - [Flushing with rainwater: system reliability](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/flushing-with-rainwater-system-reliability.md) - [Privacy shaming: Baukjen](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/privacy-shaming-baukjen.md) - ["Screen time" as a loss function](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/screen-time-loss-function.md) - [SSSI Cave Entrances](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/sssi-cave-entrances.md) - [Viseron and the Tapo C310](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/viseron-and-the-tapo-c310.md) - [What can I rig?](https://cooper-davis.net/blog/what-can-i-rig.md)