Jul062012July 6, 2012July 5, 20120Commentby L.

Words of advice from the US Forest Service

Posted in Uncategorized

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Jul052012July 5, 2012July 5, 20121Commentby L.

SOFA, open stats

Posted in Software

If you’d like to read some deep, wide-ranging philosophical discussions about R, an open statistics software package, then I wonder why we’re friends. But since we are, here are some links, you psychopath:
“R is a programming language missing a GUI”
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Jun292012June 29, 2012June 29, 20126Commentsby L.

Whole embryo imaging

Posted in Hardware

Drosophila embryos are a fraction of a square mm, and go from fertilization to hatching (as a larva) in about 22 hrs. So it’s possible to image individual embryos in their…

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Jun252012June 25, 2012June 25, 20122Commentsby L.

Introducing the Spectrino

Posted in Hardware

The Open Hardware wave keeps rolling: MySpectral recently announced the Spectrino – an Arduino based spectrometer. It’s as barebones as spectrometers go, with the small enclosure containing a diffraction grating, CCD light…

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Jun082012June 8, 2012June 18, 20121Commentby L.

Manipulator stand, reasonably priced

Posted in Hardware

Manipulator stands are priced bizarrely high. The Sutter model above starts at $760. If you want a taller one, or one with a linear slide, the price can go up to $1395 (price…

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Jun042012June 4, 2012June 4, 20120Commentby L.

New CDC plan for zombies

Posted in Uncategorized

From the CDC:

We continue to reach and engage a wide variety of audiences on all hazards preparedness via Zombie Preparedness; and as our own director, Dr. Ali Khan, notes, “If you are generally well…

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Jun012012June 1, 2012June 1, 20123Commentsby L.

Sir Huxley RIP

Posted in Uncategorized

Andrew Huxley (right) passed away on May 30th at age 94.

Above is a BBC interview with Hodgkin and Huxley shot in my living room in 1985. Wolpert does an excellent…

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May292012May 29, 2012May 29, 20121Commentby L.

Z-Projections

Posted in Software, Tips

To project 3D image stacks to a 2D image, several different algortithms can be used. Maximum projections and averages are the most commonly used. Neither…

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May172012May 17, 2012May 16, 20121Commentby L.

Troubleshooting noise

Posted in Uncategorized

“Okay. I think I’ve got a lead on the noise we’ve been troubleshooting. The noise is coming from a broadcast RF source between 2200 and 2500 MHz. Let’s check with the FCC and see what is allocated to that spectrum to get an idea of where this interference could be coming from.”

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May162012May 16, 2012May 16, 20120Commentby L.

Miscellaneous notes on screws

Posted in Tips

Terms for metric and English screw size standards

These terms are all equivalent for most purposes:
metric = ISO metric = ANSI mm
English (US) = imperial (UK) = UTS = ANSI…

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May162012May 16, 2012May 16, 20120Commentby L.

Cages of a different sort

Posted in Hardware

The last post was about cage-style optomechanics. This post is about Faraday cages.

8020.net

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May142012May 14, 2012May 14, 20122Commentsby L.

Cage systems

Posted in Hardware

Cage systems, like optical rails, are platforms for constructing custom optical systems.

Thorlabs’ 16 mm, 30 mm, and 60 mm cage systems are well known (shown above)….

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May102012May 10, 2012May 10, 20122Commentsby L.

Game on

Posted in Hardware

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May102012May 10, 2012May 10, 20123Commentsby L.

Firmata for Arduino

Posted in Hardware

I’ve referenced Toolduino before. Now I use Firmata more (upon which Toolduino is based). It turns the Arduino into a simple interface, rather than letting it think at all. I find…

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May102012May 10, 2012May 10, 20121Commentby L.

Screw shields, simple pleasures

Posted in Tips

These screw shields make it simple to connect a bunch of stranded wire to an Arduino. This one is available here, or here. It’s a little thing, but it saves a…

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