grrrr... [11 Jul 2010|09:19pm] I've got an algorithm to analyze DNA sequences for repetitive patterns. Unfortunately, this is an O(n^n) algorithm. A test run on a very small dataset took a minute. The test dataset was 1000 bp. The full dataset is 14,283,897 bp and will take roughly 6.4 years. I think I need to sort out a better way of doing this. Tell me something.

[08 May 2010|03:28am] For a while now I've had an interest in lesser/underutilized crop plants. Over the last few years I've been putting together a document outlining the various tuber/bulb/root crops I can find information on. The list has grown to 78 species/genera. I expect it will grow longer as I add information about seed/etc crops. Tell me something.

[30 Apr 2010|02:58pm] I got a new cactus: Tephrocactus articulatus Though as with most succulents for sale, the species identification is questionable. Tell me something.

dinner [17 Mar 2010|02:08am] Two sides of a ripe bell pepper, pan-fried in olive oil until it begins to char. A boneless chicken thigh, also pan-fried in same oil until browned. Two slices of regular bread with layers of pepper and chicken. yum. Tell me something.

photos [07 Mar 2010|05:14am] [ mood | geeky ] I wanted a more stable photo archive than the collection of DVDs (at least two copies of each) I'd been building. I got two 1/2 Tb drives and placed them in a shared external case. They're not actually set up as RAID 1, but manually mirrored. This gives me the redundant storage along with relative ease of increasing the size of the archive... If I do an OS reset, I won't have to reset the RAID configuration and risk fumble-fingered destruction... I can access the array from another computer (so long as it understands ext3)... Now I just need to rig up a DVD drive and finish building the archive. 2 things said | Tell me something.

[01 Mar 2010|01:45am] I just performed a surgery to save the life of a small tropical oyster. This involved dissecting apart three linked sessile critters so that the oyster could be placed away from a bullying hermit crab. 4 things said | Tell me something.

[20 Feb 2010|02:40am] http://images.google.com/images?q=ceropegia fusca A succulent species in an interesting genus. Tell me something.

Transformation [04 Feb 2010|12:08am] Here's a set of images generated from some simple trigonometry. Some of them look like they might be useful as a business logo. 1 thing said | Tell me something.

[24 Dec 2009|04:01am] power tools are fun. I got myself a router and have actually used it for the purpose the tool was designed for. Tell me something.

[10 Dec 2009|11:11pm] 1st BLAST search on this project, 87316 sequences, resulted in a 1.7 Gb text file. 2nd BLAST search, 28563 sequences, resulting in a 592.3 Mb text file. oh boy am I glad I have a program to parse the useful information out of those reports. Tell me something.

[23 Nov 2009|01:38pm] Over the weekend I wrote an Octave script to parse a 1.7 GB report file. It would have taken 3 days of runtime to finish. Today I converted it to MatLab script for running on my lab computer and shaved the time down to 10 hours. Maybe I can do better... Tell me something.

dinner [01 Nov 2009|02:13am] 1.5 lbs littleneck clams. a solid handful, even fractions of diced carrots, girasole, celeric, onion, and red bell pepper. a sprinkle or two of salt. steam clams until they all pop, 10-20 minutes. (discard those that don't) mince the clam meat and set aside the clam-water (avoiding any grit in the pan bottom). saute the onions in butter, then add to others. boil vegetables until tender, using water and clam-water. add salt. add in minced clams after vegetables are mostly done. enjoy. It was originally planned to be a nice clam chowder, but as I began I realized I didn't have any baking potatoes (the big russeted ones break up a bit when boiling, making a thick chowder base). So, without said potatoes, instead I made a clam-vegetable stew. Tell me something.

[13 Oct 2009|01:26am] [ mood | codingly ] I just finished my flow cytometry file format (versions 2.0/3.0/3.1, somewhat) data importer. In doing so I found the previous textmode importer was discarding half of the data. I haven't figured out why it is doing so, which is disconcerting, but the fix is to use the newer code. Tell me something.

Moss and mushrooms. [10 Oct 2009|08:48pm] Some little mushrooms outside my apartment. I have no idea what these guys are called, hence my generally descriptive title. Tell me something.

[10 Oct 2009|07:35pm] [ mood | annoyed. ] What happens when you take my origami scorpion model and simplify it a little by using a triangle instead of a square? This video. No reference to my work at all, of course. Tell me something.

[10 Oct 2009|03:36pm] Many years ago I heard about a drug trial which had an unusual side effect of darkening iris color. Just now I saw a commercial for "Latisse", a medication which results in the growth of larger eyelashes. It has a couple of side effects, including the permanent darkening of the iris. I had thought the effect would be handy for changing one's identity, if you had lighter colored eyes to start with. Tell me something.

[08 Oct 2009|07:15pm] I'm writing a module for my flow cytometry data analysis program which will import data from flow cytometry files (*.FCS). This will reduce the time it takes me to process experimental data and make the tool easier to package so other lab members can use it. I am really glad I've got a hex editor on my computer, as sorting out what the heck is going wrong with the code would be near impossible without it. It's got me thinking about decoding the TIFF-derived format found in data files from the Amnis Imagestream. As if I don't have enough projects... Tell me something.

movie: Pandorum [08 Oct 2009|12:26am] A very dark movie, with some nice concepts and interesting characters. Thouroughly in the area of what I consider good science fiction. Tell me something.

oops. [05 Oct 2009|11:42pm] Roasted elephant garlic is no where near as tasty as roasted garlic. :-( Tell me something.

[02 Oct 2009|12:03am] A newscientist.com article of interest. First line: "Dark matter is either weirder than we thought or does not exist at all, a new study suggests." Given that dark matter was invented because gravity seemed to be misbehaving, I kinda figured this would be stated sooner or later. Tell me something.

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