Controlling a NeoPixel LED Strip and SD Card with a Arduino ESP8266: My Lightstick Prototype
For quite some time now, I’ve been wanting to make an LED lightstick. So I did. It’s well nice.
Interdisciplinary talks and the metaphor-ome: Harder than metagenomics itself?
I gave a talk at Birmingham University. It was ok.
Status Report: Jul Aug September 2016
A status update on the apparent progress of my doctorate, featuring a name for my work, and a brief run through all of the things that are and are not broken as of September 2016.
A pretend biologist’s guide to making an EDTA chelating (“buffer”) solution
I wrote a recipe and protocol for making 200ml of 0.5M EDTA buffer. Be warned, it takes ages and if you mess it up, it goes in the waste sink.
A pretend biologist’s guide to running a PCR (polymerase chain reaction)
I wrote a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) protocol for somebody who has never held a pipette before. Prepare to spend all day pipetting colourless liquids into a tube, only to find that it all didn’t work anyway.
An idiot’s guide to Python documentation with Sphinx and ReadTheDocs
This is the third occasion that I’ve come to set up a Python package’s documentation. It is also the third occasion where I’ve spent many hours and commits trying to work out how I made everything work last time. So for my future sanity and possibly yours, here’s a quick guide on setting up Sphinx-based, ReadTheDocs-hosted Python documentation.
Status Report: May 2016 (Metahaplomes: The graph that isn’t)
Another long overdue insight to the things I am supposed to be doing so I can call myself a doctor someday.
Using fail2ban to mitigate simple DOS attacks against apache (or why I am a terrible sysop)
Earlier this afternoon, my server was upset. Here’s what happened, how it took so long to find out, and how I will try and stop it happening again. In particular, I provide configuration for a `fail2ban` jail to try and stop simple DOS, that actually works.
“It’s tough, this public engagement thing.”
Teaching children how to be a sequence aligner with Lego at Science Week
Every year, the university celebrates British Science Week with a Science Fair, inviting possibly the most difficult public to engage with: children. This year, I volunteered to run a stand.