Paul Sutton – personal blog
Overleaf Webinar 23rd July 2020
Todays Overleaf webinar covers Working with Bibliographies on Overleaf
Date : Thursday 23rd July Thursday 23 July – 1:00pm ET/5:00pm UTC/10:00am PT
Sign up for free here
#Overleaf, #webinar, #files, #bibliography, #document, #references,#citations
Molecular modelling with clay part 1
About a month ago, I started a discussion on the Qoto Discourse forum on molecular modelling.
As I am aware not everyone can afford the Molymod kits [1], I suggested that it should be possible to do something similar, at least on a basic level with plasticine. As I didn't have any at the time, I made a rough model using BluTack.
I have since managed to find some modelling clay from Poundland [3] so I present here, part 1 of 2 on a how_to do this.
Note: is was suggested that I make a video of this, I don't have the equipment for this, so will use photos instead, however hopefully once the South Devon Tech Jam [4] is back, perhaps I can get some help with making a video.
I would rather use photos than make a really bad video, and seek some expertise in creating a video.
So as mentioned in the Discourse thread [2], which you are welcome to join and add to the discussion. What we are looking to do is build simple molecules.
This above shows some basic Alkanes made with a Molymod kit [1].
So firstly the clay I bought from Poundland is below
I have already cut some drinking straws to length
So in this case, the straight pieces are about 1” and the bendy pieces are about 1” either side of the bend.
And as mentioned before these can act as part of a double bond or straight bonds.
As also discussed the Colours will follow normal convention:
| Colour | Atom |
|---|---|
| Black | Carbon |
| Red | Oxygen |
| White | Hydrogen |
| Blue | Nitrogen |
| Green | Halogen |
This system using the clay isn't going to be perfect, but it is not meant to be. If we can build basic molecules, this is the important thing.
I will provide a follow up post tomorrow.
References
1 Molymod 2 Qoto Discourse 3 Poundland 4 South Devon Tech Jam 5 Molymod Colours
End notes
Hopefully this is useful and if it is, I am still looking for employment in a school, I feel that being able to think of solutions such as this, demonstrates important skills such as problem solving, and writing these blog posts also demonstrates communication skills.
You can find a link to my LinkedIn profile and other contact details on my contact page here.
#chemistry,#chemical,#modelling,#clay,#straws,#visualisation
TUG 2020
This years Tug TeX User conference is between Thursday 23rd to Sunday 26th 2020.
The schedule is up on the Tug website.
#tux,#latex,#conference,#2020
Updated Debian 9: 9.13 released
18th July 2020
The Debian project is pleased to announce the thirteenth (and final) update of its oldstable distribution Debian 9 (codename "stretch"). This point release mainly adds corrections for security issues, along with a few adjustments for serious problems. Security advisories have already been published separately and are referenced where available.
You can read the full article here.
How to watermark a page in LaTeX
When writing a document in LaTeX it is useful, sometimes to be able to display a watermark on the page. This can relay different messages to the reader for example:
To do this, we can use:-
\usepackage{draftwatermark} %watermarks
\SetWatermarkText{Copyright} %set message
\SetWatermarkScale{5} %set size
You can view an example in Overleaf here
References
Switching Portrait to Landscape in LaTeX
When writing in LaTeX, you may need to switch the page orientation to Landscape, in order to display graphics, charts or tables, for example.
As you would expect with LaTeX, there is a package for that.
You need to add
\usepackage{lscape}
To the preamble, then within your document use
\begin{landscape}
--- content ---
\end{landscape}
To switch page orientation.
I have taken the example document provided by Overleaf and applied the above and set the galaxy graphic to appear on a landscape page.
You can open this example in Overleaf here
References
STEM CLUBS
As I am currently looking for paid employment. In order to help me gain this spending my time learning and developing my skills and knowledge further.
I would like to perhaps be involved with, or help run STEM clubs in a school, or other facility.
As I am currently a volunteer at Paignton Library [1] involved with Code Club [2] as part of this I have completed related courses with FutureLearn [4]. To further support Code Club I working through “Responsive Web Design” with Free Code Camp [7]. The knowledge gained from this has wider educational uses. I have been sending out materials since April.
In terms of further skill development
FutureLearn offer a wide range of courses aimed at education. Having identified several courses that could be of interest am working to complete these over time.
As I am also undertaking OpenLearn courses, I am also driven to try and keep up with developments in various fields.
To help with STEM clubs, I have identified resources that may be of interest. I also have ideas on how these could potentially be used by a club.
I am confident that the above demonstrates a serious commitment to this, and that my previous work experience and learning gives me the skills and knowledge required.
I am putting together plans using Overleaf so hopefully I will cover what is needed for some fun / informative and educational activities.
One plan is based on an activity on the Compound Interest website [9] describing how to use red cabbage as an acid / alkali indicator.
Please contact me for the latest version of my session plan draft.
While work in progress, I hope that it does illustrate that I am able to plan sessions, consider the education and learning outcomes, I have used a FutureLearn course [4] to help me, but also consider health and safety too.
By undertaking this on a paid basis, it will help to cover costs and provide funds to find and prepare further resources.
I am aware that this is going to be more difficult given the situation, but there is no harm in planning and looking at ideas and presenting these. Hopefully the lock down won't last forever.
You can see from my Education and Training that I have also been keeping my safeguarding and other core training up to date. This is another demonstration of my commitment.
References
1 Paignton Library 2 Code Club 3 Computing At School 4 FutureLearn 5 FutureLearn Profile 6 OpenLearn 7 FreeCodeCamp 9.Compound Interest
Hubble – Eye in the Sky – Mini Series
Yesterday (15/7/2020) NASA started a 3 part mini series on the Hubble space telescope.
Schedule as follows
Should make an interesting series.
#space,#nasa,#telescope,hubble,#miniseries,#series,#science,#astronomy
UBUNTU 19.10 END OF LIFE
Following the Ubuntu announcement is the Lubuntu blog post, indicating the end of support for 19.10 (Eoan Ermine), starting Friday, 17th of July 2020.
In any case, if you're using 19.10 (see lsb_release -d), please
upgrade as soon as possible, but certainly before Friday.
— @kc2bez on Telegram @kc2bez on Freenode IRC
9150 77E7 6EFC 53F7 5CBC 6EB9 98D2 9485 5C5A 7872
— Lubuntu-users mailing list [email protected] Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/lubuntu-users
Free Virtual Summer camps – from Microsoft
Just sharing this, in case anyone is interested