More Delicious Science!!!

It's been a great winter break for me, for the most part.  A little bit unfortunate, but overall pretty good.  Sadly my lab work has not been going well at all; cells not growing, torn asunder and whatnot.  Because of this I sought out other avenues to be awesome.  One was making my recent videos, the second cooking.  In particular, for Christmas this year I got the incredible gift of a large capacity KitchenAid stand mixer:

So shiny it is!!!

So the other day, after a particularly unpleasant day in the lab and bad news, I thought to myself "I should use that fancy mixer of mine".  So I thought to myself "OMG CAKE!!!!"  So I made cake.  With science!!!  And the mixer.  But mostly SCIENCE!!!  And lemons.  Soooo many lemons.

These will make cake.  Because yum.  

Dry ingredients for cake, after sifting through a metal sifter.

Initial "batter", just butter and sugar, simply a base for everything to be added to.

Proteins from the eggs smooth everything out, giving a nice consistency. Dry mixture adds all the happy volume and needed chemicals for baking while the buttermilk keeps the batter liquid-esque.  Also lemon juice and peel because how can you have lemon cake with no lemon?

See?  It's like magic.  We go from a bunch of random stuff on the counter to ready to bake cakes!!  Also on the counter.  But still!!

Since this is an awesome fancy layer cake, we need two other things.  Or rather want two other things.  First is a filling for between the layers and the other a frosting for outside.

Filling is a lemon curd.  Very simple.  Sugar, corn starch (to thicken, similar to a gravy or soup), water, lemon juice and peel.  Heat and stir stir stir.  Water evaporates, allowing starch and everything else to thicken up the curd.

Egg yolks for the curd.  Proteins always help stickiness and thickness.  Add half curd to this, while back to pan.

Back to the pan with you!!!!!!

Keep up heat and stirring, nice and thickened.

Yes.  Butter.  Because butter makes everything more delicious.

After adding butter, still nice and thickened, but now needs to cool.  To the refrigor-migator!!!

As I mentioned, cake needs an outer coating, aka frosting.  Because frosting delicious.  And proper for layered cakes especially.  In this case, we've got lemon cream cheese frosting.  Very awesome sort of thing.

Just toss it all in!!!  Cheese, butter, lemon juice and peel

Mix-a-licious!

Adding powdered sugar (aka confectioner's sugar) has a similar effect to adding starch, thickens and, or a sort, strengthens.  We're at 'hard peak' when strands stand straight on their own, perfect for spreading.

No wire racks for cooling :( .  Assembly takes place on table of awesome!

OMG FROSTING!

2 Stacked with curd in between.

Ready for curd!

Second layer of curd, ready for top layer now.

Mmmmmm.... frosting time!

Not too bad.  I can say with confidence this cake is frosted.

Told you!

OMG CAKE!!!!  It has LAYERS!!!  Like and ogre!!!  Or a parfait!!  Or an onion!!  Either way OMG!

Bit crumbly, but by no means bad.

This piece is gone now.  I don't know where.

Baking is certainly an interesting cooking technique, and there's so much science behind it that my mind tends to boggle a bit.  The now humble cake is a surprising achievment brought by knowledge of primarily chemistry and, most likely, the simple idea of "I want something NOMS!"  If you're interested, please let me know if you'd like the specific recipes for everything, definitely not very tough to make at all.  Thank you all for reading and I'll see you next time!

A Gear Change is Finally Here

Hello all!  After many videos of board games (mostly due to being less time intensive), I've gone a bit back to form with a new video game video!  I've recently had the great opportunity to have a decent amount of play time again and took advantage to do a general review of an often overlooked and misunderstood genre, the aRPG.

The particular game is Marvel Heroes, unsurprisingly based in the Marvel Universe (Earth-616 for those that know and care) where you get to play as the superheroes.  Each one of them has their..... own..... you know what, I'll just let the video talk instead.  Enjoy!

Thanks very much for taking a look!  I'll see you next time!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hooray!  So it's been a very very very long and busy few weeks since my last video.  Between my work not going correctly in the lab to my fiance defending her Master's thesis (yay!) and numerous other stressors (*cough* puppy *cough*) I've had very little time for my hobbies.  Thankfully I found some time to record and set up my latest video, Games that you can Learn From!!!  Yay nerdness!!  Please enjoy and have a wonderful Turkey day!!

P.S. Incidentally, my cells cot contaminated the other day, so my time for the holiday is split unfortunately unevenly between a sickly fiance and cooking turkey and stupid cells the pick the worst time to be stupid.  Hopefully it'll all work out in the end!  Bye until next time!!

Alternate Video FTW!!!

As my last couple of posts said, my editing software has been giving me trouble with the latest video I wanted to post.  Thankfully I had a backup plan.  Also nice as a way to make certain the software works normally.  Well, it does!  So here's my video, on board games based off of myth and legend.  Make sure you suit up!

Gaming Violence 101

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been having a great many issues with getting my latest video to render out output correctly on my computer.  Amongst rage and angst of not being able to get things working, I came across several examples of issues regarding people and their reactions to violence in video games.  This primarily came up as the video I'm working on is about not only a violent game, but one that is particularly unusual in how it's presented.  If I ever get it working you'll see what I mean.

Anyway, my hobby of video game playing is frequently a hot-button issue regarding teen violence and whatnot.  While there is a fair amount of research on the subject, NO study has found a significant correlation between playing violent video games and violent behavior in 'regular' life.  While some studies have focused on characterization within video games (i.e. if you empathize with the 'bad guys', you're more hostile to neutral characters compared to empathizing with 'good guys').  I recently saw a TV panel on Fox News where Grand Theft Auto 5 (which had been released the week prior at the time) was brought up during a discussion of killings in Chicago.  I was thankful that one of the panelists noted the fact that no data exists showing the correlation.

I also found this interesting article, http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10964-013-9986-5, which examined 'aggressive behavior' (bullying, etc.) in kids after being exposed to violent games.  The interesting part of this was that the kids had previously been diagnosed with mental disorders (Depression/ADD being the major ones).  Again, NO DIFFERENCE.  NO CORRELATION.  NOTHING.  I get very frustrated when people point to video games as reasons behind so much violence while the actual issues go unexamined.  It's a waste of time, effort, and resources.

Why do I bring this up?  Last night I watched Criminal Minds with my fiance, specifically Season 8, Episode 8, "The Wheels on the Bus".  In it, the 'unsubs' as they're called, re-create a video game using actual people, forcing them to kill one another.  Think Hunger Games combined with Gam3r and a dash of The Running Man (not the dance, the movie from the 80's).  In the end, it seems to me that issues in TV and movies create this stereotype angry loner gamer that just wants to re-enact everything that they play on their games, and it is, by and large, eaten up by the public.  By perpetuating the stereotype it becomes engrained in the minds of many and therefore very difficult to change.  We as a society just need to accept that people are, for the vast majority, anyway, able to distinguish the difference not only between fantasy and reality but the general idea of right and wrong.

I'm going to call this a research-based rant, so go me.  Hope that you all enjoyed and please feel free to discuss.  Thank you and hopefully next time we'll have a video :D.

Work and Play

There are many reasons that I do the work I do.  First and foremost has by far been my medical history.  Fraught with (what I believe to be) probably a bit more than my share of health issues, I soon became interested in performing scientific research, specifically with genetic diseases of all manners.  One important aspect of scientific research has also intertwined with something else that I've enjoyed for a large portion of my life: computers.  The connection?  Put simply, troubleshooting.  In a larger context, problem solving.  One thing that I've always loved to do is solve problems.  There's something incredible about the feeling of being able to fix an issue.  When you start, something isn't working, be it a computer booting up, software not working, or an experiment doesn't give any viable data.  Getting from that point to a workable product/data brings a wonderful sense of accomplishment.

That being said, everyone has a breaking point.  For many it's fast, for many scientists it tends to take substantially longer to reach.  Not to mention IT people.  Patience is an incredible virtue for both scientific research and technologies.  Again, this is work, and I enjoy it, and I'm good at it.  I have a knack for getting stubborn computers to work and working through molecular biology experiments.  At work.

Once done, however, I enjoy doing what probably anyone else does: relax and hang out.  The last few months have made this very difficult.  Work has been ridiculously uncooperative, the puppy that my fiance and I got has been driving us completely insane, and we generally have not had a great deal of time to just chill.  Unfortunately or fortunately, there aren't a great many things that I enjoy doing as hobbies.  For anyone that reads my posts regularly, you know that a large portion of these are focused around playing games; tabletop and video.  More recently I've been making my little videos portraying not only said hobbies, but my opinions on numerous topics.  Fun times and a good way for me to relax and be with myself, in a sense.

As some of you may know, the last week or so I've had a great amount of difficulty getting my latest video to render correctly in the editing program I've been using.  It's one of those things that just drove me completely nuts.  Yes, I enjoy fixing things and figuring out what's going wrong, but this is not WORK.  When I'm working with my hobbies, is it too much to ask for things to work?  I mean seriously.  If my experiments don't work, fine, let's figure it out.  But my free time to do things I enjoy?  There's only so much I can take.  It's ridiculous.

Not only, but it's one of the things that I haven't been able to figure out.  I went through a great deal of work trying to fix this issue.  Reinstalling software, re-doing the entire video, reading I don't know how many forums, trying different rendering methods, everything I could think of.  Finally, I thought that it may be a hardware issue, so I decided to upgrade my RAM (from 4 to 8 GB).  I figured that was a likely issue, as the software kept crashing at somewhat random times, including during rendering.

While attempting to remove the screws from my computer, the driver I was using got ruined, now basically looking like a nail.

Enter precision screw set.  Thankfully these won't be stripped by screws, huzzah!

Memory upgrade successful!  So now we're fine, right?

Short answer is no, still not working.  After weeks of work, struggling to get my video software to cooperate, and spending a substantial amount of money, it is still not working.  I am essentially at wits end and could not be more frustrated.  The few things that I do solely for myself are not coming to fruition.  Not a good place to be.

All that aside, I strive forward.  Why?  Because, in the end, there's no point to anything else except moving on.  Things don't always work, but so what?  Yelling and complaining to the computer doesn't make the software function correctly.  Throwing a fit and banging fists doesn't make a reaction work in lab any more than it makes a computer change its function.  Yes, spending whatever little free time and effort I have available to so things I enjoy to only have said things fail is by no means an enjoyable experience in the end, but it is still a learning experience, and I did get 8 GB on my laptop and a cool driver set, so, like I said, why does it matter?  Does it matter only right now or will it matter forever?  Think about it.  Just the thought for the.... month I suppose.

*whew*.  So, rant over.  Hope you enjoyed it and that maybe, just maybe it can help someone see through some of their own issues.

This long already?

Wow, how time flies when you're trying to get a PhD.....  Unfortunately I haven't had nearly as much time available to work on videos and finding random things to blog about.  Between new puppy, starting the last portion of my PhD dissertation, and generally trying to keep my sanity, free time has been in very short supply.  Regardless, I've finally finished a new video!  A list of some of my favorite strategy board games (with a decent number missing, mind).  Enjoy!

DIY Project of the Day: Fixing a fan in my Samsung TV

Unfortunately, I had a rather tragic Monday.  There I was, sitting on the couch, watching Futurama, because Futurama is awesome.  Then got an error message on the TV:

My reaction, being the naturally cool, calm, collected person I am, was

NOOOOOO!!!!  F&%$ YOU FAN!!!!  I WAS WATCHING FUTURAMA AND YOU SHUT OFF!!!  DIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

After crying like a small child who recently lost their favorite toy, bottle, and pet on the same day, I thought it should be fixed.  Went to Samsung website (support orders suck, I might add), and set up a local shop to call me the next day (today) to set up an appointment.

Long story short, it's a quick fix that would normally cost ~$110 (~$180 if it's at your house).  Thought I'd give it a whirl, so here it is.

Incidentally, my TV is an LN32A650A1F, 40" LCD TV.  It's from 2008, so no surprise it stopped working

IMPORTANT NOTE:
While I have worked on electronics in many different regards, I am by no means an expert, nor certified to do anything.  I only did this because the warranty on my TV is expired anyway, so whatever I do doesn't matter.  Thank you.

First and foremost, lay it down and take off the stand:

Step 1 - Ignore sticker saying "Non User Serviceable Parts".  Step 2 - Scoff at electrocution warning

I put the towel down to prevent scratches.

Make certain you get all the screws to remove the panel:

There's 6 here; two amongst the plugs, one by the side plugs, and 3 around the edges

Screws are located along the edge of the TV; 3 on each short end, 4 on the bottom, 1 on top edge

Top center; one screw along the edge, 1 upwards relative in image

Final screws on the side

The panel, once the screws are all loose, just pops off, the screws don't even need to be outside their "holders" completely

Fan above the circuit board is pretty dusty, is that fan 1?  We have to assume there are others.....

Fan before a brief visit from the vacuum.... bleh.

Yay clean now!  But the question remains, is it fan 1?

To figure out if this fan is indeed our fan 1, I put it to the test.  Turn on the TV while the back panel is off.  Is the error message there?  If not, stop the fan.  Is the message appearing?

Success!  This was indeed fan 1!  Since it is, we can put everything back together.  However, this is just a temporary fix; I'm still getting a replacement fan and will take the old one out to put in the new one once all is done.

Huzzah!  Re-assembled and no error message!

Hope this helps anyone who needs it and good luck!  Also, the fan part number is G6015S12B2 if you need one.

Another awesome video!

Hooray for some more gaming!  I finally got a (very) slight break from lab work and got to upload my newest video!  Another board gaming one, this one is focused on games for two people, as that's the situation I find myself in most often regarding playing games.  Hope that you enjoy and I'll see you next time!!

At long last....

Very appropriate blog title in more than one way here.  I've had so much going on in the last month it's been ridiculous.  I feel as though I've barely had a chance to catch my breath, much less work on my extracurriculars.  I've also finally accomplished one of my goals; making a video on a subject that is extremely important to me personally.

Not just one of my others about games, science or anything like that, but rather a societal examination.  Like many people similar to me, I was picked on a great deal in and out of school while growing up for being one of the 'weirdos', but now I've not only come into my own, I have accomplished a great deal and I'm proud to identify myself by a label that attracts mocking in many circles in society.

Please don't let labels be a stigma.  They can be good, but only if you make them good.  Do not allow being labeled to be a brand of shame, but rather a badge of pride.  Be proud of what and who you are regardless of what it means personally for you.  Thank you and enjoy.

Danny and Stemmy go to Boston for SCIENCE!!!!, Day 5

*Sigh*, so it's come time for Stemmy and I to wrap up our amazing trip to Boston for the ISSCR conference.  It was a great time, we had a blast, learned a ton, got a ton, and even made some contacts for potential post-docs.  However, through all that, I'm missing my girls and am ready to go back to good old SA.

Dr. Chambers from Edinburgh.  Yes, I took his picture because he has a Scottish accent.  I don't care that you can't tell since it's a picture.  That's him and he talks awesome.

For lunch, instead of just having  lunch at a round table as I did on Thursday (or buy overpriced sausage as yesterday) there was the so-called 'career panel', a group of researchers from various backgrounds in science doing a Q&A.  Though there were a lot more A's than Q's.  In other words, they spoke a great deal and answered very few questions.  On top of that, they did not answer my question :( .  Sad times, but free lunch.

Panel introductions; the phone number was for texting questions via Google voice.  Pretty cool.

Meat spice from a Kansas City, MO based lab cabinet company.  Yes, it's sad that it isn't Texas, but the representative grew up in SA, so I guess that's something.

Final plenary session was pretty awesome; all about making tissues and organs from stem cells.  A lot of matrix and scaffold based tissue growing stuff.  Really cool.  Very exciting.

The final talk; the only one titles as a "Keynote" by Eric Lander, one of the founders of the Whitehead institute at MIT, an integral part of the Human Genome Project.

And thus ends a great conference and a wonderful trip.  There was a little 'social reception' at the end of the talks that wasn't very interesting.  Similar to the Junior Social Night on Wednesday, but not as fun because there were the full professors.  So we headed back to the hotel with our swag and to get some noms.  Yeeeaaaaaa.

Once again, Stemmy insists on trying to eat all the pizza.  Ordered from a local place rather than a chain, really good.

Soooooooooo, this being the last day of the conference, exhibitors were anxious to get rid of their various stuff.  Long story short, I have 7 ISSCR tote bags.  Should've gotten more...... good for groceries.  So, anyone back at home was a bag?  I've got a couple extras.

Thus ends the conference, our trip, and my diary thereof.  I hope that it was an enjoyable little aside from your days to read my random ramblings.  Until next time, I'm out!

Danny and Stemmy go to Boston for SCIENCE!!!!!, day 4

Ahhhhhhh, trip winding down for us after a wonderful couple of days.  Very dense conference with a lot of wonderful information.  Unfortunately, at this point, Stemmy and I are both getting rather tired.  Not of the science, don't get me wrong, just exhausted.  Early mornings and late nights take their toll.

Stemmy is just exhausted.  Can't even keep his head/body up.

Yes.  Of course, now he's awake.  As soon as you bring out food his eyes light up.

 One of the best sessions of talks today was, I thought, on cancer stem cells.  Naturally a very important subject for me personally.  Some disagreed.

Melanoma lecture.  Stemmy approves.

He does not approve of cancer stem cell lectures.

After a good long day of various sciencing, time to relax a bit at the hotel.  I went for a swim.  Stemmy came along, but unfortunately can't swim on account of he has no arms.  Or legs.  Or a brain.  Not much of anything, really.  He'd probably differentiate if he hit the water.

Very nice pool.  Totally gotta get in with the kickboards.  Super awesome.

Sooooooo we still needed dinner.  Unfortunately the 'dinner' provided by the conference was cheese and vegetables.  Not so good for me.  Option?  Chinese food.  Noms. 

Stemmy approves.  He can smell it.  Even without a nose.  Pretty impressive.

King of the sesame chicken.  It's ok, i just grab him and move him off.  I've cool like that.

Holy crap giant eggroll!!!  It's bigger than Stemmy!!!  And it was really good.  But it's gone now.  Stemmy probably ate it.  Whole.  Looked good.

Only a day and a half ish left.  Unfortunate; the science is awesome and this hotel is amazing.  I miss the fiancee and the pup pup though.  Can't wait to get back to them.  Bye until tomorrow!