Goodbye Greebo

8 months old and attached to my shoulders whenever I was home
8 months old and attached to my shoulders whenever I was home

Warning: this post contains detail of what happens when you take a cat to the vet for the last time – please do not read if this might upset you.

I never had a pet growing up.  With both my parents working, and a combination of allergies and phobias through the family, it just wasn’t a priority.  I remember asking for a puppy once and, realising that it was never going to happen, accepted the “no” at the first attempt.  When my husband and I first moved in together he made a case for us getting a cat – the perfect low-maintenance pet: give them love and remember to feed them, no walking or grooming, no cleaning cages or tanks, and perfectly happy being left while you’re at work.  I remember not being bothered either way, I’d never had a connection with a pet, but he wanted one so we got a kitten. Continue reading Goodbye Greebo

Please Don’t Vote Tomorrow Unless…

In or out - your vote
In or out

I try to avoid anything that isn’t STEM related on this blog but I feel I do need to speak out on the EU referendum on 23rd June.  I fundamentally believe in democracy, and love the fact that in the UK we have multiple parties so we do really have a choice, even if many people do not exercise it.  However, we now have a black or white, in or out decision to make with regard to the European Union.  I have seen so many people saying that the way they will vote is not because of the issue but because of personality or logical fallacy.  So I implore you, spend the next 24 hours doing some real research or please don’t vote.

If you’re deciding to vote because Continue reading Please Don’t Vote Tomorrow Unless…

3D Printer part 15: Power module and fan

At the end of my last post in this series, we had added the USB, microcontroller and motor boards.  This post focuses on the power module and fan covering issues 56-59 of 3D Create and Print by Eaglemoss Technology.  If you’ve skipped a part of this series you can start from the beginning, including details of the Vector 3 printer I’m building on my 3D printer page. Continue reading 3D Printer part 15: Power module and fan

3D Printer part 14: USB, microcontroller and motor boards

At the end of my last post in this series, we had added the power switch and control unit covers and the look of the main part of the printer was starting to come together.  This post focuses on the USB, microcontroller and motor boards covering issues 52-55 of 3D Create and Print by Eaglemoss Technology.  If you’ve skipped a part of this series you can start from the beginning, including details of the Vector 3 printer I’m building on my 3D printer page.

Due to some of my OU studies and work, I figure I’m now 6 months behind in this build so please accept my apologies if you’ve been waiting on my posts to do your own builds. So, when I finally opened the pack, I initially panicked to see that there were two issue 55 parts that came in my pack.  On checking the magazines, they had different part numbers but were identical in every respect as far as I could tell from the magazine.  As such, I have used these parts as supplied.  If this turns out to be a problem I’m sure I’ll find out later… Continue reading 3D Printer part 14: USB, microcontroller and motor boards

Rework DL Boston 2016 – Day 2

Me, networking at breakfast
Me, networking at breakfast

This is a summary of day 2 of ReWork Deep Learning summit 2016 that took place in Boston, May 12-13th.  If you want to read the summary of day 1 then you can read my notes here. Continue reading Rework DL Boston 2016 – Day 2

M208 – revising in 2 days

Cover sheets of two past papers - you're not missing anything by not loading this image
Two of the 5 M208 past papers I did…

Last week I took the exam for the level 2 Open University module M208 (Pure Mathematics).  Just like last year with MS221, I’d not studied as much as I wanted, and had given myself two clear days before the exam to “cram” as much as possible and hope for the best.  I want to make it very clear that this is a really poor strategy for any student wanting to revise and please with you not to copy this method! Continue reading M208 – revising in 2 days