9/14/07

In the last 24 months, the FGSC website has received over 6 MILLION hits. That is the only statistic I can tell you right now.

I am trying to get into our statistics, but the package that is being used, Sawmill, is somewhat balky. I have a login name, and a password, that allow me to get into a web application to view our statistics. The guys in IT can login and run reports, but when I login, it only ever shows me the login page. Sometimes, it gives me a 'you have been logged out because of inactivity' and if I put in the WRONG password, it tells me that.

It knows me, but it wont show me the data. 

I have tried the login on four different computers in both Internet Explorer and Firefox (and in different versions). I have set my browser to accept cookies and to allow pop-ups and still cannot get in. Later today, I will go over to the IT department and run my reports on their computers.

And who among us has not called a company or government office and been told to wait while they 'bring up that screen?'
We have become slaves to our software. If you do not fit into a category, you do not exist. If there is no blank, you cannot enter the data. Different countries have different orders in which they put mailing information yet, as we have done here a the FGSC, we have inflexible formats for our mailing labels based on the most common format. This is why your address may appear mangled.

Its not my fault. Its because of the software.

9/10/07

The production of arrayed sets of Neurospora crassa Knock Out mutants continues here at the FGSC. We have finished through plate 42. So far we have distributed plates to several states in the US as well as labs in Canada, Germany, and several labs in Asia.

What can YOU do with this resource?

In other news, we have recently received strains including the Aspergillus niger strain 513.88 (FGSC A1513) used in the genome sequencing program at DSM. This strain is derived from the industrial workhorse NRRL 3122 by conventional mutagenesis and is the progenitor of current protein production strains. Remarkably, it has fewer secreted carbohydrate active enzymes than  A. nidulans or A. oryzae and similar numbers of gluco and alpha amylase genes. 

We recently upgraded our microscopes here at the FGSC. Since we work on a limited budget, we replaced our old binocular Olympus EH. We got a new Amscope 420a with a 1.3 Mpixel USB camera.
It was economical, but arrived defective. Once one pushed in the sliding rod, a piece of the head blocked the left eyepiece. Precision World DID replace the head, but it took a week and I had to pay shipping.

Not really how I would have chosen for it to all go.

 

9/5/07

As promised, here are some photos of the inside of my shoulder.


This image shows the tear in the labrum
This image shows the longhead biceps tendon
rotosew
This image shows the tear in my rotator cuff		 rotosew
This image shows the stitches used to close the rotator cuff tear		 rotobone
This shows the underside of the acromium and clavicle which were resurfaced to prevent impingement

I have to keep my arm immobilized until early October. Mostly it does not hurt anymore. Certainly it hurts no more than it did before the surgery.

I am very disappointed that I will not be able to run the 4th Kansas City Zoo run, though I will go anyway. Some traditions are important to maintain and going to this with my charming children is one such tradition.

Meanwhile, my house has been "TP'd" two weekends in a row.

I guess that the 14 yr old girls in my son's school want him to feel appreciated...