http://www.shawnlankton.com vision, science, engineering, and fun Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:19:54 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en As a dedicated member of the human species, I was curious when my advisor recommended this book about human evolution. The author uses an engaging approach to discuss the changes that took place as early primates from the Cretaceous period evolved bit by bit towards modern humans and beyond! Baxter ... http://www.shawnlankton.com/2008/12/evolution-by-stephen-baxter/ LaTeX (pronounced lah-tech) is a powerful tool for creating beautiful documents. This post covers a workshop I gave recently introducing LaTeX to some curious graduate students. The materials here show some of the features and walk new users through the basics of using LaTeX. This would make a nice ... http://www.shawnlankton.com/2008/11/latex-intro-workshop/ This year I purchased my first pumpkin. Sure, I've had pumpkins before, but I had never bought one until a few weeks ago. Yesterday, I put knife to gord and made my first pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern. This is the first pumpkin I've carved in years... ... http://www.shawnlankton.com/2008/10/first-pumpkin/ I recently figured out how to keep a necktie in place. I get really irritated when they don't cover the buttons on my shirt. In the past, I've tried several tricks, but last month I had to dress up a lot, so I did some research and found ... http://www.shawnlankton.com/2008/10/keeping-a-tie-in-place/ My father, a well known psychotherapist, uses a personality model known as the Interpersonal Check List (ICL). This model is notoriously hard to administer, score, and graph. I developed a program to do all of these things automatically. This is a 128 question test where people mark whether or not adjectives ... http://www.shawnlankton.com/2008/08/inerpersonal-check-list/ Most people have heard about twitter. I don't really get it, but I've heard pundit after pundit extolling on its virtues for networking and getting access to the vast experience and intelligence of your contacts. Like a good scientist, I'm going to do an experiment. I encourage ... http://www.shawnlankton.com/2008/08/twitter-experiment/ Once you get through the process of writing your paper, getting it reviewed, making revisions, and finally getting that ACCEPT email in your inbox, the work isn't done. You must prepare the figures in the paper so that they can be easily used by the IEEE to make a ... http://www.shawnlankton.com/2008/08/preparing-final-submissions-for-ieee-journal-articles/ Last weekend I traveled to Denver, Colorado for a "business consulting summer camp." All in all, it was a nice way to spend a weekend. I learned a lot, met very quality people, wined and dined, and slept at the Ritz. I could get used to being ... http://www.shawnlankton.com/2008/07/a-consultant-in-denver/ A tasty spread is great to have on hand. I use it on sandwiches and wraps or as a dip for veggies and chips. It has a great creamy consistency, but its all vegan and low fat! This is my favorite way to use tofu. Here ... http://www.shawnlankton.com/2008/07/tasty-tofu-spread/ In addition to work and science, last week I spent some time ascending ice in Alaska! Rome and I rented a car and drove north from Anchorage to the Matanuska Glacier [map]. There we met our guide, got geared up, and headed into the white. It is amazing ... http://www.shawnlankton.com/2008/06/ice-climbing-in-alaska/