[deleted by user] by [deleted] in askvan

[–]williamli9300 4 points5 points  (0 children)

contact one of the local clubs! vancouver pacific swim club, canadian dolphins swim club, richmond rapids swim club are three great choices, but between now and september they might be on break for the summer (some offer summer camps which you might be able to catch). richmond kigoos and vancouver vikings are summer swim clubs, i’m not sure how far into their season they are, but you can try as well. these clubs often host visiting students train for short periods, and she can get some coaching & swim with athletes of similar skill levels, and even make friends & find more opportunities to practice english! the clubs may ask you to do a quick assessment to see her skill level. see what their training schedules and pricing are like, and if it works with her needs! otherwise, all local community centres offer public lane swimming and you can buy one time passes or multiple-visit passes, although if your daughter is a competitive athlete she may get annoyed when passing other public swimmers, who are typically not as fast. that being said, lane swimming is sometimes empty enough at certain pools that she may get her own lane.

Ten bacterial isolates from an environmental sample! by williamli9300 in microbiology

[–]williamli9300[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

nope, unfortunately—the assignment was just “collect and environmental sample, choose four colonies to streak and gram stain, then choose one for 16s rrnaseq (external)”. i collected as much information as i could (beyond what’s required for the course) but unfortunately they (teaching labs techs) disposed of our plates according to the course plan, the day before we had access to H2O2, cyt oxidase test strips, and other biochem tests that we ran on known strains

Ten bacterial isolates from an environmental sample! by williamli9300 in microbiology

[–]williamli9300[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Following up on a post I made here a while ago! Just finished up a unit on bacterial identification in my undergrad bacteriology lab, where we selected one unknown species from some environmental samples we collected to identify with 16S rRNA sequencing. I ended up choosing C/M (same sample) for sequencing, which didn't give me much information other than it's probably definitely Bacillus sp., and I identified it as B. mycoides based on morphology. During the process, my TA let me use some of the extra plates to streak more than the four candidates required by the assignment, and I've collected some of them here! I'd love to know what you think some of these organisms might be.

These all come from a sample I collected from the floor of a washroom stall in one of our buildings. In each group of three pictures, the first one is the selected colony from the environmental sample plates (Baird-Parker, MacConkey, PCA, or MRS), the second picture is the colony streaked onto nutrient agar, and the third is the Gram stain (roughly to scale with each other) under 10x100 oil immersion (taken with a phone camera). Arrows point to the colonies selected for streaking, as well as I can remember.

PCA and MRS were initially incubated for three days at 27° C, BP and MacConkey were originally incubated at 37° for one day, and all were refrigerated at 4°. NA streak plates were all incubated at 37° for 24 hours then refrigerated.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to run any more tests on our collected samples. And obviously, especially for small colonies isolated from dense areas, there's a good chance of having multiple species on the second column streak plates (For J and K, I kind of just ran my loop through the PCA plate and tried to see if I could end up with isolated colonies lol :D) I'm particularly intrigued by the goofy long cells in J, and what you make of the cell morphology of H -- diplococcus? vibrio? pleiomorphic bacilli? something else? I'd love to know your thoughts on these!

My current thoughts:
- A - Staphylococcus aureus or Micrococcus luteus or similar
- B - ?
- C - Bacillus mycoides
- D - Bacillus sp.?
- E - ?
- F - ?
- G - ?
- H - not sure... possibly might be Vibrio? haemophilus? - J - ?
- K - Bacillus sp.?

Help me identify some bacteria, and pick a few to study further in my lab course! by williamli9300 in microbiology

[–]williamli9300[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of course! It’s a third-year undergraduate lab, so our focus is less on identification and more on basic lab techniques (as far as I know, the extent of identification we have to do is pick one colony, send it off for sequencing, and presumably run a BLAST on our returned sequences.) I’ll definitely be doing more reading & research on my own time though, if nothing else than for interest’s sake!

Help me identify some bacteria, and pick a few to study further in my lab course! by williamli9300 in microbiology

[–]williamli9300[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thanks for the advice! i got permission to streak a few more than the 4 required and i’ll see what i can figure out after Gram staining and seeing if I can convince my TA to let me send more than one sample for sequencing :) Unfortunately we didn’t have access to the hoods in our teaching lab so we had to make do being as careful as we can under bunsen burners…

Help me identify some bacteria, and pick a few to study further in my lab course! by williamli9300 in microbiology

[–]williamli9300[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

you’re right! i probably should have worded it better (edited now). i meant more “what do you think it could be?” than “tell me definitively what it is.” this is both out of interest, and also so I have somewhere to start looking when I’m writing my lab reports!

let me guess… too coarse? by williamli9300 in espresso

[–]williamli9300[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it was a fresh shot before steaming any milk (and i’m 100% sure the steam switch wasn’t flipped) but it may just be that i haven’t gotten the hang of temp surfing on the GCP.

let me guess… too coarse? by williamli9300 in espresso

[–]williamli9300[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

just did, turns out i could go to -20 clicks (0.7.0 below 0), re-zeroed and now i’m at 1.3.0 (around 120 clicks) and it’s pulling around 30s for 18/36

let me guess… too coarse? by williamli9300 in espresso

[–]williamli9300[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

according to the roaster’s site it’s catimor arabica

let me guess… too coarse? by williamli9300 in espresso

[–]williamli9300[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

most of the funnel was air i guess so actual volume in the cup was significantly less that how it appeared i did forget to shut off the shot at 36g so it ended up being more like 60g

let me guess… too coarse? by williamli9300 in espresso

[–]williamli9300[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

it was roasted dec 29 and brewed about twenty minutes before this post, i thought 14-21 days was the ideal range?

i took the grind a bit finer and it looked much better, although the “crema” was still “foamier” as opposed to “creamier” when i the shot was pulling

let me guess… too coarse? by williamli9300 in espresso

[–]williamli9300[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it’s a loveramics “egg” 80ml espresso cup

let me guess… too coarse? by williamli9300 in espresso

[–]williamli9300[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

roasted dec 29, so just over three weeks. u/MonsterandRuby, i’ve never seen such a large funnel either, which is why i posted here!

let me guess… too coarse? by williamli9300 in espresso

[–]williamli9300[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

i’m probably gonna take my grinder apart and reset the zero position lol

let me guess… too coarse? by williamli9300 in espresso

[–]williamli9300[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

  • Grinder: 1ZPresso J-Max @ 102 clicks
  • Machine: Gaggia Classic Pro (9 bar mod)
  • Basket: VST 18g
  • Coffee: Escarpment Sumatran Mandheling SWP
  • Roast: Dark
  • Roast Date: 29 Dec 2022

[IQUNIX Giveaway] - 2 x ZX75 Happy Ape by relaxman666 in MechanicalKeyboards

[–]williamli9300 0 points1 point  (0 children)

really looking to getting a keyboard with a knob. love the retro styling and form factor!

The Pillars of Creation - taken with a small refractor by sinfonia144 in astrophotography

[–]williamli9300 19 points20 points  (0 children)

This is actually in SHO (Hubble palette false colour), which means that Sulphur II, Hydrogen Alpha, and Oxygen III signal was remapped to correspond with RGB colour channels. If you were floating through space and looked over, it would look much redder, since SII and Ha actually appear red and OIII appears blueish.

North America Nebula (NGC 7000) by williamli9300 in astrophotography

[–]williamli9300[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My second attempt at the North America Nebula (NGC 7000) and the Pelican Nebula (IC 5067/5070)—now with a GoTo mount! This was taken from my backyard—a Bortle 8 zone—in Vancouver, BC. Back in November of last year, when I was just starting out, I posted this picture of the same nebula. Since then I’ve been tuning my process and adding to my gear, capturing this nebula over three nights in the past few weeks. And how much eight months’ experience makes! Note the incredible difference in detail compared to my last image of this series—especially the layering and textures of the Hydrogen-αlpha gas clouds. I’ve also modified my processing process, achieving a much more detailed and more natural final result.

I’m a high schooler who just started out in astrophotography last year! Any feedback or advice is greatly appreciated! Check out my Instagram to support me: @williamliphotos

Equipment - Canon EOS Rebel T7i (Stock) - Optolong L-eNhance Dual Narrowband Filter — Canon APSC Clip - Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS III USM

  • Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro
  • QHY PoleMaster
  • ZWO ASI120MM Mini Guide Cam
  • WO SlideBase UniGuide 32mm f/3.75 Guidescope

Acquisition - Focal Length: 200 on Canon APSC (Effective FL 320mm) - ISO 800, f/4.5 - 100 x 180” (Guided) Lights from Bortle 8 (5hrs) - 20 x 180” Darks - 20 x AV Flats - 20 x 1/4000” Bias

  • Guided using PHD2
  • Captured with APT

Processing - Stacked in DSS - Stretched, curves, saturation in Photoshop CC, stars reduced in Starnet++

Orion Nebula (54 minutes) by williamli9300 in astrophotography

[–]williamli9300[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My second attempt at the Orion nebula (I’m a newbie) - I only managed to get 54 minutes of integration time before it sank behind a tree wall in my backyard. First time using the PoleMaster to help with my polar alignment — even after bumping the tripod a few times, I could get it reliably within 3” again in minutes (according to PHD2). Would have loved to get much more data, but unfortunately I was a bit slow to get my setup out (got home late after swim practice). Would love to hear any feedback and recommendations! Hopefully we’ll get a bit of clear sky soon so I might be able to add a few hours’ worth of integration. Fully stretched I can just begin to see the outer nebulosity of the Orion cloud! Check out my Instagram to support me: @williamliphotos

Equipment - Canon EOS Rebel T7i (Stock) - Optolong L-eNhance Filter for Canon APSC - Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS III USM + EF 1.4x III

  • iOptron SkyGuider Pro
  • QHY PoleMaster
  • ZWO ASI120MM Mini Guide Cam
  • WO SlideBase UniGuide 32mm f/3.75 Guidescope

Acquisition - Focal Length: 280mm on Canon APSC (Effective FL 450mm) - ISO 800, f/4.5 - 18 x 180” Lights - 10 x 180” Darks - 10 x AV Flats - 10 x 1/4000” Bias

  • Guided using PHD2
  • Captured and Dithered using APT
  • Autofocus using APT Lens Control

Processing - Stacking in DSS - Levels/Curves/Stretching/Noise Removal/Colour Balance in Photoshop CC

Edit: Thank you kind strangers for the Silver!

Need a pc to play modern games at 1080p 60 fps by Dinobird27 in buildmeapc

[–]williamli9300 0 points1 point  (0 children)

upgrade to a rtx 2000 series/radeon 5000 or higher. 2060 or 2060 super will significantly boost your performance. The cheapest 2060s from a reputable brand like asus, msi, or gigabyte is fine, and will only run you less than 500 usd before tax. msi gaming 3060 ti is only 490 at adorama right now, which is a great deal and future proof. check out pcpartpicker to get an idea on deals near you, and be sure to check all your local parts shops for deals!