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Journey to York for conference
Jan. 5th, 2017 11:17 pmThis morning I traveled down to York for the Light Microscopy Facility Managers Meeting. The railway journey was pleasant: not only does the Fife Circle Line see pleasant scenery but, true to its name, the East Coast Main Line shows even more coast. I see the ships and the seaside towns and wonder at all the lives I don't know.
I reflected on my change in perspective since moving to Perthshire. I used to think of York as a cold, windy place very far north. Now, it is surprisingly far south, approaching Manchester's latitude.
Even south of Edinburgh the train was pleasantly empty. Perhaps trains in the north are like the motorways: the congestion is largely south of Leeds, making life in Scotland pleasant indeed.
In speaking with others about microscope vendors I came to wonder if they really don't want to be in the image analysis software business: they care about hardware and feel as if they must bundle proprietary software with it but it is usually not great software and perhaps everybody would save money if they simply pooled resources toward some open-source effort. It is serious microscopes that I am thinking of here, probably costing a few hundred thousand dollars each.
I made a discovery at the hotel about coffee machine user interfaces: apparently when the columns of drink option buttons are above multiple spouts then the coffee is likely to issue from the spout below the corresponding button. This guideline is consistent with the few observations that I made.
I reflected on my change in perspective since moving to Perthshire. I used to think of York as a cold, windy place very far north. Now, it is surprisingly far south, approaching Manchester's latitude.
Even south of Edinburgh the train was pleasantly empty. Perhaps trains in the north are like the motorways: the congestion is largely south of Leeds, making life in Scotland pleasant indeed.
In speaking with others about microscope vendors I came to wonder if they really don't want to be in the image analysis software business: they care about hardware and feel as if they must bundle proprietary software with it but it is usually not great software and perhaps everybody would save money if they simply pooled resources toward some open-source effort. It is serious microscopes that I am thinking of here, probably costing a few hundred thousand dollars each.
I made a discovery at the hotel about coffee machine user interfaces: apparently when the columns of drink option buttons are above multiple spouts then the coffee is likely to issue from the spout below the corresponding button. This guideline is consistent with the few observations that I made.
