Forum
created: 14 Mar 2010 17:50
tags: chemcomm forum
Every site nowadays has its own forum, and wikidot has a forum module implemented for free. Therefore I have decided to try it out. Write a wiki is nice, useful (for sure for me, hope also for others), but you have not a real feedback. I can guess how well (or not) the wiki is performing looking at the statistics for the site or at the (lack of) comments scattered through all the wiki. But at the end, I cannot know if the contents are clear or not, if you are finding what you were looking for or not.
I see the forum as a useful instrument to have a feedback and, more important, share information with others, hopefully helping me and the readers with their experience. I don't know everything and it is possible that the little I know is not that right either.
So, if someone is out there and reading, you are welcome to join the site and the forum. The only "drawback" is that you have to register for free on wikidot, in order to post.
That's all folks!
Comments: 0, Rating: 0
Latex Pictures
created: 12 Mar 2010 08:12
tags: latex
I often use Latex for my documents and also when I have to put equations in slides or posters presentations.
To create a picture of a latex equation, we can, of course, use latex and a text editor in the usual way. Or, we can use dedicated software or on-line tools.
Software
- LaTeXiT (Mac OS X)
In Mac OS X I use LaTeXiT, which is freeware and allows to customize the resulting image in many ways. The image that is generated can be easily insert in Keynote, Pages, MS office documents, etc.
You need to have some Latex tools installed, like ghostview. The easiest way to have latex on Mac OS X, is to download and install the MacTex packages.
- Ekee (Linux)
Similar to LaTeXiT, but for linux, Ekee can be downloaded here or via package manager if you use the proper repository.
To make it work with my latex installation, I needed to edit the latex template and comment the following packages:
%\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
%\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
%\usepackage[french]{babel}
To do this, just display the options and click on "Edit LaTeX template". You can save your input in latex, pdf, png and svg. Not bad!
This is what you will see1:
Online Resources
- Latex2png
You can visit the website of latex2png to write online your latex equation and generate a png or gif image. You can vary the resolution of the image from 75 up to 1200 DPI, useful for poster and other publications. Below a example of Latex2png image:
I got scooped... darn!
created: 09 Mar 2010 19:11
tags: thougths
Today was not a good day… a Monday hidden in a Tuesday.
First, my train was suppressed, then the next one, 30 min after, had delay.
Arrived in the lab, I run to plug my laptop to recharge the battery and, of course, the charger revealed himself dead.
Ok, too stressed to start to work, lets get a coffee with some nuts biscuits (I keep them for emergencies and desperate cases). A bit of web surfing and in, between one ridicule/sad-but-true news about italian politics and the other, I was about to regain my normal mood.
Then… disaster strikes: a little chat on skype could not have proven me more wrong. A friend of mine linked me a new paper and…
I got scooped!!!! Darn it!!!
Now I have to double sugar coat my results… if you know what I mean…
