Author: Alan
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Building a Custom Keyboard for my AlphaSmart
Continuing my AlphaSmart keyboard infatuation, I decided to fix the one major drawback of the AlphaSmart 3000: the keyboard. While the stock keyboard is usable, it’s not very pleasant, especially if, like me, you’ve been spoiled by using a custom-built mechanical keyboard on a daily basis. In typical internet fashion, others have already gone down…
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Science Journalists’ Sales Teams?
Fresh from the inbox: Hey , I came across Alan Dove online and wanted to reach out because we’re working with other science journalists that are offering science journalism. Science journalists offering science journalism? You really are hitting those keywords hard, aren’t you? I’m currently working with a few science journalists on campaigns that are…
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Updating an AlphaSmart 3000 on Linux
I recently acquired an AlphaSmart 3000, a brutally simple word processor from the early 2000s. These have surged in popularity in recent years as a distraction-free writing platform, and now that I’ve tried one I’m completely sold on the concept. I won’t repeat all the praise that’s been lavished on these odd little devices (here…
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Restoring My Apple IIc
Sorting through boxes of old technology my dad had cleared out of his basement, I find a half-remembered piece of my childhood. After hauling the grimy components out, arranging them on my workbench, and hooking up the cables, I flip the switch. There’s a beep, then the chugging of an ancient disk drive, and a…
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If You’re Really Bored at the ASV Meeting
I’m scheduled to give a talk at the American Society for Virology’s meeting in Columbus, OH in a few weeks. If you’re there and have nothing better to do on Wednesday evening, feel free to pop in.
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TWiV is a Virology Career Goal Now
Laura is reading a thriller by bestselling author Ruth Ware, and the main character is a virologist. Here, she laments the prestigious, career-defining events that are apparently out of her reach. I guess we’re officially a big deal.
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Amiibo Coasters
We have a Nintendo household, and over the years have accumulated a small collection of the company’s amiibo figurines. If you’re not familiar with them, these are sculpted miniature figures of game characters from various Nintendo franchises, each with a little NFC chip in the base. By holding the figure over the right spot on…
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An iOS Shortcut to Post to WordPress
I’m posting this from my phone, thanks to Apple’s nifty Shortcuts app. The shortcut I made takes photo and text input, then uses the built-in WordPress action to send it all to the blog. Here’s a copy of it. You’ll need to put your WordPress login information into the appropriate spot; it seems to work…
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Semiannual Blog Overhaul
While reorganizing my two sites (this one and alandove.com), I realized I did a similar exercise exactly two years ago. Apparently the urge to twiddle the settings on my blogging setup strikes every other Spring. This time around, the inspiration was realizing that I really post two distinct types of content, and the more professional,…
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Releasing a New Game: Less is Morse
A couple of days ago, I released a project I’ve been tinkering with for awhile: a game for teaching and practicing Morse code reception. You can check it out here. It’s certainly different from the previous games I’ve worked on, but it stems from one of my other major hobbies. If you’ve ever wanted to…