Finish making!

Oh yeah! Finally succeed making OpenOffice2.o this time. It's really a big baby - it took my laptop ~8.5 hrs to bear (make) it!! Now I've got Office suite on my BSD box.

Make Openoffice2.0 - rechallenge

OpenOffice2.0 has had a minor updating and now it's 2.0.1. Would this make any difference or bring me any luck on Openoffice compile? # cd /usr/ports/editors/openoffice.org-2.0 # make -DWITHOUT_JAVA -DWITHOUT_MOZILLA install As OOo's source code is quite a big thing (>200MB!), I just leave it download its sourcecode and let it make over night.

Fonts gone??!!

I can realize if far-eastern fonts are not installed then those asian characters wouldn't be able to be shown correctly, but how to explain if the English interface of a software disappear??!! This exactly happens in front of my eyes!! This trouble happens on Linux-Opera, and all the interface which are supposed to be English characters are now all blank, and even the English websites also show nothing! Odd enough, it can show asian websites without any problems! Now I'm using FreeBSD native Opera to write this diary, but without Linux-Opera it's unconvenient to browse those Flash-powered websites... Need to find a way to go...

Fonts reappear

Just re-install the whole OS (I know I shouldn't have to do this, but in case), and now everything is back. I'm suspecting there might be something wrong with linux-fonts (such as...I deleted them accidently and unconsciously...I don't know)...but I wouldn't re-try it again.

Compile unsusceed...

The OpenOffice2.0 making procedure has failed when I come back in front of my laptop. /_\

Make OpenOffice2.0

I'm a bit curious how long it would take to compile OOo2.0 on my laptop, and thus start a crazy thing today - install OOo2.0 from ports rather than from packages. My environment: OS: FreeBSD-6.0-Release CPU: AMD Athlon XP-M 2400+ RAM:768 MB HD: Seagate 30G, sliced as follow: / - 500MB swap - 1536MB /home - 4 GB /var - 4 GB /usr - 18 GB As I don't like to install JDK as it'll pull my laptop's leg and makes it crawling, I compile OOo2.0 without Java enabled. That is, # cd /usr/ports/editors/openoffice.org-2.0 # make WITHOUT_JAVA=yes install clean

Nobody today

After all, today is boxing day and everyone has gone for their long holidays, and the whole building looks fairly quiet. Actually those staff come to work have also left before lunch time. As with my lab, we also turn off most of the equipment and power (except those which need to be run 24/7 such as fridge) and close the unit. #Complaint: 1. After a short lunch, I bring Sachiyo walking around the campus (well, she forced me to show her around...). 2. Yuuki said we'd see in front of cinema at 5pm; Charito said Burger King at 6pm; Andrew didn't show up until 6:10pm; Marivic said Subway at 6pm; and Yuuki didn't show up and eventually didn't come back home tonight.

Open the autoclave room~~~~!!

I was right - the autoclave room has been locked and thus I've got to leave the stuff there for the whole holidays. Who's that said "autoclave is gonna shutdown in the afternoon on Thursday"?! Actually it's far earlier than pm!

Met ray just now

He was just going to leave C block when I was trying to autoclave some dirty things. He said he'd show me the PCR after coming back (from holiday, of course). There was nobody at C block that time and, apparently Ray was going out for holiday as well (casual shirt and short jeans, carrying backpack)...isn't it still too early?! ...Wait! That means the autoclave room's also been locked and nobody would unlock the door for me this afternoon; how should I collect my autoclaved stuff this afternoon then?

Autoclave down

I got an email forwarded from Kerry and it said the autoclave in C block was going to shutdown late Thursday afternoon and would restart it on January 4. That means I have to stop my work 2 days before that.

Airmail

I received cards from old friends in Taiwan (Guo-Jun) and Japan (Masae). Apparently they've got my cards as well. Nice to hear from you, guys!

Bacterio-static or -cidal?

I notice that on subculturing plates of Campys there are different results under different temperatures. This is a test of examining bacterio-static or -cidal of Campys after treatment of honeys, and I found that on 42C plates the Campys don't grow yet they do on 37C. I read some papers pointed that it would be necessarily to incubate freeze or antibiotics damaged Campys under 37C rather than 42C to recover them (that is, in a relatively mild envoronment). Hm, so what does this result mean? Honey is suppressing or killing bugs?

That's a big (and awful) news between scientists

S Korea stem cell success 'faked' (from BBC News)

Taq arrive

This is HotMasterMix from Eppendorf. Now I still need oligos (still waiting).

Xmas card from parents

Receive a Xmas card from lovely parents in Taiwan when I came home. Somehow the Turners also got a Xmas card from Taiwan...and guess what! It's from my parents as well...! Andrew said they'd send back another card to my parents too. # Don't bother if my parents can read Andrew's handscript or not...:P

Agar dilution and microdilution test on Campy

Campy samples: Campy from yesterday's broth inocula (overnight incubation, in 3ml Muller-Hinton broth). Camp120-125 (except 122 - initial inoculum too few); ie 5 isolates. 1.Agar dilution: Agar: Campylobacter Selective Agar ("CSA"; charcoal agar) w/o antibiotics Honey final conc: 0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% Inocula conc: 10^3, 10^6, 10^9 Temp: 37C and 42C 2. Microdilution Dilution broth: Muller-Hinton broth Honey conc: 15% honey serial dil'n Inocula conc: 10^6 Temp: 37C

Rough MIC test of Campy

The result shows that Campy only grow on plates with 0% honey; other plates (2.5%, 5%, 7.5% and 10% honey) reveal that Campy may not survive on them. The MIC could be < 2.5%. Looks like Campy are quite prone to honey. (this is merely a rough test though) Post-work: inoculate Camp 120-125 into Muller-Hinton broth (only 3ml each for in case) and incubate in 37C and 42C overnight to see if they grow in broth media.

Andrew back

After 3 weeks travelling, Andrew finally comes back from Australia this afternoon. I was with Budhism community at dinner time, and he'd been watching TV when I came home at 21:00. He looks good.

Fake manuka

Found a recent news about fake manuka honey: Fake Manuka Honey trader's second prosecution (on Scoop.co.nz)

Tubes ok, plate contaminated

Well, what can I say? Same work yet different results. I wouldn't like to consider that the plate itself may have been contaminated, but otherwise how can this result be explained...? A bit tired of serial dilution, I made up some fresh CSA (no antibiotics added) and something other for Campy's MIC test preparation. As it's impossible to incubate them in microplate reader or even to obtain its growth curve, I would have to modify my antiseptic protocol especialized to them. # Made up: 1. Single strength CSA w/o antibiotics --- 200 ml (~16 plates) 2. Double strength CSA w/o antibiotics --- 25 ml x4 (for agar dilution) 3. Serial diluted 0.5A Campy (79, 84, 89, 90). Serial diluted by 10-folds in Muller-Hinton broth => 0.5A, 10^-1, 10^-2, 10^-3, 10^-4, 10^-5, 10^-6. Duplicate, incubate in both 37C and 42C.

Synchronous MIC

Do MIC test of Salmonella spp today (both tubes and microplate). Unsurprisingly it took me much more time to prepare the serial diluted honey and cultures (roughly 2 hr longer than usual). Consequently today's lunch time is around 3:00(!). Just before running micrplate reader (the "icebox" one), the reader somehow doesn't response to its software. Consulting Kerry, she changed lamp in the reader and it came to alive again. Next time I can do it myself!