Category Archives: General stuff
Minor updated to Kanban View for Cultured Code Things 3
First, Kansan-View scripts and css are now available on GitHub.
Second, many thanks to Alexander Willner from Berlin, Germany for making the script fully compatible with both the stock 2.7 (coming with any recent macOS version) and 3.6 version of python. Furthermore, he introduce dynamic home folder as well as default output in the same directory as the script path. This removes the need of previous version to edit the script to change the unix user name in the file path. As such, the new version is extremely easy to run . Better, follow the instruction (method 2) given here and make it a system service, assign a keyboard shortcut and never, ever run python directly yourself!
Kanban-View for Things 3 – Release V1.0 available (free)!
Synopsis:
The following will allow a visual project-level overview of what is on your plate. It is comprised of 3 files: a python script, a CSS file and a PDF README file (a copy of this post). It can be executed from the terminal or as a system service using the macOS Automator app (thus never needing to open a terminal and can be associated to a keyboard short cut).
*** read below for the download link ***
A Kanban view for Things 3 : Part III – displaying the project-level information
Almost there!
Quite surprisingly, I hadn’t written html code since I completed my PhD in 1996. From 1993 to 1996, I created and maintained our research group webpage. At the time, we were one of the few to actually have sites. Well, it does come back and boy it much easier than anticipated (at least at the current level) 😉
A Kanban view for Things 3 : Part II – extracting the relevant information
In a previous blog post entitled Adding an efficient, higher-level project view layer to Things 3: a proposal , I put forth that while Things 3 is a great task manager for day to day activities, it is not ideal when a higher altitude view is needed. However a visual presentation with key information, at the project level, would accomplish this task without the need for a more complicated project manager application. In this post, I have taken a first step toward getting to that point by extracting the necessary information out of Things.
Adding an efficient, higher-level project view layer to Things 3: a proposal
Task manager applications are great. They help you get things out of your head and easily accessible. One of the major issues with task manager applications is higher level planning, particularly on the fly decision about committing or not a new project. This is because you need in one look an overview of everything going one right now, including deadlines. This is something not easy to do only with a Task Manager and your electronic calendar apps. Also for what I am thinking about, a planning software is not that useful either. I tried OmniPlan for that purpose alone, maintenance is higher than I would like and I am still not convinced this is the best way of doing it.
Free, multi-platform pro-like applications for students
– Free Software Foundation
Going through graduate studies (or even undergraduate studies), is about creativity, hard work and learning not to loose information, not to drop the ball on ideas and projects. In order word, part of it is also about being able to put your ideas to work for you in an efficient manner. In the following are a few applications to help you along the way. Of course, nothing precludes the good old pen and paper. I personally really enjoy my Lamy 2000 fountain pen and a Leuchtturm 1917 whitelines notebook (but this is for another post!).
Things 3: clean, efficient and simply beautiful!
Ever since moving all of my projects an tasks planning digital, I have used a dedicated task manager. I started with Cultured Code Things over 11 years ago with the very first beta; something like version 0.7b – can find my old e-mail about it. When it came out, Things was not only the most intuitive and beautiful dedicated task manager on the market but also the best (at least mac-wise).
New manuscript published by our group!
Use of 3D- transabdominal Ultrasound Imaging for Treatment Planning in Cervical Cancer Brachytherapy: Comparison to Magnetic Resonance and Computed Tomography available for 50 days (free) – https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1VS4n5Tpjq36rD.
New version of Apple free Pages software support LaTeX equations in iOS and MacOS!
You can use LaTeX commands or MathML elements to include mathematical expressions and equations into your Pages document.
Source: Add mathematical equations to your document in Pages – Apple Support
New opening for MSc and PhD students in our research group
See the announcement in French and English for all the details. Our graduate program is CAMPEP accredited. Please note that formal teaching is done in French but research activities can be conducted in English.
We are located in the middle of the Old Quebec City, classified as a UNESCO world heritage treasure.
A MR Imaging primer through analogy with Guitar playing
Thanks to my colleague Jerry Battista from the University of Western Ontario, understanding the basic MR pulse sequence (a not so obvious topic especially if you have to design such a sequence) is now easier than ever. For those who do not know Prof. Battista also developed a mini-CT scanner (using non-ionizing radiation!) to teaching the basic of medical imaging from high-school all the way to university. We are using this scanner in our undergraduate laboratory.
So, check out this wonderful and accessible teaching YouTube Video: Understanding an MRI Pulse Sequence using a Guitar.
Luc Beaulieu on brachytherapy research!
Here is a BrachyTalk interview I gave during the 2016 ESTRO meeting in Torino, Italy. Get to know what I am working on and my (physics and biomedical technology) vision of the field.
Thanks to the peoples at BrachyAcademy for making me look good during that interview 😉
The CIHR gong show – a ridiculous state of affairs | Affaires Universitaires
The last month has been a pretty topsy-turvy one for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. After it rolled out the first round of applications for its new operating grant application termed “project grants,” it was all set to deliver evidence that its new systems of financial allocation and peer review were superior to the […]
Source: The CIHR gong show – a ridiculous state of affairs | Affaires Universitaires
How much time does it really take?
To present a scientific subject in an attractive and stimulating manner is an artistic task, similar to that of a novelist or even a dramatic writer. The same holds for writing textbooks.– Max Born
When a graduate student come to me with the big news that its abstract has been selected for an oral presentation, my first reaction is a big congratulations and the second is to already set a deadline for a first version of the talk. Because of the abstract, you already know the content, what needs to be presented. But crafting an effective 7, 8 or 10 minutes presentation is a complete new game.
Read the rest of this entry
Advice to new graduate students
- Invest time in learning tasks/project management – start here.
- Review all of your tasks/next action weekly
- Set time aside to review your projects/goals on a regular basis (at least monthly for projects and quarterly for goals).
- Set time aside to do something else: sport, tricot, …
