@crockTweet: Programmable Arduino-Powered PID Sous Vide Slow Cooker

I purchased a very simple slow cooker ($20 at duty free!) a few months ago, which has four settings: High, Low, Keep Warm, and Off.

Most dishes prepared in the slow cooker will cook from 4-8 hours, depending on the setting used. There are a few issues though:

1. There is no true control of the cooking temperature. 
2. There is no automated way to switch from one setting to another (e.g. 8-hours of cooking on 'High' followed by 3-hours of 'Keep Warm').

A simple timer attached to the cooker's power plug would allow me to control the total cooking time, but not switch to a new setting, nor would it allow me to precisely control the temperature.

Some more advanced models of slow cookers allow for automated switching of settings, but have no way of notifying me of these things. 

Enter Arduino: an electronics prototyping system that allows the user to interface with the real world through sensors and react to this information based on scenarios coded onto the board through a programming interface.

In the case of the slow cooker, I wanted to use the Arduino to allow me to:

1. Detect and control the temperature inside the slow cooker based on preset values.
2. Control the amount of time the slow cooker spends at a selected temperature.
3. Allow for a multi-step cooking (e.g. 8-hours of cooking on 'High', 4-hours of 'Low', 2-hours of 'Keep Warm').
4. Tweet the progress (e.g. When the a new process starts or finishes).

I made a quick video of my progress as of last week:

I just finished coding everything, and I theoretically have the ability to do everything I want, except for Tweeting (still waiting for the network interface to arrive in the mail). The nice thing is that this system will work with any slow cooker, as it required no modification of the slow-cooker itself. I will be controlling its on/off state through a solid-state relay controlled by the Arduino, thereby controlling its temperature.

I will be testing everything out tomorrow morning.

Here's my Arduino code:

There is still tuning of the PID parameters to do once I hook everything up, but once that's done, I will post more.

Currently the list of items required for the project (aside from the slow cooker):

• Arduino UNO Board
• LCD 20x2 Display
• DS18B20 Temperature Sensor
• 20K POT
• SPST Buttons
• Breadboard
• Assorted Resistors
• Assorted Wires

Stay tuned!

Stuff to read about:

• Sous-Vide Cooking with Heston Blumenthal
• Sous-Vide 101: Prime Steak
• Arduino Microcontroller
• PID Control of Cruise Control

Letter of Intent for Master of Science in Cell Biology

I thought I would do a favour for any prospective graduate students who are looking for a guiding hand in writing their letter of intent, also known as a statement of interest. This letter got me into the graduate program of my dreams at a top university and a lot of effort was put into crafting it.

This is not a generic letter, and likely not one that will be easily adapted to your own case. It is very specific to my own program and background and, in the end, yours should be too.

It is with great pleasure that I submit my application for a position as a master’s student with the Department of [personal detail] at the University of [personal detail]. Having completed my undergraduate degree in honours biological sciences at the University of [personal detail], I now seek to gain a more thorough understanding of the skills and knowledge necessary to be successful in a research-oriented environment. Through my continued work with Dr. [personal detail], I am convinced that his guidance and support will ensure that I achieve these pursuits.

Graduate school became an earnest consideration after upper-level undergraduate courses ignited my curiosity in the dynamic area of systems biology. The appeal was born out of the discipline’s emphasis on integration of different scientific fields, with the express goal of understanding biological systems as more than the sum of individual parts. My undergraduate education has exposed me to the reductionist and static approach of understanding biological elements and processes; I now wish to understand how these parts work in concert as elements of a greater system.

I am primarily interested in applying the methods and techniques of biophysics and genetics to elucidate the relationship between sensory behavioural phenotype and genotype. My previous volunteer experience with the maintenance of Caenorhabditis stocks has shown me first-hand that these deceptively simple organisms have complex behavioural characteristics. My current work as a research assistant at Dr. [personal detail]'s laboratory involves the analysis of these behaviours through novel methods devised in-house at the instrumentation, imaging and analysis level. I have combined two passions in one place in this environment: my love of the study of nature at the biological level, and the innate inclination I have toward the technical. This research aims, generally, to answer questions about what it is, genetically and neurobiologically, that makes animals move and behave the way they do. This research is engaging, challenging and fulfilling to a degree previously unknown to me. I feel there is a great wealth of knowledge to be obtained from this fusion of technology and biology, and wish to be a part of the research that centers about it under the supervision of Dr. [personal detail].

Apart from my experiences at the [personal detail] Lab, my recent role as a lab technician at the University of [personal detail]'s [personal detail] Lab has underscored the versatility of the skills I have acquired thus far, and my propensity for acquiring new ones. In the [personal detail] Lab, I was responsible for the continued organization, recovery and systematic freezing of a large backlog of nematode strains, and for the optimization and troubleshooting of procedures associated with automated robotic equipment. These skills earned me the reference to Dr. [personal detail], who has since hired me. Additionally, my experience as a research assistant at the [personal detail], which involved using degraded DNA to construct phylogenetic trees of a model organism, made clear that my patience, tenacity and initiative are an excellent fit in the lab environment. I have also conducted research completely of my own design, at the organism level, by studying the behavioural effects of varying auditory stimuli on the Passer domesticus species. The stimuli were studied as they related to the birds’ feeding habits, with the guidance and final commendation of the ornithology department head, Dr. [personal detail]. These experiences, coupled with the upper-level courses I have taken, ultimately convinced me of my desire to pursue graduate studies to fulfill my interests in conducting novel research.

Having now worked alongside graduate students in several laboratories, I am aware of the heavy workload and demanding schedule that graduate studies entail. As an undergraduate, I worked a job 25 hours a week while studying full time for my BSc degree, which has taught me the art of prioritizing my time; a skill that will no doubt help me face the rigours of graduate school. The reasoning abilities I have developed through my coursework—in particular the ability to think logically and critically fostered by my minor in philosophy—will also be an asset.

I am convinced that the University of [personal detail] is the most appropriate venue for my studies, and that I can rise to meet the challenges that this will involve. I appreciate your consideration of my application, and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Best regards,

Konstantine Palanski

Scooter Adventure — Part II

I'm alive! My GPS is to thank, along with my perseverance and notably hardened buttocks. To keep you guys from an onset of ennui, I'll limit this post to little detail.

The entire trip, as per GPS, took 780km to complete. Here is a quick break down of expenses and mileage:

• Gas: $25.14
• Food and beverages: $68.57
• Entertainment: $24.87
• Lodging: $101.92
• Mileage: 3.03L per 100km

Roughly, this is the route I took:

View Larger Map

The path I took deviated substantially from my initial plans, mostly due to the fact that was I making such incredible time. Arrival and two hours worth of hiking at Rondeau Provincial Park spurred me to continue on my journey and find a better place to set up camp for the day. I was fortunate enough to end up in Long Point Provincial, which has to be among the top three parks I have visited in Ontario. Here's my beachfront camping site. I was in heaven.

An immense amount of pride went through me when I finally arrived in Toronto. The fact that the scooter performed without so much as a hiccup was the main source of this, since I rebuilt and repaired it myself from a non-running state a few years ago.

On a scooter, no less, I've discovered what the open road feels like.

Filling The Gaps: Scooter Adventure

Boy do I have a lot of gaps to fill. My absence (hiatus?) had good reason, but now I would like to share some of my adventures once more. It's been a whirlwind for the past half a year and my escapades continue. I'll start with the most pertinent and pressing thing in my life: my move to Toronto and my accompanying three day scooter trip.

This seems like it will be a long and convoluted story, so I'll do my best to refrain from embellishment here. The main idea is that I have graduated from university, have decided that there are more opportunities for me back in my home city of Toronto and have already moved all of the belongings there. I am leaving my car behind in Windsor due to the fact that I will have a wonderful public transport system at my disposal, as well as my scooter. Hence, the scooter trip. And what a trip!

View Larger Map

My main stops will include Rondeau Provincial Park, Big Creek National Wildlife Area and Hamilton's scenic areas. I'm taking a few changes of clothes, DSLR camera, tripod, single-person tent and a few other supplies for the full trip. A little crazy, sure. But it'll make for a great story to tell my grandkids, no?

Life After Google and Wikipedia

A life before Google and Wikipedia. Seems unimaginable doesn't it? I cannot count the amount of debates I have settled, the amount of questions I have answered and the amount of frustration I have avoided simply by having access to what I see as the accumulation of all human knowledge. And all of it at available my fingertips. The difference is, I know what is an acceptable source, while many don't (see Yahoo! Answers).

Information used to be a difficult thing to access, almost prohibitively so—ask your parents. Not one generation ago, one would have to go comparatively great lengths to find out, well, anything. Small, limited, avenues of information were the source of knowledge. An educated person was thereby valued.

Nowadays, the task isn't so much about locating the information, as it is about sifting through it. There is so much of it out there, so much of it junk, that one can easily get lost in it. Be mislead. To understand what is an acceptable source falls on the shoulders of the reader, much as it has in the past with books, but to a much greater extent. Critical thinking skills become infinitely more important. The value shouldn't lie just with the education person, but also with one who is able to understand what information is valid. One who is capable of sifting through the bullshit. This is becoming increasingly difficult to come by.

Our problem is that not enough people are employing these skills when they access the vast amount of information now available to them. They accept as truth the first thing they come across. David Dineen-Porter, a fellow skeptic amongst other things, put it eloquently in a message to me, describing what he coins as "naive expertise."

It's the syndrome where people with access to cursory and superficial information, and without the expertise to analyze it properly, and then to place it in context of a much broader data set (which they have never accessed), believe themselves to be experts in that field. Reading a pamphlet doesn't make you an expert on vaccines.

Such is the problem that we now have to deal with: everyone fancies themselves an expert.

CBC Test The Nation: IQ — Part VII

So, for the preliminary roundup—the atheists came in third place! We were ahead of twins, believers and contact sports athletes, but behind nerds and politicians, sadly. However, one of our team members, Kevin Kindred, ended up being the highest scoring individual on the show. Kudos to the man!

The results were judged entirely by average IQ results, it seems. I am particularly interested to see if I can find the margin of error for each average in the raw data (if I can obtain it). The average results were close enough to each other that I am skeptical as to their statistical significance. If the margins of error between each group overlap, it is unlikely that there is any actual significant difference. Hopefully, I will get my hands on the raw data for the groups and run it through some tests. The strictly scientifically significant results may not by quite as sensational as those a television show would hope for and have thus been omitted. Averages look so much more exciting, for comparative reasons.

Other than that, the evening was quite amazing. Before the show, the teams were seated at separate tables in the same large hall. During the three-hour wait time before the show, a few people from the atheist team, including myself, took the opportunity to walk around and introduce ourselves to the rest of the teams. The eclectic group of individuals was fascinating to talk to. Of note was Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party, who quickly asserted her stance as a believer, but just as quickly made note of her daughter, who is an atheist. On the other end of the spectrum, one chat with a conservative politician ended up in a fiasco of sorts, which I was not a part of, but will link to later when I obtain Justin Trottier's take on it.

There are many Canada-wide results that I want to sift through and detail in a later post. If you would like to look through these results yourself, they are available here.

Again, I would like to express my gratitude to the CBC and Shannon McKinnon, the associate producer of the show, for the opportunity of being part of the team representing the atheists in Canada.

Here is the link to the full show for those of you who missed it:

CBC Test the Nation: IQ — Watch The Full Episode

CBC Test The Nation: IQ — Part VI

What an exciting show! I will detail a lot more about the experience tomorrow, but seeing as I have been busy with transporting myself to Windsor today, I am spent. Here is the link to the full show for those of you who missed it:

CBC Test the Nation: IQ — Watch The Full Episode