Star map on your ceiling made easy

Turn your ceiling into a glow in the dark star map! This took me a few days to complete, and stayed on my ceiling for 20 years... (I made this metric. You can translate it to inches or paces or whatever..)

What you'll need:

• A planisphere (or any small hand held bright star sky map) an example here
• Transparent graph paper (or a pencil and ruler to draw a grid)
• String
• Masking tape
• Bag of self adhesive glow in the dark stars of different size (depends on detail and accuracy required). 
• Ladder
• Permission from Mom & Dad (This is usually easier to ask after creating the star map...)
• Note: I would suggest not to use stickers of planets if you want an authentic position in the sky.

• Create a grid over the star map you want to copy

• Overlay it with transparent graph paper
• or draw a grid in pencil over the star map
• or add them into the image before printing, using a graphic editor

• Create a grid on the ceiling 

• Be prepared - cut small pieces of masking tape and place them on the ladder, and lengths of string the length/width of the floor before you start 
• Mark points around the edge of the ceiling 10 cm apart with a pencil or small pieces of masking tape
• Using masking tape, paste the strings across the ceiling, creating a grid  #

• Looking at the grid in the map in your hand, find a comfortable translation to the size of the grid on your ceiling - let's say 20:1 - but count the squares on the ceiling before you start and make sure it fits in!
• Take the bottom left corner of the map - looking at the first 4 squares - copy the stars to the first 4 squares on your ceiling, using larger glow-in-the-dark stars for brighter stars.(you can cut the stars to get finer differences in sizes if you like)
• Work on small parts of ceiling at a time so you don't get mixed up 
• Once finished, remove the tape and strings from the ceiling carefully so as not to damage the paint.
• Leave the light on for a few minutes with your eyes closed.

turn off the lights . . .  (WOW!)

Third Axis in Excel Chart

Short-short version
Challenge:
Creating a chart with three Y axes

Disclaimer:
Best practice dictates to keep each chart in a single set of units and scale, to avoid confusion.

Having said that.... I'll move on

I created a second chart as an additional layer on top of the first one with the additional data.

Difficulties:
Avoiding the numbers of the Y axes of different layers from writing on each other


Solution:

1. Set the font of the Y axis of chart #1 to be superscript (offset = +50%) and of chart #2 as subscript (offset=-50%)
2. Set the lines, X axis and chart boarders of chart #2 to transparent
3. Set the range of all three Y axes to fit the same number of tick marks - this will keep a single set of horizontal lines 
4. To make it clear (or clearer) to viewers what scale goes with what series - set the colors of the series to match the colors of the numbers of the Y axes
5. Place chart #2 carefully on top of chart #1

Enjoy!

(I'll add pictures soon to make this clear)

---

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Long version follows...

Building a third Y axis in Excel can be done using some tricks.
This one uses adding an additional chart as a second layer chart on top of the existing chart.
With some manipulation and using transparent lines and fills, this can be done.

Let's say we are creating a chart for a driver, and we have the cost, distance, and average speed of a series of trips that we would like to show (against recommended practices) on a single chart.

1. We'll create one chart with all three parameters set against the date, as an XY chart, setting the cost and distance on the primary axis, and the speed on the secondary (don't worry, we'll move the distance in a couple of steps), giving us something like this:
   
    
2. Copy the chart, and paste it on the spreadsheet below the first one. We'll call this chart #2
3. Remove the Distance series from chart #1 (click on a data point or the line of this series, and press <Del>)
4. Remove the Cost and Speed series from chart #2.
   now comes the fun part
5. Change the scale of the Y axis of chart#2 to fit the same number of tick marks as the Y axis of chart #1. I assume here that you have already done this for the primary and secondary axes (pronounced ax-sees?).
6. Make sure the scale of the X axis remains the same in both charts through this manipulation. what we have to do is:
1. Make the lines, background and X axis of chart #2 transparent
2. Move the Y axis values of chart #2 and the primary Y axis of chart #1 so they don't write over each other. 

Disclaimer:
Best practice dictates to keep each chart in a single set of units and scale, to avoid confusion.

Having said that....
Real world tends to dictate otherwise

Problem:
Displaying data on vastly different scales makes it hard to see the data and notice the trend that the chart is trying to show.

Alternate solutions:
1) Display the data on a series of charts, each with a single Y scale and  units, and paste them on top of each other using the same X scale (Remove the X scale from all but the lowest chart).

MS Word 2010 working with templates

Copying a template / style / table from one document (or template) to an open file.

1) Open the Template Organizer
2) Close the active "other file" and open the file / template to copy from
3) Select the styles to copy - these can include text styles, or tables. Copy each style from the template to the current file, overwriting if necessary.

Scenario:
I have a project template (of styles) that I keep updated, and many files that use this template.  Once updated in one file, the changes are not carried across automatically to other files.
for example, let's say I changed a table template - title color, font, and 'keep with next' - and I saved it to the template.
Once I open another file that was written in the same template, the style remains the old version...
So.... I access the Template Organizer
        Developer --> Document template --> Organizer
        close the file on the right (normal.dotm)
        open the template that has the changes I made
        shift over the required styles
         Close the organizer.

Powerpoint 2010 Hints and tricks

Setting a default template (master slides)

1. Create a template, setting the master slides, fonts and color scheme
2. Save the template (.potx) as "blank" in the default location

To take an existing template and adding it to your templates - copy the template to the MS template folder:

In Windows 7 it might be

C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates

or

C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates

Are these copies of the same folder?

Excell 2010 - Right to Left

TO change the default page direction to be Left to Right

File -> Options -> Advanced -> under Display - Default Direction

MS Excel 2010 hints and troubleshooting

Hi there,
These are a list of tips for Excel. I'm updating this as a list for me for future reference.

These are generally for Excel 2010


Dynamic list
Problem: 

static validation list

When you create a valid values drop down list for a field, you have to make room for future entries. This either creates a drop down list with lots of spaces, or the need to update the validation of the entries whenever you add a value to the validation table.

Solution 
This works for me

1. Make a valid values list
2. Create a Dynamic Range (I'll explain this below) in an area larger than the current lookup table size to allow for additional entries later.
3. When entering the Data Validation values - just call the named range you created

Lets say you want a dropdown list with valid statuses. It's best to create a separate tab for this. I'll call the tab Lookup, and create a . list in column A with some statuses.

Mark a range that goes below the current list

Create a named range <CTRL>F3

In the field Refers To type the dynamic range =OFFSET(Lookup!$A$2,0,0,COUNTA(Lookup!$A$2:Lookup!$A$20,1))

This will create a range called Lookup_Status starting at A2 until a maximum of A20. The COUNTA function makes sure that the list length is only as long as there are data in the list. 

To put this in a validation of a cell, select the cells to validate, select from the menu bar Data --> Data Validation.

In the Setting tab, select Allow List

In the source entry field type the name of the dynamic range   =Lookup_Status (with the equals sign)

and you're done.

Dynamic dropdown

After adding a value to the validation list

The validation drop down list will contain only the values you want. If you add values to the lookup table, the values will be added to the drop down list automatically.

HTH

Have fun !!

Writing Readable Research - A Guide for Students of Social Science

Writing scientific papers? English not your first language? This book might give you the boost you need!

Like the sound of the proverbial tree falling in a forest with no human audience, research that is not ultimately published is ‘unheard’ and forever lost. Moreover, published research that is not reported well may not stand a chance in today’s competitive academic world.  Those whose first language is not English bear a double burden in trying to make themselves heard and understood.

Writing Readable Research

A Guide for Students of Social Science

Beverly A. Lewin

Series: Equinox Textbooks and Surveys in Linguistics, edited by Professor Robin Fawcett, Cardiff University

 

Subject: Linguistics

Readership: undergraduates, graduate students, researchers

Description:

    Writing Readable Research tries to help users create texts that are easy to read, interesting, and dynamic, yet conform to current standards of English, to criteria of the fields of social science, and to conventions of society in general. This book gives attention to all the layers of scientific writing, from nitty-gritty problems in grammar and punctuation to sensitive interpersonal issues such as criticism of other authors and advancing one’s own claims. It can be used as part of a course or independently by students.

Since the intended users of this textbook are novice writers, whether graduate students or new faculty members, the practical issues are spelled out. On the other hand, since these writers are also sophisticated scientists, the book addresses their need to understand the theoretical rationale and historical background for some of the guidelines