BoBthebot Teaser

I’m working on creating a chatbot for Discord. Why? Well, in part because I want to, but also I’m trying to figure out if bots can be used to improve instructional delivery in Chemistry. I’ve got a way to go, but I’ve only been at it a week. My bot can’t converse very well, but it can integrate, provide weather forecasts and give you the nutritional information of peanut M&Ms. That’s something, I guess.

A pandemic Thanksgiving

Rozenn and I have spent many years doing Thanksgiving for 2 since we’ve often been far from family, so the pandemic didn’t affect our normal routine. That said, I did initiate a new pandemic-inspired tradition: eating Thanksgiving pie before Thanksgiving. I figured “if a pie falls in the forest, and no one is there to witness it, was it really eaten?”

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours. Stay safe.

Eowyn is waiting to be served while Gimli is busy making the stuffing.

First project with Adafruit.IO

For a while now, I’ve been interested in exploring Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensors with the hopes of developing some type of platform that can be used for remote chemical education. I’ve also been making a lot of purchases at Adafruit because the pandemic, the state of our country, and the pile of grading on my desk have left me feeling depressed and in need of some comfort making.

This project is far from complete, but I know that I’ll get swamped with end-of-semester craziness and need to have some documentation of what I’ve done to date. Ideally, I’d put it into my maker logbook, but the piles on my desk (both ungraded papers AND unfinished electronics projects) have made it all but impossible to find that notebook. Thankfully, the keyboard is clear of debris.

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