Science Tony

By T. McDonald | 2/07/19 The data pipeline is one way of handling data. This involves acquiring data from a source, or sources, preparing it for use, analysing it, and presenting what was discovered during the analysing to an appropriate audience. Subsequently, there are four stages to the pipeline, which I will outline in this blog: Acquisition Preparation Analyse Presentation Acquisition Before you can do anything, you will need to find some data and determine if it is suitable for the task. This involves legal issues surrounding the data such as its licensing: are you allowed to use it and if so, what are you allowed to do? There may be limitations on the use of the dataset for example. Furthermore, files come in different formats such as CSV or JSON for example. exampleFile.csv Or exampleFile.json   Meaning of the extensions: CSV = Coma Separated Values JSON = JavaScript Object Notation The above are just two examples and there will be other types.

By McDonald, T . | Date 14th of June 2019 We live in a world that is obsessed with data. Companies collect data on all types of people and things. You may have even heard the term big data or heard people talking about data, but actually is data?  Data is neither information not knowledge, so what is it? Data is not information. Information is according to Lexico.com, ‘ What is conveyed or represented by a particular arrangement or sequence of things .’ In other words, information is the arrangement of data into something meaningful. Information is usually generated in order to answer a question from raw data. Information is not data, but information does have data in it. Data is not knowledge either. Knowledge is some information that a person can use in conjunction with other information in a stack of knowledge. Lexico.com defines knowledge as, ‘ Facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding o

  By McDonald, T . | Date 15th of December 2018 As a coder, sitting at a desk all day solving problems is fun and exciting. However, the lack of exercise can take its toll on our health. As a result, many coders exercise after work or on days off, but it is not enough to keep in good condition. For this reason, a little extra is required. This surprising tasty dish is low in fat and is a great meat free option that is best if the mushrooms are kept in big chunks. This casserole is not only a healthier option it also reduces the suffering in the world by not contributing to the slaughter of animals. So, if you are game for a veggie option give this delicious recipe a try. This dish is suitable for vegans if the butter is swapped out for a vegan alternative or it can be dropped altogether and replaced with olive oil. Preparation time: Casserole 2 ½ hours including preparation and cooking time Mash ½ hour Serves: I have given the measurements for one person, so mul

Giving up smoking is a top priority for many people and will make it to many a new year’s resolution list, but how many are really serious? It is true that a person will not give up smoking until they are ready; someone must really want it to happen. For myself, I gave up smoking because of a growing list of logical reasons and it took a lot of effort, but in the end I did it. Why I gave up smoking and how I did it.  By McDonald, T . | Updated 10th of January 2022 Why I decided to give up smoking. Everyone must agree that smoking is an expensive habit. When I gave up, cigarettes were around £4 for a packet of twenty and about the same for 50g of tobacco. My habit was costing me around £30 to £40 a week, so I moved to rolling tobacco. At the time, I also thought that moving to rolling tobacco would help reduce my intake as well as the cost. Furthermore, I knew that smoking was killing me and making it difficult to achieve real success in health goals like running, so

By McDonald, T . | Date 3rd of October 2018 Mental health is a phrase banded about by more and more people.  Mental health encompasses a wide range of disorders listed in the international classification of disorders (ICD 10) and in the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM 5) Recently I was asked on social media by Wendy Dignan , ‘How do I maintain a balanced mental health ?’  This is a perplexing question since it is firstly difficult to explain what mental health is and secondly why should we assume that mental health is something that has a balance and is solely in our control ?   What is Mental Health? Firstly, how can mental health be described ; what is mental health?  Is it something to do with the way a person feels or is it more to do with how a person copes under stress?  If it is to do with how a person feels, surely it is easy to heal people and if it is to do with stress then why do some of the most successful people with no stress su

By McDonald. T |  September 24th 2018 We spend about a third of our life asleep.  For anyone working with computers, sleeping can become a problem due to the light from the screen and from the stimulation of cracking technical problems.  If we have a bad night sleep, it can ruin our day and make us feel unhappy.  Sleep is a place of rejuvenation and for dreaming: it is a time to relax and regenerate.  We place a lot of importance on sleeping and rightly so since if it is interrupted night after night it will turn our life upside down.  If you have trouble sleeping at night consider these factors: temperature of the room, activity in the room and breathing. Temperature of the room If you have trouble sleeping at night, consider the temperature of the room as a factor.  Our core body temperature needs to drop a couple of degrees before we can nod off into the land of blissful sleep. So open a window in the bedroom a few hours before you go to bed to cool the temperature i