Derek Croote

Ten Year Anniversary

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Reflecting on why I blog and what motivates me to continue, ten years after my first post.

Rating energy gels and drink mixes

Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why is a ratings table of endurance energy gels and drink mixes needed? These products are sugar. Sugar tastes good. Surely it's hard to mess up? Surprisingly, gels and mixes can be bad. Flavors can have you questioning how a human, absent extreme duress, approved of their manufacture.

Where AI is Useful

Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Is AI taking everyone's job? The truth bears a more moderate tone, but AI is an increasingly useful tool. Here I provide scenarios where I've found AI useful.

Take it apart!

Sun, 26 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A simple call to action for revealing the pleasing simplicity in the design of children's toys.

Local Analysis of mAb Sequences (LAMBS)

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Free, private, local, and open source analysis of mAb sequences that doesn't require installation, setup, or bioinformatics expertise.

Have a Bookshelf? Take a Picture and Ask AI for Book Recommendations

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

With a picture and a prompt, AI can provide some excellent book recommendations.

Owned Content

Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Social media, proprietary platforms, and AI threaten the free and open internet.

Quoting Kenny Workman on Harness Design

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The impact of harness design on spatial biology benchmark scores is striking and suggests we're early in optimizing AI model performance on biological tasks.

Hidden for Years

Fri, 26 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A message has been hidden for years in an IgGenix slide- care for a challenge in finding it?

Kids Animal Sounds Game

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The beauty here is not that AI could build a kids game, though a mere 6 years ago this would have been unimaginable, but rather that AI increasingly moves us from "yes, I could build this, but I don't really want to spend the time" to the existence of something new and useful.

Stubborn Problems Ep 4 - Invalid Code

Sat, 25 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A story of time and two-factor authentication.

Trial Inference - Monitor Clinical Trials That Matter to You

Sat, 27 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The best products are built by those who have the need themselves, and this is one very personal example. Introducing a platform for clinical trial intelligence and monitoring - Trial Inference.

Stubborn Problems Ep 3 - Kitchen Scale

Sun, 24 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Narrowly avoiding a morning coffee crisis.

Stubborn Problems Ep 2 - Old Van

Sun, 23 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The story of a small piece of metal from a generation ago that saved our campervan vacation.

How AI Saved Us Thousands on a New Car

Sat, 01 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Negotiate a new car purchase using this AI strategy. We avoided the stress of in-person dealership haggling and saved over $4,000 on a new hybrid SUV.

Stubborn Problems Ep 1 - Broken Toy Whale

Sun, 13 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The whale is a bath time favorite of my daughter- it flashes colors and sprays water into the air. One day, the whale stopped spraying.

Transition to Clinical Stage

Thu, 22 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

It feels somewhat silly that launching the ACCELERATE Peanut Study website imparts such a strong feeling of progress, but it does. It marks a transition. Preclinical to clinical, and I couldn't be more proud of the team.

AI's Multifaceted Evolution

Sat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Artificial intelligence is evolving to be simultaneously feared, celebrated, expensive, inexpensive, specialized, general, larger, smaller, isolated, connected, regulated, open, structured, and creative.

Two credit cards

Sun, 07 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A practical guide to maximizing credit card rewards with just two cards. Learn how prioritizing simplicity and profitability can optimize your cashback without the complexity of points systems.

Froggy's Grand Adventure - A Children's Book

Sun, 10 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Create and print your own children's board book with AI and Shutterfly

Configuring a new computer

Tue, 21 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

An opinionated set of steps and software for quickly configuring a new computer to maximize productivity and ease of use. Many suggestions applicable to Mac, Windows, and Linux.

Build and Host a Custom Domain Static Website for Free

Fri, 18 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Build and host a custom domain website for free using Hugo, GitHub, and Render. This step-by-step guide walks through creating a professional static website with zero hosting costs.

Redwoods

Sat, 25 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A short poem conceived among the redwoods.

Quickly configure a Namecheap domain for GitHub Pages

Fri, 24 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Simple tutorial on using a Namecheap domain with GitHub Pages.

Building a Custom 3D Wood Elevation Map

Sat, 29 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I first saw a wood elevation map at the World-Class Mountain View Art & Wine Festival. The contrast of blue Lake Tahoe, California water and intricate layering of stained wood representing the surrounding mountains was visually captivating and technically impressive. I wondered if I could choose a different lake and build my own wood elevation map.

Migrate to GitHub Actions from Travis CI

Sun, 06 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

GitHub Actions should simplify continuous integration (CI) for public repositories hosted on GitHub when compared with external services like Travis CI or CircleCI. To test this, I decided to migrate one of my public repositories from Travis CI to GitHub Actions. This post describes my approach and also lists the resources I found helpful. Overall I am satisfied with the outcome, but found getting there somewhat tricky; documentation on workflow syntax and individual Actions is plentiful, but few examples describe how to combine Actions into jobs that accomplish specific tasks. My hope is that this post can help others construct GitHub Actions workflows that require more than testing source code.

Misadventures in Cold Brew Coffee

Sat, 09 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

For some coffee fanatics, myself included, summer is synonymous with an ice cold variety of the caffeinated beverage: cold brew. Differing from “iced coffee” in that it is produced in the absence of hot water, cold brew trades acidity for a smooth, often chocolatey flavor. To compensate for slower extraction of the delectable compounds that give coffee its identity, the process of cold brewing lasts hours to overnight. I became hooked on the beverage years ago and here I recount some early mishaps attempting to brew my own.

How to clean a garlic press with 3D printing

Sat, 31 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000

I have a cheap garlic press, which means that after each use garlic is stuck in seemingly every one of its 63 holes. The faucet water pressure is insufficient to free the garlic and I am left with the unsatisfactory process of poking garlic free with a toothpick. This is obviously an irritating problem that needs solving.

High quality vector graphics in Microsoft Word

Wed, 31 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Use Enhanced MetaFile (.emf) format to embed high quality vector graphics in Microsoft Word

Verifying Brave Rewards on GitHub Pages using Jekyll

Thu, 18 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The Brave web browser is an interesting take on providing greater privacy while still rewarding content creators through ads, views, and tips. To explore it a bit more, I thought I would try to verify this GitHub Pages blog.

Analyzing Mio Fuse heart rate data in Python

Mon, 27 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I have been using the Mio Fuse (similar to a Fitbit Charge HR) for a couple months now and I wanted to illustrate how to perform your own data analysis on raw heart rate data extracted from the device.