Random Thoughts 7

[pinball1970]

After nearly 40 years of works xmas dos (parties for non UK)
My dos and don'ts.

Don't drink at a works do
Don't talk to a drunk person at a works do
If you are dating anyone at work, decline to attend the works do (think of an excuse, be creative)

So today is the works do so I'm off to Waterstones to report back on the science section and have a cup of tea.
I will get some images of the cafe and ambience so you can compare with B&N.

 

[pinball1970]

 

[jack action]

So today is the works do so I'm off to Waterstones to report back on the science section and have a cup of tea.
I will get some images of the cafe and ambience so you can compare with B&N.

View attachment 354493

Oh! That kind of tea ...

 

[pinball1970]

Oh! That kind of tea ...

My plan hit a snag. Road works meant delay so Waterstones did not happen.
Pre booked drinks at the do were non alcoholic for me so I drank the first bottle without checking.
0.4%.

 

[WWGD]

Theres's this university that abbreviates to SNHU. Every time I say the name I get a ' Gesundheit' in return.

 

[WWGD]

I guess I'll wait for ChatGpt to improve its sound input, or wait until the heavier Malay (Javier Milei) becomes president of Argentina.

 

[Mayhem]

Completely out of ideas for what to do for my thesis that my advisor will approve. I know it'll be electrochemistry, but now I've narrowed it down from infinity to a slightly smaller infinity.

 

[Borg]

Change 10 lines of code. Run the new code and wait three full hours for it to complete...

 

[WWGD]

How hard was my interaction with the phone rep of company X? Hint, I memorized my account string of length 15, and can recite it without looking it up, one month after the transaction.

 

[WWGD]

Got the trivia question right on countries sharing borders with Brazil.

 

[skyshrimp]

McDonalds should change the name of their shakes to 'milkfoam' as it’s so aerated now.

Jade has worked out how to open the fridge door.

 

[WWGD]

I tried the new cream that helped mice grow hair. But I can't find a way of keeping mice from jumping around when I try to apply it to them. Wonder how many have verified that what works well for mice also works well for humans.

 

[Mayhem]

Coming on three months, I am realizing that sobriety is for people who would be wholly content with no one attending their funeral.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

My Sling TV seems to have a live channel that runs nothing but the second The Outer Limit Series.

 

[pinball1970]

Coming on three months, I am realizing that sobriety is for people who would be wholly content with no one attending their funeral.

It has it's ups and downs. If you need to quit or cut down because the Dr says so, then it is a good idea to do that.

 

[pinball1970]

My Sling TV seems to have a live channel that runs nothing but the second The Outer Limit Series.

Good to have you back!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Good to have you back!

Thanks. I usually check in during the Christmas season. I don't have an active social media life. :)

Did you see my post about Z pinch in TIL? Fascinating stuff!!!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

So I keep wondering when someone is going to start matchmaking people with their personalized AI based on their astrological signs. AIs will have birthdays too!

 

[phinds]

Bald eagle officially declared US national bird after 250 years​

I didn't know it WASN'T already official, but anyway, now it is.

"For nearly 250 years, we called the bald eagle the national bird when it wasn't," said Jack Davis, co-chair of the National Bird Initiative for the National Eagle Center, in a statement. "But now the title is official, and no bird is more deserving."

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23vzkdek4po

 

[skyshrimp]

I made some hooch.

My favourite soft drink is Aldi's Tropical Blast Zero. It's pineapple and grapefruit flavour and quite sour.

I bought two 2ltr bottles of the stuff and cut a hole in the caps to fit airlocks (bubble counters) which I made airtight with sealant. I ordered a glass hydrometer to test the specific gravity.

I added a pinch of diammonium phosphate to feed the yeast and 3 pinches of bicarbonate of soda to raise the pH. This stops the sodium benzoate preservative from being effective. At a low pH, sodium benzoate prevents yeast from multiplying due to the formation of benzoic acid. I used bread yeast in one bottle and EC-1118 champagne yeast in the other to compare flavours.

Next, I tested the specific gravity, then I added 300g of sugar and tested again. It took the bread yeast a week to brew, but the champagne yeast finished in 3 days. This yeilded 7.5% ABV.

They tasted amazing. There wasn't a difference in taste between the two. Hooching them made a unique flavour that wouldn't be achieved by just adding vodka to the drink.

I gave them away as I can't drink alcohol due to ill health, but it was a fun experiment.

 

[WWGD]

Go figure: A mixture of Lithium and Iron isn't stable. LiFe( life) isn't stable. Who would have thought?

 

[BillTre]

iFe( life) isn't stable.

More like a dynamic kinetic stability (DKS).

 

[jack action]

Go figure: A mixture of Lithium and Iron isn't stable. LiFe( life) isn't stable. Who would have thought?

The secret to a stable LiFe is ensuring you can first stabilize a mixture of Tungsten, Iodine, and Iron.

 

[WWGD]

Went out to a movie

The secret to a stable LiFe is ensuring you can first stabilize a mixture of Tungsten, Iodine, and Iron.

Or Phosphate , LiFePo4? Though don't trust my basic undergraduate Chemistry from 20+ years ago.

Best I can tell is that Life is a highway, I'm gonna ride it all night long.

 

[jack action]

Went out to a movie
Or Phosphate , LiFePo4? Though don't trust my basic undergraduate Chemistry from 20+ years ago.

Best I can tell is that Life is a highway, I'm gonna ride it all night long.

Tungsten (W), Iodine (I), Iron (Fe) ...

Spoiler

Happy wife, happy life.

 

[WWGD]

Inflation issues in the UK.

 

[D H]

What are y'all doing on New Year's Eve? I know what I'm doing: I'm not doing much of anything, other than staying home and staying up till after midnight. (I might toss down a glass of champagne and eat some weird New Year's food.) For one thing, I view New Year's Eve as amateur night, one of two or three nights of year where the amateurs go out and about and as a consequence mess up the evening. To quote Ebenezer Scrooge, "Bah humbug!"

An even more reason: Should I go out (and take my sons with me), I would either come home to a house with torn up furniture everywhere, or even worse, come home to a house containing two dogs who had died of fireworks fright. I live in Texas where firing off fireworks at home is SOP. This scares the living daylights out of my dogs. I need to stay home to help keep them calm.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I'm pretty sure the last time I did something for New Year's Eve was 1983. Seriously!

 

[skyshrimp]

Sometimes I just want fried, runny, salted eggs on hot buttered toast, all washed down with a large glass of ice cold, full fat milk.

 

[WWGD]

Happy New Year to all.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

We ran the new system today. We are ahead of schedule and with a bit of luck will remain so.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Damn, New Orleans.
I was just listening to a first responder describe the scene. OMG. He made the comment that you can't unsee this stuff.

That has been my big takeaway when it comes to accidents and other bad scenes. Once something gets into your head, there is no way to git rid of it. If you don't have to see something horrible, then don't look. When I was about 10. I saw a guy get his leg cut off by a boat prop. To this day I can see his leg flying up over his head like it happened yesterday.

 

[Mayhem]

Starting my final thesis soon, I am nearing the conclusion of a long journey to become a chemist. Honestly, I'm very unsure what I can actually bring to the job market. It has led me to believe that your easy of employability is inversely proportation to the number of words you have to use to map your skillset to a job.

Oh well, there's always teaching consulting.

 

[WWGD]

Starting my final thesis soon, I am nearing the conclusion of a long journey to become a chemist. Honestly, I'm very unsure what I can actually bring to the job market. It has led me to believe that your easy of employability is inversely proportation to the number of words you have to use to map your skillset to a job.

Oh well, there's always teaching consulting.

Have you tried networking, going to Chemistry-related meetups? It may help you find a job, make contacts.

 

[WWGD]

$1^3+ 2^3+ 3^3+ 4^3+5^3 +6^3+ 7^3+8^3+9^3=2025$

 

[Mayhem]

Have you tried networking, going to Chemistry-related meetups? It may help you find a job, make contacts.

Sure, but it seems like a lot of "chemist" positions get occupied by engineers or people in chemistry-adjacent fields. I'll probably find something eventually.

 

[D H]

Sometimes I just want fried, runny, salted eggs on hot buttered toast, all washed down with a large glass of ice cold, full fat milk.

I do like that; it's a nice and easy breakfast. The toast sopping up the runny egg yolks is wonderful. What's even better (IMO) is a nice breakfast tostada. Heat up some refried beans and smear then on a tostado. Top with a fried egg, but in this case not runny. In fact, it's best if the egg is attacked with a knife in the frying pan before flipping the egg to make the yolks run out. Then slap the egg on top of the bean covered tostada, top with some cheese, some pico, and some salsa.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I do like that; it's a nice and easy breakfast. The toast sopping up the runny egg yolks is wonderful. What's even better (IMO) is a nice breakfast tostada. Heat up some refried beans and smear then on a tostado. Top with a fried egg, but in this case not runny. In fact, it's best if the egg is attacked with a knife in the frying pan before flipping the egg to make the yolks run out. Then slap the egg on top of the bean covered tostada, top with some cheese, some pico, and some salsa.

Many years ago I dated a Mexican woman. Whenever I stayed at her place, I would wake up to the smell of chorizo and eggs being cooked. Then she would heat some flour tortillas directly over the flame, load them up with the chorizo, eggs, and salsa, and serve that up all with Freddy Fender playing on the stereo.

Great stuff! As for Freddy, I learned to appreciate him.

 

[WWGD]

Sure, but it seems like a lot of "chemist" positions get occupied by engineers or people in chemistry-adjacent fields. I'll probably find something eventually.

May want to clarify your position. In some places ' chemist' refers to pharmacist. I think in the UK, maybe elsewhere too. Maybe @pinball1970 can verify.

 

[pinball1970]

May want to clarify your position. In some places ' chemist' refers to pharmacist. I think in the UK, maybe elsewhere too. Maybe @pinball1970 can verify.

Yes. The pharmacy/Drug store we call the Chemist. The actual pharmacist who works there is just the person that works there. Brits do not know that they would have a degree/ masters in Pharmacy.
Not someone who just matches a prescription with a box and name.

I had a look on line for Chemistry jobs, quite a few and usually there are details regarding qualifications, BSc Chemistry, experience in synthetic chemistry, analytical.

 

[pinball1970]

Sure, but it seems like a lot of "chemist" positions get occupied by engineers or people in chemistry-adjacent fields. I'll probably find something eventually.

Where you based?

 

[pinball1970]

Sure, but it seems like a lot of "chemist" positions get occupied by engineers or people in chemistry-adjacent fields. I'll probably find something eventually.

Your details don't expand so I don't know where you are.

 

[pinball1970]

I do like that; it's a nice and easy breakfast. The toast sopping up the runny egg yolks is wonderful. What's even better (IMO) is a nice breakfast tostada. Heat up some refried beans and smear then on a tostado. Top with a fried egg, but in this case not runny. In fact, it's best if the egg is attacked with a knife in the frying pan before flipping the egg to make the yolks run out. Then slap the egg on top of the bean covered tostada, top with some cheese, some pico, and some salsa.

Stop! Get behind me satan!

Anything that tastes that good is going to dismay my Dr!

 

[Borg]

Wow. We're getting thundersnow in the Northern Virginia area. Haven't seen that since college in the U.P. of Michigan.

 

[Rive]

Just finished the movie 'Geostorm'.
It was picked as 'scifi' by some sudden, very mistaken impulse.
Te worst part of the movie is, that by the time you notice that any 'sci' in it is just hopeless BS, it's switching to be a thriller and get you hooked.

The sum moral of the movie: rules against love affairs with conflicts of interest^* are no good.
Seriously.

^* I'm sure there is a much more correct term for that, and you are welcome to suggest one, but then I'll know you have seen it

 

[WWGD]

Just finished the movie 'Geostorm'.
It was picked as 'scifi' by some sudden, very mistaken impulse.
Te worst part of the movie is, that by the time you notice that any 'sci' in it is just hopeless BS, it's switching to be a thriller and get you hooked.

The sum moral of the movie: rules against love affairs with conflicts of interest^* are no good.
Seriously.

^* I'm sure there is a much more correct term for that, and you are welcome to suggest one, but then I'll know you have seen it

Maybe Fi Sci may be more accurate. Skip ""Drive with me" if you want light fare.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I recently watched an episode of The Bionic Woman, which I haven't watched for decades.

They really should have hired an advisor with an elementary understanding of Newtonian Mechanics.

 

[Tom.G]

I recently watched an episode of The Bionic Woman, which I haven't watched for decades.

They really should have hired an advisor with an elementary understanding of Newtonian Mechanics.

Why bother, they made their retirement nest-egg.

 

[Borg]

I replaced the battery in my laptop yesterday. It is buried so deep that it required removing about 20 screws, two cover plates, and two tape strips with their connectors. Got it all back together with no extra screws and then it wouldn't boot due to no OS. It took me an hour to realize that removing the second cover plate caused the flash drive with the OS to dislodge. I was a nervous wreck by the time that I got it working. It's all good now but, I really don't like digging that deep into the system.

 

[Tom.G]

Yea, I commiserate with you there!

Manufacturers don't like to design in servicablity, it costs more in both design and support, and reduces new-product sales if the user can fix things.

Of course there are limits to this, I could name a few that depend on advertising and name recognition to stay in business. (hmm... can only recall one name in the computer field at the moment though )

Published reviews are a weapon against getting burned with this.

Oh well, we've all been there; glad you got it working!

Cheers,
Tom