this morning our cat, femto, was so gracious as to wake us up. she accomplished this with a gift. we were grateful, but wished she had chosen a different gift and a different time. we are proud of our hunter for eraticating mice, but this morning she chose a bird. i woke up because she plopped her bird next to me on the bed and then started poking it with her paw. good kitty. next bring a dead mouse once we are out of bed.
23.1.05
21.1.05
Bring on the Acid
i picked up a very academic book that i ordered through interlibrary loan today. walking to a library i was reading another book, assesibly academic, from a different library. both very close to the same size but i was shocked at the weight of the very academic book.
amazon lists the very academic book as having a shipping weight of 2.2 lbs.
that means around 0.15 ounces per paper (or 4.4 grams) and it is printed on acid free paper (feels glossy but no color pics).
amazon lists the assesibly academic book as having a shipping weight of 1.4 lbs.
that means around 0.12 ounces per paper (or 3.4 grams) and no mention of type of paper used (feels pretty much like normal printer paper).
i would much prefer the less weighty book even if it does have acid! 1 kg is a lot to carry around in one hand while walking and reading at the same time. =)
amazon lists the very academic book as having a shipping weight of 2.2 lbs.
that means around 0.15 ounces per paper (or 4.4 grams) and it is printed on acid free paper (feels glossy but no color pics).
amazon lists the assesibly academic book as having a shipping weight of 1.4 lbs.
that means around 0.12 ounces per paper (or 3.4 grams) and no mention of type of paper used (feels pretty much like normal printer paper).
i would much prefer the less weighty book even if it does have acid! 1 kg is a lot to carry around in one hand while walking and reading at the same time. =)
19.1.05
didn't expect to see that
so i get the adventist review tables of contents delivered each week to my e-mail (junk address). it is interesting sometimes. this time i was interested by the reference to the number one christian porn site.
13.1.05
A Nifty Piece 'O Glass
something at work wasn't working... so i changed what i was using. now i am using what is called a soxhlet extraction and so there is this nifty piece of glassware that i get to use (called a soxhlet extractor, of course). typically, this setup is used to extract something (well call it stuff 1) from something (plastic, a mix of compounds, whatever) when stuff 1 is only very slightly soluble in a solvent. when something is only slightly soluble you pretty well have three options (1) use a ton (almost literally) of solvent to get miniscule quantities of stuff 1 (2) give up or (3) use a soxhlet extractor.
here's the set-up and the run down.
1. knob to turn up stirring. this is a magnetic stirrer so you just turn on one magnet to spin and if you put a magnet in your solution that magnet will stir too. way easier then trying to stir by hand (esp. if overnight or in my case it looks like i'll be doing this several days).
2. knob to turn up heat. gotta love the combo of a stirrer and hot plate. this baby is expensive ($420 if i need a new one), but worth every penny. there are some super spiffy digital ones that monitor and maintain temperatures for you, but i haven't had a problem with just setting the knob on mine and monitoring it for an hour or two to adjust the temp at first.
3. some sort of liquid bath to keep the temperature even and distributed on my flask. in my case i am using water since my solvent boils at a measely 31.7 °C (89.1 °F, in other words a nice summer day). but i do have oil baths to use if i want a warmer temperature. the little bubble looking thing is a teflon coated magnetic stir bar.
4. a round bottom flask (round so there are no corners for things to get trapped in and to promote even stirring) filled with the solvent i am using and contains a teflon coated magnetic stirring bar also. teflon is good since it is very un-reactive and stuff doesn't stick to it and it does well in high and low temperatures. stirring is needed to promote even boiling (otherwise large bubbles form and that can get problematic). the round bottom flask has what is called a ground glass joint at the top with a standard tapper. basically this means that various bits of glassware can be combined in multiple ways and still make a good seal.
5. here's the beautiful piece of glass. vapor (from the boiling solvent) enters the bottom portion, through the tapered ground glass joint, and then goes into two tubes. one of the tubes ends up not really collecting vapor, so we'll ignore it for now. the tube on the far right is where most of the vapor goes. it travels up the tube and then into the main chamber of the soxhlet extractor. (we'll come back to 5 in a moment.)
6. a water jacketed condenser; this is also a nifty piece of glassware. there is a tube in the middle where our solvent vapor enter (again via a ground glass joint) it then condenses in this tube because there is an outer 'jacket' with cold water running through it. so the cold water absorbs heat from the vapor, the vapor the falls to a temperature below the boiling point and condenses into a liquid. (note that the water comes in via a hose at the bottom and exits via the top. the water also never comes in contact with the solvent, there is a layer of glass between the two chambers.)
back to 5. once the vapor condenses it drips back down into the main part of the soxhlet extractor. this chamber will contain a thimble (usually made of cotton and cellulose) which contains the poweder or sample of whatever you are trying to extract stuff 1 from. stuff 1 and its surrounding material can't go through the 'paper' unless it dissolves in the solvent. once the thimble and the volume outside the timble fills up with solvent to a point that is at the top of the second tube (smaller and makes a u-turn) liquid starts dripping down the second tube back into the round bottom flask. this liquid contains some of stuff 1 dissolved in it.
once the liquid with stuff 1 in it returns to the round bottom flask it starts to boil again. but stuff 1 doesn't boil, instead it stays in the round bottom flask. so 'clean' solvent vapor travels up the outside tube again, condenses, picks up more stuff 1 from the timble, and drips back to the flask. repeat for a while; ta-da you have extracted stuff 1 even though it is only slightly soluble. and you did so without using a ton of solvent since the solvent self recycles through the process.
here's the set-up and the run down.
1. knob to turn up stirring. this is a magnetic stirrer so you just turn on one magnet to spin and if you put a magnet in your solution that magnet will stir too. way easier then trying to stir by hand (esp. if overnight or in my case it looks like i'll be doing this several days).
2. knob to turn up heat. gotta love the combo of a stirrer and hot plate. this baby is expensive ($420 if i need a new one), but worth every penny. there are some super spiffy digital ones that monitor and maintain temperatures for you, but i haven't had a problem with just setting the knob on mine and monitoring it for an hour or two to adjust the temp at first.
3. some sort of liquid bath to keep the temperature even and distributed on my flask. in my case i am using water since my solvent boils at a measely 31.7 °C (89.1 °F, in other words a nice summer day). but i do have oil baths to use if i want a warmer temperature. the little bubble looking thing is a teflon coated magnetic stir bar.
4. a round bottom flask (round so there are no corners for things to get trapped in and to promote even stirring) filled with the solvent i am using and contains a teflon coated magnetic stirring bar also. teflon is good since it is very un-reactive and stuff doesn't stick to it and it does well in high and low temperatures. stirring is needed to promote even boiling (otherwise large bubbles form and that can get problematic). the round bottom flask has what is called a ground glass joint at the top with a standard tapper. basically this means that various bits of glassware can be combined in multiple ways and still make a good seal.
5. here's the beautiful piece of glass. vapor (from the boiling solvent) enters the bottom portion, through the tapered ground glass joint, and then goes into two tubes. one of the tubes ends up not really collecting vapor, so we'll ignore it for now. the tube on the far right is where most of the vapor goes. it travels up the tube and then into the main chamber of the soxhlet extractor. (we'll come back to 5 in a moment.)
6. a water jacketed condenser; this is also a nifty piece of glassware. there is a tube in the middle where our solvent vapor enter (again via a ground glass joint) it then condenses in this tube because there is an outer 'jacket' with cold water running through it. so the cold water absorbs heat from the vapor, the vapor the falls to a temperature below the boiling point and condenses into a liquid. (note that the water comes in via a hose at the bottom and exits via the top. the water also never comes in contact with the solvent, there is a layer of glass between the two chambers.)
back to 5. once the vapor condenses it drips back down into the main part of the soxhlet extractor. this chamber will contain a thimble (usually made of cotton and cellulose) which contains the poweder or sample of whatever you are trying to extract stuff 1 from. stuff 1 and its surrounding material can't go through the 'paper' unless it dissolves in the solvent. once the thimble and the volume outside the timble fills up with solvent to a point that is at the top of the second tube (smaller and makes a u-turn) liquid starts dripping down the second tube back into the round bottom flask. this liquid contains some of stuff 1 dissolved in it.
once the liquid with stuff 1 in it returns to the round bottom flask it starts to boil again. but stuff 1 doesn't boil, instead it stays in the round bottom flask. so 'clean' solvent vapor travels up the outside tube again, condenses, picks up more stuff 1 from the timble, and drips back to the flask. repeat for a while; ta-da you have extracted stuff 1 even though it is only slightly soluble. and you did so without using a ton of solvent since the solvent self recycles through the process.
Cell Phone for Those who Don't Like Phones?
so i hate the telephone... blah blah blah... awkward pause... blah blah blah
but it seems that sometimes it is convenient to have a cell phone, sadly.
now, perhaps this new ogo thingy isn't as useful as a cell phone, but it looks more like something i would want to have than a cell phone since 1. it uses text 2. it uses text and 3. it uses text.
but it seems that sometimes it is convenient to have a cell phone, sadly.
now, perhaps this new ogo thingy isn't as useful as a cell phone, but it looks more like something i would want to have than a cell phone since 1. it uses text 2. it uses text and 3. it uses text.
10.1.05
when computers aren't needed
people love to digitize things. put it on the computer, do it with a computer... arghh! not everything needs a computer.
for instance we have some shared NMR machines here. the previous system was sign up for a time on a piece of paper next to a machine. now it is digital. i suppose a good idea because people can sign up for times without actually being at the machine. but not really needed. today i thought i signed up for a machine at 11am. apparently i signed up for another machine. so the "instrument director" (read: i want an important title since i am not yet a professor with tenure) came down and told me to sign up for the time i was using. i thought i had. he figured out i signed up for the wrong machine. question 1. why didn't the person whose time i had taken actually talk to me instead of just complaining about it to other people? i would have said, oh sorry i guess i screwed up. here use the machine now, i'll go figure out when it is free again. question 2. if he really directs the place shouldn't he have looked at the schedule and figured out what was going on before he talked to me? don't just run around with horns of accusation. be a manager, duh.
advantages of a paper system for this case:
1. you know what machine you are signing up for since the paper is right next to the machine
2. if the intranet goes down, who stinkin' cares
3. you don't have to remember another stupid password that isn't even remotely secure since you put it on a piece of paper in your desk
4. once can always verify the state of the sign up by just glancing at it while at the machine
5. data entry is easy (i have had problems with entering the times on the "on-line" system, annoying that you have to click the times instead of just typing them in.... ahh i dream of dos, sadly)
6. it worked well before why fix it?
for instance we have some shared NMR machines here. the previous system was sign up for a time on a piece of paper next to a machine. now it is digital. i suppose a good idea because people can sign up for times without actually being at the machine. but not really needed. today i thought i signed up for a machine at 11am. apparently i signed up for another machine. so the "instrument director" (read: i want an important title since i am not yet a professor with tenure) came down and told me to sign up for the time i was using. i thought i had. he figured out i signed up for the wrong machine. question 1. why didn't the person whose time i had taken actually talk to me instead of just complaining about it to other people? i would have said, oh sorry i guess i screwed up. here use the machine now, i'll go figure out when it is free again. question 2. if he really directs the place shouldn't he have looked at the schedule and figured out what was going on before he talked to me? don't just run around with horns of accusation. be a manager, duh.
advantages of a paper system for this case:
1. you know what machine you are signing up for since the paper is right next to the machine
2. if the intranet goes down, who stinkin' cares
3. you don't have to remember another stupid password that isn't even remotely secure since you put it on a piece of paper in your desk
4. once can always verify the state of the sign up by just glancing at it while at the machine
5. data entry is easy (i have had problems with entering the times on the "on-line" system, annoying that you have to click the times instead of just typing them in.... ahh i dream of dos, sadly)
6. it worked well before why fix it?
7.1.05
Snowing Again
it snows yet again here. good and bad. keith picked up a co-worker that slid off the road and it took around 2hrs to get to work. but it looks nice and the skiing this sunday should be excellent. i should go shovel the walk now though so keith can get back in the garage tonight.
4.1.05
It Melts and Freezes
pretty much every day we wake up now to another trace of snow on the sidewalks. it warms up and melts and then it gets cold at night and things freeze. so now we have icicles hanging off our roof. we broke off a lot of them so that it wouldn't injure our roof. this one was memorable; keith hefted it off into a snowy grave.
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