Andre the Chemist
@andrechemist
Noted rhenium hater and **undefeated** youth soccer coach (total of one game coached). Virginia, USA. He/him.
Nice! The mascots of Brighton are, apparently (I had to look it up), Gully (left) and Sally (right).
Summer book 11: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones. It deserves all the acclaim it has received (Stoker and Nebula, among others). The distinct voices of each of the three narrators in the story is an amazing feat in and of itself, and the story is engrossing on top of that.
More catching up from my vacation reads from last week, Summer book 10: Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes. Another read from the beach. Another horror but this time... in space. An abandoned spaceship. A decades-old mystery. A fun page-turner for vacation.
Catching up from my vacation reads from last week, Summer book 9: The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones, read at the beach. I've never really been into horror, but maybe now I am. Wonderfully atmospheric... I felt the chill of the winter sitting on the beach in July.
I'm reading The Buffalo Hunter Hunter on the ride home from our summer vacation and it's as good as everybody told me.
Summer book 8: A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny. Took a little break to watch some soccer, but now back to reading this odd little book where every chapter is a day in October and there's something magical going on.
I was probably going to wait a little longer to show it to them (they are easy to scare) but I got this for father's day and it kind of forced my hand
A woman trombonist?? I thought this administration was done with wokeness in the military
My kid's "Butts On Things" calendar, where each day is a drawing of something with a butt on it, really phoned it in this past weekend
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000). A movie that was truly innovative in terms of terrible chemical structures
Breakfast taco day (ground beef and chorizo, egg, various toppings)
I did confirm it is not chiral! Pictured below is the same creation arranged to show it is its own mirror image. It is flipped and rotated but otherwise untouched. I'm also pretty sure it has a four-fold improper rotation axis so I'm 90% confident its point group is S4
Here's the rotation along the top-right to bottom-left diagonal. You're right! The middle layering is reversed. It is S4. Good call!
Here's the result of a rotation around the top-right-to-bottom-left diagonal axis (with a clip to indicate the same spot). I think the weaving is all the same in both
My youngest kid was making these popsicle stick designs (and then throwing them to watch them pop apart) and I kept ruining it by saying "Let's talk about the symmetry of this one for a bit..." #InorganicChemistProblems
Oh that makes sense. At first I thought you were just really really high
Professor the Chemist ❌ Purveyor of Artisanal Educational Experiences the Chemist ✅
Chez the Chemist now has Allagash White (left) and a prosecco (right) on tap.
Summer Boom 7: Angel Down by Daniel Kraus. Felt very much like a Dad Book™ choice – a war novel with a speculative twist – but truly just an amazing and worthwhile read for me. I was hesitant to try it due to the "gimmick" (it's all a single sentence) but it's not gimmicky at all. It just works.
Summer Book 6: The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar. A beautifully lyrical fantasy tale. Short (a novella) and perfect.
Summer Book 5: Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. A quick, easy read. Very heavy (a little too heavy?) on the internet pop culture stuff. I can see why a lot of folks like the series but also recognize it is not really for me.
I mean, you know a book is going to be a real banger when it starts with a quote from C&E News.