It’s been one of those days. We’ve got another chemistry job candidate today with a busy schedule, and we’re making him suffer for this position. Flight delays, bad weather, drifting snow…I’m impressed that he made it all. Shortly I have to do my own bit of suffering, attending his job talk. I’m sure it will be good, but I’m not a chemist, and I know what to expect. It’ll start off gently enough, with alcohols & alkenes & alkynes, names I’ll recognize, and then within minutes I’ll be lost in exotic reactions with wild catalysts and I’ll have no idea what’s going on.
But before that, happy news from the lab: after a long dry spell, we have a new egg sac!
Are they not luscious and beautiful? I think two things might have uncorked an oviduct: I’m teaching fly genetics, which means we get an excess of flies, and everything that doesn’t get used in our crosses gets showered upon the happy spiders; and we spent a day adjusting humidity in the cages, which seems to have been one of the triggers.
Now…off to organic chemistry.
Oh, just mention effects of relativistic electrons in a lead-acid battery and run away. ;)
Or the “quantum waveform” released by the reaction of “ascetic acid” & bicarbonbonate of soda.
Also, ‘uncorking the oviduct’ is a wonderful phrase to describe horny lady spiders. Akin to calling a guinea pig a two pound meat potato.
I’m wondering how I’ve gone my entire life without finding your blog – Tony Ortega had a link to your blog, and I started reading… when I came up for air finally, I had to leave a comment, if only to commend your stance in this modern train wreck we call life.
Any chance you can use the “furry trolling” politicians as egg incubators? I was thinking, inject them just under the chest…