Daily Challenge Day to Day 18


That's what happens when you research "18" on a non-standard search engine - and I actually think the molecule is worth looking at, as well as the compound ...

M.
And once again, nightmares of my university studies flash past my eyes. I remember I took Organic Chem I & II my Junior year, then Biochemistry I & II plus Genetics I & II my Senior year.
 
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A Rosewood end graft has been glued into the baritone ukulele body and scraped/sanded flush. Next step is to install a set of matching top bindings, a task that has given me some great difficulty in the past. Although fabricating a neck is more labor intensive, binding installation involves accurately cutting a narrow channel around the edge of the top, bending wood into tight curved strips, and accurately gluing those strips into the aforementioned channels. Lots of places to mess up - and I have, to the point of having to rout out the installed bindings and start the whole process over.

By the way, the amber tint on the top of the instrument is from a wash coat of shellac I applied to protect the top during binding installation. It will help keep the Cedar fibers intact when I cut the binding channels.

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Inside the pump room of the old farmhouse where I live, the light is dim and muted.
There are multiple light switches, too.
But back in 1902 when this outbuilding was built, the house had no electricity.

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Make me wonder....what this space will look like, one hundred years from now?
 
In honor of Matt's citation of the crown ethers, I built this little nerd shrine in support.
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It's exactly this why I always envied my Chemistry colleagues: beautiful models that visualize the formulas and - not to forget - the big bangs (was it the oxyhydrogen tests?).
As a teacher of French and English I tormented them with endless vocabulary lists and grammar rules ... though they loved singing Beatles and Dylan Songs in between when I had the guitar with me.
 
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It's exactly this why I always envied my Chemistry colleagues: beautiful models that visualize the formulas and - not to forget - the big bangs (was it the oxyhydrogen tests?).
As a teacher of French and English I tormented them with endless vocabulary lists and grammar rules ... though they loved singing Beatles and Dylan Songs in between when I had the guitar with me.
Chemistry is very visual but one of our difficulties is that the logic of our subject is, essentially, invisible. To the eye it's all powders and liquids and tanks of gases. The molecules are so small that bacteria and even viruses are gigantic. We have so many models because atoms and molecules live in a world dominated by quantum mechanics. Ordinary language and human intuitions evolved to deal with a different version of reality, and the whole thing can be tediously boring if not taught with great enthusiasm. 🤓 Some students do enjoy the nomenclature as a game, however. The 18-Crown-6 ether cited above is formally called 1,4,7,10,13,16-hexaoxacyclooctadecane. Amusingly, the formal names of molecules express their structure. This idea is mimicked in stories of magical worlds where the true names of things give you power over them.
 
I'll admit that I was not a sterling chemistry student; mostly mediocre with occasional flashes of understanding. I did have one semester where everything seemed to mostly click and I ended up with an "A", but I was never able to replicate the magic, so to speak. The language of Chemistry remained mostly a half-hidden mystery to me.
 
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