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September 30, 2007

We'll stop those druggies yet!

While looking up some things for the chemistry class I am teaching, I ran across a bit of information at Wikipedia that literally made my jaw drop.

Like many other common pieces of glassware, Erlenmeyer flasks could potentially be used in the production of illegal narcotics. In an effort to restrict such production, some U.S. states (including Texas) have begun requiring permits to purchase such glassware, including Erlenmeyer flasks, as well as chemicals identified as common starting materials.

A permit is needed to purchase an Erlenmeyer flask in Texas? I am torn between my general incredulity when encountering unsupported "information" at Wikipedia and my willingness to believe that there are no lengths to which our government will not go in the War on (some) Drugs. Special thanks to The Liberty Papers for that phrase, by the way.

Incidentally, one of the top pages to come up on a Google search for "Erlenmeyer narcotics" is "A Quantitative Method for the Isolation and Determination of Morphine in Opium and Medicinal Preparations" on the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime website. Part of me is certain that federal, state, and local authorities are descending upon my house in ski masks as we speak, and if I survive the middle-of-the-night raid I will go to jail just for seeing this website - if that happens, please call Radley Balko immediately! But the other part of me is laughing hysterically at how perfect this site would be for my chem class.

An assay of morphine in crude opium and medicinal preparations is described, based upon chromatographic purification of the alkaloid, which is subsequently determined volumetrically.

That's exactly what we are covering right now - chromatography, purification methods, basic density and volumetrics. And the page has a write-up in the format I demand - introduction, reagents, procedure, apparatus, discussion of accuracy/precision, summary/conclusions, bibliography.

I've always said that the worst part about high school chemistry is that the really good chemistry is too dangerous to do in class. I've just never had the interest in the narcotics side of things - either for personal use or sale. But this has been a real eye-opener for me. There is only one responsible thing to do.

We must ban high school chemistry. For the children.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

September 26, 2007

Caption Contest

In light of Iranian President Ahmadinajad's recent (and controversial) trip to New York and Columbia University, and because I think we're long overdue to mock the leader of a dangerous regime ruling over 70 million people, I offer this photograph of Ahmadinajad and beg readers to provide a caption for it.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

September 22, 2007

Facetime with some Bloggers

Wow, the time flies by. Last weekend, Jon Henke I had a chance to meet Doug Mataconis and Brad Warbiany of the Liberty Papers - one of my favorite blogs, by the way. For those who don’t know, Doug also writes at Below the Beltway and Brad at Unrepentant Individual.

I really wanted to document the night in some way, and thank the two of them for a great time. And Jon too, I suppose. But suddenly, a week has passed with nary a word from me on the subject, and I feel that it’s a shame. I just enjoyed the experience so much, and it’s completely inappropriate not to say something about it here. Even if it’s a bit overdue.

As Doug noted here, Brad was in the D.C. area on business. The rest of us live in the area, so that’s all the excuse we needed. I made the quick drive up from Richmond and had a lot of fun hanging out and talking about jobs, politics, kids, blogs, and the theft of sugar bowls. I’d be happy to do that again some time. After all, the whole reason Rammage got me into blogging was to connect and converse with intelligent people who share our interests. Doing exactly that over a beer or coffee is something I don’t get to experience every day. So thanks, fellas. I had a blast.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

September 10, 2007

Keith Olbermann

Worship Bob Costas. Love Chris Collinsworth. Like Jerome Bettis. And Tiki Barber is Da Bomb. Alas, I will not watch a single second of football on NBC this year if this Keith Olberwhatever turkey/communist is a featured commentator.

I'm not sure what kind of demographics polling that NBC and NFL have going on, but it's beyond laughable how poorly they judge who's watching football in the United States of America. Rush Limbaugh yes, Socialist weasels no.

Glad to see that there's someone else out there who feels the same way: NBC Football Hypocrisy - Olby "Good!", RUSH "Bad!"...

Posted by Rammage | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

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