Chemistry Lesson

Chanced upon this while working.... It made me laugh...

Arsole
Yes, believe it or not, there is actually a molecule called Arsole... and it's a ring!

It is the arsenic equivalent of pyrrole, and although it is rarely found in its pure form, it is occasionally seen as a sidegroup in the form of organic arsolyls.

For more information, see the paper with probably the best title of any scientific paper I've ever come across: "Studies on the Chemistry of the Arsoles", G. Markl and H. Hauptmann, J. Organomet. Chem., 248 (1983) 269.

Contrary to popular belief, however, the arsoles are not aromatic...Furthermore, the structure where arsole is fused to a benzene ring is called 'benzarsole', and apparently when it's fused to 6 benzenes is called 'sexibenzarsole', although that molecule hasn't been synthesised yet. Another well known poisonous arsenic molecule is the simple hydride, called 'arsine', with formula AsH3.

And on a related theme, an Aryl Selenide compound with the superb shorthand of ArSe, which is both toxic and smelly. The paper it comes from in J. Am. Chem. Soc. was published by authors from, of course, the University of Aahrus!

Also, the related molecule phosphole (which just replaces As with P) is quite amusing if you are a French speaker, since it's pronounced the same as 'fausse folle' (literally false woman), which means both a 'crazy woman' and a 'drag-queen' or 'ladyboy'.

WOD, 21st June 2005

Solecism (n):
1. A nonstandard usage or grammatical construction.
2. A violation of etiquette.
3. An impropriety, mistake, or incongruity.
4. A socially awkward or tactless act.

Something not related to WOD:
Today is Prince William's birthday and 'Cuckoos Warning Day'!

WOD, 16th June 2005

ephemeral (adj):
1. Lasting for a markedly brief time: “There remain some truths too ephemeral to be captured in the cold pages of a court transcript” (Irving R. Kaufman).
2. Living or lasting only for a day, as certain plants or insects do.
3. Enduring a very short time
Examples
1. "the ephemeral joys of childhood"; "a passing fancy"; "youth's transient beauty"; "love is transitory but at is eternal"; "fugacious blossoms"
2. Fashion is by nature fickle and ephemeral.

WOD, 14th June 2005

blandishment \BLAN-dish-muhnt\, noun:
1. Speech or action that flatters and tends to coax, entice, or persuade; allurement -- often used in the plural.
Examples
1. But she had not risen at all to the law fellow's blandishments, his attempts to interest her in his ideas and persuade her to set forth her own. --John Bayley, Elegy for Iris
2. And that my English-speaking victims find my blandishments so pretty, accented as they are, and yield to my soft lustrous Italian pronunciations, is a constant source of bliss for me. --Anne Rice, Vittorio, the Vampire
3. Perfect, gentle reader: I will not begin this book with a tribute to your discernment, because a person of your obvious accomplishments would certainly be immune to such blandishments. --Richard Stengel, You're Too Kind: A Brief History of Flattery

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (reviewed by Oprah's book club)

In As I Lay Dying, the Bundren children set off on a journey to fulfill their mother, Addie's, dying wish, only to be stymied by an almost biblical series of events. At once absurd and profound, it is the story of a family's single-minded commitment to honor their mother and surmount obstacles in their way while wrestling with personal desires and crises of their own.

As I Lay Dying has a clearly delineated plot line. However, the way the story is presented was in Faulkner's day an experimental narrative technique. Removing himself completely as an author-narrator figure, Faulkner breaks his story into 59 separate monologues, each spoken or thought by one of 15 characters. There is no description of a character or action outside of the way the characters see themselves, one another and the events in which they are involved.At the heart of the novel beats a family's response to the loss of the most important person in their lives. They laugh, they curse, they fight, they bleed, they break, they love, they endure—just like we do.

http://www.oprah.com/obc_classic/featbook/asof/ilay/ilay_main.jhtml

WOD, 9th June 2005

Epiphany (n)
1. a. A Christian feast celebrating the manifestation of the divine nature of Jesus to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi. b. January 6, on which this feast is traditionally observed.
2. A revelatory manifestation of a divine being.
3. a. A sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something. b. A comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization: “I experienced an epiphany, a spiritual flash that would change the way I viewed myself” (Frank Maier).

WOD, 7th June 2005

a·byss (noun)
1. An immeasurably deep chasm, depth, or void: “lost in the vast abysses of space and time” (Loren Eiseley).
2. a. The primeval chaos out of which it was believed that the earth and sky were formed. b. The abode of evil spirits; hell
3. a bottomless gulf or pit; any unfathomable (or apparently unfathomable) cavity or chasm or void extending below (often used figuratively)

Word of the Day, 6th June 2005

Unfledged \uhn-FLEJD\, adjective:
1. Lacking the feathers necessary for flight.
2. Not fully developed; immature.
Examples.
1. It is most likely that this parrot was caught when very young, even possibly unfledged, and was totally nurtured by humans.--D'vora Ben Shaul, "A parrot in a man's world"
2. Some also charge the leaders with sheltering unfledged youth from the real world or, as one public education official quoted in the Washington Post put it, "prolonging a cocoon existence." --Helen Mondloch, "Homegrown Virtue on Campus"

Testing testing testing 1 2 3

we should really change that mouldy colour!

The initiation

testing