Our cats love to stare at things through the window and act tough. But who would be the victor in the battle between a house cat and …
![[Spider - 450px]](http://whenchemistsattack.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/garden_spider_450.jpg)
… the SPIDER? I believe this particular specimen is commonly called a “black and yellow garden spider” or a “writing spider”.
Want to see this spider every day? Put it on your desktop with the link below. Enjoy!
[Black and yellow garden spider – 1024px]
Want to find more non-human friends? Visit The Friday Ark!
It looks like GM is planning to roll out a plug-in hybrid vehicle within the next three years.
GM is designing the highly-anticipated Volt to run 40 miles on battery power alone, reducing or even eliminating the need for drivers to fuel up an on-board gasoline-powered engine provided as a backup power source.
I’ve said before (but probably not here on the blog) that if I’m going to start making car payments again anytime soon, I want a car that I can use to do my daily driving entirely from batteries, since I don’t see PEM fuel cells being ready for prime time anytime soon.
40 miles would probably do it, unless there were lots of errands to run. (One problem with the town I live in is that nothing is located conveniently next to anything else!)
Toyota (if they can extend the range of their plug-in Prius using modern battery technology) may still beat them to the punch, but it’s nice to see GM figuring out that maybe – just maybe – giant SUVs are not the way of the future!
Those of you who aren’t in education are probably not aware of the sheer volume of paper educators have to push around. I’ve been cleaning up the office a bit in preparation for the fall semester, and look what I discovered!
![[White Desktop]](http://whenchemistsattack.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/white_desktop.jpg)
I have a white desktop!
I hadn’t seen it on so long, I’d forgotten what color it was. But at least I will always have this picture to remind me if I ever lose my desktop again…
Got one of these?
![[Suprise inside Diego egg]](http://whenchemistsattack.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/diegoegg.jpg)
It’s called a “Surprise Inside Diego Egg”, and it’s made by Fisher Price. (Or rather, it’s made by some cheap company in China for Fisher Price) .
So what’s the surprise? The surprise is … it’s painted with poisonous lead paint! So if any of y’all have young ones, and you’ve recently bought some Fisher-Price Sesame Street, Dora, or Diego themed toys – make sure that they’re not on the recall list (linked above). Thankfully, none of Cate’s toys were on the list.
Just to be safe, check the list even if you have recently bought any Fisher Price toy for your young child. (There are a few “generic” ones on the list.)
This is just one more reason why outsourcing American manufacturing jobs to China is a bad idea.
Here’s something South Carolina’s legislature recently passed: S484.
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 59-113-50, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE DEFINITION OF INDEPENDENT INSTITUTION OF HIGHER LEARNING FOR PURPOSES OF PROVIDING TUITION GRANTS, SO AS TO INCLUDE IN THE DEFINITION AN INDEPENDENT BACHELOR’S LEVEL INSTITUTION CHARTERED BEFORE 1962 WHOSE MAJOR CAMPUS AND HEADQUARTERS ARE LOCATED WITHIN SOUTH CAROLINA.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
Definition revised
SECTION 1. Section 59-113-50 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
“Section 59-113-50. For the purposes of this chapter, an independent institution of higher learning means an:
(1) independent eleemosynary junior or senior college in South Carolina whose major campus and headquarters are located within South Carolina and which is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools; or
(2) independent bachelor’s level institution chartered before 1962 whose major campus and headquarters are located within South Carolina.”
Nothing much to see here, right? But this legislation was sponsored by Mike Fair, who is not known to be much of a friend to quality education. With that in mind, what does this legislation actually do? It …
approved $2.5 million to help low-income students attend Bob Jones University, a private school in Greenville.
… according to the Charleston Post and Courier. (It does this by adding the unaccredited-by-any-reputable-accreditation-board Bob Jones to the list of private schools eligible to receive grant money for students with financial need. Bob Jones is the only new school to qualify under this legislation!)
Rev. BigDumbChimp has more details on why you should be irritated at this legislation, especially if you prefer your tax dollars to be kept away from anti-science nutjobs.
Disclaimer: I teach science at a public college. Just so y’all know my bias.
PZ Myers describes a study published in Science correlating courses in high school with success in college-level biology, chemistry, and physics courses. As you might expect, success in college chemistry increases when you take high school chemistry, success in college biology increases when you take high school biology, and success in college physics increases when you take high school physics.
However, a high school course in one science doesn’t translate to better grades in a different science. That’s unfortunate, but didn’t really surprise me. Many high school level science courses cover a lot of topics in a small amount of detail and don’t focus on connections between the sciences or the overall scientific method.
However, there appears to be one high school subject that increases success in all three of the studied college sciences, and that’s … math! This is unsurprising to me. As someone who’s taught freshman chemistry full-time for seven years (has it really been that long?), I’ve noticed that students who are proficient with math almost always succeed in freshman chemistry, and those who really struggle with math rarely succeed. As I’ve said to other teachers:
Give me a student who knows basic math, and I can teach her chemistry. But don’t expect me to teach her basic math and chemistry in one semester.
That said, I think this study isn’t all that useful unless the researchers had some way to control for the effects of self-selection bias on the results. In our state, at least, these high school science and advanced math courses examined are optional, and only students who demonstrate high aptitude in math and science already (which would probably translate to success in college science) and who are on the college prep track take them.
A little while ago, I pointed out that
[O]ne of [Cate’s] favorite games so far is Frogger – though her usual strategy is to jump the frogs directly into cars. Given her love of running stuff into and underneath cars, maybe Grand Theft Auto 3 will be her next favorite?
Well, I was almost right.
As a kid, I missed part of the evolution of video games. When my Atari 2600 was knocked out by a power surge, I moved on to the Commodore 64 for my gaming fix. And from there, I moved to the Commodore Amiga (a computer that it took Microsoft and Apple a decade to equal). I didn’t get another console until well into the lifespan of the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo.
So I missed out, by and large, on console games for the original Nintendo NES and Sega’s Master System. I’ve since purchased a NES, but I never did buy a Master System. That’s changed a little bit with my latest find in the Target clearance bin.
Our college s being slowly dragged into the twenty-first century. We’re not smoke free yet, but we have at least removed most smoking from inside the buildings.
But we’re very picky about areas where students and employees can light up. Consider this picture, taken just outside one of our buildings.
![[Designated smoking area]](http://whenchemistsattack.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/dsa_1_450.jpg)
The sign on the right is stern. It warns potential air polluters to stick to the designated smoking area.
![[No smoking!]](http://whenchemistsattack.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/dsa_2_450.jpg)
Where is the designated smoking area? Take a look at the sign on the left.
![[Smoke all you want!]](http://whenchemistsattack.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/dsa_3_450.jpg)
Why, just a few feet to the left of the “no smoking” sign, you can smoke all you want!
Eric said
we’re headed down to myrtle on saturday. the arcadian shores there. i always love the tackiness and the excitement. where might i get some good vinegar based along the highway?
That’s actually a very good question, and it reminds me that I have been meaning to write about the local BBQ joints for some time. Unfortunately, I seem to forget my camera wvery time I go somewhere close! If you’re near Florence, you can stop by any of the local BBQ joints – Cain’s, Jakie’s (both on Pamplico Highway), or the more popular Roger’s (on Second Loop Road).
But if you’re heading down to Myrtle Beach and make it past Florence, you probably won’t be stopping at any places to eat along the way.
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![[Black and yellow garden spider – 1024px]](http://whenchemistsattack.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/garden_spider_1024.jpg){kind=link}