I took a number of geology electives during my chemistry degree - the two go very well together. 🙂 When I was young, I considered geochemical engineering as a degree but the career path for that always seemed to lead to petrochemical companies and I wasn't sure that that was what I wanted to do. If I was to do something other than/in addition to teaching chemistry now, it would be archaeological chemistry. I've always been fascinated by the application of chemistry to history. 🙂 You're inspiring me to do some research and digging of my own, lewelma!

Exciting times for you, lewelma! 🙂 I found some links that you might like to dig through that are mostly focusing on the area of water and soil remediation (because if you love chemistry, that's where you're going to find more of it :). https://www.eco.ca/career-profiles/remediation-specialist/#education-and-requirements https://www.ualberta.ca/extension/continuing-education/programs/environmental-studies/environmental-remediation https://www.biozone.utoronto.ca/ https://www.environmentalscience.org/degree/environmental-biotechnology Those are mostly Canadian links because... I'm Canadian. 🙂 I think your best bet is to look into a Master's degree in biotechnology. From the BioZone link: Bioremediation and Wastewater Treatment BioZone uses enzymes, microbes, and microbial communities to remove organic contaminants from subsurface environments, waste waters, and industrial processes. That's not to say that all remediation would be based on microbial or enzymatic interventions but I think it's definitely a hot field of inquiry right now. The work on Ideonella sakaiensis is fascinating. Just some thoughts and links to get you going. My degree was in organic chemistry and polymer chemistry so I'm more familiar with the concepts of making lots of pollutants than with remediating their effects. 😉 🙂 I DEFINITELY get the love of chemistry, though. Keep us updated as you research - I'm interested to know where this takes you!

And I saw this earlier - thought some folks might find it helpful. Basically - soap and water handwashing is going to be the best. Hand sanitizer is ok if you don't have immediate access to soap and water but it isn't going to be as effective as soap/water handwashing. Wash for as long as it takes to sing "Happy Birthday" or the alphabet song. 🙂

As long as the soap still makes soap suds (gets bubbly when you rub your hands together), it should still be just fine to break up skin oils and get the oil and debris off your skin. If it's so dilute that it no longer makes bubbles, then that's probably too dilute to break up the grease. You'd be amazed, though, at how little soap it actually takes to get your hands (or anything else, for that matter) clean. Most people use WAY too much soap - hand soap, shampoo, laundry soap, dish soap, etc. You need less than half the "recommended" amounts of most soap products unless you have REALLY dirty or greasy skin/hair/clothes/dishes, etc. 🙂 And yes - soap molecules have two ends: a polar hydrophilic ("water loving") end and a long nonpolar hydrophobic ("water fearing") tail. Soap is the go-between peace-maker to help water (polar like the soap heads) and grease (nonpolar like the soap tails) to co-exist. This is because in chemistry, polar things get along with other polar things, nonpolar things get along with other nonpolar things, but polar and nonpolar do NOT get along. 😉 The long hydrophobic tails of the soap molecules tend to orient themselves towards a droplet of oil or grease and form a little round "fence" around the droplet with their hydrophobic tails pointing in towards the oil and their hydrophilic heads pointing out towards the water. The little soap-fenced oil droplet is called a micelle. The micelle allows the oil droplet to be soluble in water because the nonpolar oil (which would NOT get along with the polar water) is now surrounded by the peace-maker soap fence whose polar heads convince the water that the oil droplet is a-ok. 😉 🙂 The micelle droplet can then dissolve in water and be washed away. Voila! Oil and water CAN mix (with a little help from soap 😉 ). Here's a drawing of a soap micelle in case anyone has actually read this far and is interested... 😜

Thank you for the birthday wishes! I'm currently doing some grading - it's how teachers celebrate their birthdays. We're a wild and crazy bunch like that. 😉

Same pic that I have on my online course website but in colour and less cropped. 🙂

I should also point out that hydrogen peroxide, while making an excellent disinfectant, will easily and quickly breakdown into water and oxygen gas. An unopened bottle of hydrogen peroxide will last about a year assuming that you've kept the solution in the opaque bottle and stored it somewhere cool (the bathroom is the WORST place to store most things as the heat from people showering and bathing will increase the rate of decomposition of most chemicals). After you've opened the bottle, the solution will be effective for 30-45 days - less if you've transferred it to a non-opaque bottle (UV light accelerates the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide) or if you're storing it in a warm place.

The hydrogen peroxide solution you bought will be at least 70% water (if you bought a 30% solution) so it's not the hydrogen peroxide you need to worry about expanding, it's the water that makes up most of the solution. So yes - the solution will expand if it freezes. Signed, Your friendly neighbourhood chemistry teacher 🙂

Let her know that Mrs. S and Chemistry Mole say congratulations!! 🙂

Finally finished another book! 😄 I think I'm too easily distracted and will often choose to start a new book instead of make headway on current books. I do eventually finish the vast majority of books I start, though, even if it takes me awhile. 😉 Crooked River is the latest installment in the Pendergast series by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child (the same Douglas Preston who wrote The Lost City of the Monkey God and whose younger brother, Richard Preston, wrote The Hot Zone). It was fast-paced, pretty formulaic for Preston/Child, and a fun read. 🙂 I gave it 4 stars. Books read in 2020 6. Crooked River (Pendergast #19) by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child *Mystery/Thriller – 4 stars 5. Village School by Miss Read *Historical fiction - 4 stars 4. The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike *Horror - 5 stars 3. Daughters of the Grail by Elizabeth Chadwick *Historical fiction/romance - 4 stars 2 1/2. Extraction (Pendergast #12.5) by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child *Fiction (short story) - 4 stars (I didn't think that a short story would count but I did finish it 🙂 ) 2. The Case of the Chocolate Cream Killer: The Poisonous Passion of Christiana Edmunds by Kaye Jones *Nonfiction (history) - 4 stars 1. The Love Knot by Elizabeth Chadwick *Historical fiction/romance - 3 stars

In Cold Blood is excellent. 🙂 I know - not helping. But it is excellent. The Elementals does have some elements of what you describe above. Plus paranormal elements. It's hard to describe. 🙂 But a FANTASTIC read!

That was me. 🙂 Glad you liked it! Yes - the dialogue was definitely different and I wasn't sure, either, if it was a stylistic thing or a translation thing. But I totally agree with the "wonderfully creepy" statement! Speaking of creepy... 🙂 Has anyone read The Elementals by Michael McDowell? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22461751-the-elementals Also wonderfully creepy. Southern Gothic, I think (if I understand the genre correctly). It was published, like The Graveyard Apartment, in the 1980s.

I did not. 😄 I think I'll forego looking that up on YouTube - I don't know if I can handle another weeks-long Baby Shark earworm. 😉 Nonfiction - "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston. Not high-level reading or the greatest writing but gives the story behind the origins of the Ebola virus. Also nonfiction - Edward Jenner's writings on vaccines and his development of the smallpox vaccine: *An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolæ Vaccinæ *Further Observations on the Variolæ Vaccinæ, or Cow-Pox *A Continuation of Facts and Observations relative to the Variolæ Vaccinæ *The Origin of the Vaccine Inoculation

It's definitely better if the ovaries can be kept. In my case, they couldn't (one was fused to the outside of the uterus by endometrial tissue and the other was massively cystic). You can discuss with your doctor what would be best based on scans and determining what your particular situation looks like. 🙂

I was in your shoes 3 years ago, @MercyA, and I opted to have the plumbing removed. 🙂 Best. Decision. EVER. I know that it's a personal decision and doesn't necessarily go well for all women but for me, having it all taken out was like getting a second chance at life. You're welcome to PM me to ask questions, if you like. Edit: I was 45 when I had the surgery so on the young end for a complete hysterectomy. Still the best decision EVER. 🙂

No worries! 🙂 Confession... Folks were talking about The Marsh King's Daughter and I assumed they were talking about the book by Elizabeth Chadwick - historical fiction/romance set in the 13th century during the last days of the reign of King John. But they were not. I was very confused for a while. 😉 😄

Me! 😄 And I seem highly susceptible to ear worms. My niece was letting her daughter (my great-niece) listen to that Baby Shark song on YouTube and I happened to hear it. That thing was stuck in my head for weeks!!

I think The Lost City of the Monkey God is Douglas Preston, not Grann. 🙂 I read it when it first came out and liked it but I like all the books that he (and Lincoln Child) write. https://www.prestonchild.com/books/preston/monkeygod/

@Pen So... It's like William Shatner is narrating the book, then? 😉 Look up "William Shatner sings Rocket Man" on YouTube. Can't. Get over. The. Smoking. On stage. @aggieamy Well... If you're into ice fishing and snowmobiling and being out in the gorgeously crisp cold, then come on up! 🙂 The ice on the lakes up here gets thick enough that you can drive vehicles on it. Confession - I love the cold. LOVE. IT. (Now. I'm talking. Like @Pen. 😉 ) @Lady Florida. So glad you liked Sarum! London is great, too. I started Russka ages ago but don't think I ever finished it. It started wonderfully, though. On Audible accounts... I had one and then canceled it. They recently sent me an email to offer me a free audio book of my choice if I'd like to give the free 30 day trial another go round. I think these businesses are pretty willing to do whatever it takes to get a person to stay/come back.

I giggled at this, @Junie, because that's pretty much my favourite place to be, too - where ever other people are not. 😉 My "backyard" is a 1/4 section of land so if I go out to my "backyard", I REALLY don't have to see other humans. 🙂

Coast or mountains... Both. 🙂 Nature is what I want/need/must have. I also live where I can get both woods and water but it's freshwater lakes and dense boreal forest. Here's where I live: https://www.northernontario.travel/sunset-country Below is a pic my daughter took a few years ago when she was out kayaking on a lake 20 minutes from our house. There is no filter on this pic - those were the colours (we're not called Sunset Country for nothin' :)). Those are loons on the lake. Hearing loon calls on a summer evening is one of my favourite sounds ever. Here's a Cornell recording, if anyone is unfamiliar with loon calls: We're not in false spring. Or any kind of spring. 😜 It was -37C the other morning. We've got a couple of feet of snow on the ground and the temps won't go above freezing (other than a weird day or two of +1C or +2C) for a few months yet. And I still haven't finished any more books. 😞 But I'm still reading a few pages here and there whenever I can. I'm calling that a win for me at this point in time.

Confession - I've not seen the current series, either. 😉 I feel like, as a Canadian, I'm somehow letting down Canadians and the Canadian arts. 😄 It is probably true, though, that they've "shallow-ized" (I'm making that a new word 😉 ) the book for TV. I feel like there is less and less space in pop culture for nuance - if issues aren't presented as black and white, people can't be bothered to watch and think about the grey. But that's my pair o' pennies, for what they're worth. (And we got rid of the penny in Canada a few years ago so it's hard to say what my two Canadian cents are worth!)

You're welcome! I'm glad the videos helped! 🙂

Still haven't finished any more books - but I've started a few more! 😄 I love the idea of a "sip read" - thanks, @Robin M! I have a copy of A.C. Grayling's Ideas That Matter: The Concepts That Shape the 21st Century on my shelves so I picked it up last night, chose a topic, and read. Most of his commentaries on each topic are no longer than a handful of pages - perfect sip reading! I started with "Truth" as I'm meeting up with a few good friends for lunch tomorrow and we've decided that we're going to try to hold "Philosophical Phriday" 🙂 lunch discussions whenever we can. I started posting "Philosophical Phriday" posts on my FB page a few months ago whenever I have the time and it's been great to discuss things with friends that I've recently reconnected with as well as current friends and family members. It definitely makes for a wide variety of responses! The lunch discussion tomorrow is in person - as great as social media can be for connecting across distances, there is something to be said for face to face discussions. 🙂

I think Munro is more to be admired than loved. (I think I'm quoting Willoughby from the most recent screen adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. 😉 ) If you wanted to give her another try, pick up Lives of Girls and Women. It's been awhile since I've read it but I remember it being more "readable" than some of her other stuff, if that makes sense. If you're looking for other female Canadian authors who aren't Margaret Atwood (I love Atwood but it feels like pop culture is on an Atwood forced feast currently 😉 ), you could try Carol Shields. I really liked Larry's Party - I think she does a fantastic job of writing from the view point of a man.