Moral Outsourcing

by admin Posted on March 13, 2026

Look at all of the policy arsonists who leave a swath of destruction, then show up with a shot glass of water and say, “thoughts and prayers!”

When my children were young, a typical doctor’s visit was approximately $35. Around that time, insurance companies figured out a way to insert a parasitic administrative layer between the doctor and patient in order to extract more money, and lobbied the government for legislative blessings.

In 1973, the Nixon administration pushed the HMO model hard, turning healthcare into a business model that profits from people’s suffering. Now that $35 office visit costs $150 – $250, with so many restrictions that health care is functionally unaffordable for millions of Americans.

Less care, more profit. Costs exploded, people are squeezed, and the quality of care plummeted. The response from the politicians, lobbyists, and people who benefit from these policy changes has been, “Whoa! Not our fault!” “What about personal responsibility?” And my personal favorite intellectual insult, “God never gives more than you can handle!”

Same pattern for guns. Make access easier, block all research into causes and possible fixes, flood public media with propaganda, and as the horror and body count climbs, scream about “liberty” the “second amendment” and “freedom.”

What about jobs? Republicans lobbied relentlessly (and democrats provided no meaningful opposition) to allow corporations to ship factories overseas for decades and shelter their taxable income in offshore accounts in order to boost corporate profits, then act shocked when entire towns collapsed and opportunities to earn a middle-class income evaporated.

Look at housing. Wall Street deregulation and repeal of consumer protection laws have allowed investment firms to eat homes and radically tilt the market, making housing unaffordable for ordinary people; then stigmatize and criminalize people for being “unhoused.”

And climate? Roll back regulations and standards that took years to pass into law, enabling supercharged pollution to resume unabated, then shrug off record-breaking floods and fires as “acts of God.”


This isn’t confusion or innocent ignorance. It is moral outsourcing. If you can blame the market, or god, or poor people, you never have to admit your policies were to blame for the suffering and damage. You never have to fix what you broke.

It’s performance art with a body count.

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The Dictionary Used as a Rhetorical Weapon

by admin Posted on June 6, 2023

Dictionary Definitions Used as a Rhetorical[1] Weapons

Dictionary definitions for conceptual categories can be used to fundamentally distort our understanding of meaning.

How many times recently have we heard people challenging others to “define woman?”  They want to reduce it down to an essence, a necessary and sufficient feature, because if it can be said a “woman” has to have feature X, then a trans woman who may not have feature X is now not a woman.  So it becomes a tool to structure power and values.

The same things happen people sit down to talk about gods in the Bible.  They wanted to define not only the concept of “deity,” but all of the salient characteristics as well.  But you can’t define “deity” because once you begin, you’re introducing that reduction distortion of trying to limit it to some kind of list of necessary and sufficient features. To control its “correct” use and interpretation.

When we rely on definitions as the final authority of meaning, and when we try to reduce things down to a list of necessary and sufficient features, not only are we distorting the categories, we’re frequently not honoring the use of these categories the way the authors were using them.

And that is often because overwhelmingly, people seek to define things in ways that serve their own interests.

That’s one of the problems with how dictionaries are used in modern culture – they’re supposed to be following after usage and simply reporting on usage, saying, “this is how people are using it.”  But those who are seeking a rhetorical advantage reverse that order and misuse dictionaries to say, “this is the only way you’re allowed to use it, and if you use it another way, you are wrong.”

Dictionaries do not adjudicate meaning, they report on usage.  But they do so using a fundamentally distorting framework; this idea that all things are reducible to necessary and sufficient features in order to be correct, as opposed to simply being regarded as a starting point for common understanding of current, most common usage.

This need for reductionism is a hallmark of what is often referred to as “conservative” thinking, in order to lessen the thought-load required to parse nuance.  If you have a ready-made definition for “God” or “woman,” you don’t have to consider anyone’s opinions, personal experience, or perspective.  It enables you to summarily dismiss anyone’s thinking or belief that doesn’t agree with your own, buttressed by an “authority,” whether that is a bible or a dictionary.

This is also a logical fallacy commonly known as an “appeal to authority”[2] or “argument from authority.”

[1] Rhetorical: of, relating to, or concerned with the art of speaking or writing formally and effectively especially as a way to persuade or influence people. [Britannica Dictionary]

[2] The appeal to authority fallacy is a type of informal fallacy that occurs when someone uses the authority, reputation, or expertise of a person or a source as the sole or primary reason to support their argument, without providing any other evidence or reasoning.

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For Pat Sorbini

by admin Posted on October 5, 2019

The disadvantage to leaving the place of your birth is that the distance removes you from the currency of information that you took for granted before you left. And things can happen pretty rapidly, so one day you wake up and find out that one of your oldest friendships has been cut down by the Emperor of all Maladies.

I was 18 when I started work at AtoZ TV in Cheektowaga, NY, and there I met Pat (it was Cuddihy back then) and Linda Wassell.  When Linda and I married, Pat was Linda’s bridesmaid.

It is impossible to overstate the positive influence Pat had on my life.  I was quite a fool back then, a mess of unresolved traumas, adrenaline rage, and self-pity.  So, “she was a friend to me when I needed one / if not for her I don’t know what I’d have done.”  Looking back, I cannot imagine what made her want to befriend me.

She was all heart, but committed to veracity, and her gentle but persistent delivery made it possible for me to hear many things that I needed to, but could not hear from others.  I received her intellectual challenges as non-threatening, and was impelled to question the assumptions and prejudices I was carrying.  At the beginning, it was a materteral (feminine version of avuncular), or “big-sister” kind of vibe.  She was one of the few people who persistently encouraged me to continue my education.  That one thing alone is a gift beyond measure – I was, after all, a high school dropout.

To me, Pat was (in no particular order) a democrat, a humanist, a flower child, an artist, an excellent writer, and a feminist.  It was a range of knowledge and wisdom to which I had little exposure, and even less understanding. Above all, she was a dear friend.

She is the one who put me on the road to understanding that women’s rights were actually human rights, and a much fuller understanding of the role government policy plays in the perpetuation of poverty.  There are far too many satori to list.  Over the years, there have been many, many, multi-hour telephone conversations that ran over every possible topic.  We fixed all the world’s problems, “but hey” we laughed, “nobody listens to us!”

I came to adore her intellectual curiosity, her emotional intelligence, and her commitment to decency, fairness, and justice (to the extent it is possible in an imperfect world).  She was compassionate and empathetic to a fault.

I am permanently indebted to Pat for her significant part in helping me become a (relatively) well-adjusted and functional member of society.  And as I aged and matured into someone worth knowing, I am grateful that I was occasionally able to enlarge her worldview, as well.  As the disparity in our ages and life experience narrowed, the seeds she planted became a well-tended orchard.

Right to our last conversation, she was asking about new techniques in presenting her art, and I just had this deep and comfortable feeling that a mind so alive and curious would simply last forever.  Alas.

Patty, I will miss you terribly for the rest of my days.  And as I continue to walk through this world, I will bring with me and freely share the best parts of you, which you graciously shared with me.

Nothing survives but the way we live our lives.

Pat Sorbini in "Reflecting on Dignity" © Russell Brown
Pat Sorbini in “Reflecting on Dignity” © Russell Brown

 

SORBINI – Patricia E.

Of Buffalo, entered into rest August 14, 2019. Beloved wife of Russell Brown; devoted mother of William Cuddihy and stepmother to Zeke and Max Brown and Harvest Villemyer; cherished grandmother of Emma Rae and step-grandmother of Jazmyn, Kylin and Jackson; loving daughter of the late Silvio and Rachael Sorbini; dear sister of Robert (Julie) Sorbini; fond aunt of Robert Sorbini; also survived by many friends. No prior visitation. A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date. Arrangements by Lombardo Funeral Home, (Southtowns Chapel). Donations may be made in her name to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and UNYTS. Condolences may be shared atwww.lombardofuneralhome.com

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Harmonic Distortion

by admin Posted on November 27, 2017

A few notes about harmonic distortion.4

Many people have a clear preference for the type of distortion they like to hear created electronically in music, whether by solid state or tube circuitry.

There are reasons for the differences we hear, as both types of circuits behave differently when driven into clipping.

As gain (amplification) is increased in an amplifier, tubes begin to clip the upper half of the signal before the lower half clips.  This asymmetric distortion causes even harmonics, and this type of distortion is generally referred to as “overdrive.”

Solid state (transistor) circuits will tend to clip both the upper and lower halves of the signal symmetrically.  Symmetric distortion creates odd-order harmonics and most odd-order harmonics occur at frequencies that are not musically related to the fundamental tone.  This is the type of distortion that is generally called “distortion,” and it’s more often heard in hard rock and heavy metal music.

People often tend to find even-order harmonics pleasing and odd-order harmonics harsh.  When people insist that analog in general (and tubes in particular) sound “better” than digital systems, what they are really saying is that they prefer hearing the addition of even-order harmonic distortion in their music.

Digital systems generally introduce very little distortion because they are so accurate; so many listeners tend to say they don’t sound as rich or full.  It is mostly the lack of even-order harmonic distortions they are noticing.  In pro audio, mixing and mastering (but not tracking) engineers will use effects called “exciters” or “enhancers.”  These devices are often just glorified even-order harmonic distortion generators.

Harmonic distortion is the introduction of extra harmonics that are musically related to those already present, resulting in a change in timbre.  The harmonic content is what determines the timbre of each instrument, which is why an oboe sounds different from an alto sax.

Even-order harmonic distortion tends to sound musically sympathetic, smooth, and bright in a constructive way.  Even harmonics are some number of octaves above the original note.  For example, for A at 440 Hz:

2nd harmonic:  880 Hz – up one octave

4th harmonic:  1,760 Hz – up two octaves

6th harmonic:  2,640 Hz – up three octaves, and so on.

Even harmonics sound more ‘musical’ because the original note is reproduced one or more octaves higher, like playing a note on a 12-string guitar.  As far as harmonic distortion that occurs in electronics is concerned, unless something is broken (intentionally or not) only the 2nd and 3rd harmonics are of great enough amplitude to have a noticeable effect on what you’re hearing.

On the other hand, odd harmonics create dissonance.  The 3rd odd harmonic is an octave plus a fifth above the fundamental, and creates a dissonance because, in any given chord, having the 5th of every note is not always appropriate to the chord.  A simple example, again using an ‘A’ chord:

A   => 3rd harmonic: 1,320 Hz – E above the A at 880 Hz (ok)

C# => 3rd harmonic: 1,660 Hz – G# (not ok for a simple A chord; it’s a major 7th)

E   => 3rd harmonic: 1,975 Hz – B (not ok for a simple A chord, it’s a 9th)

When you start adding in 5th, 7th or higher harmonics, it gets much worse.  For example, the 5th harmonic of A (440Hz) is 2200 Hz, which is not a note.  It falls between C and C# above A at 1,320 Hz.  If you do that for all the notes in a chord, you get sonic chaos.

That’s why heavy metal and other music using lots of distortion rely on power chords (Root + 5th) so often  – the odd harmonics of chords with additional notes rapidly turn it into noise.

 

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Cherry Sunburst LP Copy Rebuild

by admin Posted on November 24, 2017

At long last, I have gotten around to reworking my Les Paul copy guitar, which Linda bought for me in February of 1977 at Chimes Music on Walden Avenue in Cheektavegas. It cost $210, not a cheap guitar 40 years ago – which is probably why it is still around.  Just like Chimes, still on Walden Avenue!

All the switches and pots had become noisy and intermittent, and the pickups seemed to have weakened with age. All of the gold toned hardware had worn to the nickel, and the output jack had become intermittent and wobbly.

I took all of the hardware off and polished the finish with Novus Plastic Polish.  I can’t say enough good about Novus for any restoration project where you want to remove scratches and wear from finished and plastic lenses – I’ve been using it for over thirty years with consistent excellent results.

I scrubbed the fingerboard with Scrubbing Bubbles, which made quick work of four decades of finger oils and accumulated dust.

The finish has a number of dings where the finish has chipped off, and I decided to let that slide for now.

The frets have quite a bit of wear, but given the age of this guitar, and the changes in guitar technology over the years, it is probably not worth a complete teardown, refinish and re-fret.

I bought new CTS pots, and discovered the shafts are larger than the old ones.  This is a good time to revert to hand tools!  I expanded the diameter of the mounting holes with a reamer, so I could ease up to the required diameter carefully, without marring the finish.

 

The volume pots have DPDT switches, in case I want to do some future wiring modifications, and I bought .047mF “Orange Drop” capacitors to extend the tone a bit darker than the original.

A friend of mine donated a pair of Gibson pickups to the cause, and I bought replacement wiring, selector switch, bridge, tailpiece, and knobs.

The wiring was completely replaced, and wired to Gibson’s original Les Paul schematic from 1954.

lespaul2

I used vintage single conductor wire, with braided shield, and repaired the connections in the neck pickup.  While soldering the case back together (the original solder joints holding the base to the cover had failed), the wax began melting out of the pickup.  Fortunately, I realized what was happening and stopped applying the heat.

Hemostats are extremely useful for this kind of neurosurgery. (Grins)

171123_04647In the future, I would not use wiring that has an external braided shield, as it makes lead dress very critical.  If the wire bumps against anything unintended, you wind up with one or both pickups shorted to ground, because the entire outside of the wire is ground.

In this guitar, the control cavity is routed smaller than a Gibson, so the confines are a little more cramped, and lead dress is more difficult.

I joke that Camille just loooves when I take up the entire dining room table for one of these projects, but the whole thing only took about 6 hours over two days.  (I chose the dining room table because it is a warm, bone dry, flat space with good lighting.)

171123_04651

Et voilà! Ready to rock!

171124_04663

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Under Sink Protection

by admin Posted on July 23, 2017

That kitchen cabinet under the sink, where you keep your garbage and recycling? There’s always a little spillage that stains the bottom of the cabinet and can start rot.

So, that’s a good place for a piece of leftover linoleum, or half a dozen stick-on vinyl squares. It wipes up easily, and when it wears out, pull it out & toss it.

Mine is cut to fit perfectly, so I didn’t have to use glue.

170723_03232 w

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Dear Red States

by admin Posted on June 20, 2017

Dear Red States,

We’ve decided we’re leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we’re taking the other Blue States with us.

In case you aren’t aware, that includes Hawaii, Oregon, California, New Mexico, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.

To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma, and all the slave states. We get stem cell research and the best beaches.

We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood.

We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom.

We get Harvard. You get Ole’ Miss.

We get 85% of America’s venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama.

We get two-thirds of the tax revenue. You get to make the red states pay their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22% lower than the Christian Coalition’s, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms.

Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we’re going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they’re apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don’t care if you don’t show pictures of their children’s caskets coming home.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80% of the country’s fresh water, more than 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92% of the nation’s fresh fruit, 95% of America’s quality wines (you can serve French wines at state dinners), 90% of all cheese, 90% of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools, plus Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal Tech, and MIT.

With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88% of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92% of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100% of the tornadoes, 90% of the hurricanes, 99% of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson, and the University of Georgia.

We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.

Additionally, 38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62% believe life is sacred unless we’re discussing the death penalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a theory, 53% that Saddam was involved in 9/11, and 61% of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties.

By the way, we’re taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico.

Peace out,

Blue States

Source:  https://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/80714812.html?lang=en&cc=us

 

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Steve Scalise Shooting

by admin Posted on June 14, 2017

“ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A lone gunman who was said to be distraught over President Trump’s election opened fire on members of the Republican congressional baseball team at a practice field in this Washington suburb on Wednesday, using a rifle to shower the field with bullets that struck four people, including Steve Scalise, the majority whip of the House of Representatives.

Mr. Trump, in a televised statement from the White House, condemned the “very, very brutal assault” and said the gunman had died after a shootout with the police. Law enforcement authorities identified him as James T. Hodgkinson, 66, from Belleville, Ill., a suburb of St. Louis.

Two members of Mr. Scalise’s Capitol Police security detail were wounded as they exchanged fire with the gunman in what lawmakers described as several chaotic, terror-filled minutes that turned the baseball practice into an early-morning nightmare. One was wounded by gunfire, and one suffered other, minor injuries.”

Editorial

I have no sympathy for Steve Scalise. This is a man who voted against healthcare funding for 9/11 first responders, takes donations from the NRA, and is part of the GOP plan to gut Obamacare.

The man who shot him had no business owning a gun of any kind, much less the assault rifle he was armed with that day. Yet Scalise has opposed any sort of gun regulations, because he cares more about the wishes of the NRA and the fanatics he represents, instead of the thousands of Americans who are killed every year by gun violence.

Steve Scalise also has a comfortable relationship with white supremacists, and has described himself as “David Duke without the baggage.” He also represents the district that elected Duke to the Louisiana legislature, and addressed a Neo-Nazi convention in 2002.

The right-wing rhetoric for years has been a fever dream of conspiracies that President Obama was a secret Muslim intent on installing Sharia law and taking away people’s guns. Republican lawmakers, including Scalise, pushed this garbage at every opportunity and failed to call for calm and reason.

I’m obviously not condoning the actions of the man who shot Scalise, not by any stretch of the imagination.  But the GOP is far and away most responsible for creating the toxic political climate that led to this incident. Now the chickens of the partisan maelstrom the GOP and their media cronies created have come home to roost, and only now do they want to cry foul when one of their members takes a rifle round to the hip.

I hope that in between doses of morphine and surgeries, Congressman Scalise finds his humanity and decency that he buried in the swamp many years ago. Maybe this will be his “Road to Damascus” where he realizes that being an NRA stooge and a partisan hack isn’t worth it any longer. We can hope, but I’m not going to hold my breath.

My prediction is that he will project everything that he is onto the Democrats and blame the actions of one sick man on the Democratic Party, or the left in general. I sincerely doubt he will take any responsibility for having a very big hand in creating the very atmosphere that gave rise to this act.

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For Lord Peter K

by admin Posted on April 7, 2016

Sunset is an angel weeping
And night slowly draws her veil over the world
As I am drawn into the darkening forest
Among Tall trees reaching into glimmering twilight
Gently stroking the sky in silent supplication and longing
Still Rooted deep in the clay of history obscura;
The past omnipresent but frozen, a field of crumbling statues
Breathing but mute, watching and waiting for time.
It can’t control us anymore.

We judged the past unimportant to our friendship
Instead marveled at the present, dreamed of the future
Worshiped at the sanctuary of Reason and
Adored the beauty of mystery.

You were aware of your limits and confessed them freely
Using the ten words that define intellectual honesty:
“I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer to that question.”
The vapor trail of your intelligence
Was informed by this practical humility.
You gave me the space and grace to be real.

The moon’s borrowed light cools the trees singing
To the caressing scented wind with the sound of rushing water
Awash in hyacinth, jasmine and mesquite.
A puma stretches and growls in the distance,
A raptor sails overhead in silent, ardent pursuit.

Your wit spanned the chasm from the exalted to the puerile,
Full of mirth and mischief, groaners and quips,
“Get thee to a punnery!” I once told you.
Roaring laughter.

Every time we spoke of chemistry, you reminded me
Of things I had forgotten, and taught me things I did not know.
In exchange, I gave you comic relief:
“Ah, Michael, Michael, Michael. It pains me to say this,
but I think you are living proof that a little knowledge
(e.g. of chemistry) can be a dangerous thing.”

I am running onto the desert floor, vast and indifferent
Chasing a dim awareness, just out of reach
Chasing the Fisher King beneath a bridge of stars.

Somewhere among these petroglyphs
A songbird is perched on a wire fence
Unseen but in plain sight in the cool, living night
Forever uncertain, silently watching the wind pacing
Furtively through the tall grass of memory.

In your cadence I learned patience, while
You listened to understand, not merely reply.
Take a beat.
Allow thought to percolate through the bedrock
And emerge clean, precious and life affirming.

Fellow traveler, thought partner,
I carry you with me as a presence, like my skin
Close to my heart; you are a candle in the darkness
In this demon haunted world.
You are completely irreplaceable, and utterly necessary.

Whatever your shortcomings or frailties,
Whatever way you believed you fell short,
You were my friend, and I loved you.

I wake into our shared reality
Riven with loss, longing and loneliness
And stumble down the dark hallway
Stifling my sobbing
So I do not wake my wife.

I deeply hope it is true that
Deep within pain there is a map
That leads to wisdom.

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Peter M. Kendall, PhD

by admin Posted on April 1, 2016

usApril 18, 1948 – April 1, 2016
Born in Buffalo, New York
Resided in East Amherst, NY

KENDALL – PETER M.
April 1, 2016 at age 67, after a long battle with cancer.

Beloved husband and best friend of Teri Prentiss; devoted father of Andrew Kendall of California. The family will be present to receive friends on Friday from 3-8 PM at the (Amherst Chapel) AMIGONE FUNERAL HOME, INC., 5200 Sheridan Dr. (at Hopkins Rd.) where Funeral Services will immediately follow at 8:00 PM. Friends invited. In lieu of flowers, memorials in Peter’s name may be made to a charity of one’s choice. Share condolences at www.AMIGONE.com

Senior Scientist
The Electrosynthesis Co
1986 – 2013 (27 years)

Process Development Chemist
Syntex Pharmaceuticals
1979 – 1985 (6 years)Freeport, Bahamas

Postdoctoral Fellow
RTI International
1975 – 1979 (4 years)

State University of NY at Buffalo
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Organic Chemistry 1967 – 1973

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Chemistry 1963 – 1967

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Famous Last Words

by admin Posted on December 6, 2015

Camille: This would look great in our entry! Can you make this?

Me: Uhh, Yeah…

cyclone-console-table

The original (pictured) is made of steel, and is available for £12,592.00 from the UK.  I cant imagine what the shipping charges would be.

So, our very own “bespoke size and finish.”

And so it begins…

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Dr. Sirius’ Magical Pain Destroyer

by admin Posted on August 1, 2015

Ripe black cherries, whole cloves, cinnamon sticks, and blackstrap molasses lovingly infused four weeks in Absolut vodka.

Label 01 e

IMG_4465 eAbout the infusion.

Back east, a dear friend of mine used to make a sour cherry infusion with a pound of sugar, a pound of cherries, and a bottle of Stoli’s, parked loose-lidded in a dark closet for three months.  I had wanted to do this for a long time, and when my son, granddaughter and I came back from picking cherries with more than we could possibly eat and/or put up, I realized the universe had opened the door for me!

Camille and I pitted the cherries[1] put them in a large mason-style jar, and poured in 1.5 liters of Absolut.  Totally unplanned, I decided to throw in a small handful (approx 2 Tbsp) of whole cloves.  I swirled the mix every few days, and soon the cherries were bleached nearly white.  I stayed away from adding sugar, because if you want a drink to be sweet, use a mixer.  You can’t unsweeten something if you discover you overdid it.

About three weeks into the soak, I decided to take a small sample.

It was disastrous.

The taste of the cloves overwhelmed everything.  I strained everything out, added about a pound of fresh cherries, four cinnamon sticks and a tablespoon of blackstrap molasses to the mix, and stashed it back in the closet.  I also started two more jars of cherries in case I needed to use them to thin down the original clove infusion.

IMG_4609 e

In another week, another taste test.  Much better!  Still too clovey, but toned down enough that this infusion would be perfect for addition in Sangria,[2] or Apple Cider, and didn’t really need to be thinned with the additional cherry vodka I was making.

yummy

 

On a whim, I tried it with Blueberry Lemonade, which turned out to be one of the best drinks I’ve ever had!

 

 

About the label.

mirthThis entire project has been full of mirth, and it seemed to me that a patent medicine label would be the perfect announcement on gifted bottles.  I lifted most of the copy from 19th century patent medicines, which promise cures for things we no longer hear of – St. Vitus dance (now known as Sydenham’s chorea), for instance.

Not to mention the sexist references such as, “vapors,” and “Neuralgia in the Head.” One can only imagine what “The Woman’s Friend” actually meant in 1850.  Perhaps it meant relief from hysteria,[3] or, as the term was also used back then, an abortion potion.

“Dr. Sirius” is a nod to my favorite phrase from Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker, “Why so serious!??!”

Est. 1970 is a self-deprecating reference to my earnest but dodgy “experiments” in chemistry which began right about then, when I mixed household cleansers that I found under the bathroom sink.  I’m lucky to be alive on two counts.  First, mixing ammonia and bleach forms hydrochloric acid and releases chloramine vapor.[4]

Also, I started this fabulous and heedless experiment when my parents had gone out, and when I heard them climbing the stairs sooner than expected, I panicked and threw the whole mess out my bedroom window, which landed on the landlord’s concrete porch below.  That did not go undiscovered for very long, and I’m lucky my dad didn’t kill me.

 

[1] Pits are bitter, and will make the result bitter.  Also, removing them creates more surface area for the infusion.

[2] I always add about 1 to 1 ½ cups of vodka for every 750 ml of wine used in my Sangria mix.

[3] From Latin hystericus “of the womb,” from Greek hysterikos “of the womb, suffering in the womb,” from hystera “womb.” Originally defined as a neurotic condition peculiar to women and thought to be caused by a dysfunction of the uterus.

[4] The bleach decomposes to form hydrochloric acid, which reacts with ammonia to form toxic chloramine fumes.  First the hydrochloric acid is formed:

NaOCl  =>  NaOH + HOCl
2HOCl  =>  2HCl + O2

And then the ammonia and chlorine gas react to form chloramine, which is released as a vapor:

NaOCl + 2HCl  =>  Cl2 + NaCl + H2O
2NH3 + Cl2  =>  2NH2Cl

If ammonia is present in excess,toxic and potentially explosive liquid hydrazine may be formed. While impure hydrazine tends not to explode, it’s still toxic, plus it can boil and spray hot toxic liquid.

2NH3 + NaOCl  =>  N2H4 + NaCl + H2O

Of course, I understood absolutely none of this at age 10 or 11.

 

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Lander Discovers Organic Molecules On Comet 67p!

by admin Posted on July 30, 2015

Rosetta was launched by the ESA in 2004, and has sent back images from a couple of asteroids while on its way to 67p.  Comet 67p has a velocity of 84,000 mph, and scientists had no idea if the surface was as soft as cigarette ash, or as hard as granite.  Landing Rosetta was a lot like tossing a walnut onto a tabletop from 6 yards away.

Good luck with that.

comet-67p-february-3-2015Beyond the technical challenge of hitting such a small target accurately after traveling 4 billion miles over 10 years, I found the results of the chemical analysis to be amazing – apparently, the building blocks of life are present throughout the cosmos, and were possibly brought to earth by comets!

“Complex molecules that could be key building blocks of life, the daily rise and fall of temperature, and an assessment of the surface properties and internal structure of the comet are just some of the highlights of the first scientific analysis of the data returned by Rosetta’s lander Philae last November…

“After the first touchdown at Agilkia, the gas-sniffing instruments Ptolemy and COSAC analyzed samples entering the lander and determined the chemical composition of the comet’s gas and dust, important tracers of the raw materials present in the early Solar System.

“COSAC analyzed samples entering tubes at the bottom of the lander kicked up during the first touchdown, dominated by the volatile ingredients of ice-poor dust grains. This revealed a suite of 16 organic compounds comprising numerous carbon and nitrogen-rich compounds, including four compounds – methyl isocyanate, acetone, propionaldehyde and acetamide – that have never before been detected in comets.

Meanwhile, Ptolemy sampled ambient gas entering tubes at the top of the lander and detected the main components of coma gases – water vapor, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, along with smaller amounts of carbon-bearing organic compounds, including formaldehyde.

Importantly, some of these compounds detected by Ptolemy and COSAC play a key role in the prebiotic synthesis of amino acids, sugars and nucleobases: the ingredients for life. For example, formaldehyde is implicated in the formation of ribose, which ultimately features in molecules like DNA.

The existence of such complex molecules in a comet, a relic of the early Solar System, imply that chemical processes at work during that time could have played a key role in fostering the formation of prebiotic material.”

Source

A gif of images made during the landing of Rosetta
A view of the comet from Rosetta
Live comet data
Comet 67p from a distance
Images from Rosetta
More about Comet 67p

 

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