09:46 – Barbara arrived home around 6:00 to loud acclaim. She thinks Colin didn’t miss her because he’s my dog. In a sense, that’s true. He’s the first-ever dog we’ve had that prefers my company to Barbara’s or my mother’s. And Border Collies generally are one-person dogs. But Colin likes Barbara, too. He made his displeasure at her absence clear the whole time she was gone, misbehaving and whining constantly. Border Collies think they’re in charge of almost everything, but there are exceptions that they concede are their humans’ responsibility. One of those things I’m responsible for is making Barbara come home when she’s supposed to. And Colin made it quite clear while Barbara was gone that I was failing in my responsibility.
I didn’t get any chemistry kits built yesterday, but I got a good start on the next batch of 30. Those are close enough to complete that I can quickly assemble one or a few as needed. At worst, there might be a one-day shipping delay. I’m going to print up another 60 sets of labels for the biology kits and 60 for the chemistry kits. Labeling and filling bottles is the most time-consuming part of building the kits, so we’ll be doing that every spare moment.
17:24 – I was just looking around Netflix streaming for something new to watch when I came across Primeval, a British show. It’s kind of a nature show, set contemporaneously, but with dinosaurs trying to eat the scientists. I watched only the first few minutes of the first episode, but I kept thinking that what these guys need is my .460 Weatherby Magnum, with armor-piercing bullets. The .460 with standard loads delivers 8,000+ foot-pounds at the muzzle, more than the .600 Nitro Express. It’s also a bitch to shoot, with free recoil of 100+ foot-pounds force. That’s about five times the recoil impulse of a typical .30-06 rifle, and more than three times a 12-gauge magnum with heavy loads. Not something you’d want one of the girl scientists on this show trying to shoot. Of course, it’ll also shoot through an elephant lengthwise, literally, as long as you don’t mind paying $14 per round.