09:09 – We now have just about everything we need on hand to make up batches of 15 each of the internationalized chemistry kits and biology kits. Well, other than work space. My work tables are currently piled high with bins and bags of chemical bottles and various miscellany. I need to get those relocated to the inventory shelves before I’ll have space to build kits.
We also have just about everything we need on hand to make up 30 more forensic science kits. The only exception is Kastle-Meyer reagent, which I’ve been making up frequently in small batches. Because KM reagent is by design unstable, we seal the bottles under an inert atmosphere and refrigerate them. When we ship a forensic science kit, we pull a bottle from the refrigerator and stick it in the box just before shipping. When I made up a batch a year or so ago, I pulled one bottle and set it aside unrefrigerated and without the inert atmosphere for later testing. I think I’ll open that bottle soon and check it. If it’s still good, I may start making up larger batches of KM reagent, at least a couple months’ supply.
Come to think of it, I don’t really need to test it. All I need to do is look at it. Fresh KM reagent is a straw yellow color. Oxidized (spoiled) KM reagent turns dark reddish brown. If the liquid in that year-old bottle is still pale yellow, I’ll feel comfortable doing larger batches of KM. I want at least a one-year shelf life. If the stuff that wasn’t covered with an inert atmosphere and wasn’t refrigerated is still good, that won’t be a problem. Using the inert atmosphere and refrigerating the reagent should extend its shelf life by at least a factor of four.
14:20 – UPS just showed up with the Canon HD Camcorder. It’s charging now. Even though I knew the dimensions–2.1×2.2×4.6″ or 5.3×5.7×11.6 cm–I was still surprised how small it is. Now to figure out how to get video files off it and how to edit them. It has a USB port, so presumably it’ll be recognized as a USB mass storage device. If not, I’ll just use a card reader. It records in AVCHD or MP4. I’m not sure I have an editor that’ll work with either one, but worst case I’ll use ffmpeg to convert it to a raw format, edit it, and save it as MP4, QT, or whatever.
Check this from today’s LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-science-standards-20130710,0,7137766.story
“California to weigh science standards stressing experimentation”
Your tax dollars at work. I feel sorry for the community when Zimmerman is found not guilty. I hope the cops can contain the rioting. I wonder if Sharpton will show up for the verdict, or pussy out.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/07/10/doj-provided-security-for-anti-zimmerman-protests/
The way things have been going I would not be surprised to see the cops standing by and doing nothing while the usual suspects riot and destroy property and attack people, and we all know which is which, don’t we? I guess it depends on how violent it gets; bad enough and maybe we’ll see a replay of tanks and the airborne divisions rolling into town and firing .50 cal rounds at snipers inside buildings while said buildings go up in smoke. Fun times from the Glorious Sixties that many of us remember all too well.
How great was the police response in South Central after the Rodney King caper?
I am baffled. Why would you go from MP4 to raw to MP4? It seems like the never ending story to me.
Forget it. It is the editing phase.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-11/judge-says-apple-conspired-to-raise-prices-on-ebooks/4812930
Apple conspiring to rip off customers? Surely not…
You know, Robert, if you were a real Mad Scientist, you’d warp the laws of nature to create some more room for your work.
And on that topic, when are we going to see Illustrated Guide to Home Abiogenesis Experiments: All Lab, No Lecture or Illustrated Guide to Home Wormhole Experiments: All Lab, No Lecture?
It just now occurred to me that if Bob and Jerry got together on a major project involving WMD, with the team efforts clearly available in this group, there could be…HELL to pay!
I wonder if it has occurred to anyone else….
Me? I’d do a bit of security for the project, some marketing, maybe some fund-raising, host a BBQ or two up here, assuming we all aren’t washed away into the St. Lawrence…
You mean something like the Tardis? It would get a bit confusing around here. We would then have to stop calling Robert Bruce Thompson Bob and start calling him Who…
Fund raising should be no problem. Kickstarter! “At the $50,000 contribution level, you will receive a man-portable death ray.”
It just now occurred to me that if Bob and Jerry got together on a major project involving WMD
Thanks. You just put us all on the NSA, CIA, FBI, FAA, Homeland Security and Barney Fife’s watch list. I will never be able to get on a plane again.
You assume too much competence on behalf of the 3 letter entities. They’ll put every other person with your first and last name on the list because of this. Somehow they’ll leave you off.
My wife and I moved four years ago, so the 3 letter entities will probably put the two guys in our old zip code with the same first and last name as me on the watchlist instead of me. Although OFD really needs to learn to watch what he says in public if he wants a job requiring a security clearance.
We’re all on various lists already anyway. And apparently jobs like dogcatcher and fast-food server now require security clearances. Except for illegal immigrants, of course.