All entries for March 2006

Shave Me!

I dislike shaving adverts.

Every time a new razor is released, we get a startling insight into Wilkinson Sword's development department.

"Howard! How do we make our next razor BETTER!?"
"Erm.. I.. We..."
"HOW, HOWARD!? HOW!?!?"
"Aaargh, Stick another blade on it!?"
"Good work, Howard! My wife baked you a special pie, I've been saving it for now! It's in your car!"
"How did you get into my car.."

You get the impression.

However, I've given this some thought. And I think I've saved Wilkinson Sword tons of R&D time and money. And possibly advanced shaving technology by about 10 years:

You can guess the advert too. LESS STROKES, LESS IRRITATION. Works by scaring the shit out of your face! The hair just falls out!

Retails at a reasonable price. Replacement heads cost more than a small car.

Howard would be proud.

: 21 Mar 2006 20:27 |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Micralorean?

I'm the first to admit I don't drive a particularly masculine car. But my Micra gets me from A to B (usually via F) and doesn't drink petrol like it's going to run out in the next 50 years.

However, via the wonder of my Photoshopping skills and a vast amount of free time on my hands, great things are possible..

So if anybody wants to give me the plans for a 1984 Delorean and a welding torch, I can start work.

I'll just have to remember to drive it below 88mph.

: 09 Mar 2006 15:27 |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

The Perils of Inorganic Labs

So, as many second year chemists will know, Ferrocene is a lovely orange powder that smells of diesel.

It looks something like this:

However, two of my associates managed to.. not.. make.. this.
I will of course protect their identities so I shall simply refer to them as "Paul Brooks" and "Mike O'Connell"

In a lab manual, when it says "wash with 2×25ml 2M HCl", you should probably listen to the manual and do that. "Paul" and "Mike" didn't.. The resulting separating funnel–based explosion could be seen from space.

Do bear in mind that the entire fume hood looked like the above picture, but "Paul" and "Mike" are both men of short stature and so couldnt reach the roof to clean it.

Returning to what ferrocene should look like.. See those lovely orange crystals I showed you above? (Which were infact prepared by a master chemist..)

This is what "Paul" and "Mike" managed to salvage from their experiment:

Nice Work Boys!

Edit: Have since been informed by Jon Rourke that this blue stuff is Ferrocinium! So that's a positive result. Har har.

: 03 Mar 2006 01:31 |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem