Books That Changed My Life--Flattery Saves a Life

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Friday May 17, 2013 · 5:00 AM PDT

2013/05/17 · 05:00

I first read The Sword of Shannara when I was just 12 years old, at a point in my life where I was at a crossroads. The Sword of Shannara left me with a deep and unalloyed interest in Science Fiction and High Fantasy (or as others call it, Epic Fantasy). I have read many books since and before; all of them have impacted me to one extent or another, but if I had to pick a book that changed my life it was this book.

duhban

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Thursday March 21, 2013 · 4:55 PM PDT

2013/03/21 · 16:55

First my apologies this was supposed to be out far earlier but I delayed it first because I was trying to organize the format (which is still evolving more on that later) and then because work and a promise I had forgotten about got in the way.

Now for those that do not know this is a series started by Translator a long time member who sadly is no longer with us. I decided to carry on his work both in memoriam and to continue what he began.

Before we jump into today’s element I have bit of an update into the format of this effort. For now diaries will be done Sunday, Wednesday and Friday at about 8pm EST. Mike Kahlow has generously offered to handle Fridays' and for now I will handle the other days. I know others expressed interest in writing either as guest writers or perhaps on a more regular basis and for those what I will ask is reply to my tip jar (assuming I set this up right, if not I’ll make a comment specifically for you all to reply to) . When you do please let me know if you are more interested in guest writing or something more regular. If there is enough people interested I might just make this a rotating set of writers but we will have to play this by ear.

Last bit of house keeping, I will eventually get all the diaries of the previous elements together as I know at least one person asked I just haven’t had the time to organize that. Now please follow me below as we explore silicon

duhban

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Sunday March 17, 2013 · 5:00 PM PDT

2013/03/17 · 17:00

Good evening and happy Saint Patrick's Day!

First a quick introduction

Welcome to Brothers and Sisters, the weekly meetup for prayer* and community at Daily Kos. We put an asterisk on pray* to acknowledge that not everyone uses conventional religious language, but may want to share joys and concerns, or simply take solace in a meditative atmosphere. Anyone who comes in the spirit of mutual respect, warmth and healing is welcome.

duhban

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday March 10, 2013 · 4:03 PM PDT

2013/03/10 · 16:03

I have thought long and hard about this and honestly I'm more then a little nervous about this decision, but I think it is the right one and one I hope that the community will support. For those that do not know a long long time member of the daily kos community by the name of Translator had a series called 'Pique the Geek'. I've not had the opportunity to read every one of them but it seems like he wrote about everything and any thing in science. What I would consider his most ambitious project was to write about every element in the Periodic; sadly Translator is no longer with us.

That brings us to me, back in September I wrote what was intended to be a set of 3 diaries on Stoichiometry. I never finished it and that mostly had to do with the depth of the material and my time constraints at the time. I had already intended to go back to writing about chemistry when I found out about Translator.

I have decided, in tribute to both Translator and what seems to me was his mission to share knowledge with the community to finish his work. As such I will continue where he stopped with Aluminium today. For now I intend to do one element every Sunday and one every Monday night at the very least with the possibility of another element during the week. Though that will depend on time constraints.

So please join me below as we look at Aluminium one of the few elements I know of with 2 distinct pronunciations and one of the more interesting metals.

duhban

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Thursday January 31, 2013 · 10:15 PM PST

2013/01/31 · 22:15

Was reading the nightly news and came across this

A blast ripped through the Mexico City headquarters of state-run oil giant Petróleos Mexicanos Thursday, killing at least 25 people and injuring 101 more, according to the Associated Press.

source

Right now all reports I have read suggest that the cause of the blast is unknown but reportedly the blast started in the basement and from what I was reading from people talking about the live news feed the army is actually currently running away from the site. Which points to the site being dangerous and to me raises speculation about this being a bomb (much like how the 1990s WTC bombing)

Though in fairness from the article is appears that Mexico's state run oil company has had safety issues in the past

I'll try and update this as I learn more

Update 1:From Leap Year in the comments there's more over at the BBC

And bentliberal linked articles from the NY Times and LA Times

And just to clarify I am not saying it was or even could be a bomb as others have pointed out it's very early and the facts are still coming in. The comment about the WTC bombing was just my reaction when I heard that there was an explosion in the basement. For now the important thing is to save lives and collect the dead I am sure there will be an investigation and all that later

Brothers and Sisters: Change, Reflection and Rebirth

duhban

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Sunday January 27, 2013 · 5:00 PM PST

2013/01/27 · 17:00

Good evening all it is my great honor to be tonight's presenter for Brothers and Sisters

First a quick introduction

Welcome to Brothers and Sisters, the weekly meetup for prayer* and community at Daily Kos. We put an asterisk on pray* to acknowledge that not everyone uses conventional religious language, but may want to share joys and concerns, or simply take solace in a meditative atmosphere. Anyone who comes in the spirit of mutual respect, warmth and healing is welcome.

Tonight I want to talk about change, reflection and rebirth and what they mean to me; especially given the time of the year..... Read More

Popular Youtube Gun Enthusiast (FPS Russia) Found Dead

duhban

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Tuesday January 15, 2013 · 12:32 PM PST

2013/01/15 · 12:32

Hi all, I am not a huge author but wanted to share a bit of news that I at least have not seen here and likely will add fuel to the fire on the gun debate.

Keith Ratliff known as FPS Russia on youtube, a popular gun enthusiast was apparently found dead January 3rd. He apparently was found with several guns nearby but none were used.

I am not really sure what to add to this except it seems yet more evidence that more guns is clearly not the answer.

I am not really sure this is enough for a diary or has already been diaried and if it's not I'll delete this.

For those interested here's the link to the article I found

Brothers and Sisters: Samhainn

duhban

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Sunday October 28, 2012 · 4:23 PM PDT

2012/10/28 · 16:23

Hello all, you can call me duhban and tonight I wish to talk about Samhainn, what is and what it means to me.

duhban

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Tuesday September 11, 2012 · 3:06 AM PDT

2012/09/11 · 03:06

Hi, so I'm new here and wanting to contribute I decided to write about an area near and dear to me, chemistry. First a little about me, I hold a B.S. in Chemistry, my research was actually in computational methods in Chemistry but my current work is in Quality Control as an Analytical Chemist. Actually Analytical Chemistry has become one of my favorite areas of chemistry and one that I think people might enjoy.

Why? Well quite simply Analytical Chemistry is every where, it's used everywhere from food to law enforcement to soaps and detergents not to mention in research and pharmacy and much much more. Not only that but Analytical methods apply across all disciplines of chemistry and even into other areas.

Now then having thought long and hard about this I would like to introduce people to one of the oldest and most popular analytic methods (and yet at least in my opinion one of the easiest to understand), Stoichiometry.

**Disclaimer**

I am trying to write this for all levels and ranges so this first part might be review for some as it is about what Stoichiometry is and it's use in strong acid/base determination

duhban

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday September 05, 2012 · 3:55 PM PDT

2012/09/05 · 15:55

Good evening/morning (depending on when I get this finished). I have been a long time lurker here going back to finding this site in 2008 and being an on and off again vistor. This is my first diary and it's very overdue (mostly my own fault) and while this likely will get lost in the DNC week madness I want to get it out there because what I want to talk about actually relates to what is going on this week and because I felt the story important enough it actually got me to register here to share it.

First a little background, I recently graduated from a fairly prestigious university with a B.S. in Chemistry(well kinda, I'm having to fight with my philosophy professor), not ivy league but a university that has enough of a name that I was able to get a job within a month of graduating (with a lot of luck too). The catch to the job was I would have to move, not far but far enough to be away from friends, family and pretty much everything I had ever known. However luckily for me there's also a rail line between where I live now and where I grow up and given that my work hours are long and weird (being a chemist in a factory means the factory never closes and as low man I got nights) I decided that riding on the train right after work would be safer and easier then driving home to see friends and family when the mood struck me.

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Books That Changed My Life--Flattery Saves a Life

Chemistry A-Z, The Periodic Table-Silicon

Brothers and Sisters- Spring and Growing

Chemistry A-Z, The Periodic Table-Aluminium

Massive Explosion Rocks Mexico City

Brothers and Sisters: Change, Reflection and Rebirth

Popular Youtube Gun Enthusiast (FPS Russia) Found Dead

Brothers and Sisters: Samhainn

Weekly Chemistry: Stoichiometry Part 1

An overdue overview of my trip on Amtrak