Will and Beyond

Conquering the C&O Canal

will@willandbeyond.com (will) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:45:00 EST

About a month ago, Sudeep drove Minghao and I up to Cumberland, MD, where we began our 184.5 mile bike journey. We rode along the whole path in 2 days, through rain, mud, flat tires, and Waffle House stops.

Check out the Flickr set for a full photo chronicle of our journey. We stayed at a Holiday Inn friday night, then started our journey on Saturday morning. We biked 85.5 miles that day, of which, at least 45 miles were filled with rain. This of course made the journey on Sunday ...
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Nobel Roundup: The Ribosome?

will@willandbeyond.com (will) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:48:46 EST

And the Nobel Prize in Biology goes to... oh we don't have one of those? I guess let's give them chemistry's.

Not knocking the work, just questioning it's chemistriness. (Yep, it's a word.) Various news/opinions from places I read regularly:

Nobelprize.org
NYTimes
Fetzthechemist
The Chem Blog
The Skeptical Chymist
infiniflux
Carbon-based Curiosities
The Scientific Activist
ChemCafe
Chemistry Blog
Everyday Scientist

A...
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Progress on AIDS Vaccine

will@willandbeyond.com (will) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:22:01 EST

I can't really comment on much of the science here, but just reporting on some great news. First heard about it through the NYTimes, and it was also covered on the Curious Wavefunction.

Some progress has actually been made in creating an AIDS vaccine. A combination of two vaccines were used, and showed a 31.2% success rate, which is better than the 0% which has been achieved in the past.

Each of the two vaccines used by themselves were shown to be ineffective, but because th...
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Abstract of the Day: Embracing the Sandwich

will@willandbeyond.com (will) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:59:42 EST

Working with compounds that are called sandwich complexes must produce a giggle every now and then, and probably make you hungrier than most chemistry. When you have an absurd abstract image like this, it's taking it to a whole new level:

How often do you get to put a bear (I think it is at least...) and a bow tie into a chemistry paper.

[Image: Inorganic Chemistry]

Sandwich complexes
Yummy transition metals
A chemical lunch

Godspeed.

Monkeys Are Awesome

will@willandbeyond.com (will) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:51:01 EST

Have you ever had a monkey on you? If not, you're really missing out. Vacation was awesome, and this was definitely one of the highlights. More pictures here. (Not yet complete, I still have another batch or two to put up.)

Monkeys are awesome.
Monkeys are really awesome.
Monkeys are awesome.

Godspeed.

ACS Wrapup

will@willandbeyond.com (will) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:35:03 EST

This week was my first real conference, the Fall 2009 National ACS Meeting. It was a lot of fun, but I'm definitely burnt out on talks; I went to 36. (listed at the end)

For the most part, talks were at the Walter Washington convention center, but some talks such as the colloids section were farther away, at places like the Ronald Reagan building. The shuttle service between building didn't run between 11am-4pm, because that makes a lot of sense... It would be okay if you were goi...
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Evil Sunday Lab

will@willandbeyond.com (will) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:59:55 EST

Working on Sunday brings nothing but pain. Pain and broken mugs.

Poor mug, rest in peace
Well, more like many pieces
A heterograph?^[1]

[1]: I always thought two words that sounded the same were called homonyms, but when I went to make sure, Wikipedia told me otherwise. Heterograph? Never learned that one in school.

Godspeed.

Abstract of the Day: Twice the Fun

will@willandbeyond.com (will) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:10:00 EST

After browsing through the journals in my RSS reader, I came across an abstract image from Inorg. Chem. that had a dinosaur in it. I assumed that it would be the winner hands-down. I mean, c'mon they overlaid a pterodactyl on their molecule!

However, Nano Letters blew me away:

I will leave it at that. Your move, CBC.

[Image: Inorganic Chemistry]
[Image: Nano Letters]

Abstract images
Fun for the whole family
And for dinosaurs

Godspeed.

DC Metro vs NYC Subway

will@willandbeyond.com (will) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:47:13 EST

This isn't so much as a list of pros and cons of the two systems, more like lots of complaining about the DC Metro.^[1]

24 hour vs. Not: There isn't even much of a debate here, obviously having a 24 hour system is better than not. The DC system closes around midnight on weekdays and 3am on weekends. I'm not a huge late-night partier, but this has definitely inconvenienced me more than once. Maybe because they clean the whole system at night, since the DC ...
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Chichen Itza

will@willandbeyond.com (will) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 09:08:04 EST

A few weeks ago when I was in Mexico, Dianna and I visited Chichen Itza, a site with lots of Mayan ruins. It was all very big and awesome looking; this particular site has the biggest Mayan pyramid: El Castillo.

The view was excellent, and it was really fun to see all of that stuff, but I was really excited to climb up. Unfortunately, as of less than a year ago, they no longer allow people to climb them; everything is roped off. I heard that they used to have ambulances on site bec...
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