Month: November 2012

Remember, remember, this month is Movember

Posted on by doctorgalactic

Greetings everybody,

I’m afraid blogging has taken a temporary back seat while I’m prioritizing my final weeks working in the laboratory. I plan to start writing more consistently, and to work on plans regarding the future of RealTimeChem, in December.

For now I’d like to remind you that this month is Movember. A time when large numbers of manly men all over the UK and across the globe sprout facial hair with the aim of raising awareness of men’s health issues. In particular, the dual threat of prostate and testicular cancer.

You can find out more about the mission of Movember, here

It turns out that growing my facial hair is pretty much my one true superpower (why couldn’t it be telepathy?!), so I decided to take on the challenge this year and grow an impressive moustache. Anyone who follows me on twitter will already have seen the results so far and no doubt had a good chuckle!

I’ve been going for the 1980’s Tom Selleck as Magnum, P.I. look.

The Magnum PI moustache of glory. Revel in it people. Revel.

As you can see below, I think I’m doing quite well. I’ll just have to start solving crimes, driving fast cars and wearing loud Hawaiian shirts to complete the look.

[picture removed]

For Movember, I’m part of the team “I moustache you not to laugh at me” and we’re still hoping to raise £1000 if we can! So if you enjoy reading Doctor Galactic and The Lab Coat Cowboy, please give a few pounds or pennies to a good cause. You can find my page and the all important donate button at the link: here.

Thanks one and all.

–Doctor Galactic & The Lab Coat Cowboy–

24 favourite tweets from 24 hours of Real-Time Chemistry.

Posted on by doctorgalactic

The above banner was by @squidring on twitter. Check out her art here. Multi-talented! 

Chemistry was tweeted in real-time on the 7th November. It seems from feedback I’ve received that it was enjoyed. Obviously there is some room for improvement, so please, if you were disappointed don’t hesitate to tell me what you’d like to see in the next RealTimeChem event. As promised I’ve written this post in order to showcase my observations of the day and my favourite-ist tweets and pictures from the day.

It’s been a reeeeeeeally difficult task, as there was a LOT of excellent #RealTimeChem, so if you don’t see yourself mentioned here, I apologise and still think you were wonderful. All tweets and your time were appreciated.

In keeping with the theme of the event here are 24 of my favourite tweets:

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That was the longest day of your life.

Posted on by doctorgalactic

Image

So it is all over! RealTimeChem day has come and gone on Twitter and what a day! There was so much chemistry going on that I pretty much broke my twitter account and I scarcely know where to begin when it comes to summing it all up!

I’d like to thank everybody that got involved in tweeting about their daily life as a chemist, no matter how small the contribution. You all helped to make it a engaging and all round fun day. There are some tweeters who deserve some special gratitude and I’ll highlight those in the next blog post, which I’ll hopefully have done on Monday.

Additionally, I’ll be posting up some of my favourite tweets and pictures from the day once I’ve had time to process all of the awesomeness that occurred.

While #RealTimeChem day is over, the hash tag is still there for use whenever you feel like informing the everyone what you are up to in your personal chemistry world. I think its important in this modern age of social media in particular that chemistry continues to engage with the masses and chemists are able to pass on their knowledge, enthusiasm and general love of their subject onto others in an entertaining way.

Moreover, as a chemist myself it’s really great to see what other chemists in all areas of the profession are doing daily. To see what sticky mess a reaction has made. To see what instruments are being used. To see what articles are being written or read. Even to see how dirty all those fume hoods really are!

Hopefully you enjoyed RealTimeChem Day and it has helped you to feel a part of a substantial community united by our desire for scientific discovery (and twitter!). It’s certainly inspired me.

There will most likely be further RealTimeChem events in the future, but for now…

Mischief managed. 

-Doctor Galactic & The Lab Coat Cowboy-     

Today is #RealTimeChem day

Posted on by doctorgalactic

This is it!

This is #RealTimeChem day! Thank you to everybody who is planning to join in, I’m excited and looking forward to seeing all the wonderful chemistry you are up to. I hope that you all have a fun and informative time. Comment, laugh, discuss or be amazed at what the Chemistry community does in the average day.

In addition, Happy Birthday to Marie Curie!

Below I’m going to post all of the RealTimeChem posters I made during the run up for your viewing pleasure:

I’ll be tweeting as @doctor_galactic from my laboratory and re-tweeting #RealTimeChem via @RealTimeChem. It’s going to be a busy day balancing lab work and twitter duties!

However, this day isn’t about me, it’s about you and your chemistry. Let’s show the world what it means to us and by extension to them too.

-Doctor Galactic & The Lab Coat Cowboy-