Revenge of the Sith Chemist

Mon 7 Nov Hey, China, Johnny Rivers is 63!
We seemed to have returned to some form of normalcy although Mon is still too thin. I spent most of the weekend on "Revenge of the Sith", the third installment of the six parts of "Star Wars". Finally, we get to see about twenty years before the original "A New Hope".

Tue 8 Nov
Back in 1976, I didn't have the models for the molecules in organic chemistry, and I needed them! I must have slid over the entire chapter on stereochemical reactions. Now I see the points of the problems and how they relate to the concepts! What was I doing then?

Wed 9 Nov
I brought my model of (S)-(+)-1-cholor-2-methylbutane. It was a simple example where an additional chlorination demonstrates all aspects of the chapter:two carbons at either end would not change the chiral center, another carbon would destroy the chirality, another carbon would generate a second chiral center, and the last would change the original chiral center into a racemic modification of entantiomers.

Thu 10 Nov
Tonight we have four speakers, and I'm presenting the Better Club series.

Sun 13 nov
Last night I began to read "The Whole World Was Watching" at part 2. Romaine Patterson gave me more information about Matthew Wayne Shepard than I think I want to know.
I suspected much of what Matt did in Denver, such as living off his parents while living alone. I also suspected his exploits, but not so much the drugs beyond marijuana, which I consider no better nor worse than tobacco.
The statement that Matt was HIV+ in June 1998 was somewhat disturbing, but it does explain much of the other stuff. I will have to modify some of what I have on the sites.