Patrick Thomson

Seriously considering printing up a custom shirt for @vicephec.bsky.social that just says "Do your SFHEA already", figure I'll probably end up Orient Expressed by about 25% of the delegates.

The @advancehe.bsky.social awards are out - congrats to new chemistry #NationalTeachingFellow @drkevinmorgan.bsky.social ! And recognition for @uni-of-warwick.bsky.social "We are Chemistry" team in the #CATE.

A snippet of an editorial trace document, showing the word outwith has been replaced by the word outside

With the decline of paper money and the "I'll have you know it's legal tender" conversation, us Scots need a new friction to export, so once again I find myself saying "it's a real word, albeit rarely used outwith Scotland"

In about ten years time, any universities depending on international students from China is going to start seeing this come through as well.

So pleased that Taskmaster has added "Jason Mantzoukas, chaotic good" to the pantheon of positive male role models in media (alongside the entirety of the Fellowship, ofc). No longer am I forced to choose between a natural sprinter and a vegetable thief.

I suppose there's a bit less kicking and screaming in Canada because they only got the one math, but we have to teach all of the several and many maths at the same time.

Haunted by the spirit of eccentric 19th-century tobacco merchant whims, rather than ghosts.

As well as the official @vicephec.bsky.social satellites, if anyone's around early and likes weird underground tourism, I'm going t'Williamson Tunnels at 11am. Maybe a few spaces left? williamsontunnels.com/visit-the-tu...

Inspired by the truly wild writeup here: www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama...

Happy Benzday! Year! Something.

Wonderful! On the higher education pedagogy side, the UK and Ireland work closely together so you'll get to know lots of wonderful people on our side of the pond. When you swing by TCD, check in with @drjohnodonoghue.bsky.social for lots of Ireland-specific wonderful stuff!

I hate this, more please

Two weeks until abstract submissions for #ViCEPHEC25 close on Friday May 9th!

Available formats: Talks, Lightning Talks, Workshops, Posters, Lab Sessions.

Email vicephec25@liverpool.ac.uk if you need to ask questions before submitting through the portal. forms.microsoft.com/Pages/Respon...

Can’t wait to get into the lab today and test out our latest Eco burner

Yes! I've been comparing AI to a calculator for years. Why do we still learn maths the hard way?

"A.I.’s most revolutionary potential is helping experts apply their expertise better and faster. But for that to work, there has to be experts."

Teaching lab chemist types, 100% cotton or polycotton blend for teaching-specific lab coats? I'm aware of the flammability profiles, but I have a feeling that it's not a trivial decision due to durability, splash permeation, and low/no use of flame in UG teaching.

#LTHEchat 323: Integrating Study Skills into the Curriculum Led by Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel (@drckt.bsky.social) and Emily Nordmann (@emilynordmann.bsky.social)  A goal for students in Higher Education is to acquire knowledge and apply it to solve probl…

Join us Wednesday 19 March at 8pm GMT for #LTHEchat to discuss integrating study skills into the curriculum led by Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel @drckt.bsky.social and Emily Nordmann @emilynordmann.bsky.social

lthechat.com/2025/03/16/l...

Good day for nanotechnologists, who will be able to find a use for all those incredibly tiny violins. What did they expect to happen?

AI should be treated like a school-issue calculator, and subject to the same question: why do we still learn to do it the hard way if these tools exist?

When British racists elected a swivel-eyed moron that tanked the economy, a lettuce took care of it within a few months. Curious to see how it pans out over the pond.

A partly-eaten bagel underneath a university of Strathclyde logo.

It's the most wonderful time of the year [introductory aromatics for year 2, with a demonstration that doubles as lunch afterwards]

I very much hope the Royal Society make some kind of public statement about the issues raised in Kit's important thread. I had some recent personal success relating to the RS but I won't be able to give it any publicity until they clarify their position.

Ooh, "Chemistry Education Research and Practice" is up as well? Notable absence from some starter packs a while back.

There aren't that many notes, surely we were gonna run out of melodies at some point anyway.

A book, titled "onscreen chemistry"

Look what arrived! A certain @rsc.org book by @drjohnodonoghue.bsky.social

Inexperienced operators, even!

Heptane was my first thought; this is for teaching labs (introduced operators and no FC) so the less "volatile" the better. Combination of vapour pressure, BP, enthalpy of evaporation, kinetics, etc..

organic lab skitter, anyone got a go-to bench safe replacement for hexane for normal-phase TLC? Considering octane but assume the volatility/viscosity will muck things up a lot.

Spend long enough in a teaching post and you end up taking to smartness like a penguin takes to flight

George Clooney with ashort grey beard in a suit, looking dapper

Joe Wilkinson in a suit, looking like a scruffier Slavoj Žižek

How I hoped I'd look in a suit vs how I actually look:

$100/night hotel: hi. we have you for 3 nights. checkout’s whenever. enjoy the 24 hour gym & pool that smell like chlorine & feet, in that order. unlimited breakfast - you can eat costco sausages til you die for all we care

$275/night hotel: OHHH, so his royal highness expects FREE WIFI, does he???