Newsflash!

March 11th, 2010 by LiqC

  Jean Fréchet of Berkeley is headed to the unctuous shores of the Red Sea, to lead research at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. On the other end of “how (not) to run oil-based economy” scale, president of Russian Academy of Sciences rightfully gets bashed for his lack of common sense, universally required for higher-rank positions. Forgot to add: the Nature editorial cites an online-only newspaper Gazeta.ru, which makes me proud again for the intertubes and for my crystallographer friend who writes a science column there.

  Scripps Research hires Donna Blackmond, the first woman of its chemistry department. In addition, there’s a rumor of an addition to Corey–Nicolaou–Baran faculty breed.

  LiqC gets married, moves to Orange County, works on his ACS talk and wonders if he’ll manage to pull this whole thing off. He struggles to go through the blogosphere himself and hence asks a question: is there going to be a blogo-get-together thing in San Francisco?

  Also… penis.

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42 Comments »

Comment by sam
2010-03-11 19:41:48

we should do a blogy meetup in sf. is there an ideal day/night?

Comment by LiqC
2010-03-11 21:00:31

No idea, I haven’t looked at the program yet. I’ll be there from Saturday night to Thursday morning.

 
Comment by mitch
2010-03-11 21:10:57

Yes, lets go for Monday at 6:00 pm, that way it is before sci-mix. Chevy’s is right near by and should be empty around that time, lets just meet-up in the bar area.

Comment by LiqC
2010-03-11 21:39:38

201 3rd Street – this one?
Sounds good. My talk is on Sunday, I should be ready to get in trouble after I get enough sleep on Monday. ;)

Comment by Rhenium
2010-03-12 11:24:08

Tuesday maybe instead? I have dinner with the dean Monday night…
Still, I’ll try to make it regardless of the eventual time, I’ll be there from Sunday to Thursday… ugh..

Oh and congrats on the move and the marriage. :)

Comment by Ψ*Ψ
2010-03-12 19:07:50

I wish I could be there! Can’t, though.

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Comment by sam
2010-03-18 02:10:07

can’t do monday. could do tuesday. someone tweet the final plan! #acs_sf

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Comment by sam
2010-03-20 00:58:37

now i can do monday. see you there!

 
 
 
 
 
 
Comment by Hap
2010-03-11 20:01:56

1) Congratulations on getting married. I don’t know about the Orange County thing, though.

2) I guess that whacking the hell out of your university system wasn’t going to have any bad repercussions, eh, CA? Whoops. As a secondary note, I guess Professors Blackmond and Barbas can now get together and discuss how much a certain other professor in Sweden sucks.

3) I don’t know what the Russian dude is smoking – if I want mediocre papers, I can read them in English. (There’s a lot of people producing them, after all). I don’t see why I should learn another character set to read more of them.

 
Comment by Noel
2010-03-11 20:24:57

The big Frechet move rumor had be milling around the department for as long as I was at Cal (~4 years ago). Looks like the other organic groups can finally take the leftover glassware that they had been lurking after for years.

Congrats on getting married!

Comment by LiqC
2010-03-11 20:56:52

Well he’s not exactly leaving Berkeley, is he? I hear he’s going to keep managing the lab remotely, as well as through aids aides.

 
 
Comment by milkshake
2010-03-11 21:45:05

Now that you are married I have this heartwarming joke for you:

A guy finishes his dinner, turns to wife and observes “You better put some clothes on, its time to go to pub.”
And she says, totally delighted “So I can really go out with you this time – and you will introduce me to your friends ?” And he replies “Nah, I am just turning the heating off”

 
Comment by Cobalt
Comment by LiqC
2010-03-12 00:36:24

Whoa. Beat me.

I’m not sure how I feel about fingering two test tubes and two tiny flasks with a Pasteur pipette held by a hand in a dirty shiny blurred glove.

 
Comment by el-sid
2010-03-17 10:29:28

Most research group websites are either too cluttered or quaintly old fashioned. This website is very well done.

 
 
Comment by Captain Skellett
2010-03-12 05:12:21

Congrats! How’s Orange County treating you? I have to admit that all my understanding of the area comes from The OC. So I’m assuming it’s all rich and fancy with all sorts of drama under the surface and a kid out of juvie who’s best friends with the nerd who gets with the popular girl.

Pay me out all you like. That was a good show.

Comment by LiqC
2010-03-12 12:04:54

It’s pretty neat. I can see why people would go retire there (we’re talking about South OC – Laguna Niguel and further down). We found a ridiculously good deal on housing – just under $1000 for 1 br, 1st month free. 13 mo lease though – stronger than marriage vows! ;)

Somehow we’ve got every store imaginable within a mile’s radius – we’re probably lucky to be in this spot of that centrally planned area.

Comment by Chelle
2010-03-12 14:43:34

I like to consider Orange County to be a black hole.

 
 
Comment by J-bone
2010-03-12 17:01:50

I’m assuming it’s all rich and fancy

Yes, this part is correct.

 
 
Comment by Uncle Al
2010-03-13 11:22:19

“Orange County”? Another day in Irvine, another day in Hell. No tree may cast shade in Irvine. No vehicle may pass through two consecutive traffic signals in Orange County. Driving by a stopped police or emergency vehicle flashing lights without slowing 20 mph and merging one lane away is an $800 fine, double in construction zones. The UC/Irvine Science Library horseshoe rotunda shelving 1100 current periodicals has been replaced with terminals. Serendipity has been assassinated.

Is it true that JACS Table of Contents graphics will be replaced with mandatory 3-D music videos running off circuitry in the binding? From “The Village Chemists,”

It’s fun to stay at the F-T-I-R.
It’s fun to stay at the F-T-I-R.

 
Comment by John Fetzer
2010-03-14 17:49:39

I was asked by someone on their search committee if I’d like to teach analytical there. Lucrative, but Saudi can be very desolate, physically and emotionally for a Westerner. Weekend forays to Bahrain for a beer just are not too enthusing.

Comment by LiqC
2010-03-15 14:58:04

It doesn’t seem that bad with respect to cultural restrictions. There’s no moral police on campus, for instance – women aren’t required to dress up. Even if you’ll have to go to another country for a beer, you sure will be able to afford it. Otherwise, seems like a nice science reserve on the beach.

 
 
Comment by krest17
2010-03-15 03:00:36

Congrats man, say also big Hello to your new wife :-) from myself and my wife, and … see you in SanFran, let’s have some beer together

 
Comment by krest17
2010-03-15 03:03:31

BTW, are you driving to SF?

 
Comment by Intrigued
2010-03-15 18:20:25

Hey I heard that the ACS meetings are great places to pick up chicks. Is that true?

Comment by J-bone
2010-03-16 11:36:53

At the fall conference in Boston they played a promotional video with a guy confirming this very fact.

“Grab that net and catch that beautiful butterfly!”

 
Comment by Ψ*Ψ
2010-03-16 15:42:16

only if you’re attractive/funny/nice/have some other redeeming quality. otherwise, you’re just that creepy dude we are mostly too nice to tell to fuck off…of course, that applies for picking up chicks ANYWHERE.
(and of course i am not too nice to tell anyone to fuck off)

Comment by anonymous
2010-03-16 23:58:03

only if you’re attractive/funny/nice/have some other redeeming quality

This stringent set of requirements (in particular the first one) eliminates 92% of chemists.

Comment by Ψ*Ψ
2010-03-17 00:11:28

that’s an “or”, not an “and” ;)
and clearly we are not looking at the same chemists!

 
Comment by excimer
2010-03-17 07:45:40

um, i politely beg to differ.

 
Comment by milkshake
2010-03-17 09:03:21

Here’s the fastest pickup line: “Hello there, my child, does this rag smell like chloroform to you?”

Comment by J-bone
2010-03-18 07:56:31

Ha ha! That’s one of my favorites. Nearly as classy as “Let me get up in them guts!”

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Comment by milkshake
2010-03-18 09:18:29

Even better is “I can make your pain go away, Clarice.”

 
 
Comment by Wavefunction
2010-03-18 12:28:19

LOL. Also, “Hi there, would you like to take a look at my poster titled ‘Expedient convergent synthesis of Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol)’?

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Comment by Ψ*Ψ
2010-03-18 12:36:21

see, now THAT definitely crossed the line into the creepy category!

 
Comment by Wavefunction
2010-03-18 13:22:54

Haha, true…chloroform and flunitrazepam should both be avoided in polite conversation if you are out seeking dates (as should zelnorm, but for a different reason). On an amusing note though, I wouldn’t be surprised if there actually is a paper or poster with that title (could be part of a general synthesis of benzodiazepines)!

 
Comment by milkshake
2010-03-18 14:59:37

“Lets have a drink together, I promise you wont feel a thing”

 
 
 
 
 
Comment by el-sid
2010-03-17 10:38:46

I’ll be wearing my advisor’s badge, so maybe the chicks will be impressed by my professorial credentials.

 
 
2010-03-16 16:53:27

wow, look at her CV!!

Comment by LiqC
2010-03-18 15:14:49

Trust me, I’ve got a P.H.D.?

Comment by milkshake
2010-03-18 17:31:11

“You look like my late sister – she was very beautiful too. Do you want to meet her?”

 
 
 
2010-03-20 01:22:55

[...] will be a chemistry-bloggers meetup on Monday at Chevy’s at 6PM. It sounds like Mitch and CBCers might be [...]

 
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