Well-tarred Flask 🇮🇹🇺🇦🇨🇦
@chemprofcramer.bsky.social
UMN ChemProf Emeritus. Army vet. MOOC vet. Cancer vet. Dad of 3(human)/2(feline). Chicagoan. Armed with a keyboard and eerily immune to shame. NOT speaking for UL Research Institutes here.
Pinned
I'm Chris. I'm a theoretical chemist who, as an academic, also took an early interest in online education. Traveling the admin path, I was privileged to serve as VPR for UMN for 3 yrs. Now I'm a higher-ed expat in Chicago thrilled to serve as CRO for non-profit UL Research Institutes. #SafetyScience
does anyone else get totally maudlin on overseas airplane flights? ponder the fleeting character of our existence and the good fortune of one's most meaningful relationships? weep at the fragility of it all? (I'd like to believe it's oxygen deprivation, as opposed to just me...)
November 15, 2025 at 4:17 AM
does anyone else get totally maudlin on overseas airplane flights? ponder the fleeting character of our existence and the good fortune of one's most meaningful relationships? weep at the fragility of it all? (I'd like to believe it's oxygen deprivation, as opposed to just me...)
Reposted by Well-tarred Flask 🇮🇹🇺🇦🇨🇦
Oh wow @reuters.com got the photo here:
November 14, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Oh wow @reuters.com got the photo here:
Reposted by Well-tarred Flask 🇮🇹🇺🇦🇨🇦
![[Scene is a kitchen - a middle aged woman called JANET is boiling peas at the stove. A younger more colourfully dressed woman named LIZ approached her.]
JANET:
Ugh...
LIZ:
What's up?
JANET:
I am so bored of cooking peas!
LIZ:
Have you tried...
AI peas?
JANET:
AI peas?
LIZ:
They're peas with AI!
[Liz holds up to us a packet of peas labelled: Pea-i AI - Peas with AI].
LIZ:
Al-powered peas harness the potential of your peas
JANET:
What
LIZ [Now a voiceover as we cut to a whizzy technology diagram of peas all connected by meaningless dotted lines]
Why not take your peas to the next level with Al Peas' new Al tools to power your peas?
[Show a techno diagram of a pea with a label reading 'AI' pointing to a random zone in it]
LIZ:
Each pea has Al in a way we haven't quite worked out yet but it's fine
[Show Janet and Liz now in a Matrix-style world of peas]
LIZ:
With Al peas you can supercharge productivity and make AI work for your peas!
JANET:
What
LIZ:
Shut up
LIZ:
Our game-changing Pea-Al gives you the freedom to unlock the potential of the power of the future of your peas workflow
From opening the bag of peas
to boiling the peas
to eating the peas
To spending millions on adding Al to the peas and then having to work out what that even means.
JANET:
Is it really necessary to-
LIZ [Grabbing Janet by the collar]:
THE PEAS HAVE GOT AI, JANET
[Cut to an advert ending screen, with the bag of peas and the slogan:
AI PEAS: Just 'Peas' for god's sake buy the AI peas.
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreiayqa37f7kik7l7s7fbtfp2sir5ckb662ry2lylinyjrfa2rkvvka@jpeg)
No to MONOACID??
#SpellingBee woes...
#SpellingBee woes...
November 13, 2025 at 10:45 AM
No to MONOACID??
#SpellingBee woes...
#SpellingBee woes...
Oh, c'mon, no to BIVARIANT?? 🤬 #SpellingBee
November 12, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Oh, c'mon, no to BIVARIANT?? 🤬 #SpellingBee
Reposted by Well-tarred Flask 🇮🇹🇺🇦🇨🇦
Think about buying a car, a fun, stress-free negotiating process that everybody loves. Now imagine that if you don’t buy a car you die and if you buy the wrong car you also die
Trump: "I want the money to go into an account for people where they buy their own health insurance. It's so good. The insurance will be better. It'll cost less. Everybody is gonna be happy. They're gonna feel like entrepreneurs. They're actually able to go out & negotiate their own insurance"
November 11, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Think about buying a car, a fun, stress-free negotiating process that everybody loves. Now imagine that if you don’t buy a car you die and if you buy the wrong car you also die
Reposted by Well-tarred Flask 🇮🇹🇺🇦🇨🇦
there's a moment in PARADISE LOST where Satan arrives in Eden and realizes Hell isn't a place; it's a thing he carries within him and it'll follow him wherever he goes. and i think about that when i see these awful rich men whose monstrous wealth has enriched them not at all
“whatever club he’s invited to join has been devalued by the invitation”
November 11, 2025 at 6:31 AM
there's a moment in PARADISE LOST where Satan arrives in Eden and realizes Hell isn't a place; it's a thing he carries within him and it'll follow him wherever he goes. and i think about that when i see these awful rich men whose monstrous wealth has enriched them not at all
Stella, purring under my left arm on the couch in our usual morning coffee ritual, deeply, DEEPLY offended by today's Phrazle...
#CatSky #SpoilerAlert
#CatSky #SpoilerAlert
November 11, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Stella, purring under my left arm on the couch in our usual morning coffee ritual, deeply, DEEPLY offended by today's Phrazle...
#CatSky #SpoilerAlert
#CatSky #SpoilerAlert
I had no idea that those goofy things are called "mobile lounges"
A mobile lounge carrying passengers crashed at Washington Dulles International Airport on Monday, injuring more than a dozen people and causing some damage to the terminal.
Mobile Lounge Crashes at Dulles Airport, Causing Injuries and Damage
More than a dozen people were hurt and will be evaluated at a hospital. Air travel has been hampered in recent days by the government shutdown.
nyti.ms
November 11, 2025 at 12:31 AM
I had no idea that those goofy things are called "mobile lounges"
Reposted by Well-tarred Flask 🇮🇹🇺🇦🇨🇦
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 9:23 AM
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
Reposted by Well-tarred Flask 🇮🇹🇺🇦🇨🇦
every generation loves Rumours. it’s fucking Rumours
November 9, 2025 at 2:55 AM
every generation loves Rumours. it’s fucking Rumours
Reposted by Well-tarred Flask 🇮🇹🇺🇦🇨🇦
Zohran Mamdani was the first NYC mayoral candidate to win more than one million votes since John Lindsay in 1969. Plus Zohran won 70% of voters under 45. Yes 70%! Yet we see some trying to gaslight us into saying Zohran did not win a mandate. What Zohran did is what a mandate looks like!
November 6, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Zohran Mamdani was the first NYC mayoral candidate to win more than one million votes since John Lindsay in 1969. Plus Zohran won 70% of voters under 45. Yes 70%! Yet we see some trying to gaslight us into saying Zohran did not win a mandate. What Zohran did is what a mandate looks like!
Reposted by Well-tarred Flask 🇮🇹🇺🇦🇨🇦
CARTOON OF THE DAY
(From @mluckovichajc)
(From @mluckovichajc)
November 7, 2025 at 2:01 AM
CARTOON OF THE DAY
(From @mluckovichajc)
(From @mluckovichajc)
sooooo... awesome, then?
I should have known better than to click on this 🤦🏻♀️
“The pathology in our institutions known as wokeness is distinctively feminine and feminized. And that, in a very literal sense, our institutions have gone woke because there are more women in them than there used to be.”
“The pathology in our institutions known as wokeness is distinctively feminine and feminized. And that, in a very literal sense, our institutions have gone woke because there are more women in them than there used to be.”
November 6, 2025 at 1:59 PM
sooooo... awesome, then?
Reposted by Well-tarred Flask 🇮🇹🇺🇦🇨🇦
🚨 PhD Opportunity 🚨 🔁 Reposts appreciated!
My group at @manchester.ac.uk is recruiting a 3.5-year PhD student to explore Sb & Bi pincer complexes for metallomimetic chemistry.
🔬 Fully funded (UK only)
📍 Manchester
🧪 Synthetic inorganic chemistry
Apply 👉 tinyurl.com/yrjkvha9
My group at @manchester.ac.uk is recruiting a 3.5-year PhD student to explore Sb & Bi pincer complexes for metallomimetic chemistry.
🔬 Fully funded (UK only)
📍 Manchester
🧪 Synthetic inorganic chemistry
Apply 👉 tinyurl.com/yrjkvha9
Sustainable Catalysis with Sb and Bi Pincer Complexes at The University of Manchester on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Sustainable Catalysis with Sb and Bi Pincer Complexes at The University of Manchester, listed on FindAPhD.com
tinyurl.com
November 5, 2025 at 12:54 PM
🚨 PhD Opportunity 🚨 🔁 Reposts appreciated!
My group at @manchester.ac.uk is recruiting a 3.5-year PhD student to explore Sb & Bi pincer complexes for metallomimetic chemistry.
🔬 Fully funded (UK only)
📍 Manchester
🧪 Synthetic inorganic chemistry
Apply 👉 tinyurl.com/yrjkvha9
My group at @manchester.ac.uk is recruiting a 3.5-year PhD student to explore Sb & Bi pincer complexes for metallomimetic chemistry.
🔬 Fully funded (UK only)
📍 Manchester
🧪 Synthetic inorganic chemistry
Apply 👉 tinyurl.com/yrjkvha9
Reposted by Well-tarred Flask 🇮🇹🇺🇦🇨🇦
Getting new details on this now:
As the arrest unfolded, teachers pleaded with the agents telling them the teacher had a work permit. The agents went into multiple rooms looking for teachers while children were present. One teacher hid with a child in her care while the agents stormed the facility.
As the arrest unfolded, teachers pleaded with the agents telling them the teacher had a work permit. The agents went into multiple rooms looking for teachers while children were present. One teacher hid with a child in her care while the agents stormed the facility.
Raids inside day cares had been off limits until this year, when, on his first day in office, President Donald Trump removed that protection.
The arrest reportedly took place in front of children.
19thnews.org/2025/11/chil...
The arrest reportedly took place in front of children.
19thnews.org/2025/11/chil...
‘I have papers’: Child care worker detained by ICE officers inside a Chicago day care
Raids inside day cares had been off limits until this year, when, on his first day in office, President Donald Trump removed that protection.
19thnews.org
November 5, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Getting new details on this now:
As the arrest unfolded, teachers pleaded with the agents telling them the teacher had a work permit. The agents went into multiple rooms looking for teachers while children were present. One teacher hid with a child in her care while the agents stormed the facility.
As the arrest unfolded, teachers pleaded with the agents telling them the teacher had a work permit. The agents went into multiple rooms looking for teachers while children were present. One teacher hid with a child in her care while the agents stormed the facility.
Reposted by Well-tarred Flask 🇮🇹🇺🇦🇨🇦
“They came into the building understanding it was a daycare. They did not have a warrant. It is a violation of our rights. It is a violation of these children’s rights. They are terrorizing our community.”
Trump’s ICE goons raided a damn daycare.
Trump’s ICE goons raided a damn daycare.
November 5, 2025 at 11:33 PM
“They came into the building understanding it was a daycare. They did not have a warrant. It is a violation of our rights. It is a violation of these children’s rights. They are terrorizing our community.”
Trump’s ICE goons raided a damn daycare.
Trump’s ICE goons raided a damn daycare.
Reposted by Well-tarred Flask 🇮🇹🇺🇦🇨🇦
The Illinois legislature had passed the “Illinois Bivens Act,” allowing people to sue ICE agents in state court. Just waiting for Pritzker’s signature.
dailynorthwestern.com/2025/11/03/c...
dailynorthwestern.com/2025/11/03/c...
November 5, 2025 at 6:46 AM
The Illinois legislature had passed the “Illinois Bivens Act,” allowing people to sue ICE agents in state court. Just waiting for Pritzker’s signature.
dailynorthwestern.com/2025/11/03/c...
dailynorthwestern.com/2025/11/03/c...
Reposted by Well-tarred Flask 🇮🇹🇺🇦🇨🇦
I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this video.
I don’t know how we’ve gotten to the point where men in full balaclavas can abduct daycare teachers while they’re watching children.
But I do know that this isn’t sustainable. Abolish ICE. There is no way to reform this.
I don’t know how we’ve gotten to the point where men in full balaclavas can abduct daycare teachers while they’re watching children.
But I do know that this isn’t sustainable. Abolish ICE. There is no way to reform this.
Federal agents pulling a woman out of Rayito Del Sol, a daycare by Lane Tech high school
November 5, 2025 at 9:42 PM
I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this video.
I don’t know how we’ve gotten to the point where men in full balaclavas can abduct daycare teachers while they’re watching children.
But I do know that this isn’t sustainable. Abolish ICE. There is no way to reform this.
I don’t know how we’ve gotten to the point where men in full balaclavas can abduct daycare teachers while they’re watching children.
But I do know that this isn’t sustainable. Abolish ICE. There is no way to reform this.
In the believe it or not category:
The 3rd edition of Essentials of Computational Chemistry is, lo these 20 years later, under contract... 😮
(Here's hoping my co-authors, to whom I shall afford anonymity until the revised draft is delivered, survive what they signed up for! 😬)
The 3rd edition of Essentials of Computational Chemistry is, lo these 20 years later, under contract... 😮
(Here's hoping my co-authors, to whom I shall afford anonymity until the revised draft is delivered, survive what they signed up for! 😬)
November 5, 2025 at 10:32 PM
In the believe it or not category:
The 3rd edition of Essentials of Computational Chemistry is, lo these 20 years later, under contract... 😮
(Here's hoping my co-authors, to whom I shall afford anonymity until the revised draft is delivered, survive what they signed up for! 😬)
The 3rd edition of Essentials of Computational Chemistry is, lo these 20 years later, under contract... 😮
(Here's hoping my co-authors, to whom I shall afford anonymity until the revised draft is delivered, survive what they signed up for! 😬)
Reposted by Well-tarred Flask 🇮🇹🇺🇦🇨🇦
Perhaps the NYT should run some articles about how the Republicans need to listen to the concerns of ordinary Democratic voters.
November 5, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Perhaps the NYT should run some articles about how the Republicans need to listen to the concerns of ordinary Democratic voters.
What a great paper from Stefan Grimme's group describing a new and improved database of solvation free energies and partition coefficients. And, so nice to see SMD still holding its own, lo these 16 years later... 😄 #ChemSky #CompChem
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
pubs.rsc.org
November 5, 2025 at 1:38 PM
What a great paper from Stefan Grimme's group describing a new and improved database of solvation free energies and partition coefficients. And, so nice to see SMD still holding its own, lo these 16 years later... 😄 #ChemSky #CompChem
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
Reposted by Well-tarred Flask 🇮🇹🇺🇦🇨🇦
Politicians should probably get on Bluesky to get better in touch with the American electorate.
November 5, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Politicians should probably get on Bluesky to get better in touch with the American electorate.