“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.” ― André Gide
So much happens each and every week, and it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts…
It’ reigned supreme at the box office for a second week in a row, bringing its total domestic gross to nearly $220 million. Not bad for a movie I will never see. I’ve never understood the human psyche that drives people to want to be scared. The world is scary enough already, and it’s free.
Speaking of movies, earlier this week my wife and I threw our hard-earned money at American Assassin. It wasn’t a bad movie, but it’s probably not something you’d want to pay full price for either. Michael Keaton is one of the co-stars. He plays an ex-Navy Seal that’s now used by the CIA to train covert spies, i.e. assassins. I swear there was one point in the movie where his character was going off the deep end a bit and all I could think was Beetlejuice.
Los Angeles Times: “A state pharmacy inspector made a surprising discovery last year while conducting a routine records review at a Westside facility that compounded drugs for patients at UCLA medical centers…More than 1,000 IV bags of sterile medications for heart patients and others with serious health issues had been made with expired and potentially dangerous ingredients, according to state Board of Pharmacy records.” Oops. The list of expired items included monosodium glutamate monohydrate (MSG) and monosodium aspartate monohydrate (MSA), clopidogrel, mexiletine, and estradiol. The dates on those drugs ranged from November 2015 to September 2016, a month before the inspection. While there is no excuse for using expired medications, it’s likely that no harm would come from it. In fact, the FDA has recently started to question the expiration date practice of drug manufacturers.
Looks like a theme park ride, although I doubt the people on the station platform were having much fun:
I was in San Diego last weekend to celebrate my daughter’s birthday. While there, we visited a local mall where Amazon was showcasing the Smart Life Roadshow. Basically a trailer with all kinds of smart appliances connected to the Amazon Alexa. It was pretty cool. I have both an Amazon Alexa and a Google Home. The Alexa resides in my living room and the Google Home in my kitchen. They are similar in many ways, but I prefer the Google Home. My wife, on the other hand, seems to use Alexa more. Just goes to show that there’s a place for all these smart devices. The only thing I find creepy is that they are always listening.
My wife drives a 2017 Dodge Charger. Nice car. During our trip to San Diego, I had an opportunity to spend a lot of time behind the wheel using Android Auto, which is built into the Charger. Super nice setup. With my phone connected to the car, I was able to do all the things I normally do on my phone via voice control: navigation, look for places to eat or get gas, ask questions, play music via Google Music or Spotify, and so on. Not to mention I was able to use the giant touchscreen in the middle of the dash to do the same. It was cool. Something I’ll definitely look for when I finally decide to replace my truck.
I found myself using the term eutectic at work this week. “A eutectic mixture is defined as a mixture of two or more components which usually do not interact to form a new chemical compound but, which at certain ratios, inhibit the crystallization process of one another resulting in a system having a lower melting point than either of the components [1]. Eutectic mixtures, can be formed between Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), between APIs and excipient or between excipient; thereby providing a vast scope for its applications in pharmaceutical industry. Eutectic mixture formation is usually, governed by following factors: (a) the components must be miscible in liquid state and mostly immiscible in solid state [1], (b) Intimate contact between eutectic forming materials is necessary for contact induced melting point depression [2], (c) the components should have chemical groups that can interact to form physical bonds such has intermolecular hydrogen bonding etc., (d) the molecules which are in accordance to modified VantHoff’s equation can form eutectic mixtures [3].” (source: Journal of Developing Drugs)
Anyone remember Hostess Zingers? I was having a conversation with one of my colleagues this week, and she told me that she had never heard of a Zinger. Those little raspberry cakes of gold are a solid childhood memory for me. Are they no longer a thing? Does that mean I’ve outlived my usefulness because I’m out of touch? Heck no! It means I need to buy her a box of Zingers.
Engadget: “Researchers at BYU have introduced a non-interfering solution: A nanofoam cushioning that measures impacts in real-time… The foam can be inserted in helmets and padding to track collisions via electrical signals and wirelessly send the data to tablets and devices held by coaching staff on the sidelines. It’s designed to operate quickly, too, informing coaches how hard a player has been hit — and whether they’re at risk of a concussion and should be pulled off the field.” – Pretty cool.
And just for the heck of it, let us all watch how balls of steel are made….
Have a great weekend, everyone.
