So, we're going back to organic chemistry everyone!
After my first post with my molecular model kit showing an environmental contaminant, I decided to post up another.
This one is a semi-volatile organic environmental contaminant that is commonly found in coal tar, mothballs, and mixed into creosote for rail ties. That distinct "mothball odor" is this compound! Fun fact - a human nose can detect the mothball odor before most standard electronic detectors of organic odors / vapors.
Can you guess the compound? Let me know in the comments!
I don't talk about work here a whole lot, but I'm a chemical engineer by education and have been doing environmental engineering work for the past 17 years.
So, I have an organic chemistry molecular model kit that I have kept at work for years. I, periodically, make contaminants I've seen at various sites across my 17 year career cleaning up the environment.
Do you know what this chemical is supposed to be? Leave a comment below with your guess!
So, I have talked about how I've been doing a side-by-side comparison of stats for Instagram and Pixelfed by posting the same photos on both accounts.
Well, my pics tend to fall into certain well defined categories. So, I have been sorting the photos into the following and comparing average number of likes: Cats, Food, Flowers, Manga, and Selfies.
Based on these broad categories, I noticed a few hings. More info in the following toots.
Since January 2024 - here has been the average likes per post for those categories:
Cats - 25 (Insta), 35 (Pixelfed)
Food - 17 (Insta), 8 (Pixelfed)
Flowers / Bloomscrolling - 22 (Insta), 24 (Pixelfed)
Manga - 28 (Insta), 5 (Pixelfed)
Selfies - 25 (Insta), 10 (Pixelfed)
Toys - 20 (Insta), 8 (Pixelfed)
So, a few patterns emerge. First, there is not a lot of people noticing my manga posts on Pixelfed. That's apparent.
Second, the Fediverse loves cats. More so than Instagram! Same with flowers / bloomscrolling.
Food, selfies, and toy posts tend to average about the same per post on Pixelfed. 8-10 likes on average.
On Insta, selfies, manga, and cats do best. On Pixelfed, cats, flowers, and selfies do best.
Basically, on either platform - you can't go wrong with cat pics or selfies.
Now, on Insta, part of the manga boost is that I've been kind of into Mangagram - sharing posts, interacting with posts, etc on manga. Then again, I don't see a lot of manga in general on Pixelfed. Maybe it's me!
Firing up the ole' FDM printer today to try printing one of these #Lucky13 figurines out! Using PLA since that's all I have at the moment. Perhaps Amazon can deliver me some PETG later.
They say today is Figure Friday. So, let's go to a tiny figure I have on my desk.
When I graduated kindergarten, this little puppy was sitting on the top of the cake. All through my childhood and into college, it followed me on my dresser the entire time.
Since I entered the workforce after graduating with my Masters, it has been on my desk since. It's a good reminder, I totally was a "Super Grad" from kindergarten. I could tie my shoes and everything.
(If you want to play with it locally and add more colours, just add them to the colours array and you can click through as many colours as you like. I wanted to keep it simple and hence it’s black and white.)
So, here's a Mr. Potato Head figure from the 1970s. It looks so very different than the current Mr. Potato head.
Oh, and that canon next to it I made when I was in college. Where I went to undergrad, all freshman engineering majors had to take a metal shop class and their final project was to make either a canon or a catapult. I thought the canon looked cooler.
A 3,000- year-old #sword made of firwood found in Lake Inkwil, Swittzerland. Most likely, it was a #toy sword for #children. The lake is known for its pile-dwelling settlement from the late Bronze Age (1,200–800 BC).
I finally got around to building my Rowlet model kit!
This little guy is just too cute. I took a few pics in front of my Pokémon Sun / Moon manga before bringing the little guy into the office to hang out with my Eevee model kit.
I love these little kits and can't wait to find more of them!
The Plush Vulpine Skin was a brief to take the previous Jackal Skin, and recreate it as if it were a soft plush toy. With special attention given to aligning the design with the previous plush designs and material specs.