Phenol, treacle, Ender's Game movie?!

Just a few notes.

At boardgame night last night, a few of us (okay, 7) played the game Quelf. At one point, everyone had to go around the circle naming a sort of alcohol, and Rup said 'Phenol'. i called him on it (i apologize), and there ensued a bit of googling to semi-noncredit phenol as an alcohol. Rup was arguing anything with a free hydroxyl group is an alcohol; i said i'd look into this and address it on the blog. So, phenol does have a free hydroxyl (-OH) group attached to a benzene ring. This means that the carbon to which it's attached is not saturated (4 single bonds; it's got a double bond to one of the other carbons); alcohols are hydroxyl groups attached to saturated carbons according to IUPAC.. As such, it's classified as an 'enol'. Curious note about phenol, in a very, very diluted form it is the active ingredient of the oral analgesic Cholorseptic. Applied straight up (or accidentally pouring it on oneself during RNA or DNA extraction preps) will yield skin burns. (And for further note, and this is not meant as sole guiding instruction, rinse your skin thoroughly, make a 1:1 dilultion of PEG300 or 400 and water, and rinse with that. Then, seek medical attention.)

The licorice i'm currently enjoying lists treacle as an ingredient. Treacle is what remains after the refinement of sugar (ya know, like golden syrup). The non-solids removed by bone char or activated carbon. Also, as the term treacle was originally applied to antidotes for poisons, snakebite, etc, the root of the word comes from a latinization of the Greek word "concerning venomous beasts".

Mad props (Many forms of proper respect) to Holly for linking the tumblr of the post-production movie version of Ender's Game. (And she also gets props for finally convincing me to read the book as well as the sequels. Bean FTW.) Equal parts excited and apprehension (how true to the book will it be?).

Due to my family, i grew up listening to a very large amount of John Denver's music (for which i hold a soft spot). NPR's First Listen this morning features an album with his music covered by various artists. Some are close to the originals, some are a little further afield. i think  Amos Lee's version of Some Days Are Diamonds might be my fave of the covers? Hmm.