My students were incredible with the iodine clock lab. Given the complexity of the procedure and the accuracy with which they needed to measure, they rose to the occasion.

Everyone split into their groups and immediately read the materials lists and read the procedure before even getting chemicals. They measured stock, asked good questions ("Is tap water okay?") and delegated tasks.

The soft click of glassware and hush of partners cooperating was musical.

I wrestled hard with an iodine clock reaction this week. I haven't taught kinetics in many years, so I was re-learning a lot as I went. I'm still confused a little by the data I got vs what I expected, but I think it's a case of the real world being much messier than practice problems.

One of my kids said tonight that they want to have 84 children. Another one of the kids exclaimed, "It'll take, like, five million dollars to feed them." That got me wondering if my wife and I have spent one million dollars in our time together.

Our rough estimate using our general food budget, mortgage payment, and house expenses (electricity, gas, and taxes) would take us 40 years to spend one million dollars. We live modestly, but that number was higher than I expected, honestly.

It reminded me of the "one billion dollars" on MS notepad video (lots of NSFW language, so be careful). The fact that there are people with multiple hundreds of this kind of money is nauseating.