NOS and Boulder beer- Day 2

Too tired to report about day 2.

I spent too much time at Mountain Sun and Southern Sun brewing. The beer is all good. Really good.

I will report tomorrow on day 3 about day 2 which will also be a report about day 3 if I can muster that.

Until tomorrow, here is some stuff I wrote earlier today during a break about post-talk questions.

There is nothing more annoying than people that spend 5 minutes asking a question just so they can make sure everyone in the room knows how smart they are. Give me a break.

During one session, someone asked to see a certain slide again. It took a while for her to see the one she wanted even though the same image appeared on three slides. After significant navigation by the speaker and confirmation that he had the correct slide for her he asked her, “ so, what’s your question?” She said, “I don’t have one, I just wanted to see the slide.” The groan from the crowd was deafening and the annoyance was palpable. This incident was used as joke at the next lecture.

After Eric Jacobsen’s talk, a crusty old chemist got up to dispute the use of some data from computer modeling experiments. The old guy spent about 5 minutes describing why computer calculations cannot be trusted. He even went so far as to use the word “bullshit.” The old guy would have been right, IF Jacobsen had done what the old man accused him of. Computer calculations are theoretical estimations of energy. They do not necessarily take solvent into affect. They can, however, as Jacobsen explained, be used to describe relative energies. Dr. Jacobsen did a good job of describing how they appropriately used these calculations. After that the microphone ended up in the hands of another crusty old chemist and he said, "I'm Streitwieser, and that was a good answer!" The crowd applauded.


BEER REPORT: Boulder beer is really good. The microbreweries here know how to make beer and they are good at it. I will continue to consume said beer until asked to stop.