The Partridge in your Pear Tree
@racicotleanne.bsky.social
She/they
Feral organic chemist with a special interest for public radio, bulk stores and cats. Opinions are my own and they are garbage!
https://uwaterloo.ca/racicot-organic-chemistry-lab/
Feral organic chemist with a special interest for public radio, bulk stores and cats. Opinions are my own and they are garbage!
https://uwaterloo.ca/racicot-organic-chemistry-lab/
Pre-Christmas lamb ragu.
December 22, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Pre-Christmas lamb ragu.
Girlmath is stressing because your hair is greasy but you're going to the spa Sunday so should you wash it now or wait?!?!
December 19, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Girlmath is stressing because your hair is greasy but you're going to the spa Sunday so should you wash it now or wait?!?!
Time to cry, season's greetings edition.
December 17, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Time to cry, season's greetings edition.
Reposted by The Partridge in your Pear Tree
Grades uploaded. Until maybe I found out I messed up when the students see them.....
santa claus is sitting in a sleigh with the words merry christmas to all and to all a good night
ALT: santa claus is sitting in a sleigh with the words merry christmas to all and to all a good night
media.tenor.com
December 16, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Grades uploaded. Until maybe I found out I messed up when the students see them.....
December be like
December 15, 2025 at 10:43 PM
December be like
Okay love that Gilead sponsors Canada's Drag Race. We had a periodic table runway last season, but this week's My Chemical Reaction theme had me screaming "that's a physical change!" a few times.
December 13, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Okay love that Gilead sponsors Canada's Drag Race. We had a periodic table runway last season, but this week's My Chemical Reaction theme had me screaming "that's a physical change!" a few times.
Yes. If I had a decent class size I'd be delighted to answer all my students' questions. But instead I tap "read the lab manual" or rely on under-trained TAs because there's 500 of them and I'm one guy.
I'm going to float this nuclear take: maybe students are increasingly turning to ShitGPT and other deskilling devices because the structure of the modern university has made it impossible for them to acquire skill in a deep way.
Let me paint a picture for you.
Let me paint a picture for you.
December 10, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Yes. If I had a decent class size I'd be delighted to answer all my students' questions. But instead I tap "read the lab manual" or rely on under-trained TAs because there's 500 of them and I'm one guy.
I feel like a real supervisor today. I started doing something in lab, my student got curious so I showed her what I was doing. Since she picked it up well I am now running away to a lunch yoga class 🤣
December 10, 2025 at 4:53 PM
I feel like a real supervisor today. I started doing something in lab, my student got curious so I showed her what I was doing. Since she picked it up well I am now running away to a lunch yoga class 🤣
I was born six months before Polytechnique happened, grew up a stones' throw from the school. My mom spent the evening hearing ambulances going up the hill. It took me a while for the pressure of being female-presenting in Science to really hit me. (1/3)
December 6, 2025 at 2:14 PM
I was born six months before Polytechnique happened, grew up a stones' throw from the school. My mom spent the evening hearing ambulances going up the hill. It took me a while for the pressure of being female-presenting in Science to really hit me. (1/3)
All I want for Christmas is 10-12 clementines daily.
December 4, 2025 at 1:50 PM
All I want for Christmas is 10-12 clementines daily.
On the one hand feminists think a lot more about the male loneliness epidemic than our institutions, but also I'd love for it to not just be "... because it leads to more gender-based violence" and just because it's true that young men are being preyed on by alt right grifters.
For the #16Days, I've facilitated a dozen or so presentations this week alone. Lots of amazing conversations, but far too much "What about men?!" detractor nonsense.
I'm exhausted and STOKED that it's Friday!
I'm exhausted and STOKED that it's Friday!
November 28, 2025 at 7:05 PM
On the one hand feminists think a lot more about the male loneliness epidemic than our institutions, but also I'd love for it to not just be "... because it leads to more gender-based violence" and just because it's true that young men are being preyed on by alt right grifters.
Reposted by The Partridge in your Pear Tree
Explore our case studies on making chemistry workspaces more accessible for disabled scientists.
As part of our Disability-Inclusive Laboratories in the Chemical Sciences report, the library offers 29 examples to inspire change.
Read the case studies & share your own: https://rsc.li/486SU67
#ChemSky
As part of our Disability-Inclusive Laboratories in the Chemical Sciences report, the library offers 29 examples to inspire change.
Read the case studies & share your own: https://rsc.li/486SU67
#ChemSky
November 28, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Explore our case studies on making chemistry workspaces more accessible for disabled scientists.
As part of our Disability-Inclusive Laboratories in the Chemical Sciences report, the library offers 29 examples to inspire change.
Read the case studies & share your own: https://rsc.li/486SU67
#ChemSky
As part of our Disability-Inclusive Laboratories in the Chemical Sciences report, the library offers 29 examples to inspire change.
Read the case studies & share your own: https://rsc.li/486SU67
#ChemSky
If you can't make your own derealization, AI-generated is fine.
November 26, 2025 at 12:41 AM
If you can't make your own derealization, AI-generated is fine.
Reposted by The Partridge in your Pear Tree
Some well-founded warnings about the use of LLMs in medicine:
LLMs for Medical Practice: Look Out
www.science.org
November 25, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Some well-founded warnings about the use of LLMs in medicine:
What working with me is like, I fear.
November 25, 2025 at 3:12 PM
What working with me is like, I fear.
I wanted to make jejuk bokkeum but I ran out of garlic.... guess I will increase green onion and more garlic powder but it's not the same. Sorry to all koreans, this is a culinary crime.
November 23, 2025 at 9:42 PM
I wanted to make jejuk bokkeum but I ran out of garlic.... guess I will increase green onion and more garlic powder but it's not the same. Sorry to all koreans, this is a culinary crime.
A student admitted to spending time arguing with ChatGPT about whether a system would undergo a carbocation rearrangement and not attending lecture in my office hours. At this point, launch me into the sun.
November 20, 2025 at 8:46 PM
A student admitted to spending time arguing with ChatGPT about whether a system would undergo a carbocation rearrangement and not attending lecture in my office hours. At this point, launch me into the sun.
Gukulekin reminded me how far I strayed from the total synthesis game, my brain can barely handle it anymore!
It's that time again: @cenmag.bsky.social 's molecule of the year poll is now OPEN! Check out the contenders, lovingly curated by yours truly from past C&EN stories, and vote for your favorite by Dec. 11
#chemsky #scisky #moty2025
cen.acs.org/synthesis/Mo...
#chemsky #scisky #moty2025
cen.acs.org/synthesis/Mo...
Meet the molecules of the year 2025
C&EN editors’ annual round-up of spectacular molecules we’ve covered in the past year
cen.acs.org
November 19, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Gukulekin reminded me how far I strayed from the total synthesis game, my brain can barely handle it anymore!
Reposted by The Partridge in your Pear Tree
If you haven’t worked for a university, you might not know that one of the primary ways universities manage sexually violent faculty is promoting them away from students and into power.
It isn’t a coincidence. It’s the system working as designed.
It isn’t a coincidence. It’s the system working as designed.
November 18, 2025 at 6:07 PM
If you haven’t worked for a university, you might not know that one of the primary ways universities manage sexually violent faculty is promoting them away from students and into power.
It isn’t a coincidence. It’s the system working as designed.
It isn’t a coincidence. It’s the system working as designed.
I really did myself in planning some themed days for my outreach by pooling students across the region. For each of these days I'm communicating with 4-7 schools and I planned four of these for the end of the month. Why am I like this?
November 14, 2025 at 8:46 PM
I really did myself in planning some themed days for my outreach by pooling students across the region. For each of these days I'm communicating with 4-7 schools and I planned four of these for the end of the month. Why am I like this?
Today in The Horrors: our institutional subscription of Microsoft 365 does not allow us to disable Copilot.
November 14, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Today in The Horrors: our institutional subscription of Microsoft 365 does not allow us to disable Copilot.
Is soup savoury cereal? @chemjobber.bsky.social @alexgoldberg.ca (if this was previously debated I am sorry)
November 11, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Is soup savoury cereal? @chemjobber.bsky.social @alexgoldberg.ca (if this was previously debated I am sorry)
It's perhaps a funny thing being a person who likes to dress wild and colourful at work to tell others that I actually don't usually want my image used for purposes other than the one I agreed to. It's a lesson in consent but it feels so icky to give.
November 11, 2025 at 5:44 PM
It's perhaps a funny thing being a person who likes to dress wild and colourful at work to tell others that I actually don't usually want my image used for purposes other than the one I agreed to. It's a lesson in consent but it feels so icky to give.
Reposted by The Partridge in your Pear Tree
A change for me that predates chatgpt is doing more mental math. For years I've been pausing before I reach for a calculator and pushing myself to do the work in my own brain. Not all math all the time, just more than I used to.
I became very conscientious about this during COVID. I do puzzles, read hard things or read and watch programming with different normative (or cultural) assumptions etc. I would like to keep what I can. Bananas to come out of the forced mediated world of COVID…and jump into AI.
Exactly, including for the long term for health benefits. Friend of mine did Parkinson’s research at Mayo for decades and he tells me all the time how important it is to stay mentally active to reduce the chances of a whole lot of cognitive decline.
November 8, 2025 at 1:49 PM
A change for me that predates chatgpt is doing more mental math. For years I've been pausing before I reach for a calculator and pushing myself to do the work in my own brain. Not all math all the time, just more than I used to.