At the risk of sounding negative, I think it's also worth learning from example in the reverse direction -- by being mindful not only of the positive examples set by others, but of the negative examples as well, so that you can prevent yourself from falling into the same traps or making the same mistakes when you encounter similar situations.
Jordan, I agree on the learning what "not to do" by experience. I have definitely learned about who I do not want to be by being able to experience a wide range of personalities. I was thinking of writing about this in the future, but would have to do without naming names too. I think there might be some common traps and I will have to do some reflection on this. Thank you for reading and commenting.
Tony, you continue to be as quick witted, insightful, and generous as you were at 19. This newsletter is a great way to do some mentoring of your own. In terms of the science, do you know I still use that cellulose acetate coupon data we collected? In part because of that melted blue coupon I always call Raman spectroscopy “potentially non-destructive.” And your observations have sparked at least one scientist’s dissertation research on plasticizers. Did you end up buying that shirt?
That's excellent news Odile. I'll go further on to say that phosphate plasticizers are everywhere now once we switched away from PCBs. The whole market for plasticizers is also intense right now with certain phthalates being phased out, the EU leading the way on chemical regulation of certain compounds, and new types of plasticizers being deployed. I did not buy the shirt online, but I do think I got some version of it at a thrift store.
Great post, and a great tribute to your mentors.
At the risk of sounding negative, I think it's also worth learning from example in the reverse direction -- by being mindful not only of the positive examples set by others, but of the negative examples as well, so that you can prevent yourself from falling into the same traps or making the same mistakes when you encounter similar situations.
Jordan, I agree on the learning what "not to do" by experience. I have definitely learned about who I do not want to be by being able to experience a wide range of personalities. I was thinking of writing about this in the future, but would have to do without naming names too. I think there might be some common traps and I will have to do some reflection on this. Thank you for reading and commenting.
Tony, you continue to be as quick witted, insightful, and generous as you were at 19. This newsletter is a great way to do some mentoring of your own. In terms of the science, do you know I still use that cellulose acetate coupon data we collected? In part because of that melted blue coupon I always call Raman spectroscopy “potentially non-destructive.” And your observations have sparked at least one scientist’s dissertation research on plasticizers. Did you end up buying that shirt?
That's excellent news Odile. I'll go further on to say that phosphate plasticizers are everywhere now once we switched away from PCBs. The whole market for plasticizers is also intense right now with certain phthalates being phased out, the EU leading the way on chemical regulation of certain compounds, and new types of plasticizers being deployed. I did not buy the shirt online, but I do think I got some version of it at a thrift store.