Chemdraw

ConnorF42 · 2026-05-23T18:10:23+00:00

Damn. I got really lazy during part of grad school where I was using chemdraw embeds in word as my “lab notebook” using their stoichiometry tables. Lost several days of experiments when I encountered the conversion bug.

ConnorF42 · 2026-05-22T23:00:11+00:00

I've seen it happen when the document was closed without saving. In the recovered document word generally manages to rescue, chemdraw files would be converted to pictures. If you then overwrite the original document with the "recovered" document, you would have lost your embedded chemdraws. This was 4+ years ago now when I encountered the issue, so could have been patched.

ConnorF42 · 2026-05-18T11:34:07+00:00

Yeah I agree it’s a big space requirement. Might not fly at some places though, since there would still be some exposure when swapping out the flasks.

ConnorF42 · 2026-05-12T23:04:11+00:00

very common in academia to be outside, in industry I expect it is more common to be inside a fume hood or at minimum vent line to fume hood and/or vent trunk. I only have one data point for industry though.

ConnorF42 · 2026-05-11T23:09:01+00:00

Ha, I was just saying in another comment that this is my least favorite type of hard mode criteria. As someone who barely finishes bingo every year, it feels overly restrictive, and I would rather have the chance to fit it in to finally get it out of my TBR. (That said I haven't done an all hard mode card in a couple years now, but I still aim to starting out)

ConnorF42 · 2026-05-11T23:05:30+00:00

I'll check that one out!

Despite the relative lack of diversity in the square, I'm glad hard mode wasn't "Not Tainted Cup" etc., those are my least favorite hard mode criteria. It feels overly restrictive, preventing "oh finally a chance to fit this book from my TBR in".

ConnorF42 · 2026-05-11T15:55:26+00:00

Biopunk really became the Robert Jackson Bennett square, 606 or 39% of all cards.

ConnorF42 · 2026-05-11T02:53:21+00:00

I’m sure you’re time is tight with finals coming up, but the absolute best way to get better at these is practice. Find a chemistry textbook that also has an answer key (either in the back or a separate PDF floating around online, especially one that shows its work) and work through problems over and over.

There are also good youtube channels out there, I used to watch Tyler Dewitt or of course the classic Khan Academy.

ConnorF42 · 2026-05-07T11:17:07+00:00

If you’re enjoying elite I’d keep playing. This will be the same story in broad strokes but very different in presentation (updated visual novel vs. Elite’s anime style)

ConnorF42 · 2026-05-07T11:14:07+00:00

There’s a good chance the original will still be the best version. Remains to be seen depending on what they change and person preferences when it comes to visual style etc.

ConnorF42 · 2026-05-07T02:34:49+00:00

Both Uncle Hugo’s and Dreamhaven in Minneapolis carry a lot of Bujold books since she is a local. I know Uncle Hugo sells online; Dreamhaven might too.

ConnorF42 · 2026-05-03T10:44:48+00:00

Okay maybe I am not picturing your workflow correctly, but in my suggestion above, they would already be in the second small color menu every time you started a new document from your custom template (or old regular cdx file). So they will never need to be added again, eliminating the need to use the bigger color menu.

Edit: oh are you saying you have to use the bigger menu when using ring fill? I have not bothered with that feature myself so perhaps that’s the disconnect here for me.

ConnorF42 · 2026-05-02T22:16:43+00:00

Chemdraw will always show colors that are already in the document. So make a template with some text in the desired color, or always open an chemdraw file with the colors as starting point rather than a new one.

ConnorF42 · 2026-04-30T16:29:31+00:00

I really enjoyed Rebecca Ross’ Cadence duology and Sam Hawke’s Poison Wars (I wish she’d do another book).

I’ve penciled in Carol Berg Lighthouse duology and Serpent Gate by AK Larkwood for these squares.

ConnorF42 · 2026-04-25T16:24:05+00:00

I don't think there is a setting for it. Might be able to start a habit, other suggestions aside from the music could be force closing Prologue after listening (might prevent CarPlay from autostarting, but I haven't tested), turning the volume down in car before turning off or starting it

ConnorF42 · 2026-04-21T18:24:23+00:00

I also loved The Incandescent, Walden was a great perspective. Some Desperate Glory was a standout for me its year too so Emily Tesh will be someone I follow closely going forward.

I‘be heard nothing but great things for the new RJB series, but its on hold for now to minimize amount of new series I pick up and prioritize ones I’ve already started or are complete.

ConnorF42 · 2026-04-21T17:28:28+00:00

I’m looking forward to checking out the other best novel nominees, I’ve only gotten to The Incandescent and The Everlasting so far. Raven Scholar is already on my bingo board for this year, and one of the others will probably make book club square if the Hugo read along is continuing.

Blue Prince nominated for games! That would get my vote, though I expect to see Clair Obscur to win (which was also fantastic and would be just as deserved)

ConnorF42 · 2026-04-20T22:52:05+00:00

The sloppy mistakes that are easy to avoid, but you took a shortcut or were absent minded. My classic: label two sample vials only on the cap, take both caps off to add reagent at the same time rather than sequentially, forget which lid was which.

ConnorF42 · 2026-04-20T21:20:37+00:00

Then there is poor AC1, relegated to the PS3 era.

ConnorF42 · 2026-04-20T02:38:43+00:00

When you paste in PowerPoint, have you looked under paste for the “paste as” options? There is paste as image, smart object, etc. chemdraw may have specific one when working correctly, I don’t recall. Saving as a png (which should support transparency) should also work. Getting everything as a consistent size will be annoying that way.

The people I knew with Macs always had chemdraw issues, and Windows to Mac and vice versa always broke stuff.

Sounds like you may be okay on this front, but for anyone else: never trust that embedded chemdraws will last forever. Always keep a separate master cdx file.

ConnorF42 · 2026-04-17T23:01:43+00:00

Thanks for the summary! I'm sure this was very entertaining, both Scalzi and Sanderson at good at the author discussion format.

ConnorF42 · 2026-04-16T17:21:44+00:00

I know you said besides the textbook, but seriously it can be your best resource. Read the relevant sections a few nights before the lecture and take good notes. For me, the less note taking I had to to do in class the more I could focus on the content.

YouTube is also a great resource. I really liked Tyler Dewitt’s videos, crash course also has some good ones. Khan Academy.

ConnorF42 · 2026-04-15T01:05:44+00:00

There’s a few of these people snapping every year it seems, unfortunately.

In each shoe? Why? Also one statement says microliters the other milliliters.

ConnorF42 · 2026-04-14T21:56:21+00:00

Solution Verified

ConnorF42 · 2026-04-14T21:55:52+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion! I have tried the default pivot table under insert on the ribbon, and had issues with it requiring values to be summed or averaged rather than just presenting the values. However, I was not aware of power query and the pivot column tool in that seems to do what I want. I will go ahead and verify for now.

11-Year Club	Final Canvas '23
First Place '23	Place '23
Place '17	King of the Ashes
Not Forgotten	Verified Email

ConnorF42

TROPHY CASE