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Alex Speed

@awhspeed.bsky.social
1.6K followers 1.8K following 1.2K posts

Chemistry Professor at Dalhousie University. Interested in sustainable organic and main-group chemistry, and asymmetric catalysis, with phosphorus, nitrogen, and sulfur compounds. Camper, plant hoarder, and Victorian house enthusiast.

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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
A nice outing today. I did date myself a bit though, I said something about "Bebop and Rocksteady" when I saw that particular pig's expression, and nobody got the reference (teenage mutant ninja turtle's villain's henchmen, likely aired in the late 1980s, if you're curious).
Person smiling in a red plaid jacket, with a llama in the background.Picture of pig with bristles, showing teeth and grinning.Several cows and 1 goat eating hay, with some orange trees in the background.Row of apple trees with some fall colours in the background.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Something seemed compromised in my amine cabinet, but I could not find an obvious suspect, so I spent my afternoon taping up almost every bottle, except the most commonly used ones. Yellow bins are temporary, I don't normally stack things that way.
A photo of a chemical storage cupboard under a fumehood, with a collection of bottles in blue storage containers.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Can somebody explain to me why it's a good idea to keep all of your files only in the cloud, and not on the device you own? That's increasingly the default option, yet I see a bunch of negatives, and very few positives.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
While Captain Ransom might approve of today's pangram, I'm annoyed it did not accept QUINONE.
NYT Spelling Bee rejecting the word QUINONEMan in red Starfleet uniform, who Trek Viewers will recognize as Captain Ransome, the disgraced captain of the Title ship of a memorable 2-part cliffhanger set of Voyager episodes.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
www.realtor.ca/real-estate/... Who wants to join forces with me, and have a nice little compound to live in? Off the beaten track, on the water, close enough to everything you need!
realtor.ca
Check out this listing
339 Mill Village East Road, Mill Village, Nova Scotia   B0J2H0
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Many years ago, I briefly shut down ACS access for all Harvard IP addresses, because I was downloading all the papers from a particular author so quickly that the ACS website judged I had a bot-like speed.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
A small problem in today's world, but it's a bummer when you could once readily get a particular starting material, and now you cannot.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
While it was objectively very easy Tuesday one, getting a non-Monday crossword in under 10 minutes is very rare for me.
Solved a NYT Tuesday Crossword in 8:39. You have a 2-day streak.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
A year of doing Monday Crosswords!
NYT crossword congratulating me for solving a monday crossword in 7:48. A box says 52 Mondays in a Row. (Well, a year - a week if you're being strict)
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Nothing like Spelling bee to make me second guess my spelling skills.
NYT spelling bee rejecting the word PIPETTED
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
www.maptap.gg September 6 100🎯 99🎯 100🎯 100🎯 98🎯 Final score: 993 Close, but not quite :(
maptap.gg
🎯MapTap Daily Geography Game
Play MapTap - the daily geography game! Find 5 world locations on a 3D globe with historical stories. Free browser-based daily game for geography lovers.
000
Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
This might be my lowest score yet. Funny, because I'd actually like to visit Valparaíso, I just seem to have no idea where it is. In my defence, Chile is a long country, so a small area away can cover a lot of distance! www.maptap.gg September 3 98🎯 95🏅 95🏅 78🌞 99🎯 Final score: 914
maptap.gg
🎯MapTap Daily Geography Game
Play MapTap - the daily geography game! Find 5 world locations on a 3D globe with historical stories. Free browser-based daily game for geography lovers.
010
Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
I enjoyed watching the Venetian Night in Halifax. The boats go up and down the Northwest Arm, to mark the end of summer sailing season. Still plenty warm. I'm not at all a boat person, so excuse my descriptions in the captions.
several sail boats at dusk, with lights going up the rigging.FireworksSeveral boats, with multi-colour lights along the edges/ rigging.Several sail boats, with no sails up, with lights along the rigging.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
My best effort to capture the eclipse from my balcony, holding my phone up to a binocular eyepiece.
Photo of the moon, red, with a sliver more illuminated.Similar photo, red moon, a bit more zoomed in.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Photo from earlier. Before the chomp. Not sure if clouds will cooperate.
Photo of the moon peeking out but surrounded by clouds.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
TIL my little old crown of thorns plant, of which I have many cuttings around, makes lots of phorbol esters. Phorbol was (and maybe is) a hot topic in total synthesis. I've had crown of thorns for many many years, and not known this.
Picture of crown of thorns with pink blooms.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Another camping trip in the books for this increasingly less-nervous driver!
Photo of me, wearing blue rain coat with orange pack cover. Round glasses, smiling, in the drizzle, wearing Boston Red Sox cap.Picture of still pond, with trees in the background, lit in golden hour. Various aquatic plants are in foreground. This is a little channel in Peskowesk lake at Kejimkujik.Picture of lake at sunset, with the big dipper in the sky.Night photo with many stars.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Immortalized by Google Street View. To the best of my knowledge, the only instance of me on it! www.google.com/maps/@42.331...
google.com
Google Maps
Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
LOL, was at a wedding last night with a bunch of old students turned friends. So of course I had a dream where I was a student again, taking an exam in math, which I knew nothing about. "School Dreams" are pernicious. I suspect I will always have them.
Picture of a body of water at night, with a boat house on the left, with the big dipper in the sky.Picture of water, at night, with a bunch of yachts floating in the water.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Andrei Sator is going to be pissed.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
I use F.LUX to reduce the blue light in my screen at night. (I commonly get asked "why is your screen so orange"). Anyway, I just realized my location was still set to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, after all these years. Not a huge difference, but funny I never noticed it!
Picture of f.lux preferences, with location set for 02135
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Within spitting distance of perfect :( www.maptap.gg August 9 100🎯 100🎯 100🎯 100🎯 94🏅 Final score: 982
maptap.gg
🎯MapTap Daily Geography Game
Play MapTap - the daily geography game! Find 5 world locations on a 3D globe with historical stories. Free browser-based daily game for geography lovers.
000
Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
My 24 year old computer broke recently. It had become unusable about 12 years before, not because of hardware or software issues, but because it would no longer take updates. I have another computer that's 10 years old that would work perfectly well if the battery was not defective, and glued (1/n)
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Throwback to the longest hike I ever did, the Liberty Lake Loop at Kejimkujik.
Me, dressed in blue and black rain gear, relaxing at the side of a trail, with my pack at my feet, with a map, looking at a key-chain GPS device.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
www.maptap.gg August 8 100🎯 98🎯 98🎯 93🏆 95🏅 Final score: 958
maptap.gg
🎯MapTap Daily Geography Game
Play MapTap - the daily geography game! Find 5 world locations on a 3D globe with historical stories. Free browser-based daily game for geography lovers.
110
Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
First time this has happened since I have lived in Halifax!
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
No lab work today. It's too hot!
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
I may have missed the message that things were changing, but I noticed the interest rate in my emergency fund account dropped yet again from what it was when I started it. So I pulled up some info, and wow, my bank has an amazing incentive structure if you put even more money in that account:
Screenshot of annual interest rates at different brackets. First bracket is 0-$4,999 range, at 0.100% interest. Highest bracket is $250,000 or more, and interest rate is 0.100%.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
This has come up before, but never changes:
NYT spelling bee rejecting ADIABATIC
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
"Pleasant" - at 99% humidity. LOL.
Screenshot of a weather site, saying the RealFeel temperature in Halifax is 23 degrees (Pleasant). Except the observed conditions are 99% humidity!
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Picked some fantastic weather to cook in.
Graph showing the current dewpoint in Halifax is 21.1 degrees C.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
In the days before I had a smartphone, I printed out Google maps when I went to Dresden and Vienna, and got lost both times, as I had not printed a wide enough area. Didn't get a New York Times story though!
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
I'm glad I remembered it is Natal Day weekend, because otherwise I would have been afraid something was exploding!
020
Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Anyone in Halifax picking up a geosmin smell in the water? Their site only appears current up to July 17th!
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Reposted by Alex Speed
Mark Levin @levinchem.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
wow the revamped ACS website is terrible
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
I've only flown on 2 trips since 2019!
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Some are much faster, but I have never solved a NYT Monday crossword in under 6 minutes before!
NYT Crossword splash saying: Star symbol, then Congratulations! You solved a Monday Crossword Crossword in 5:23. Star- 45 Mondays in a row. Button- View all games.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
I realized I have a lot of expired stuff in my camping gear, so I was restocking on emergency water purification tablets (I use a UV sterilizer normally when camping), and this was listed as something people "also buy". I have many questions.
Product seen on Amazon 60 Ct "Hydrogen Water Tablets".
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Amnio is a word, but amnion is not. And of course my perennial irritation, that amination (my subject expertise) is not a word.
NYT spelling bee rejecting AMNIONNYT Spelling bee rejecting AMINATION (which my spell-checker also underlines in red, but knows better than to autocorrect).
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
One of the privileges of my job is evaluating various grants, to help decide what might be meritorious to give government-based funding to. One of the most irritating parts of my job is navigating the government website to do that task. They constantly make changes to the portal that (1/2)
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Latest lunar mission? No, it's just me playing around with the time-lapse mode on my phone camera. This is 30x speed.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
The perfect angle to watch the moon inch across the sky without even leaving my couch. If you're wondering about "Otto", he is a very ineffective pigeon deterrent, though if I pick him up and wave him at the pigeons, they will fly away for 5 minutes.
Picture of a patio door with the moon just in one corner, with some reflections in the glass. There are a bunch of leggy plants around, and a stuffed river otter plush toy on the sill of the porch.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
A very rare achievement for me. I can usually get to "Genius" unaided, but I almost always need the "Hints", and usually Steve G. to get me to Queen Bee. Today I did it all on my own, with the only hints I took being there were 24 words, and it was bingo (ie all letters start at least one word).
NYT Spelling Bee congratulating me on being Queen Bee, finding 24 words worth 112 points.
000
Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
The American Chestnut tree in full flower, with 1000s of busy bees:
Picture of a tree with very fuzzy looking creamy-coloured flowers.Further off view of tree, with a lot of flowers.Close up of bee on long flower.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
LOL, my first grant in 2017 was for $33k a year. It took considerable more than 4 pages to apply for. This is from "The Puzzle People" by Thomas Starzl, a book I must re-read soon. If you don't know who Thomas Starzl was, he's a fascinating character.
An excerpt from a book, saying that in 1958 grantmanship was primitive, and the author obtained a NIH grant of $30,000 a year with a four page application.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
While it's not representative of my time in the USA as a whole, I'll never forget asking a border guard about what to do with my physical J1 document in my passport when I made my last entry under that status, and getting a very sarcastic sounding "buh-bye" as my answer.
020
Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
I was very sad to hear today about Dr. Nouman Ali's death this weekend. Those of us who were on the 7:30 a.m. Queen Street picket last summer enjoyed getting to know him in his capacity as picket captain, and he created a good atmosphere at a tough time.
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
I'm better at this game than the locating museum artifacts on a map/ timeline one. www.maptap.gg July 19 100🎯 100🎯 97🔥 99🎯 98🔥 Final score: 985
maptap.gg
🎯MapTap Daily Geography Game
Play MapTap - the daily geography game! Find 5 world locations on a 3D globe with historical stories. Free browser-based daily game for geography lovers.
000
Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
NYT Spelling Bee making me second guess my spelling:
Screen shot of NYT spelling bee rejecting the word INVIGILATING
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Alex Speed @awhspeed.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
For some reason, my computer after its last reboot, has started trying to make calendar bookings under my Boston College account, a place I have not worked at for over 11 years, and have not had an e-mail address at for the same length of time. Make it make sense! My computer is also 4 years old.
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