UK?? It's Elemental!

The University of Kentucky (UK) & The United Kingdom (UK).  How about Uranium-Potassium (UK)?  Well, both chemical elements are metals - the large majority of elements are metals.  What else to they have in common? Very little, best I can tell.  But their chemical symbols spell out "UK".  No isotope of uranium is stable.  That is, they are all radioactive.  But potassium does have non-radioactive (stable) isotopes.  Uranium is the heaviest naturally occurring element and contains the largest number of protons in the nucleus of any element found naturally on earth (92 protons).  Potassium is a much lighter metal but is much more chemically reactive.  In fact, pure potassium reacts explosively with water and very rapidly with the oxygen in the air.  Thus, in the pure elemental form, it must be stored in an inert atmosphere or inert solvent.  Potassium (K) is an alkali metal in Group 1 of the Periodic Table.  Uranium (U) is an actinide and is technically in Group 3 along with all the other Lanthanides and Actinides.  These elements are typically displayed along the bottom of the Periodic Table.  The former elements follow Lanthanum (La) in the Table and the latter elements (including Uranium) follow Actinium (Ac) in the Table.  How about some "UK" action?  Follow these links.  Be sure to wear Safety Glasses!  ;-)

Potassium (K)

Uranium (U)

The UK Obsession??

New Years Eve 2009

Many of you will recognize that I have two degrees from UK.  And for several decades, I might have been termed "obsessive" about the "cardiac five", as Kentucky Basketball team was called.  After all, what can a UK fan do when surrounded in the workplace and the neighborhood by frantic, insanely obsessive UofL fans?  (Pronouced:  "Yu-La-Vel".)  "Fighting Cardinals"?? What are they?  I don't think I've ever seen Kentucky's State Bird in a fight.  But clearly, the ornithologists will tell us that those melodious bird "songs" are actually war cries and calls to battle.  Cardinals, being in the realm of birds, must fight sometime.  But they would seem to be better musical artists than pugilists.

So now UK basketball is coming back into the limelight after some years in oblivion, seemingly.  But is my obsession with all things "Kentucky Blue" coming back?  NO!  For one thing, I don't see any fundamental change in their style of cardiac play.  In fact, the same is true with the Rockets.  Nothing but the last two minutes of any basketball came count for anything.  And with the ever expanding playoff season, the "real games" played in the regular season are truly meaningless.  They are hyper-expensive practice sessions!  Nothing more!

July 21, 2012

I Just discovered this blog draft that is more than 2-1/2 years old now!  Of course, those who were awake last March realize that UK FINALLY DID IT!  They took the NCAA by storm and completed the road to success.  And Anthony Davis is now in the NBA and media-wise, is a superstar.  But the commentary on nothing but the last two minutes of any basketball game counting, still holds true, particularly in the NBA.

But as I look at this and the Blog's title, I realize that the "UK Obsession" has morphed since 1978 when I left the hallowed halls of the Chemistry/Physics Building in Lexington.  The "UK Obsession" has morphed into a love affair with the United Kingdom, the Realm of Queen Elizabeth II!  Was that my intention with the title to begin with?  I suspect so but sit here baffled at my lack of memory, not only of my initial purpose, but of any memory of writing the first two paragraphs above!  How SCARY is that?  As I read them, I wasn't sure at all that I had written them.  Yet two or three tell-tale signs make it clear that I did.

Of course, you now know that I never published it and am not now sure if I will hit the "publish" button today or not.  In my recent intellectual ramblings about possibly starting a blog, primarily focusing on UK Basketball (or even on the UK) did not really occur to me.  Shouldn't I be writing about science and my experiences in academia?  Shouldn't I be belching out my disgust with the current political micromanagement and misrepresentation of the purpose for higher education?  Shouldn't I be using this space to start a novel about an irrepressible but erratic chemist who is grappling with understanding the material world while seeking professional fulfillment?

I do not know the answer to these questions and will leave it to you, faithful reader, to "weigh-in" with your thoughts on the subject.  UK?  The UK?  The Material Universe?  The University?  All of the Above?  None of the Above?

Alllllll-righty then!  I'm going to do it!  I'm going to click on that "Publish" button and then wait for the silence from cyber-space.  It has been a long time coming, but I'm now completing the family unit wherein all four of us have an active blog.

Gateway to UK?