Archaeology yay, Chemistry boo
Slow updating as ever here..
Well, last week was the last one for the Kitchen Chemistry course and I have to say I've not enjoyed it much at all, too much of a mix of very basic and horribly complex - confusing images of molecules and lots of big words with poor explanations. About the only fun thing was the experiment working out the amount of Vitamin C in a substance, for exmaple orange juice, where you first made a baseline solution and used that known quantity to then test further substances. Er, not that I performed the experiment, or any of them for that matter, but reading about it was much more interesting for that one than the others. The final week one was catalyst and had you using quite dangerous stuffs so I didn't dare.
On to Archaeology, which is The Archaeology of Portus, featuring the ongoing project by the University of Southampton. Given the course is free I really urge anybody with even a vague interest in archaeology or history to do this, the first week has been fascinating. Lots of videos and things to read, introducing the area and an overview of its history which spans several centuries and phases of development and giving an idea of what artefacts and ideas the people involved in the project are investigating. There are plenty of links too, to original plans and drawings of the site from its first discovery in the 16th century, contemporary images of the lighthouse in mosaics and tomb carvings from Portus itself and then links to various online searchable collections of images and info about things like amphorae at the British Museum and the like. As a mooc (multi-user thing) there's plenty of people commenting and answering the prompts and most seem enthusiastic and intelligent - I'm hooked! :)
Definitely decided that other than the programming stuff I'm more of an arts student, poor chemistry confuzzled brain is much happier with bits of old pottery and quotes from Pliny the elder.
Well, last week was the last one for the Kitchen Chemistry course and I have to say I've not enjoyed it much at all, too much of a mix of very basic and horribly complex - confusing images of molecules and lots of big words with poor explanations. About the only fun thing was the experiment working out the amount of Vitamin C in a substance, for exmaple orange juice, where you first made a baseline solution and used that known quantity to then test further substances. Er, not that I performed the experiment, or any of them for that matter, but reading about it was much more interesting for that one than the others. The final week one was catalyst and had you using quite dangerous stuffs so I didn't dare.
On to Archaeology, which is The Archaeology of Portus, featuring the ongoing project by the University of Southampton. Given the course is free I really urge anybody with even a vague interest in archaeology or history to do this, the first week has been fascinating. Lots of videos and things to read, introducing the area and an overview of its history which spans several centuries and phases of development and giving an idea of what artefacts and ideas the people involved in the project are investigating. There are plenty of links too, to original plans and drawings of the site from its first discovery in the 16th century, contemporary images of the lighthouse in mosaics and tomb carvings from Portus itself and then links to various online searchable collections of images and info about things like amphorae at the British Museum and the like. As a mooc (multi-user thing) there's plenty of people commenting and answering the prompts and most seem enthusiastic and intelligent - I'm hooked! :)
Definitely decided that other than the programming stuff I'm more of an arts student, poor chemistry confuzzled brain is much happier with bits of old pottery and quotes from Pliny the elder.