Resources for Learning - UCI Open Chemistry

Every once in a while I'll stumble across some variety of fantastic learning resource that I feel probably isn't known about as much as it should be. A few days ago I found one such resource - University of California Irvine's (UCI) Open Chemistry project.

The UCI Open Chemistry project is a collection of lecture recordings covering the entirety of a three year undergraduate chemistry course. During my three years studying genetics at university I made the mistake of not recording (at least even the audio) of my lectures. This was a big mistake, as it would been a very helpful study tool leading up to my final exams. It would also be great now (two years on) to be able to go back and retread those lectures. Alas, I learn my lesson. If/when I'm able to return to university to study for a master's degree I won't make the same mistake again.

Chemistry would have been by second choice of course to study at undergraduate level; I think I actually enjoy learning about it more than I do Biology. And now, with this series of videos, I'm able reinforce what I already know and hopefully learn a whole bunch of new stuff, completely for free.
So far I've covered three lectures in Organic Chemistry and thoroughly enjoyed them. I've even found myself taking notes!

So, If you've ever considered learning more about chemistry or want a refresher, I highly recommend you take a look at this series.

Looks like my evening viewing is set for the foreseeable future.

On the Workbench - September 2016

I've been a bit slow on posting this last week (I've gone back to work; cue tiny violin), but I've started a couple of new projects. Here's a quick update on what I've been working on:

Epic 40k Lost and The Damned:

As previously mentioned in 'An Epic Endeavour - Part 2', I wanted to assemble a second army for Epic 40k. I've made a start on my Lost and The Damned (Chaos Cultist Coven) army by purchasing a whole bunch of Beastmen, Big Mutants and Bloodletters.

As you can see I'm only about two thirds done assembling them. These sculpts are all excellent; I'm very much looking forward to getting some paint on them!

15mm scale Greek Mythology:

15mm (1/100) scale is probably my favourite miniature scale; just big enough to have a good amount of detail whilst being small enough to enable manageable large scale battles. Previously I've only played World War 2 in 15mm, using the Flames of War and Bolt Action rules systems, but I've been meaning to find an excuse to explore another time period / genre in the scale. Now I've found that excuse: Greek Mythology!

Sphinx, Manticore and Chimera - 15mm.co.uk

Savage Worlds is an role playing system that I tried out briefly last year (using a Weird Old West setting) that I've wanted to revisit again; I enjoyed the mechanics and flexibility of the rules set. Designed for playing with miniatures, Savage Worlds could easily handle a low magic fantasy setting. The Core rulebook and Fantasy companion book gives me pretty much everything I'll need. 

I put in a small order with 15mm.co.uk to get a small batch of test miniatures to see how big they actually are and to get a feel for the quality of the sculpts. I can safely say I'll be getting a lot more miniatures and terrain in this scale.

Skeleton Spears - 15mm.co.uk

My goal is to mould a setting in the vein of the Ray Harryhausen animated films 'Jason and the Argonauts' and 'Clash of the Titans', as well as take inspiration from video games like Titan Quest and God of War. Perhaps I'll even make myself watch the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans.

It can't be that bad.