Chemistry

The following excerpts are from the nominating information submitted to the Lindback Foundation for the winning Philadelphia high school teachers. These teachers will be honored Tuesday at ceremonies at the Prince Music Theater. The Christian R. and Mary S. Lindback Foundation celebrates excellence in education and has been awarding the teaching prizes since 2008. There is one winner from each school. Academy at Palumbo   James W. Dyke James W. Dyke received his bachelor of science degree in chemistry in 1997 and master's degree in educational technology in 2010.

Merck & Co. will be one of four companies receiving the first American Business Ethics Awards. Merck will be honored for its longstanding commitment to the research, development and manufacture of pharmaceutical products, its efforts to make medicines available to those who need them, and for providing an outstanding working environment for its employees. The award is given by the American Society of Chartered Life Underwriters and Chartered Financial Consultants and Forbes Magazine, which will profile the companies in its March 28 issue.

ICE ON the streets formed quickly, so I'm led to believe the city didn't get enough salt down under the snowfall. Briny treatments don't cut the mustard when it's cold. It's going to be a long weekend and a rough Monday. For this second major hit, I'm thinking a C-minus for Mayor Nutter. Frank Graff, Philadelphia

"I think chemistry is probably the single most influential ingredient in developing success. " - Rollie Massimino Think of chemistry and you think of test tubes and bubbling cauldrons. You think of mad scientists brewing smoking concoctions in their labs. You think, of course, of the miracle of diet soda. You probably don't think of sports. You probably don't think of that mysterious ingredient that glues together collections of athletes from Medicine Hat and San Pedro and Brooklyn and somehow lifts them to the heights.

Talent will take you a long way on the basketball court. But without good team chemistry, talent may not be enough to take you the distance. Solebury is a team that usually is blessed with a good amount of talent, but this year's edition has chemistry, talent, and an unselfish attidude that make the Spartans a force to be reckoned with. That chemistry and talent was evident Saturday night when the host Spartans (5-2) defeated Wilmington (3-9), 86-60. It was a balanced scoring attack by Solebury, led by 6-foot, 6-inch senior Rob Windsor, who netted 22 points and had 12 rebounds.

Just light a match and blow some lycopodium powder into the flame. Voila! Fire suspended in midair. It looked easy, if a bit frightening. Tanya Pugh wasn't sure she wanted to try it. But she walked to the front of the room, cupped the chemical in her right hand and held up a match. Then she blew. Like magic, the fire appeared. And this time Pugh, a junior at Hatboro-Horsham High School, was the magician. "I thought I'd get burned," she said afterward. "But I didn't. " It all happened to the "oohs" and "ahs" of the student audience at Hatboro-Horsham High School, and was the exact reaction the presenters had hoped for. It's not easy to get high school students interested in chemistry, especially at 8 a.m. That's the job of the science road show presented by Susquehanna University undergraduates, who introduce the process of oxidation-reduction through magic tricks, mixed with a bit of stand-up comedy.

Charles Barkley huffs and says he is tired. He is tired from the grind of two-a-day practice sessions in training camp, a burden that will end soon, but not too soon for Barkley. "A lot of teams only practice once a day now," Barkley said, "but we have to practice twice a day because we have 10 new guys every year and it takes two hours just to learn everybody's name. " A year ago, Barkley knew the names in the starting frontcourt, and spoke of the sturdy play of Rick Mahorn and the steady influence of Mike Gminski.

Downingtown basketball coach John Walker is the first to acknowledge his team's shortcomings. "We don't have a lot of depth or height or amazing speed, and we don't have any incredible athletes," Walker said. But Walker is also quick to point out his team's biggest strength, an elusive ingredient he calls "chemistry. " That chemistry, combined with tight defense, good shooting and crisp ball movement, carried the Whippets to a 64-63 victory over West Chester East in a key Ches-Mont League matchup Tuesday night.

In modern mythology, the piano bar - a staple of B-movie lore and noir novelization - is a lonely place, a dank environment where the detritus of society go to soak sorrows in sour mash while listening to rickety versions of "Melancholy Baby. " Pianist Ted Gerike and the habitues of the Society Hill Hotel on the corner of Third and Chestnut Streets don't know that one. "You know, in 20 years of being here five nights a week, I've never played 'Piano Man,' " jokes Gerike, 67. The hotel (doubling as bed & breakfast as well as bar/eatery)

The astounding thing about the Chicago Bulls - who are making a mockery of the rest of the NBA - is that going into the season, they had many of the same questions about themselves that others did. But when a team jumps out to a NBA-record 29-3 start and has a legitimate shot at becoming the league's first 70-victory team, potential concerns tend to get placed on the back burner. So for the last 2 1/2 months, while the Bulls have blown through the league, there have been no stories about Michael Jordan losing a step, Scottie Pippen arguing with management or Dennis Rodman acting like a space cadet.

The following excerpts are from the nominating information submitted to the Lindback Foundation for the winning Philadelphia high school teachers. These teachers will be honored Tuesday at ceremonies at the Prince Music Theater. The Christian R. and Mary S. Lindback Foundation celebrates excellence in education and has been awarding the teaching prizes since 2008. There is one winner from each school. Academy at Palumbo   James W. Dyke James W. Dyke received his bachelor of science degree in chemistry in 1997 and master's degree in educational technology in 2010.

John F. Shick, the man who police say shot and killed one person and wounded seven others at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic on Thursday before being killed by police, graduated from one of the nation's most prestigious liberal arts colleges with a degree in chemistry in 2004. Yet, by the time he moved to North Oakland this fall, his neighbors said he was acting so strangely that they tried to avoid him. Shick, 30, was a well-known student in Carleton College's chemistry department, and professors there were shocked to hear of the shootings at Western Psych.

When the shot went up, Gloucester Catholic senior Nicole Fallon said she saw her high school career flash before her eyes - four years of hard work and a season in which the Rams have outhustled, outplayed, and beaten far more talented teams. All of it was over if Paul VI's Jada Matthews did at the buzzer what she had done three other times in the fourth quarter: drain an NBA-length three-pointer under pressure. The shot rimmed out, and Gloucester Catholic escaped with a 45-43 victory in the first round of the Non-Public South A girls' basketball tournament Wednesday night.

An open letter to African American young people: So, have you caught "Lin-sanity" yet? I'm referring, of course, to Jeremy Lin, the New York Knicks point guard who has, in just a couple of weeks, done what big-name stars Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire could not: make the Knicks matter. Indeed, by carving up defenses like Thanksgiving turkey, scoring with ridiculous ease, and handing out assists in bunches, he's made them one of the hottest teams in basketball. Suddenly, he is world famous.

It is past the midway point of the season, and Lindenwold boys' basketball coach Harold Little is still tinkering. Fifteen games, 15 starting lineups. "And it may be 16 next game," Little said Tuesday night after his Lindenwold team had survived with a 59-58 victory over Collingswood in an interdivisional Colonial Conference game. The Lions are 8-7, but Little sees his team as one still looking for its identity. And junior point guard Bruce Hicks is expected to become eligible Feb. 1. That will give Little another person to work into the lineup, not that the coach will mind.

It is past the midway point of the season, and Lindenwold boys' basketball coach Harold Little is still tinkering. Fifteen games, 15 starting lineups. "And it may be 16 next game," Little said Tuesday night after his Lindenwold team had survived with a 59-58 victory over Collingswood in an interdivisional Colonial Conference game. The Lions are 8-7, but Little sees his team as one still looking for its identity. And junior point guard Bruce Hicks is expected to become eligible Feb. 1. That will give Little another person to work into the lineup, not that the coach will mind.

The Rochester Knighthawks romped past the Wings, 22-12, in the season-opener at the Wells Fargo Center in what Wings coach Johnny Mouradian called a "slug fest" after fist fights burst out with seconds left in the fourth quarter. Wings defenseman Tom Hajek and Knighthawks defenseman Tyler Burton were ejected after exchanging punches with about 25 seconds left in the game. The game resumed but stopped about 10 seconds later as each of the 12 players on the field erupted in fights with opposing players.

PHOTOGRAPHY may be the most familiar artistic discipline - every day we see photographs in newspapers, on Facebook, on billboards along the highway. Although most photography aims to document, not all photos are so explicit. Some photography provides us with a view of everyday objects and scenes so abstracted that we may not even recognize them. This month, LGTripp Gallery explores photography's multiple perspectives with "Focus," its fourth annual Abstract Photography exhibition. "Abstract photography is fueled by the desire to take an object and remove it from its original form," said Luella Tripp, gallery owner and curator.

William E. Garwood, 92, of Haddonfield, a retired petroleum company chemist, inventor, and author, died Monday, Nov. 14, of a heart attack at home. Mr. Garwood's pioneering research in organic catalytic chemistry was the basis for the development of Mobil One and other synthetic oils, according to his son, John. "He invented a process that transforms methane gas into gasoline, and held more than 100 patents related to organic chemistry," according to his son. In retirement, Mr. Garwood researched the efficacy of zeolites, a catalyst in reducing ammonia in the bloodstream as a potential means of preventing cancer, his son said.