Sadly languishing in committee since 1997: A bill to make buckminsterfullerene the official State Molecule of Texas. (Via Carmen Drahl)

  • http://www.facebook.com/HyperionToASatyr Jack Holmes

    Almost assuredly, this was pushed to the back by Texas’s sizable “no-molecules-only-Jesus” lobby.

  • querent

    Come on, Tehas.  It’s so _big_.

  • joeydetroit

    It’ll never happen–you can’t see molecules with the naked eye, therefore they DON’T exist. Unlike God, which, you also can’t see, but of which everything is comprised. Make sense?

    Read that is in school text book, I did.

    • msbpodcast

      The only thing of any import to come out of the Texas Book Depository was a bullet.

      The rest can safely be lumped with Theodore Geisel corpus.

  • Lobster

    It’s taken that long for Texas to decide if the Bible lets them believe in molecules or not.

    • msbpodcast

      They like their names short, like George or Rick.

      Buckminsterfullerene is wayyy too long and its got wayyy to many syllables in it.

      (And before you ask, I have family living in Dallas, so I know that whereof I speak.)

  • http://twitter.com/chief_tyrol Galen Schmidt

    Okay, as someone who lives in Texas, could we stop the bashing please?
    Just because the majority of people in Texas can be idiots doesn’t mean we all are.

    • Robert Cruickshank

      And I’ll bet that among the non-idiots, the percentage with a grasp of organic chemistry is higher than the national average.

    • msbpodcast

      YOU said it, not us. “… the majority of people in Texas can be idiots…”

      Hey, THEY elected Rick Perry and majority rules, right?

  • Brainspore

    Good news, any States that haven’t picked your official molecule yet: Tetrahydrocannabinol is still available!

  • UrbanUndead

    Hmmm. “Texas – Missing Opportunity To Be Awesome” is definitely not as evocative a state slogan as “The Lone Star State,” but kinda seems to be the one some Texan politicians would prefer.

  • SomeGuyNamedMark

    Just tell them it is a gun.  They’ll make it official within an hour.

  • Antinous / Moderator

    A mere molecule is insufficient.  Instead Texas will adopt the triumvirate of:

    (RS)-[5-ethyl-4,6-dioxo-5-(pentan-2-yl)-1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyrimidin-2-yl]sulfanide sodium

    [(2S,3S,5S,8R,9S,10S,13S,14S,16S,17R)-17-acetyloxy-10,13-dimethyl-2,16-bis(1-methyl-3,4,5,6-tetrahydro-2H-pyridin-1-yl)-2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,11,12,14,15,16,17-tetradecahydro-1H-cyclopenta[a]phenanthren-3-yl] acetate

    and, of course,

    KCl.

  • Angie Welborn

    Actually, Texas has adopted the “Buckyball” as it’s official state molecule.  This particular piece of legislation stalled, but another passed doing the same thing.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MLAKC2J76NFB64XLSLUKEHF4J4 Daniel

    Weird.  Bucky was an east coast liberal elite descended from very eminent east coast elite families.  *  Did anyone tell Texas?

    *His first name comes from one family line, the Buckminsters, who are still represented by a hotel in Kenmore Square in Boston.  His last name comes from the Fullers, another wealthy and influential Boston family.  His great aunt (IIRC) Anne Fuller sponsored and published Ralph Waldo Emerson.

    • Brainspore

      Bucky was an east coast liberal elite descended from very eminent east coast elite families. Did anyone tell Texas?

      No matter, it was the “-balls” part that got their attention anyway.

    • Clevername

      It was first prepared at Rice university in Houston.

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MLAKC2J76NFB64XLSLUKEHF4J4 Daniel

        Ah, that makes sense then.  Thanks.

  • anansi133

    Not to slam any citizens of Texas, I was once one myself… It’d take a hell of a lot more than adopting Buckminsterfullerene as their own. For Texas to climb up to the level of ‘average’ or even ‘adaquate’ would be a huge step up. But the steps needed are not fun or cute sounding.

    Hell from the looks of things, Texas is the future where the rest of the country is headed.