for the scientists

Annael

Annael

Immortal
What badges do you qualify for?

http://scq.ubc.ca/sciencescouts/

I qualify for the following:

"I'm pretty confident around an open flame" - those Bunsen burners!

"Destroyer of quackery" - an acquaintance tried to sell me "plant-based silver" pills the other day. I don't think I'll ever hear from her again.

"Sexing up science" - alas, only with fruit flies

"I left the respected sciences to pursue humanistic studies of the sciences" - and yes, much happier

"I've touched human internal organs with my own hands" - 8 years at a major medical center where docs sometimes said "hey! Wanna watch me operate?" and meant it literally

"Will gladly kick sexual harasser's ***" - it's so much fun!

"Has frozen stuff just to see what happens" levels I, II, and III - college roommate: "WHAT is that in the freezer?"

"Knows what a tadpole is" - heh

"Experienced with electrical" level I - jump, little frog legs, jump!

"Somewhat confused as to what scientific field I actually belong to" - I majored in psychobiology for a while - don't ask me to explain

"I've set fire to stuff" levels I, II, and III - I was a firefighter for the forest service in college. Firefighters are all pyromaniacs at heart, and where else can you burn an entire hillside and get paid to do it? (Playing with the hoses and pumps was fun too!)

How about you?
 
through other ways than science.

The "I'm pretty confident around an open flame" badge.
Chemistry lab + those tubes that you heat in one end then turn vertically so they make lots of noise. Since I didn't say anything when we presented them on TV I guess I can't claim the TV badge.

The "destroyer of quackery" badge.

The "I left the respectable sciences to pursue humanistic studies of the sciences" badge.
I returned though. It wasn't that fun.

The "I've touched human internal organs with my own hands" badge.
Anathomy for technicians so no blood, everything we touched was really, really dead. And stank of formaldehyde.

The "will glady kick sexual harasser's ass" badge.


The "has frozen stuff just to see what happens" badge (LEVEL III)
Whatever it was I'm pretty sure we ruined it.

The "knows how to harvest horse pituitary glands" badge.
One of the things you get to watch when you have a horse.

The "I've done science with no concievable practical application" badge.
Jew's harps. One shouldn't play them, it's annoying, so why would I want to make how they make sound?

The "knows how to collect semen from more than one species" badge.
Not quite sure why I know this but I do. (And no Hengist, you don't use scissors *evil smile*)

The "I know what a tadpole is" badge.
Doesn't everyone know what a tadpole is?

The "I'm a scientist who is fundamentally opposed to administrative duties" badge.
Administrative duties mean you have to deal with people. Stupid people. Not to mention all the other scientists.

The "statistical linear regression" badge.
Doesn't everyone know what statistical linear regression is?

The "works with feces" badge.
I worked in a stable. That must count as working with feces :-)


I want a badge with a loudspeaker on it. I feel forgotten :-(
I could claim to be the worlds leading expert on the Jew's harp, but a instrument who gets 4 articles in 150 years isn't really anything to brag about though so I'd rather have a loudspeaker. "Can make sounds that make your ears fall of and can tell you why afterwards"
 
Used to look after a pony for about two years... How often I cleaned out that stable :D Or the stable of any of the other horses there when it needed to be done
 
is work, so I'd say yes.

You don't get lots of oats and stuff? Both my parents use horse poop and the things they want to grow grow as mad, but in addition there's usually lots of oats and some barley.
 
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I'm happy to see them - and then I turn them under. Barley, oats, peas, and rye are great "green manure."
 
then dries them and hangs them out for the birds in the winter. We have lots of them around the stable too, great extra food for the horses.
 
Some of my fellow grad students would qualify for some of the more interesting badges, like fondness for exothermic reactions (my friends who used to sneak into Duke Gardens at night at throw sodium into the goldfish pond), freezing things in liquid nitrogen for fun (my ex-husband used to do that!), or getting published in high-circulation magazines (several).

I also got a kick out of "my degree inadvertantly makes me competent in fixing household appliances," because my physicist ex-husband would *never* fix anything around the house! Even though he spent all day in the lab working on fixing the "apparatus," whenever I'd ask him to try and fix something, he'd say, "I'm a physicist, not a mechanic!"

I can lay claim to the following without stretching things too much:

The "talking science" badge. (No-brainer)

The "arts and crafts" badge. (Making some of my own equipment surely must count.)

The "I'm pretty confident around an open flame" badge. (My college roommate, on the other hand, caused laboratory fires in not one but two of her classes! Fortunately, we were never lab partners!)

The "inappropriate nocturnal use of lab equipment in the name of alternative science experimentation / communication" badge. (Well, does breaking into both the science library and the computer center after hours with forged keys count?)

The "destroyer of quackery" badge. (No-brainer)

The "sexing up science" badge. (In addition to breeding fruitflies for genetics lab and breeding rats as a research technician, I observed the mating ritual of plethodontid salamanders both in the field and in the lab! Not many people can say that!)

The "I can be a prick when it comes to science" badge. (Well, I wouldn't necessarily use that term....)

The "will glady kick sexual harasser's ass" badge. (Have done so! Well, not literally!)

The "dodger of monkey poop" badge. (Only if we count chimps and the zoo!)

The "pharma shill" badge. (Well, I wouldn't necessarily use that term....)

The "I've done science with no concievable practical application" badge. (My dissertation research.)

The "I know what a tadpole is" badge. (Duh! I spent one summer as a research technician feeding and weighing tadpoles!)

The "experienced with electrical shock" badge (LEVEL III). (I did accidentally shock myself in the lab once.)

The "somewhat confused as to what scientific field I actually belong to" badge. (Story of my life! I started grad school as the only member of my class who had not already decided on a specialty, and I took classes in three departments.)

The "I'm into telescopes astro" badge (LEVEL I). (In my parents' yard, on the roof of the physics building in college, and at a couple of observatories.)

The "statistical linear regression" badge. (Three statistics courses, including one graduate-level biostatistics course.)

The "I've set fire to stuff" badge (LEVEL I). (Not in a scientific context, though.)

The "works with acids" badge. (Only if I count college chemistry lab courses.)
 
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We just tell people why they don't work.

Or, as someone once told me
If it's green and moving, it's biology.
If it stinks, it's chemistry.
If it doesn't work, it's physics. (Or you need a new, bigger computer)
 
Ok I'd qualify for

The "I'm pretty confident around an open flame" badge. (obvious really)

The "inappropriate nocturnal use of lab equipment in the name of alternative science experimentation / communication" badge (hasnt everyone?)

The "destroyer of quackery" badge (cant help myself)

The "I may look like a scientist but I'm actually also a ninja" badge. Im a fencing coach - that must count!

The "sexing up science" badge. Chalk up another to fruitflys

The "I can be a prick when it comes to science" badge. yeah allright sorry

The "has frozen stuff just to see what happens" badge level 1 to 3

The "I've done science with no concievable practical application" badge. and had it published too!

The "I know what a tadpole is" badge.

The "I'm a scientist who is fundamentally opposed to administrative duties" badge.

The "experienced with electrical shock" badge. Levels 1 and 3 - level 3 involved straddling an electric fence - not recommended

The "somewhat confused as to what scientific field I actually belong to" badge Im a biologist doing a lot of analytical chemistry go figure

The "statistical linear regression" badge. Unwillingly on this one though

The "I've set fire to stuff" badge again who hasnt?

The "works with acids" badge. Acid hydrolysis of substrates ....and quite often my clothes

The "works with feces" badge. Have I mentioned our finance department......
















 
Oh good, I can finally get some merit badges.

"talking science" badge: I teach science; I think that counts.

"my degree inadvertantly makes me competent in fixing household appliances": Well, I can wire electric circuits, fuses and circuit breakers, some appliances (I teach my students to make their own lamps), and electrical outlets.

"I left the respectable sciences to pursue the humanistic studies of the sciences" Not doing professional science anymore; just teaching it.

"Will gladly kick sexual harasser's ass": And I take pride that at my school, all three physics teachers are women.

"has frozen stuff just to see what happens" levels I, II, and III. Ah, I miss parties in grad school!

"I work with way too much radioactivity, yet still no discernable superpowers": Well, I used to anyway.

"I will crush you with my math prowess." Students of general relativity and quantum mechanics study math that math majors don't study.

"I've done science with no concievable practical application." My graduate degree is in astronomy, with a specialty in extragalactic objects. 'Nuff said.

"I'm a scientist who is fundamentally opposed to administrative duties." In some machine-operated phone interview for one teaching job I applied for, I scored off the charts in all topics considered important to working well in public school settings except for "functions well in bureaucratic settings." I did not get that job.

"Cloner": Just some harmless bacteria, in a special summer program for advanced high school science students. My one biology badge!

"experienced with electrical shock" levels I, II, and III. Come on, why teach physics if you can't shock things?

"I'm into telescopes astro" levels I, II, and III. See my graduate degree.

"statistical linear regression". I had my students do that just yesterday.
 
That's where the "inadvertant" part of that badge comes in.

And of course no self-respecting physicist would ever want to be considered to be a mere engineer. Our studies are far above such mundane things. (Hence the badge about studies with no conceivable practical application.)
 
What got me was that my ex spent at least 90% of his time assembling things, making electronic control devices, leak-chasing, working in the shop, etc., and less than 10% actually doing physics (i.e., designing experiments and collecting data). Experimental physicists seem to be awfully touchy on this subject!
 
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