SWilkin676
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Introducing us
We are a couple in our 50's who are more like kids about age 8. I am a systems analyst with a strong interest in phytochemistry, herbal medicine,
nutrition and other kinds of science too. (Have read books on quantum physics just out of curiousity)
My partner is a geek with ADHD and Aspergers. He has been playing with chemistry since he was a kid in Philly making napalm in his basement. He's
teaching me - sort of.
Together we experience much weirdness - Macgiver is a verb in this household also used for a label on weird but potentially useful stuff. I dumpster
dive sometimes - Best chemistry related find was a brand new stainless steel sink.
I am a witch and my particular magic talent is shopping - I went to the local mine supply store to buy 5 gal of methanol and wound up with 4 partially
full 5 gal drums for $30. (no we're not selling the extra nor are we making illegal drugs - i work for the police dept!!)
We don't watch tv (it's upside down on top of a cabinet somewheres) or go to movies or read the newspaper etc. We're in our own little world here. I
wanted to share with someone the following:
Doesn't everyone spend a Wed night trying to figure out who had the small egg stirbar last and where did they put it?
Doesn't everyone have passionate arguments about whether the vapor trap would be better between the vacuum and the glassware or where the solvent
recovery vessel would have been on the Savant Gel pump?
Doesn't everyone spend hours fiddling with a random assortment of swagelok, parker, home depot and Ace and other assorted plumbing-like fixtures in
the vain hope of finding an arrangement with all the pieces you need?
I've been reading a lot of posts on here - hoping to make my own magnetic stirrer. I have a thermolyne, but I want one to put under my Fry Daddy.
BTW does anyone have a users manual for a Perkin Elmer Series 4 HPLC - I got it for 25 bucks but it's a really big paperweight without a manual.
Suzee
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hissingnoise
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Great first post Suzee. . .
Sorry I can't help with the UM.
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SWilkin676
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PS
Regarding me working for the pooo leeess dept. I am a systems analyst and have rather progressive viewpoints on things like what we should be allowed
to do in the privacy of our homes and bodies.
I find the current atmosphere regarding home chemistry and all the restrictions even more troublesome than perhaps most would because I have to avoid
even the appearance of doing anything illegal in order to keep my job.
It's kind of scary the way even people close to me react the same way the first time I mention my interest in chemistry - even my boss said "oh
setting up a meth lab huh?"
Sighhhh
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Panache
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Quote: Originally posted by SWilkin676  |
We don't watch tv (it's upside down on top of a cabinet somewheres) or go to movies or read the newspaper etc.
amazingly the average australian watches 2.5hrs of television a DAY!@!!, i used my tv as a stereo, don't have an aerial, best thing i ever did
was deciding tv was shit, lol
Doesn't everyone spend a Wed night trying to figure out who had the small egg stirbar last and where did they put it?
the u-trap in the sink or the vacuum cleaner bag or in that goop in that flask you have left til later to deal with (some months ago)
Doesn't everyone have passionate arguments about whether the vapor trap would be better between the vacuum and the glassware or where the solvent
recovery vessel would have been on the Savant Gel pump?
Sadly most of us probably work alone, i do argue constantly with my dog though.
Doesn't everyone spend hours fiddling with a random assortment of swagelok, parker, home depot and Ace and other assorted plumbing-like fixtures in
the vain hope of finding an arrangement with all the pieces you need?
Ha, fuck yeah.
Suzee |
nice one!!
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SWilkin676
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>>Sadly most of us probably work alone, i do argue constantly with my dog though.>>
Don't worry unless he starts arguing back...
(and working alone is probably a good thing with chemistry, no distractions!)
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Ozone
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Working alone, while efficient, can also be dangerous. I recommend either picking your experiments very carefully or making sure your partner can
drag you out to fresh air if you pass out, knock your jerking body off the wire with a stick, put you out if you are on fire, neutralize you while you
are undergoing liquefaction, etc.
Cats...I talk to the cats.
Welcome and...
Cheers,
O3
-Anyone who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
--Albert Einstein
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hissingnoise
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Yeah. . . I can't see a pussy without reaching out to stroke. . .
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len1
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Its good to see the forum finally leaving sublime territory and heading straight into the ridiculous ..
Panache the U trap is all very well but dont forget to check the rubbish bin ..
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SWilkin676
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| Quote: Originally posted by Ozone | Working alone, while efficient, can also be dangerous. I recommend either picking your experiments very carefully or making sure your partner can
drag you out to fresh air if you pass out, knock your jerking body off the wire with a stick, put you out if you are on fire, neutralize you while you
are undergoing liquefaction, etc.
Cats...I talk to the cats.
Welcome and...
Cheers,
O3 |
Cats sound dangerous to have in a lab - but I suppose a very enthusiastic doggy tail could do damage too.
Suzee
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JohnWW
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Have a canary with you in the lab. They can detect the buildup of poisonous gases, or explosive mixtures of inflammable gases with air, much earlier
than humans. That is why miners used to bring them down into mines with them in cages. I wonder if those 25 miners killed in that recent gas explosion
in a coal mine in West Virginia might be still alive if this had still been done.
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Panache
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One of the problems with having a canary is if it died from natural causes you wouldn't really know and as such it could freak you out enough to
induce your own death. In this regard i think it better to get stuffed one as its more reliable (and cleaner).
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The WiZard is In
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| Quote: Originally posted by JohnWW | | Have a canary with you in the lab. They can detect the buildup of poisonous gases, or explosive mixtures of inflammable gases with air, much earlier
than humans. That is why miners used to bring them down into mines with them in cages. I wonder if those 25 miners killed in that recent gas explosion
in a coal mine in West Virginia might be still alive if this had still been done. |
Or a cigar.
"HCN is a colorless gas or a colorless or bluish-white liquid with a faint characteristic odor of bitter almonds perceptible to some people. Kirk and
Stenhouse [5] reported 88% of 244 person tested could smell hydrogen cyanide but in fourth of the these,
determination was made only with difficulty."
If you are among the 12% who cannot or the 25+% who have problems smelling HCN is has been recommended that you smoke a cigar while working with
cyanides. As HCN's breakdown products can be tasted in the smoke.**
[5] Kirk,RK, & Stenhouse NS: Ability to smell solutions of potassium cyanide. Nature 171:698-99, 1953 In: NIOSH criteria for a recommended
standard .... occupation exposure to HYDROGEN CYANIDE AND CYANIDE SALTS (NaCN, KCN, and Ca(CN2) UD Dep of Health Education and Welfare October, 1976
** Guttermann, Ann. 357, 318 (1907)
(Cited in: Organic Syntheses Collective Volume I. Pg. 315)
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SWilkin676
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[rquote=175185&tid=13604&author=Panache
or in that goop in that flask you have left til later to deal with (some months ago)
[/rquote]
Funny you should say that, last night was having trouble getting a very dark green extract of skullcap to stir - stirbar kept going crazy. Well when
I went to change to smaller flask and low and behold there were two eggshaped stir bars. (we stopped having arguments when I found 3 on ebay for 3$
each)
So it was in the goop on the shelf, I'll call you next time we're missing something...
Suzee
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JohnWW
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| Quote: Originally posted by SWilkin676 | | Regarding me working for the pooo leeess dept. I am a systems analyst and have rather progressive viewpoints on things like what we should be allowed
to do in the privacy of our homes and bodies. |
In spite of being only a civilian employee, do you still get
called a "Pig" very often? BTW Your online ID had better not give any clue as to your real name, in case your employer is watching this forum.
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SWilkin676
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No one calls me a pig unless they see me around chocolate....
And since I'm NOT a cop, I'm a civilian they wouldn't have any call to call me anything except the computer lady.
Why would I hide what I'm doing? I told my boss what I'm up to - he's like oh setting up a meth lab huh? I rolled my eyes!! You can't mention
anything vaguely chemistry related without getting that reaction.
Suzee
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SWilkin676
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Oh you mentioned I'm a civilian...
Again though I don't have any contact with the public - and the guys stay in my good graces in case their laptop goes bump in the night and they need
my help.
Funny one when I first started - they were using word perfect app to approve reports and some clown got funny and changed all the colors to black. So
I got called out on a Saturday to fix - was NOT amused!!
Suzee
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entropy51
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DNFTT
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Magpie
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Why starve our trolls? Why not just cultivate and enjoy them? 
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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Panache
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i didn't know what a troll was, thanks for that link entropy, i might try a few troll-type posts out, see if you guys can pickup on when i'm in troll
mode.
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Panache
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i love beetroot, i think it is very tasty grated fresh then sprinkled with salt, pepper and olive oil.
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entropy51
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| Quote: Originally posted by SWilkin676 |
Again though I don't have any contact with the public - and the guys stay in my good graces in case their laptop goes bump in the night and they need
my help.
Funny one when I first started - they were using word perfect app to approve reports and some clown got funny and changed all the colors to black. So
I got called out on a Saturday to fix - was NOT amused!!
Suzee |
An acquaintance who watches television pointed out that this fantasy scenario is lifted straight from
the TV show Criminal Minds.
DNFTT.
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Magpie
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Entropy, are you implying that we are being schmoozed by supertrolls?
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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psychokinetic
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o.o <-- This is my caring face.
“If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found
the object of his search.
I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor.”
-Tesla
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SWilkin676
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Huh?
Never even heard of the show Criminal Minds. (Last time I had the tv on was an Obama/Clinton debate )I'm sure if you watch enough tv you will find
even your life there.
The incident with Word Perfect happened in 1994 when the officers were using Tandy 102's. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80_Model_100 (closest I could find)
They uploaded their programs to a bbs and the supervisors retrieved them into a program someone wrote in Word Perfect. They had a whole 17K memory so
if it was a long report they had to upload it in the middle and then do another report. In those days I was the only computer support they had.
Some clown changed all the colors to black. In those days I knew all the command keys by heart and could reset the colors without seeing the screen.
Now I'm a systems analyst in a section with a programmer and a network technician and the laptops are handled by the centralized IT section.
I am getting the impression you don't think I'm real. Surely my other posts were genuine enough? I spent the afternoon applying copper gasket RTV to
the bottom of a 1 liter flask, If it works I'll tell you why.
Suzee
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