Melgar - 27-4-2017 at 12:19
I've messaged quite a few people here from the NYC area, and even went on meetup.com to see if there were any chemistry groups around. Not much
seemed to be out there though, so I started a group myself. I even mentioned this forum in the group description. The first meeting, I scheduled for
next Tuesday (May 2nd) at 7:00pm, at 35th and 7th, between Penn Station and Herald Square, to be as close to as many different trains as possible. If
you'd like to come, search for the "amateur chemists" group on Meetup.com, and join it.
Heck, anyone that comes, I'll give 2-3 grams of galinstan (nontoxic metal alloy that's liquid at room temperature) and maybe a few other fun things.
Db33 - 27-4-2017 at 12:29
i WISH to god i lived in NY id love to be in a group like this. Sadly i live in the DC area.
Melgar - 1-5-2017 at 11:37
Well, three people RSVPed so far, so apparently you're in the minority. But three is good. I wouldn't know what to do if like 20 people RSVPed.
I plan to talk to the coffee shop staff, and say that we're a group of amateur scientists as opposed to chemists, since in NYC more than most
places, "chemicals" seem to scare people. However, the image of a scientist, in most people's minds, is often a dude with a lab coat holding a flask
with some colored liquid in it. But "scientist" seems to have more positive connotations than "chemist" does.
[Edited on 5/1/17 by Melgar]
Elemental Phosphorus - 1-5-2017 at 13:25
Seems like there are a number of DC area chemists as well though...
I wish I could come to this group. Sadly I am not local to NYC. I am there pretty regularly however.
CharlieA - 1-5-2017 at 15:37
re respect for chemists/chemistry: whatever happened to "better living through chemistry?" (sigh)
And once upon a time I was proud to be a chemist!
Melgar - 1-5-2017 at 19:30
I don't think it's chemists that people worry about, so much as "chemicals". With products being advertised as "chemical free", (Why would you give a
total vacuum to a baby to play with!? That's not safe at all!) and people in general being a species that fears what they don't understand, it can be
easy to emotionally conclude that any substance with a hard-to-pronounce name might cause cancer. That seems to be the case, anyway. I thought my
roommate was just being a dick when he said he didn't want any of my chemistry stuff in the apartment, even if it's all legal, packed up, and I put a
fan in the window to create a negative pressure, but he's genuinely afraid of it. It baffles me.