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Adam Munich

Sat Feb 12 2011, 04:21AM

Registered Member #2893 Joined: Tue Jun 01 2010, 09:25PM
Location: Cali-forn. i. a.
Posts: 2242

1297484301 2893 FT0 Menlo Park Laboratory1

That's Edison's lab. See what unrestricted access to chemicals leads to? Innovation. Marie curie, Edison, William rontgen, all great scientists. There's one thing they had that modern day scientists lack today; the ability to go to the local chemical store.

It's a shame that politicians are so stupid. They limit things like this, and now they're trying to limit information because ZOMG BOMBZ OH NOES! Imagine if governments were run by scientists, imagine a technocracy...

Patrick

Sat Feb 12 2011, 04:59AM

Registered Member #2431 Joined: Tue Oct 13 2009, 09:47PM
Location: Chico, CA. USA
Posts: 5639

Grenadier wrote ...

That's Edison's lab. See what unrestricted access to chemicals leads to? Innovation. Marie curie, Edison, William rontgen, all great scientists. There's one thing they had that modern day scientists lack today; the ability to go to the local chemical store.

weep, weep---its so beautiful--(wipes tear), stop cowardly politicians please! so that we can all live in a better world.

ScotchTapeLord

Sat Feb 12 2011, 06:24AM

Registered Member #1875 Joined: Sun Dec 21 2008, 06:36PM
Location:
Posts: 635

I was there many years ago... that's the place with that big tree, right? Or am I mixing up famous laboratories....

Steve Conner

Sat Feb 12 2011, 09:26AM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

In Edison's lab notes there is a mention of how one of his junior assistants accidentally swallowed a pound of mercury while working on a vacuum pump. He mentioned that the kid's hair and teeth fell out, and his mother was not at all pleased. That's what else unrestricted access to chemicals leads to.

I can't find the source for this quote, it was online somewhere.

Also, Marie Curie couldn't go to the store and buy radium, until she had discovered it by refining several tons of pitchblende by hand in a shed, a task that makes bomb-making from hardware store ingredients seem easy and fun, and led to a radiation-related death. Her lab notebooks from the 1890s are still too radioactive to handle safely.

IntraWinding

Sat Feb 12 2011, 10:38AM

Registered Member #2261 Joined: Mon Aug 03 2009, 01:19AM
Location: London, UK
Posts: 581

Steve McConner wrote ...

...accidentally swallowed a pound of mercury while working on a vacuum pump. He mentioned that the kid's hair and teeth fell out...

I read that half a pound of mercury used to be used as a cure for constipation! Presumably it didn't have the hair and teeth effect then - or perhaps the story is apocryphal.

Wolfram

Sat Feb 12 2011, 10:55AM

Registered Member #33 Joined: Sat Feb 04 2006, 01:31PM
Location: Norway
Posts: 971

Steve McConner wrote ...

In Edison's lab notes there is a mention of how one of his junior assistants accidentally swallowed a pound of mercury while working on a vacuum pump. He mentioned that the kid's hair and teeth fell out, and his mother was not at all pleased. That's what else unrestricted access to chemicals leads to.

I can't find the source for this quote, it was online somewhere.

Here

it is. There are some interesting stories there.

Conundrum

Sat Feb 12 2011, 11:01AM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4062

yeah, i agree with grenadier.
we need to let people have access to chemicals and knowledge, on the basis that to not do so would result in a marginally safer but mind numbingly boring society.

As for the whole "terrorism" or "health & safety" nanny state, it is counter productive. People will find a way around even total censorship, take China as an example.

I always liked the quote "The Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it".

I always wondered if there were any photos of Tesla's lab before the catastrophic fire...

-A
#include "MPAA_to_ban_singing_in_the_bath.h"

Martin King

Sat Feb 12 2011, 01:53PM

Registered Member #3040 Joined: Tue Jul 27 2010, 03:15PM
Location: South of London. UK
Posts: 237

Grenadier wrote ...

That's Edison's lab. See what unrestricted access to chemicals leads to? Innovation. Marie curie, Edison, William rontgen, all great scientists.

Hm, in one thread he's a "Great scientist" and in another he's a "Jerk" make your mind up

Adam Munich

Sat Feb 12 2011, 02:36PM

Registered Member #2893 Joined: Tue Jun 01 2010, 09:25PM
Location: Cali-forn. i. a.
Posts: 2242

What? Can't someone be smart and a jerk at the same time?

And I don't buy that swallowing mercury story; it's kind of hard to 'accidentally' swallow 1lb of Hg. The kid probably did it in a dare.

Martin King

Sat Feb 12 2011, 03:40PM

Registered Member #3040 Joined: Tue Jul 27 2010, 03:15PM
Location: South of London. UK
Posts: 237

Yes someone can be "Smart" and a jerk, but "Great" and a jerk ?

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