Comments

  1. DLC says

    hahaha!
    but you can only get a grant if your research is All American and Jesus-based!
    Oh, and even though science is based on replication of results by other researchers, you can’t be doing the same thing someone else already has a grant for!
    Or so some GOP nitwits would have it.
    (well, actually they would have the NSF destroyed, but since they can’t . . . )

  2. M, Supreme Anarch of the Queer Illuminati says

    My only advantage on the job market is that I have a slight edge in writing grant applications due to my background in that esoteric and unholy sorcery known only as literature.

  3. Rob says

    My only advantage on the job market is that I have a slight edge in writing grant applications due to my background in that esoteric and unholy sorcery known only as literature.
     
    So you write science fiction then?

  4. Rob says

    @glodson
    Just a bit of gentle ragging. Anyway, Discovery Institute is just pure fantasy isn’t it?

  5. glodson says

    Well, I look at it as the same style of Sci-fi as Star Wars. Fantasy with enough “science” thrown in to sound “science-y.”

    (And I know it was a bit of ragging, I was just messing around.)

  6. ochemgradstudent says

    To be a total pedant for no good reason, that’s not a beaker. It is an erlenmeyer flask.

  7. erik333 says

    7 ochemgradstudent

    Cool! I always wondered what the “E” stood for, but never cared enough to find out. Thank you!

  8. Rob says

    Pedantry is in this case acceptable. 10 bonus points if you can estimate the flask volume and give a justification based on the scale of the figure in the cartoon!
     
    On a serious note, I eventually changed careers because I couldn’t stand the percentage of my time consumed by writing funding applications with 1-3 year cycles. The wasted time, in my view, more than burnt any ‘efficiency’ gain by targeting the research funding. That may not be the case in other jurisdictions of course. My sympathy to those still doing it.

  9. ochemgradstudent says

    Rob – based on the size of the character’s hand, something in the 500mL narrow neck range. Could be a 250mL, but it’s kind of hard to estimate owing to the scale of the head vs body.

  10. Ragutis says

    that’s not a beaker. It is an erlenmeyer flask.

    10 bonus points if you can estimate the flask volume and give a justification based on the scale of the figure in the cartoon!

    based on the size of the character’s hand, something in the 500mL narrow neck range. Could be a 250mL, but it’s kind of hard to estimate owing to the scale of the head vs body.

    I <3 Pharyngula.

  11. A. R says

    The head makes me want to say 250, but the hands make me want to say 500 Looks like a Kimax though if you look at the angle of the base to the walls.

  12. thumper1990 says

    @ochemgradstudent

    We always called them conical flasks. Literal descriptive terminology FTW!

  13. says

    Jeez, that Erlenmeyer person must’ve had weird pockets to need a flask shaped like that. Or was this covered in the other thread?

  14. eigenperson says

    The shape is actually very well designed. A narrow neck allows it to be stoppered, reduces evaporation, reduces spillage when swirling, and (in small sizes) can be safely and comfortably gripped with a finger and thumb. A wide base lowers the center of gravity to increase stability. A flat bottom allows it to sit on the table. And it’s easy to scrub out, since all of the inner surface can be accessed from the opening with minimal bending of the cleaning tool (as compared to a bottle).