« I have to roll my eyes when a creationist says information!

This post will probably make the infestation worse

A couple of us faculty at UMM are shopping for microscopes — we need to replace a dozen of the tired old student stereoscopes with snazzier models. I’ve sent out several inquiries by email to various vendors, but I left out an important requirement: now I want a car microscope, to keep up with all the YUSsies.

I’ve got a couple of quotes, but you know what else I’ve got? A flood of ads for microscopes. Every web page I visit that has ads is now a parade of microscopes marching down the page. I’m not complaining, it’s better than the “one weird trick” ads and the ads for useless supplements.

« I have to roll my eyes when a creationist says information!

Comments

  1. submoron says

    When I worked in the pharmaceutical industry in QA/QC labs there was a Zeiss service engineer who would collect redundant microscopes of all makes, service them and give them to local schools. He told me of a case where whilst servicing the microscopes of a public hospital/research institute he saw one of the staff take a microscope in fully functioning condition (Zeiss Standard 16 I think) and drop it into a rubbish skip! Why? It had been purchased for a particular project the grant for which specified that when no longer required, apparatus bought for the project could not be sold, used for other work or given away

  3. F.O. says

    You know that adblockers exist PZ, why don’t you use one?

    I’m genuinely baffled at why people don’t use adblockers.

  4. whywhywhy says

    Speaking of supplements, have you seen the prospective Surgeon General?

  5. numerobis says

    Now that you have a retirement date in Morris MN, I think you need to accept that you are now an orssie — an old, rural scientist.

  6. tallgrass05 says

    Check out the Nikon SMZ-745 stereoscopes with a 10x eyepiece. Very good resolution and 50x magnification for the taxonomy class I teach.

  7. Snarki, child of Loki says

    Car microscope:

    “IF YOU CAN SEE THIS
    YOU’RE TOO DAMN CLOSE!”

  8. chrislawson says

    submoron@1–

    Who the hell wrote that requirement into the grant? And what idiot complies instead of giving the microscope to another lab, or a school instead of binning it?

  9. Snarki, child of Loki says

    “Who the hell wrote that requirement into the grant?”

    A seller of microscopes? Seems like the only thing that makes sense.

  10. Ridana says

    How would they even check to see how you offloaded equipment purchases? The only way to enforce compliance would be to have the grantee ship it all to the grantor.

    They should have had a colleague photograph the disposal to send to the grantor, and then fish it out of the trash.

  11. CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain says

    Phys.org – Thunderstorms conjure ghostly coronae in treetops, observed outdoors for the first time

    For the first time, researchers have observed and measured weak electrical discharges, known as coronae, on trees during thunderstorms. A new study describes the near-invisible sparkles
    […]
    Scientists have speculated about weak electrical discharges on plants under thunderstorms for almost a century […] Lab experiments over the past half-century had at least demonstrated how they could form
    […]
    Documenting coronae under real thunderstorms, however, would require a different approach—specifically, a 2013 Toyota Sienna kitted out with a weather station, electric field detector, laser rangefinder, and roof-mounted periscope directing light to an ultraviolet camera.
    […]
    “The most fun part was taking a jigsaw and cutting a twelve-inch hole in the roof. Totally killed the resale value, but that’s fine.”

  12. Silentbob says

    @ 3 F.O.

    I’m genuinely baffled at why people don’t use adblockers

    I just ignore them. Did it ever occur to you to just ignore them?

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