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digaman
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Thanks so much, guys. I appreciate it. And yes, the scan does have the pretty pictures. 
I was a science geek when I was a kid -- I had chemistry sets, I worshipped the Edmund Scientific catalog, and I collected minerals (I know, all wimpy
stuff compared to what you guys do [smile]!) -- so I have a soft spot in my heart for home experimentation and self-education in science, which I
believe is our birthright. I am also married to a science teacher.
I really, really appreciate you guys posting the link to other forums. Thanks so much. If you feel comfortable doing so, I would also encourage
anyone to write a letter to the editor of Wired about the article. Letters to the editor carry a lot of weight in determining future coverage of
similar subjects. The address is rants@wiredmag.com.
Thanks!
Steve
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Ramiel
Vicious like a ferret
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"“A lot of schools don’t have chemistry labs anymore,” explains CEF educational coordinator Laurel Brent. “We want to give kids lessons that
tie in to their real-world experiences without having them deal with a lot of strange chemicals in bottles that have big long names.”"
And that person calls themselves an educator! I really find that attude repugnant, don't you think?
Anger... Rising...
Caveat Orator
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lordmagnus
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Yeah, this sucks. Luckily I don't work with chemicals that would show up on the WATCHED list, although I have enough lab equipment to get myself into
trouble here in texas, I have all sorts of distillation columns, condensers, glassware, etc.
I\'ll kill a man in a fair fight, or if I think he is gonna start a fair fight, or if he\'s bothrn me allot, or if I am getin payed good, or probably
over a good woman.
-Jayne Cobb (Serenity) |
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neutrino
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>“We want to give kids lessons that tie in to their real-world experiences without having them deal with a lot of strange chemicals in bottles
that have big long names.”
Then who will work with those strange chemicals and discover new things? Oh right, the Chinese and the Indians. And politicians still wonder why
America is falling behind...
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panoptic
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Slashdotted...
... by a degree of separation, or so.
Here.
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DeAdFX
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Hey guys if we practice green chemistry we can enjoy chemistry while combating against the terrorists. ITS A WIN WIN LOLOL...[/sarcastic post]
Sweet jesus who thought of this bullshit. Well I guess if we appease the enviromental terrorists then we don't have to worry about them blowing up an
evil corporation. Makes sense.
Quoted from http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2002/jul/tec...
Green chemistry can be patriotic, according to a widely publicized new book by the National Research Council, a private nonprofit organization. “If
we make fewer toxic products, use milder manufacturing conditions, and produce less toxic waste, we reduce the opportunities for terrorists,”
according to Making the Nation Safer: The Role of Science and Technology in Countering Terrorism. Accordingly, the book urges that scientists in
government, academia, and industry “strive to identify research directions that could lead to safer, intrinsically secure, economically viable
chemical processes and procedures that are valuable for our long-term sustainability.” For more information, go to www.nap.edu/catalog/10415.html?onpi_newsdoc062402.
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Organikum
resurrected
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| Quote: | Originally posted by rogue chemist
It is pretty novel to actually meet (albeit online) the person who wrote such a good article. Keep up the good work! What made you choose to do an
article on amateur chemistry? You must have some interest in it(perhaps a closet chemist yourself ?)
Perhaps some sort of a follow up article sometime?
(But my scan has all the pretty pictures ) |
The article was positive but nothing more, it was not even halfway well researched or the author would have known that aerogels
were by no way developed by the NASA for example.
We are so starved that we tend to give applause to the anything whats not directly offending.
/ORG
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neutrino
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The important things are that
1. The article was in a positive tone.
2. The article was read by a large audience.
That second one is rare nowadays in conjunction with the first one. Mostly we talk about the state of chemistry but only a few people read our
discussions. A significant number of people is reading this.
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chemoleo
Biochemicus Energeticus
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Who is reading wired? I never heard of it until this article.
Is it a popular magazine in the States?
Similar articles ought to be written here in Europe, where controls are even more stringent.. while yet a disproportionately large number of people
pursue such hobbies, in my circles, I know a number of Dads/parents who essentially passed on their hobbies to their kids... I suppose it's a
historical thing, because Germany was for some time the forerunner of chemistry, and such experimentation used to be quite a normal thing to do for a
clever kid while growing up. So sad that this is becoming increasingly difficult here, all in the name of public safety.
Similar to music I suppose, in Germany, it is common that people play an instrument, and this is not really class-associated... not so in the UK, or
US (where it's hard to find people that are able to read music in the common populace). Once again, Germany produced a large number of great
composers, so probably this explains why this culture of playing music persists to this day.
Never Stop to Begin, and Never Begin to Stop...
Tolerance is good. But not with the intolerant! (Wilhelm Busch)
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The_Davster
A pnictogen
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Yeah wired is a pretty common magazine in the US and in Canada(although to a lesser extent). Although it does get read by more of the technically
inclined than by the general populace. I had never read an issue of it until I heard about this article.
Jeez, I am trying to read through the slashdot discussion, what the hell type of board software is that? Rather confusing in my opinion. Links
everywhere to the same posts...
Organikum, yes it was positive, the good effects of such an article are not affected by whether or not the author got the inventor of areogels
correct.
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chromium
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| Quote: |
Organikum, yes it was positive, the good effects of such an article are not affected by whether or not the author got the inventor of areogels
correct. |
Absolutely agree with rogue chemist. This was very good article especially if compared to that bs what is writen to fight against hobby chemistry. Yet
that bs works even more for sole reason that its repeated again and again.
[Edited on 2-6-2006 by chromium]
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digaman
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Chemoleo, Wired has over 500,000 subscribers in the United States and Europe, and there are a lot of newsstand sales on top of that. Organikum is
quite right that I goofed about the inventor of aerogel -- that's the one outright error that others have pointed out too. Organikum, please do
provide pointers to other articles about chemistry in the mainstream press that you believe are truly worthy of your applause; I'd love to read them.
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joeflsts
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This article touches on many issues. Education today isn't about excellence it is about teaching at a level that is acceptable at all levels of
comphrension. So essentially for one to "stand-out" they must not participate in public schooling or they run the risk of learning at a sub-standard
level. There are exeptions but that is becoming the anolomy and not the norm.
When I was a child I was absorded by chemistry. In fact it was my dream to become a chemist after grade school. In my basement I had a lab that
would make some of today's school chemistry labs look like a joke. When I left school and entered the military all that was left behind.
20 years later I find myself, once again, very interested in amateur chemistry. It is a bit easier now that I'm older and able to obtain some items
that as child were unreachable. But even as an adult, with all the freedoms that I'm supposed to have, I have to deal with government agencies that
feel they need them to protect me.
When you really, and I mean really, examine the issues that we face you begin to realize that in the course of asking our government to protect us, we
have given up something that is essential for our ability to experiment... Freedom.
So to be honest the blame rests on our desire to be protected and not recognize that the only person that should hold the ultimate responsbility for
individual protection is the individual and not some government agency with a desire to secure the next years budget allocation.
Joe
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UniversalSolvent
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I'm sending a letter to Wired's editor; as a subscriber, I'd like to see this covered more, maybe it'll spread to other publications.
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digaman
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Thanks, Universal. Jon Carroll, a columnist from the <i>San Francisco Chronicle</i>, picked up on the story today, so that's a little
more chemistry awareness trickling into the mainstream:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/ar...
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I am a fish
undersea enforcer
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Ramiel
"“A lot of schools don’t have chemistry labs anymore,” explains CEF educational coordinator Laurel Brent. “We want to give kids lessons that
tie in to their real-world experiences without having them deal with a lot of strange chemicals in bottles that have big long names.”"
And that person calls themselves an educator! I really find that attude repugnant, don't you think?
Anger... Rising... |
It's absolutely disgusting. The whole point of education is to expand people's horizons. Her attitude is also extremely offensive to the children;
it's a 21st century equivalent of telling them not to get ideas above their station.
I imagine this fear of "big long names" is also contrary to what the kids want. Young children are naturally drawn to what's hidden, mysterious and
beyond the realm of everyday experience. If they're told that everything is made of atoms, they'll want to know what atoms are made out of, and then
what protons are made of, and then what quarks are made of, and so on. However, such matters don't "tie in to their real-world experiences", and so
they'll be denied this information.
1f `/0u (4|\\| |234d 7|-|15, `/0u |234||`/ |\\|33d 70 937 0u7 /\\/\\0|23.
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joeflsts
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| Quote: | Originally posted by I am a fish
| Quote: | Originally posted by Ramiel
"“A lot of schools don’t have chemistry labs anymore,” explains CEF educational coordinator Laurel Brent. “We want to give kids lessons that
tie in to their real-world experiences without having them deal with a lot of strange chemicals in bottles that have big long names.”"
And that person calls themselves an educator! I really find that attude repugnant, don't you think?
Anger... Rising... |
It's absolutely disgusting. The whole point of education is to expand people's horizons. Her attitude is also extremely offensive to the children;
it's a 21st century equivalent of telling them not to get ideas above their station.
I imagine this fear of "big long names" is also contrary to what the kids want. Young children are naturally drawn to what's hidden, mysterious and
beyond the realm of everyday experience. If they're told that everything is made of atoms, they'll want to know what atoms are made out of, and then
what protons are made of, and then what quarks are made of, and so on. However, such matters don't "tie in to their real-world experiences", and so
they'll be denied this information. |
My wife is still fuming over her comment. I can't imagine how this person was determined fit to participate in education.
Joe
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leu
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| Quote: | | I can't imagine how this person was determined fit to participate in education. |
This person is merely repeating the nanny state party line, otherwise known as Oligarchical Collectivism; which is growing as fast as fear
can be induced within the population by the use of mass media
[Edited on 4-6-2006 by leu]
Chemistry is our Covalent Bond
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HNO3
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"scientifically useful compounds as liquid iodine"
Iodine is not liquid, but I liked the article. Great Job!
\"In the beginning, God...\" Wait a minute, God doesn\'t exist!!!!!!!!!! \"OK, in the beginning, ummm, hydrogen...\" Wait a minute, what about the
laws of thermodynamics? \"OK, in the beginning, ummm.....UMMMMM, what\'s left to choose from?
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UniversalSolvent
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| Quote: | Originally posted by HNO3
"scientifically useful compounds as liquid iodine"
Iodine is not liquid, but I liked the article. Great Job! |
He probably meant tincture, it's really hard to get in certain areas because of meth production.
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digaman
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Tincture of iodine, which is common in many households (as opposed to solid iodine, which is rare outside of chemistry) is listed on hundreds of
meth-watch websites as "liquid iodine," which was the point.
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digaman
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And thanks!
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UniversalSolvent
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| Quote: | Originally posted by digaman
And thanks! |
No problem.
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