09:55 – Barbara is off to the gym. It was 48.4F (9C) when I took Colin out this morning, but we’re back to having a stiff breeze with high wind gusts, so it felt a lot colder than yesterday morning.
I saw an article yesterday that listed the ten windiest big cities during 2016. Winston-Salem was #8 on that list. But that list only included major cities. Here in Sparta, our winds make Winston-Salem’s look calm. In the mountain passes around here–we call them “gaps”–cars, pickups, and even tractor-trailers are often literally blown off the roads by wind gusts that are often 60 MPH (100 KPH) or more, sometimes even 90 MPH. This would be a good location to install a small wind turbine system, because calm days are few and far between. I don’t plan to do that because it’s very expensive and requires too much maintenance. Solar is a better bet for us.
With a couple weeks left in the month, we’re at about 94% of revenue for January 2015. Science kits have been flying off the shelves, but that could stop at any time. Sales usually drop dead in late January or early February, after people have ordered kits for the Winter semester. We’re in good shape for now on kits, with what we need to build more of them on the fly, if needed.
I finished the copy-edit pass on the draft manuscript of Franklin Horton’s latest Borrowed World series book and got it off to him yesterday. He emailed me last night to say he’d gone through my suggestions, and intended to have a final manuscript finished by the end of the week. It won’t be long after that before he has it up on Amazon. I’ll announce that here for anyone who wants to buy a copy.
And I started drafting a PA novel of my own, just to see if I could do it. It’s just chapter fragments right now, but I’m up to about 11,000 words. I think it reads well, but I’m going to send Franklin a copy to see what he thinks. If he thinks I can write fiction, I’ll probably finish it up and self-publish it. I’m cranking out about 1,000 words per hour, which means if I work heads-down on it I could finish a first draft of a 100,000 word novel in about three weeks.
WordPress is giving me fits. When I started using it in mid-2011, I checked the box to tell it to accept comments only from readers who had a previously-approved comment. That worked fine until two or three weeks ago, when WordPress for some reason took a sudden dislike to three of my frequent commenters, Ray Thompson, Cowboy Slim, and ech. Since then, WP has held every one of their comments for moderation and I’ve had to approve them one by one. So this morning, I unchecked the box that tells WP to hold unapproved commenters’ comments for moderation. We’ll see what happens. In the meantime, if you spot a spam comment that slipped through, please let me know.
Testing 1, 2, 3.
Currently 66F with 71%RH and the gauge shows 3.3 inches of rain since midnight. Some parts of town got over 6 inches, and all the downstream bayous are at flood or over.
My wife says “springtime in Houston” but it’s still WINTER! Not supposed to get this much rain yet….
n
I know that comment feature is driving Bob crazy right now, but I would just like to say that I like the comments here. Obviously, I would show up just to read what Bob has to say, but I find the comments are often almost as interesting as what Bob writes.
As long as they’re only “almost” …
We got a sugary dusting of snow overnight and it’s 35 here right now, with more minor snow flurries and rain showers the rest of the week, I guess, and temps from high 30s to low 40s.
A very quiet “Hump Day” so fah.
Two more days.
I would just like to say that I like the comments here. Obviously, I would show up just to read what Bob has to say, but I find the comments are often almost as interesting as what Bob writes.
Ditto that. It’s nice to have a forum of mostly like-minded folk to yack with.
Day 2 of our conference in Vegas. Since it’s all “educators” it leans 99% libturdian. I’m a duck out of water. I wish Mr. OFD was here to share in the “spiritual” hand holding circle every morning. I think he would relate.
“It’s nice to have a forum of mostly like-minded folk to yack with.”
Other than FaceCrack, that is. Which before I left, was just the same old boring rehash of cutesy memes and the pretty nearly the only “conservatives” were of the Fox Nooz and Freepers variety, trying to spin their own little playbook against the better organized and established Leftist playbook. Which sucks when the hosting party is on the side of the Leftists; kinda like having a Super Bowl with the local Pop Warner team coming into the stadium against the Dallas Cowboys, and the stadium is in Dallas and all the refs come from there and all the fans are Cowboys fans. And it was mostly ‘preaching to the choir” and arguing over hair-splitting differences, which must make the Lefties laugh their asses off.
There are other sites that have like-minded folk chatting civilly, but none with this particular mix, and I learn something new here almost every day. It’s a little heavy on the middle-aged white male gearhead stuff but since when was that a crime? And it stays current with the emphasis having migrated from mostly computer-related stuff to prepping and politics. That, and a lotta folks here are actually doing stuff to make the world a little better and safer.
“I wish Mr. OFD was here to share in the “spiritual” hand holding circle every morning. I think he would relate.”
Ah feel yer pain, son. Imagine how I felt 25 years ago as a grad student and TA at two major Northeast university humanities departments. I had nobody.
Clear and cold in Vegas this am. Mid 30’s, but sunshine. Time to take a drone out during lunch.
Except for Miles_Teg, of course. It’s not so much that he’s not mostly like-minded, it’s that he’s mostly not minded at all.
Apropos nothing, did you know that syphilis rots the brain? And, apropos nothing, did you know that syphilis came from sheep?
(On a somewhat related topic, shortly before I got off active Army duty I had to go to yet another AIDS training session. This one was just me, a higher-grade officer, and a few PFCs or thereabouts. At the “any questions?” part, I asked the trainer to confirm that AIDS was considered a sexually transmitted disease. Yes, it is. And the virus, HIV, originally came from green monkeys, right? Yes, that’s right. So how did this sexually transmitted disease get from monkeys to humans? The PFCs all were dying because they were afraid to laugh, but the major made up for it by cracking up.)
Waiting for a huge (for us) rainstorm to arrive later today and checking moderation.
No moderation now.
I am becoming increasing worried over protests at ongoing work in the nation’s infrastructure. I do not know if this is Democratic party, George Soros, or clandestine others at work. But they are trying to destroy any improvements in our infrastructure. Esepcially if those improvements have anything to do with fossil fuels. And the protests are increasingly turning violent. “Police: 12 arrested in protest at Valero refinery in Memphis”
http://www.pennenergy.com/articles/pennenergy/2017/01/refinery-police-12-arrested-in-protest-at-valero-refinery-in-memphis.html
It’s all Soros. But a solution is on the way. SteveF is going to introduce him to one of his favourite sheep, who will give him scrapie and syphilis. No more Soros!
I grew up a couple of hundred metres from here. They’ve closed one of Adelaide’s main arterial roads due to this. No word on when it’ll be open again.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-18/south-road-closed,-tram-delays-after-overpass-damage-spotted/8190314
You grew up? Well there’s your problem right there.
People always think I’m younger than I am, usually by at least a decade. I figure it’s because I act like a five-year-old and that throws off their estimates.
Well, one could always go back to static pages. But then you’d have to build some sort of comment system for your static pages. Or use some pre-built comment system add-in, which you would have to maintain. And which wouldn’t have Akismet for spam-blocking (it works pretty well).
You could do a forum (like you used to), but that’s a separate installation to maintain. And for people to remember to go to, rather than just commenting here.
So WordPress, with work, can work like you want it to. For instance, I do minimal interaction with Jerry’s WP sites (although he doesn’t have comments to worry about). I have some plugins that make life easier for me that I use on all my WP sites. Once I get a site running, there’s little maintenance: the occasional plugin/theme updates, which I keep track of via a master control panel of all my WP sites.
I, for one, like to read the comments here. Especially the ones about FLASHLIGHTS.
The ones about SHEEP, not so much.
Yeah, that’s why I originally went to WordPress after Brian and Greg decided to get out of the hosting business. I just didn’t have time to do anything other than use a canned solution.
I do not know if this is Democratic party,
Along those lines, Libturdian heads are exploding over tRump’s EPA nominee. I think all of tRump’s picks should sit there and say “Fuck you, you lost” to every stupid question Dumbocrat Senators ask them. Redumblicans need to get their act together and get every one of tRump’s picks in office. Give tRump some simple bills to pass to get a winning record started. It tRump actually cuts spending by 10% and manpower by 20%, so many Libturdian heads will explode, the Earth may shift on it’s axis. That in turn will cancel out Global Ejaculation making tRump our Lord and Savior.
In my thirties people typically underestimated my age by six or more years. When I was 43 and talking to a health professional she said “now that you’re 29 you’ll have to” make all these changes to diet and lifestyle. I asked her “29 what”? She looked at my record and saw she’d underestimated my age by 14 years. Very flattering… 🙂
And I started drafting a PA novel of my own, just to see if I could do it. It’s just chapter fragments right now, but I’m up to about 11,000 words. I think it reads well, but I’m going to send Franklin a copy to see what he thinks. If he thinks I can write fiction, I’ll probably finish it up and self-publish it. I’m cranking out about 1,000 words per hour, which means if I work heads-down on it I could finish a first draft of a 100,000 word novel in about three weeks.
What is going to be your trigger event ? EMP seems to be a little overused at the moment. I would be happy to review it but, my first name is Michael. I like just about anything. Not so sure about the general populace who, do like apocalyptic books based on the number of Big River reviews.
Writing takes a lot of time, and a little bit of ‘do-it’. I’ve been working on a book for about a year, and sometimes find it hard to remember to work on it. It’s sitting at about 90K words on the first draft. There might be another 30K words to finish it. Part of my problem is I haven’t quite figured out the ‘finish’, so I procrastinate (quite effectively) on working on it. It’s not like I don’t have lots of time, being retired.
Speaking of ‘works in progress’ … there is that Prepping Manual that I once heard of here. Along with some other books that other commenters have threatened to write.
Writing books is a lot of work – and it’s easy to procrastinate working on it (I’m good at that).
Writing books is a lot of work – and it’s easy to procrastinate working on it (I’m good at that).
I’ve written five books, technical software manuals, with extreme help from my staff. It was an incredible amount of work. And I’ve got the version 15 updates sitting on my desk for two months now. And nobody is gutsy enough to remind me that they need to be finished.
https://www.winsim.com/doco.html
I’ve been meaning to put the names of all who were involved into each manual. Just getting that done is difficult since I start thinking about the last 40+ years and get lost in remembranceland.
Someone said that men with beards should not be allowed in the girls’ bathroom and he just lost his shit. I need a safe space!
Fair enough. My problem with the non-fiction prepping book is that it takes a ton of time, and my time for the last couple of years has been pretty fully occupied by the business, by the move, and by actual prepping.
Tell you what. Next Monday, I’ll offer a PDF copy of where I am so far on the PA novel. You guys are welcome to email me. I’ll send you the copy, and listen to what you have to say about whether or not I can write fiction.
Would it be possible for me to get a LibreOffice (or Word) document? Marking up PDF is a pain.
If you want the best review and edit I can do on what you have — which I’m offering — anything else that you have, like outline or character sketches, would help.
“What is going to be your trigger event ? ”
An earthquake in the Reelfoot Rift area of the NMSZ. Moment Magnitude 9.3. It basically cuts the country in half, destroying bridges and railways over the Mississippi River, destroying nearly every POL pipeline and many refineries, causing severe damage to the electrical grid, and cutting off the Eastern US from the food and oil/gas producing areas west of the Mississippi.
At the moment, I’m at about 14,000 words, which is about 3,000 more words than it was this morning.
“Would it be possible for me to get a LibreOffice (or Word) document? Marking up PDF is a pain.”
Sure, when I’m ready for a copy-edit/proof pass, but right now I’m not looking for corrections, just everyone’s opinion about whether or not I can write fiction.
A contest. (Only downside is that you need to register a user account on Daily Pundit if you want to enter. It’s free and you’ll never get email or anything, it’s just a nuisance.)
It’s text-only, for the moment anyway, so even though it’s rude it should be SFW. Unless you have your computer or device read it out loud, in which case you might want to wait until you’re home.
Gotcha.
And if I’d been, you know, paying attention and thinking I’d have gotten that the first time around. In my defense, um, Global Warming!
Yes, Global Warming has a lot to answer for.
I like Global Warming. It lowers our heating bill, whether for oil or firewood. It lessens the impact on our stove and flue and chimney and cuts down on our carbon footprint. It also lengthens the growing season, which is nice to have up here in the northland.
But my all-time favorite thing about it? The rising sea levels will wipe out most of the Clinton Archipelago. On both coasts. Now how do you top that for a benefit???
I like that contest idea over at Daily Pundit, too; I might give it a shot, I dunno; it’s tough going up against someone as evil as Mr. SteveF. In one sentence, too; that I don’t have a problem with; I’ve read and studied the very late Thomas Hobbes. That mofo could run a single sentence for page after page and good luck keeping the whole thought and series of mini-thoughts in your head while you’re reading it.
Just gotta be evil enough; evil enough to cause a Snowflake Holocaust.
Hey, I recall reviewing a book, or portion, about upgrading a PC about a dozen, or more, years ago.
What goes around, comes around.
“But my all-time favorite thing about it? The rising sea levels will wipe out most of the Clinton Archipelago. On both coasts. Now how do you top that for a benefit???”
Oh-oh, I’m 1 1/2 crow miles from the beach at 1′ AMSL. Pumping up my ark now, about 40 octaves in draft.
“But my all-time favorite thing about it? The rising sea levels will wipe out most of the Clinton Archipelago. On both coasts. Now how do you top that for a benefit???”
Oh-oh, I’m 1 1/2 crow miles from the beach at 1′ AMSL. Pumping up my ark now, about 40 octaves in draft.
Can you swim ?
I’d be worried about Mr. CowboySlim if he’s pumping up a water craft; that implies some sort of inflatable, and his spurs are likely to punch a hole in it at an inopportune moment, say, cruising the flood waters over what’s left of South Central or Watts or Hollyweird.
I do not know if this is Democratic party, George Soros, or clandestine others at work.
The Russians have been funding anti-fracking groups, supposedly.
[snip] I’m 1 1/2 crow miles from the beach [snip]
I’m closer than that, and in the high single digits AMSL.
We’re in a similar situation, only a few hundred crow-miles from the beach and about 3,000 feet elevation.
100 feet from the bay shore, which leads out to the “Inland Sea,” and 90 feet AMSL. This site has never been flooded, but the road just north of here by about 200 yards was, during Tropical Storm Irene, and bridges were washed out here and there around the state. Also the road out to Saint Albans Point was underwater, but local ignorant derps drove right through it; one on film with a kid in the back seat, no seat belt.
We just had light rain sprinkles up here but Mrs. OFD reports freezing rain and a sheet of ice over everything down there in beeyooteeful Shelburne Bay, 35 miles south, so she’ll stay there again tonight rather than risk the interstate, which is notorious for black ice and crazy micro-climate bursts.
I’m on Season Five of “The Walking Dead,” and still amazed at how much ammo they always have on hand and for peeps desperately scrounging for canned food, they look pretty healthy, just filthy. So they’re in a car blasting through dozens of walkers on the road and the car is completely splattered with blood and gore and so are they half the time. No ill effects, apparently; no real attempt to get and stay clean, either. Which would be critical in a real SHTF. Yes, I know it’s just a dumb story, thank you.
I’m on Season Five of “The Walking Dead,” and still amazed at how much ammo they always have on hand and for peeps desperately scrounging for canned food, they look pretty healthy, just filthy.
I’m not sure that we are watching the same TWD.
100 feet from the bay shore, which leads out to the “Inland Sea,” and 90 feet AMSL.
I am at 80 ft AMSL and 40 miles inland (as the crow flies). I’ll give you a heads up when the waves are lapping at my property as Greenland, Iceland, and the Antartica melt. They are suppose to melt real soon now.
IIRC most of Houston proper is 43 ft AMSL. I’m 60 miles inland and not worried.
A thought about prepping.
Made a run to Costco today. They have a bunch of stuff we normally buy onsale this month, so I needed to quit putting it off and do it.
One of the things we say (and hear) is it’s better to stack food/ammo/stuff “because this stuff isn’t getting any cheaper.” Well, it is. I’m continuing to see some downward movement in food prices. If this is the leading edge of a deflationary spiral in food prices we’re in trouble. Kirkland spiral sliced ham is under $2/pound. It was as high as $2.40 at one point. Pig and beef are also cheaper in other cuts. Sliced smoked salmon is still down too. I don’t think is micro-economic (ie. some fluxuation in the market leading to lower prices) but more of a long term trend. They’ve been gradually falling over the last year.
While lower prices are good for consumers, true deflation would be bad for everyone.
I’m still stacking, under what the financial guys call “dollar cost averaging” but it is a worrisome trend.
nick
N33° 42.9′ W118° 2.0′
Google Earth is your friend
And here’s a data point for food storage.
Kirkland steak sticks (like jerky, but a long sausage, more of an upscale and slightly less greasy SlimJim(tm) are still edible more than three years past their expiry date, and the package had been opened (but resealed and stored in a dark cool cabinet) for at least the last 4 years. It was a bit less tasty, slightly more bitter, but still edible, especially if diluted with bread.
n
Sure there are ups and downs on specific items or categories, but I’ve been tracking prices closely for several years and at least for the foods I buy and the vendors I buy from (mainly Costco, Sam’s, and Walmart) the trend is generally up.
As to the meat sticks, imagine if you’d made even minimal efforts on LT packaging. Even a vacuum-sealed bag would have helped.
Just not opening the package would have helped. ‘Course, the reason they stayed in the cabinet is that I didn’t like them much.
n
Dear Robert Bruce Thompson,
I am a junior in high school currently deciding what career I want to major in and chemistry has been a lifelong passion for me. Unfortunately, due to the many chemists that have a PhD or doctoral degree, the competition for a good paying job in chemistry is extremely tough with many remaining in unemployment or working near minimum wage jobs in chemistry. Chemical engineering seems too complex to me as I am not a great mathematician and it is very physics intensive, which I despise. Only chemistry remains a favorite. Should I major in chemistry hoping for a job in the next four years or should I major in something else? I am interested in employment available for chemists as I refuse to graduate from a university with no employment.
Sincerely,
E. Strike
(P.s. Hispanics for Trump!)
I like E. Strike’s attitude. Outstanding. Now you chemical and engineering nabobs get on the stick with some decent advice and information.
Should I major in chemistry hoping for a job in the next four years or should I major in something else? I am interested in employment available for chemists as I refuse to graduate from a university with no employment.
Where are you at in the world ? If you are in the USA, then hie thee down to the Gulf Coast after your first year in college and get a summer job at one of the chemical plants, refineries, or power plants. They are always looking for new chemists who understand which end of the beaker to use for collecting samples. Don’t laugh, it can be that bad. Your university may have a coop job department who has a list of people looking for chemists, engineers, etc for you to take off a semester and work for them. Not great pay but you will LEARN.
I have worked in over 20 plants in Texas and all had at least one chemist on staff for making potable water, cleaning potable water to demineralized water, cleaning demineralized water to polished water, sampling crude oils, sampling gasoline, sampling propane, etc, etc, etc. Many of them had a dozen chemists on staff, usually working shifts to get the testing work done around the clock.
BTW, my son has a dual degree in Chemistry and Physics from The University of Houston. He went to school on the GI Bill after serving in the Marine Corps with a couple of deployments in Iraq.
Good Luck !
“”An earthquake in the Reelfoot Rift area of the NMSZ. Moment Magnitude 9.3. It basically cuts the country in half, destroying bridges and railways over the Mississippi River, destroying nearly every POL pipeline and many refineries, causing severe damage to the electrical grid, and cutting off the Eastern US from the food and oil/gas producing areas west of the Mississippi.””
Didn’t somebody, earlier today, complain about protests against the Valero pipeline that’s planned to cross the Mississippi River?
Outstanding advice from Mr. Lynn, who knows multitudes, legions even, whereof he speaketh.
Now I just need some advice from someone about what to do with my medieval European epic poetry studies. Goddammit! Help an old guy out here!
“”An earthquake in the Reelfoot Rift area of the NMSZ. Moment Magnitude 9.3. It basically cuts the country in half, destroying bridges and railways over the Mississippi River, destroying nearly every POL pipeline and many refineries, causing severe damage to the electrical grid, and cutting off the Eastern US from the food and oil/gas producing areas west of the Mississippi.””
Didn’t somebody, earlier today, complain about protests against the Valero pipeline that’s planned to cross the Mississippi River?
Maybe.
If we do get a massive earthquake in the Mississippi watershed, the big problem won’t be the refineries. It will be the nuclear power plants.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Gulf_Nuclear_Generating_Station
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Bend_Nuclear_Generating_Station
Just ran across this DIY centrifuge, thought it might be a useful prep, etc.
http://www.sciencealert.com/this-toy-inspired-paper-centrifuge-can-detect-disease-in-15-minutes?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Branded%2520Content&utm_campaign=ScienceDump
The best idea is to go back in time, find your younger self, and dope-smack him. “Personal enrichment” studies are the kind of thing you do on your own or after you’re older and have money and leisure time or if Daddy’s footing the bill. They’re not the kind of thing you borrow money to study, not unless you have the inside track to one of the few jobs making use of that degree.
Failing that, try visiting a lot of liberal arts colleges and killing the Medieval Lit professors. Once you’ve killed enough of them, you can put in your application to be a junior prof. They’ll hire you because of the vast number of vacancies, and no one will suspect a thing.
Thank you, Mr. SteveF. I like the way you think.
Seems like the most sensible path to take is to start making the rounds of liberal arts colleges, beginning right here in the Northeast, where so many of them are concentrated, and have been thus since circa 1630. Remember that date. You’ll read about it in the newspapers and maybe see some tee-vee coverage.
But the most fun would be recruiting some nerdy geek types and building a time machine; I really would like to go back and find my younger self and not only dope-slap and bitch-slap him, but really go to town on that stupid mofo and kick the shit out of him for a while. Get the point across that he needs to get cracking on the AP math and science courses and exams and on to MIT. No more smoking doobies with the homies, drinking cases of Bud, and hitting the various rock concerts and anti-war demonstrations with SDS, the Black Panthers and the Progressive Labor Party. (I’m thinking here not only kicking the shit out of him for this, but also laying into him with two-by-fours and steel pipe).
Meanwhile I sit here personally enriched like a mofo and loading magazines. No, not loading Boys Life and Saturday Evening Post into a truck, either. Loading AK and AR mags, 9 and 10 mm mags, and studying up on shaped charges.
Then I gotta get cracking on the MLA (Modern Language Association) lists of medieval English and Comp Lit professors in the Northeast.
Dude, if there really is a serial killer going after liberal arts profs, I’m going to be so pissed if I get subpoenaed.
Don’t worry Steve, everything you say (and a bunch of stuff you never said but they think is ‘false but accurate’) will be used against you, both in a court of law, and the press. After all, that’s how law works, right? It’s all about the precedents?
n
@rbt richter10 for background
STEM? give me a break, accountant or lawyer, I love EE, I work on IT, but, in the end, I see that they rules and are better paid.
‘@paul, interesting “paperfuge”.
If you had the tiny little vials it might be worth having, and if you thought you might need to diagnose malaria (and couldn’t just go by the symptoms.) Grid down, there’s not much you can do about it, except suffer.
Still, there are some interesting things to think about from the article.
What basic diagnostic and support tech would one want in one’s grid down medical clinic? What consumables?
-stethoscope
-blood pressure cuff
-the thing for looking in ears and noses
-thermometers. digital, glass, rectal
-pulse ox monitor?
-fetal heartbeat monitor?
-vital signs monitor (they are usually optionally battery powered)
-AED?
Then what in a simple diagnostic lab?
-microscope
-all the stuff for it, slides, covers, petri dishes
-centrifuge?- real or improvised
–all the stuff for it, sample vials
-autoclave/pressure cooker?
-hot plate?
-glassware?
–measuring and mixing glass for sure
-bunsen burner? alcohol lamp (spirit lamp)
On a meta level, the video reveals the basic problem with most First World solutions to Third world problems. Can this thing/solution/etc be produced locally from indigenous materials? If not, it’s dependent on the whole first world. And it betrays mindset- “or it can be 3d printed” which is a ‘gee golly look how cool we are’ solution NOT practical. Formed and stamped from thermoplastic sheets would be mass producible, 3d printing is for one offs, and small runs. Even CNC routing from plastic, wood, or corrugated would be faster. Hell, carving the disk and slots from local wood would be better, and would provide a cottage industry locally. Or repurpose some commonly available scrap. It’s very telling that the first thing they talk about is 3D printing, instead of using mayonaise jar lids (or something similar.) Hell, you can probably find a first world disk shaped product that is available for pennies, the can be easily modded.
It’s the IDEA of using a different device that is the important part.
nick
(and I suppose bicycles are too expensive locally, but why wouldn’t a sling spun round and round work?)
@Edo Strike
Good for you. Listen to what Lynn said. Although opportunities for specialization in a particular sub-field of chemistry are limited at the undergrad level, you can accomplish the same thing by choosing a school that’s known, for example, for producing petroleum chemists or green/environmental chemists or whatever. You can find lists on-line of demand for particular types of chemists and the salaries that are paid for those specialties.
The first thing you need to understand is that an undergrad degree in chemistry from a decent college should be enough to get you a job as a lab technician, but not much more. You won’t be managing anything other than yourself. The person in charge will almost certainly be a Ph.D. chemist.
At this point, I don’t think it’s worthwhile for you to work towards a Ph.D. What that would buy you is entry to academia or a professional job in industry. It would also mean probably four to five years beyond your BS when you essentially be a low-paid serf for your PI (primary investigator). All you get out of it other than your Ph.D. (eventually) is credit on papers your PI does.
And once you get the Ph.D., you’re in an extremely competitive job market. It used to be you could look forward to a tenure-track professorship in academia, but those positions are few and far between now, with sometimes literally a hundred or more applicants for each job. Industry is better, but still extremely competitive. There are a lot of Ph.D. chemists working as barristas at Starbucks.
I’m not trying to discourage you. If you get your BS Chemistry from a decent school, you shouldn’t have any problem getting a job, even in this economy. It may not be a job in chemistry, but it should be a decent paying job with growth opportunities. A lot of people hire candidate who have hard science or engineering degrees for jobs that don’t require those skills simply because they understand that your degree actually proves that you were able to get through a rigorous curriculum, whereas a competing applicant with a degree in a non-subject like sociology or psychology doesn’t prove that person is capable of much of anything.
So, in short, decide what sub-field of chemistry you want to pursue, get into a college that’s known for producing graduates in that subfield, and work your ass off. In particular, take every opportunity to work with as much instrumentation as possible. Becoming a lab assistant is a good way to do that. You want to be as familiar as possible with HPLC, GC/MS, NMR, etc. etc.
Good luck.
“(and I suppose bicycles are too expensive locally, but why wouldn’t a sling spun round and round work?)”
It would, if you could spin it at 15,000 RPM.
so is it some magic of how fast it spins, or is it related to g-force over time, and can you trade g for time?
n
My daughter is finishing up a degree in Chemistry/Biochemistry. She also is a registered veterinary tech and has experience working in a large animal lab. She plans on getting an MS and working in biomedical research as a research manager. She has vetted her plans with a couple of chemistry profs and researchers and there are good jobs out there, as well as significant grants for her MS work.
One key to any technology job is to get a summer job in the field through your school’s co-op office or placement office. The experience can give you a leg up in getting that first job, and you make contacts and get references. In some jobs, it’s essential to do the co-op route. NASA, for example, does almost 100% of their hiring from co-ops and summer workers.
Yes and no. For some jobs, like spinning down plasmids, you really need an ultra-centrifuge. You could spin plasmids all week long at 3,000 RPM and not separate them.
I use a DremelFuge, which is a $40 3D-printed device that holds six 1.5 mL microcentrifuge tubes. The MotoTool can spin them at up to 30,000 RPM. I’ve never tried running it on high because I’m afraid the tubes and DremelFuge might disintegrate explosively. Just to be safe, I mount the assembly on the Dremel mini-drillpress and run it inside a plastic 5-gallon bucket, set to medium speed. That’s fast enough to spin down plasmids in a reasonable time.
The first thing you need to understand is that an undergrad degree in chemistry from a decent college should be enough to get you a job as a lab technician, but not much more. You won’t be managing anything other than yourself. The person in charge will almost certainly be a Ph.D. chemist.
At this point, I don’t think it’s worthwhile for you to work towards a Ph.D. What that would buy you is entry to academia or a professional job in industry. It would also mean probably four to five years beyond your BS when you essentially be a low-paid serf for your PI (primary investigator). All you get out of it other than your Ph.D. (eventually) is credit on papers your PI does.
My son was entertaining the thought of working towards a PhD in Chemistry. He went to work in a UofH prof run lab for three months. And quit. He had already been through all kinds of nonsense in the USMC and felt that the lab was more of the same for five or six years. The lab was 60 hours a week at $38K/year without benefits.
I have a friend of mine who is a PhD Chemist running a drilling lab for Shell here in Houston. His advice, don’t. Not worth the years of drudgery for the occasional fun times. He has lots of neat machinery though.
One of my cousins is a research associate in a dermatology medical lab up at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He has only a bachelors in ??? from TWU. Googling him, he makes $43K/year. Wow, they put his salary online, not cool. He loves working in the lab though.
“He had already been through all kinds of nonsense in the USMC and felt that the lab was more of the same for five or six years.”
Yup, that sure sounds familiar; I had a certain amount of difficulty over the years in civvie jobs that treated me like I was a grunt back in the military, and that went for the various cop jobs I worked, too. You have a lot less patience for chickenshit.
Given a choice between engineering and science, which would be the best bet? I assume eng.
Given a choice between engineering and science, which would be the best bet? I assume eng.
Chemical, Mechanical, Electrical, and Petroleum engineering generally pay the most ($60K to $90K/year). Civil and Industrial engineering generally pay the least ($35K to $60K/year). PhD’s add 20% (SWAG) to the pay. Masters add 5 to 10%. All of those numbers are before benefits. Add 20% for working in the petroleum industry.
I am not sure about science graduates but I have the impression of along the lines of Civil engineers.
Sorry, no, cats don’t eat moles. If they catch one above ground (unusual, but it happens when the young get kicked out of mama’s nest), they will kill it, but apparently moles taste bad. As far as I know, cats also don’t eat other meat-eating rodents, like voles or shrews.
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@Lynn: Your salary numbers seem low to me, unless you meant salaries for fresh graduates with no experience. Average salaries are certainly higher. To check, I found this document from 2012: The Engineering Income and Salary Survey”. This is specifically for civil and mechanical engineers, who are among the lower paid engineering professions. The median salary across all (included) engineering professions in 2012 was $90,000.
The 2015 IEEE survey (I only see the summary, since I don’t want to pay) says that the average salary in their target groups is around $140,000.
Fresh out of school – maybe half of those averages. But again, prove your chops, and you should see a lot of improvement 3 to 5 years in.
In any case, definitely take engineering over science, unless you have a specific plan. There aren’t many jobs where you can directly use a pure science degree. There are plenty of engineering jobs, at least, for good engineers.
@Lynn: Your salary numbers seem low to me, unless you meant salaries for fresh graduates with no experience. Average salaries are certainly higher. To check, I found this document from 2012: The Engineering Income and Salary Survey”. This is specifically for civil and mechanical engineers, who are among the lower paid engineering professions. The median salary across all (included) engineering professions in 2012 was $90,000.
I do not know any engineers making that kind of money unless they are in management. I was strictly talking about engineering staff, not supervisory.
And salaries among all people working in the oil business have crashed. Those people who have kept their jobs have seen their salaries drop by 40 to 50%. It is a bloodbath out there.