Sunday, July 15, 2007

i like badges

and badgers... though Mr Badger in Wind in the Willows always slighlty scared me.

but anyway, back to badgES. as aforementioned, i like em... only the limits of my jacket-front keep their numbers down... but now i have been acquainted with a type of badge that is NOT so easily circumscribed: VIRTUAL BADGES! i KNOW. that inter-world. crazy.

so amyD introduced me to the hugely acronym-ed:

ORDER OF THE SCIENCE SCOUTS OF EXEMPLARY REPUTE AND ABOVE AVERAGE PHYSIQUE

also known as:









now i have to say that i am hugely competitive but sadly bad at all competitive sports, so i'll see if i can cover myself with glory (and badges) in the arena of science... as i am (clearly) girt by geeks - working scientists at that - i don't hold out a lot of hope that a lowly scientician like myself can beat their numbers, but hey, i can kid myself.

let's see:


i have worked with acid. i accidently almost drank acetic acid. never complacently go to drink from your water bottle without looking, if it has been sitting on a table along with a bottle of acid. especially not when children are present - such a bad example.



i blog about science. clearly.







i do arts&crafts with science. working in an environment of scientific experiments and children makes this badge easy to earn:) cobalt chloride christmas decoration humidity detectors are a popular choice.




i am comfortable working with an open flame. indeed, an open blow torch and a variety of interesting things to try to burn and/or explode:)





i've frozen things just to see what would happen - level 3 badge due to the use of liquid nitrogen, rather than just a freezer, or dry ice.





i've burnt things while fully aware of the combustion principles at work. remember kids! this burns better because of the presence of... what...? that's right! oxygen!




i've given myself an electric shock. i'm not sure if this really counts as it was an accident, but i say true scientists learn from accidents, therefore it must count as an experiment retrospectively. lesson: don't mess around with bare wires at home.



i may look like a scientist (well, actually, the kids tell me that i don't... stupid stereotyping children!), but i am also a pirate. but you should've realised that from my profile picture, fool.




i've scored a tv gig doing science. TWO! well, talking about science. AND i've used my fame for evil! well... getting out of a library fine - but i saved ~$20!! hey, the librarian recognized me and offered to waive the overdue fine without any encouragement from myself!



i know what a tadpole is. for those not au fait with OOTSSOERAAAP, this badge is for those who aren't experienced with collecting sperm from at least two species (not including humans), but would like a badge that looks similar. i am familiar with tadpole guts also, as i was a little rough with my tadpole-catching as a five-year-old.


i have used a telescope to look at celestial objects. unavoidable with my father being a total space nut.






i've done science with no conceivable practical application. seriously, here' s my honours thesis title: The Nuccaleena: A shallow- to deep-shelf isotopic transect of a late Marinoan (pre-Proterozoic) cap carbonate. It's aim was to study (question) the feasability of the Snowball Earth Hypothesis. Which, if it occurred, took place ~600 million years ago. My, how relevant.


i've used a dentists' drill and have never been a dentist. those dolospar veins aren't just going to powder themselves and jump out of the rock into an eppendorf tube, y'know.




i've worked with faeces. hmm. that sounds a little more "official" than the reality - i've handled faeces - wait; yuck - i've tweezer-ed faeces. sorting stick insect eggs from their poo is not the most glamorous aspect of my job, but it has to be done...


poo (ha!), only 14:(
i'm going to go drown my sorrows in tea and mint slices.