Things that made you facepalm

[avengerki]

After I just finish telling a coworker a tool is ready for requal, I get an "ok" and then I walk away. 5 minutes later get a text from same coworker asking if that tool is ready for requal yet.

[kerbiloid]

49 minutes ago, avengerki said:

After I just finish telling a coworker a tool is ready for requal, I get an "ok" and then I walk away. 5 minutes later get a text from same coworker asking if that tool is ready for requal yet.

Did you then ask: "Which tool?"

[avengerki]

Just now, kerbiloid said:

Did you then ask: "Which tool?"

Nope, I simply replied "It was ready when I told you 5 minutes ago"

[Piatzin]

I had a conversation with a Finnish friend about future careers, and we both expressed interest in the aerospace industry. Then I mentioned that I would most likely pursue something related to genetic engineering, and he proceeded to exclaim that 'genetic engineering is boring.'

Yet, any educated person with even a minimal understanding of genetics can tell you that being able to modify DNA in a reliably safe and effective way would not lead to 'boring' results. At all.

Needless to say, I was somewhat peeved

[qzgy]

On 6/27/2018 at 3:05 AM, Earthlinger said:

Yet, any educated person with even a minimal understanding of genetics can tell you that being able to modify DNA in a reliably safe and effective way would not lead to 'boring' results. At all.

As someone who has done minor genetic engineering (I guess? I mean we put GFP in a plasmid then stuck it in a bacterium. nothing too revolutionary nowadays....) it can be underwhelming. Genetic engineering by itself though is really more of a tool to do interesting things with, though there are people who do really love looking at the mechanisms for genetic engineering.

So I can kinda see both sides of it.

Wondering if you have done genetic engineering in class or something or perhaps what you'd like to do with it.

[Adstri]

On ‎6‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 12:05 AM, Earthlinger said:

I had a conversation with a Finnish friend about future careers, and we both expressed interest in the aerospace industry. Then I mentioned that I would most likely pursue something related to genetic engineering, and he proceeded to exclaim that 'genetic engineering is boring.'

Yet, any educated person with even a minimal understanding of genetics can tell you that being able to modify DNA in a reliably safe and effective way would not lead to 'boring' results. At all.

Needless to say, I was somewhat peeved

To be honest with our current technology, Genetic engineering has yet to yield interesting results.

This is changing quickly, however.

Edited September 18, 2018 by Adstriduum

[Piatzin]

6 hours ago, Adstriduum said:

To be honest with our current technology, Genetic engineering has yet to yield interesting results.

True. Every emerging technology is going to start off slow at first, though. They don't just pop into existence, with all the possibilities already in our reach

6 hours ago, Adstriduum said:

This is changing quickly, however.

Edited September 19, 2018 by Earthlinger

[p1t1o]

11 hours ago, Adstriduum said:

To be honest with our current technology, Genetic engineering has yet to yield interesting results.

Subjective! We cant make genetic supermen or grossly alter the genetic makeup of a living thing, but theres a ton of stuff that we are capable of even now, such as engineer bacteria to manufacture drugs for us, and I was working on that (in a quality control capacity) over a decade ago.

 

The thing is, if you are actually performing it, MOST science, like 99% IS boring. 99 out of 100 discoveries *are* underwhelming and discovering them is even more mind numbing. Endlessly repeated experiments, piles and piles of documenting almost identical things, doing the same things over and over for a long time and maybe not even getting a result. That is most ALL science. 

But you are working towards expanding the sum total body of human knowledge and yes, boring things do lead to exciting discoveries once in a while, and even the underwhelming findings and results can be very illuminating.

 

But to dub an entire field of science as boring above all others just shows ignorance, ignorance of the field and ignorance of science in general. (Or more generously, it was a throwaway comment that didnt mean anything.)

 

You want a boring field? Get into regulatory affairs. Then come back and tell me that genetics is boring. And Im not even that particularly big a fan of genetics.

Edited September 19, 2018 by p1t1o