"as a rule, what's good for engineering is not good for fish."

~sciam, p. 28 june 2007

the good thing about being in the iron-ee lab all the time is that I get to read my scientific american. which makes me pleased. I mean, they said I could read articles while I waited. They didn't specify the type, and I read my share of Chemical and Engineering news, too. I am so going to have some really interesting party convo, I mean it!

so the title quote is from a rather interesting article on fish-friendly turbines, which probably sounds both boring and counter-intuitive to most of you, but was kinda cool, actually.

and apparently the writers o' the magazine felt like being extra aware of our be-finned friends, as they also had a little article about this hot spring in turkey where the fish allegedly cure what ails you by removing the top layer of your skin. hey, maybe that's a good alternative for burn victims instead of dipping them in the vat of bleach? (did you know they do that? it's pretty ick. I had to watch this whole safety video about it. icks i say, icks.)

oh and did you read jackie's reality show idea? it could be pretty hilarious, no? like real world with just chicks. who know each other. and who are all reasonable, rational, social and fun (or at least much more often than not). um, we'd need a good name though. suggestions?

also, I'd like to introduce you to a bad thing about the lab. it's a good old friend of mine called Ammonium Hydroxide. Like full-on, not-from-your-local-store strength. I run it through this little tube via a peristaltic pump and into my big ol' container during this co-precipitation thing that takes basically all day (and if you knew (or read) that ammonium hydroxide was a base, you'd realize that was just a most excellent pun. but I digress...) anyhoodle, I was cleaning stuff up today and moved the little tube and it kinda slipped out of my hand and sprayed stuff, much like water from the end of a garden hose if you shake it.

and the ammonium hydroxide went

on.
my.
forehead.

droplets droplets everywhere...on the small area of exposed skin on my entire body (seriously, just the face and neck and then, sans the eye-glass covered portion are the ONLY bare parts of my body, and of course that's where it hits).

I got friendly with some water and paper towels, and I'm fine now, and it didn't even start burning, but still. yucko.

I cannot wait to go home, shower and go have dinner with Matt's 'rents. And, how sweet is this--Matt was talking to his mom about where we should have dinner, how he was trying to find somewhere close to their hotel, and she said "Matt, we need to go to dinner somewhere close to Carrie--she's the one who's been working all day."

I thought that was very thoughtful of her. :)