Allow Myself to Introduce...Myself

[Jay Dee]

Hello! I have a strong interest in anything related to science, and have since I was a young kid. I developed an interest in dinosaurs and space (but that's pretty common) when I was around 6 years old, and it never faded.

I have a degree in physics and astronomy with a focus on planetary sciences and I did some geology in university. Ideally, I would've loved to have studied Mars or various natural satellites of the solar system. But getting a job in this field is incredibly difficult, so that never happened. However, I've kept a close eye on space science news, as well as others. Still love dinosaurs, though. I almost chose palaeontology to study in university.

I also love technology, especially advanced gadgets and eco-friendly energy sources. Hoping for fusion to become a reality one of these days. Star Trek was one thing that encouraged me to study space, and I've been hooked ever since.

 

[Spider]

I just now noticed you have a new "who am I" thread. I guess the old one got to big? I posted in the original thread when the forum first opened, whenever that was.

For myself, I am a retired know-it-all, and am always right. LOL. For now, and this changes, my main field of scientific interest is ancient earth, planet formation, and the beginnings of life. I lose interest in earth history real quickly if it starts to involve those pesky humans.

I also find in retirement I read more science and much less science fiction. When I was young, I read way more science fiction and not a whole lot of science. Not sure if age has anything to do with that, or just that writers don't seem to be able to write a scifi book without a dozen sequels anymore.

And I'm huge NASA fan. I've got shortcuts on my explorer bar to several NASA project sites.

EDIT: just now noticed this IS the original thread, and there I am on the 1st page. Old age an pot must be conspiring against my memory. I will say in my defense, my little avatar icon was missing from the thread bar making me think I hadn't posted in the thread, but it's there now.

 

[TrickyDickie]

By five years or so out of college, and while largely sidelined due to health problems as a legacy from an Accutane prescription of ten years before, I started reading science books on my own. The whole quantum realm was particularly fascinating. Ever since, I have tried to keep up with the latest thinking and research. I am particularly drawn to reading about the heated debates between mainstream scientists and those who try to drag them kicking and screaming out of two-dimensional thinking.

When I was little, every time an appliance needed replacing I was allowed to tear apart the old ones. Imagine a little kid tearing the guts out of old washing machines and such. My passions in the area of machines have been vintage lawn mowers and classic cars. From 1975 to 1988, my father and I mowed 6 acres with two little 3 horsepower 19" Toro push mowers. It would take about a week and then we would start again back at square one. It was great exercise while growing up. I love the outdoors. I have been restoring the old Toro Whirlwind and related mowers for a number of years. Two years ago, I realized my dream of building a duplicate, basically from scratch, of the first one I started mowing with when I was 8. Photos below. I deliberately built it to look like the original did when it was several years old and in use. I didn't want a cosmetically perfect museum piece. It is functionally perfect, though. It starts with just one pull every time and it purrs like a kitten. Took a lot of trial-and-error with the throttle linkage, governor, etc. Most of the old decals were gone and for the ones that were I painstakingly recreated those from scratch, too. I have a collection of old Toro owner's manuals and other literature from 1959 through 1982 that I am told is one of the largest and most complete that still exists. I enjoy caretaking and preserving that which might otherwise be lost to history.

On the car side of things, I am mostly a Ford enthusiast. I have had a lot of Torinos, Rancheros, Galaxies, Mustangs, Crown Vics, etc. I have to sing the praises of how-to videos on youtube. I watched one and then replaced all of the major front suspension components on a '96 Grand Marquis that we had at the time. By myself. That was actually a lot of fun. The ball joints can be a little bit pesky, but places like Advance Auto will let you borrow tools to help with that. I also bled the brake system by myself. It's a myth that you need two people to do that. My advice to anyone is that there are a lot of repairs that you can make to vehicles yourself and save on costly repair bills. The key is not to be scared that modern vehicles are too complicated for the average person to work on. The computer systems may require specialized training, but a lot of the other systems are really not that much different than they were before the age of computers. Something like changing out an alternator can still be quite quick and easy.

Three cheers for Science and Technology!

 

[rhubarbodendron]

Newbie to this part of the board reporting in (better late than never).
I started reading at a very early age and from that instant on nothing printed was safe from me. One night, when I was 5 and couldn't sleep I sneaked into "the good room" where guests were received, children were forbidden, and where a 20 volume encyclopedia was kept. Cross-references kept me jumping from one topic to another half the night and by the time I was 10 I had given myself a pretty good scientific education during my nightly expeditions into the fascinating world of theoretical knowledge (including theoretical knowledge about human propagation, I might add ). Add to it an IT pioneer for a dad, an ecotrophologist for a mom, 4 HAM Radio amateurs in the family, an excellent botanist and civil engineer for a granddad and my scientific career was practically inevitable.
While originally I meant to be a botanist, fate decreed I'd rather become a limnologist. But plants, particularly the edible and medical ones, are still a hobby of mine, together with physics and astronomy. And - my teacher predicetd it but I never believed him - I actually acquired a taste for mathematics in the last years (pretty pervert, isn't it?)
Being German, I also had one unfair advantage over kids from other countries: we have a really cool TV programme here that explains how things work. From how the stripes get into the tooth paste till how a nuclear chain reaction works, they explain everything in a way that everyone can understand it. All kids and propably 3/4 of the adults watch it every Sunday =)
Here's an example in English: if you want to impress someone whith your knowledge, learn how an LED works

 

[NCC-73515]

New here as well! Master's in neurobiology, doctor of science, all because of Sci-Fi (mostly Trek)

 

[Tflockj]

Hi there! I'm a practicing analytical chemist with a BS and MS in chemistry. Not too much cross over with my interest in Star Trek, other than a general, scientific bent. I work for an adhesive company, figuring out what's in glue. Very glamorous and pays the bills, to boot. New to this board and enjoying catching up on all the Trek goodness.

Tom

 

[Seeyoumorell]

Hi all,i'm happy to be here today, but I'm even happier that I just got a baby.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

belated congratulations, @Seeyoumorell !!

@Tflockj , do you happen to research underwater glue? Scientists in my country are quite interested in how caddis fly larvae manage to stick sand and wood particles together to make their caddises. They are related to moths and like these small butterflies spin sticky threads. The cool thing is that theirs are sticky under water until they harden. If someone could copy that and make an environmentally friendly underwater glue, they'd make my job much easier!

@NCC-73515 I'm puzzled: how does neurobiology come into SciFi/Trek (unless you count the Vulkan mind melt and perhaps Betazoid mindreading, though I'd suspect both to be electromagnetic phenomena rather than purely biological ones) ?

 

[NCC-73515]

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/search?query=neuro

 

[Bronze]

belated congratulations, @Seeyoumorell !!

@Tflockj , do you happen to research underwater glue? Scientists in my country are quite interested in how caddis fly larvae manage to stick sand and wood particles together to make their caddises. They are related to moths and like these small butterflies spin sticky threads. The cool thing is that theirs are sticky under water until they harden. If someone could copy that and make an environmentally friendly underwater glue, they'd make my job much easier!

You can try to do it as what you said.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

naah, I'm not good enough at chemistry. (And way too busy with winning the Nobel prize for biology )

 

[Crazyewok]

Science teacher here. Have a BSc in Biology specialising in neuropharmocology and microbiology. Got employed by a pharma company before I even finished my degree so went into big pharma and its wonderful money.

Worked for 5 years in pharmaceutical development involving Micro-imunology and the development of new detection techniques for various bacterial infection, then working on new ways to check the level of certain chemo drugs to allow better treatment with fewer side effects.

Boring as hell so after making a bunch of money went into secondary school teaching. Which seeing as I cant spell for my life, shows how desperate they are in the UK?

 

[think]

hello Crazyewok welcome Just saw this article and can't find a thread to put it in here .. as I looked I saw this thread getting active so
@Crazyewok what do you think of these quantum Bio ideas from MIT?

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614688/a-natural-biomolecule-has-been-measured-acting-in-a-quantum-wave-for-the-first-time/

A natural biomolecule has been measured acting like a quantum wave for the first time

 

[Crazyewok]

hello Crazyewok welcome Just saw this article and can't find a thread to put it in here .. as I looked I saw this thread getting active so
@Crazyewok what do you think of these quantum Bio ideas from MIT?

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614688/a-natural-biomolecule-has-been-measured-acting-in-a-quantum-wave-for-the-first-time/

A natural biomolecule has been measured acting like a quantum wave for the first time

Well it opens up a entire new questions in regards to how proteins work and interact.

Mapping our proteins and how they work is fundamental in regards to our biochemistry and both understanding how our bodies work and what happens when things go wrong.

We have a pretty good idea on how chemically they should work. But working on them I gave sen them behave in pretty unpredictable ways.

 

[NCC-73515]

"The double slit experiment, in which a particle passes through two slits at the same time, is a famous demonstration."

2 mistakes in one sentence...

 

[garakvsneelix]

Hello there!

Maybe (but it's a big 'maybe') some of you, who are members on german sci fi boards, too, will know me from there (I'm not sure, if there are some other german-speaking users hiere). For all the others (and they're in the majority, I guess): I am 27 years old, live in Germany - sometimes in Darmstadt near Frankfurt, sometimes in Passau - and work at the University of Passau as a lecturer.

Sci-Fi-series and especially STAR TREK are a big part of my life since my childhood. My favourite TV show ever is 'Babylon 5', while my second-favourite show and my favourite ST-series is 'Deep Space Nine'. Now, I am looking forward for the next 8 episodes of Picard and I hope to have some interesting discussions about it in the next weeks.

Last but not least: Sorry for all the mistakes I make in my postings - one goal that I want to reach with my new account on this board is to improve my English (a lot). So please don't hesitate to correct the worst mistakes - I am here to learn.

Greetings,
gvn

 

[think]

Welcome @garakvsneelix it is good to have you here .. there should be no problem with english .. I understood exactly what you were saying.. --- my english is such that it may need a translation app at time to be understood.. --- but the grammar people here have finally gotten used to the wording ways that I make in my comments.. I think they will have no problem with you.. there are a bunch of German posters here on the board I do not know if they are going to recognize you or you recognize them but all in due time.. 0000 just keep posting you will improve your english .. it helped me so much to post.. In my native tongue english I think .. maybe I speak intergalactic better but the type set is not yet arrived on these keyboards..000 === enjoy

Hello there!

Maybe (but it's a big 'maybe') some of you, who are members on german sci fi boards, too, will know me from there (I'm not sure, if there are some other german-speaking users hiere). For all the others (and they're in the majority, I guess): I am 27 years old, live in Germany - sometimes in Darmstadt near Frankfurt, sometimes in Passau - and work at the University of Passau as a lecturer.

Sci-Fi-series and especially STAR TREK are a big part of my life since my childhood. My favourite TV show ever is 'Babylon 5', while my second-favourite show and my favourite ST-series is 'Deep Space Nine'. Now, I am looking forward for the next 8 episodes of Picard and I hope to have some interesting discussions about it in the next weeks.

Last but not least: Sorry for all the mistakes I make in my postings - one goal that I want to reach with my new account on this board is to improve my English (a lot). So please don't hesitate to correct the worst mistakes - I am here to learn.

Greetings,
gvn

 

[rhubarbodendron]

welcome to the board! Your English is pretty good, I'd say. The biggest problem in my experience is that we Germans get taught Queen's English and thus have a flawless grammar and spelling but what we lack is colloquial English. It's a bit as if Walther von der Vogelweide (a German medieval poet) would try to chat with a 21st century teenager.
I find that posting here has improved my range of colloquialisms immensely but it comes at a price: I keep confusing British and American spelling and I speak British English with an American Westcoast accent so that occasionally I get mistaken for a Canadian

What subject to you teach at Uni PA? (obviousely, not English, else you'd not seek improvement )

I'm in your immediate neighbourhood, btw: DEG. If you like, we could meet occasionally. Don't worry: if you don't like it's ok as well.

 

[Spock .]

Hello,

I have almost finished my Associate of Arts from Lakeland and will be moving on to get a Bachelors in Information Technology specializing in Cyber Security from Kent State. I'm still in high school (10th grade), so I've got some time to determine what I want to do, but I really want to go into Cyber Security. I have always been interested in Star Trek, and I like to debate how the technology works with my dad and sister. I prefer watching The Original Series and The Next Generation.

I became most interested in science and technology when I first enrolled in FIRST LEGO League. In FIRST LEGO League, students build robots out of legos and Mindstorms technology and program them to complete certain missions. They also give three presentation: Technical (describing the robot), Core Values (discussing how cooperative and professional the team is), and Project (summarizing an innovative project that the team invented). I moved on to FIRST Tech Challenge this year, but due to Covid, I did not get the full experience. I am optimistic for next year, however. (Obviously I really enjoy FLL and FTC.)

 

[think]

Welcome to the forum.. I am glad you are here introducing yourself in the 70's mmm late 70's as a youngster I did the robot Lego with putting the motor wheels on Lego tank cars.. There was a wire to the battery case with the controls and we had to always be in wire distance from the car.. I also did erector set creations with metal beams and nuts and screws.. I had an electronic kit that me and a friend used for morse code and ran 3 wires between our houses to our bedrooms and we could talk on the 3 wires with beeps.. That was big for back then. Of course the little kids ended up tearing down our wires..

FLL And FTC sound great.. Maybe talk about this or explain your part in FTC?? These seem really neat.

Hello,

I have almost finished my Associate of Arts from Lakeland and will be moving on to get a Bachelors in Information Technology specializing in Cyber Security from Kent State. I'm still in high school (10th grade), so I've got some time to determine what I want to do, but I really want to go into Cyber Security. I have always been interested in Star Trek, and I like to debate how the technology works with my dad and sister. I prefer watching The Original Series and The Next Generation.

I became most interested in science and technology when I first enrolled in FIRST LEGO League. In FIRST LEGO League, students build robots out of legos and Mindstorms technology and program them to complete certain missions. They also give three presentation: Technical (describing the robot), Core Values (discussing how cooperative and professional the team is), and Project (summarizing an innovative project that the team invented). I moved on to FIRST Tech Challenge this year, but due to Covid, I did not get the full experience. I am optimistic for next year, however. (Obviously I really enjoy FLL and FTC.)