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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Larry Hoover on June 3, 2006, at 12:21:04
A couple of days ago, I caught myself in a doozy. That's why I'm resting. I had so much going on, off-line, that I really should not have been posting, on-line, on this board.
I made an error in the identification of a specific fatty acid, and then went on to compound the error by extrapolating into the logical biochemical implications of that initially mis-identified fatty acid.
In other words, I messed the whole thing up. I'm sorry.
So, please, if you see anything I've said that just strikes as not being in accord with your sense of things, PLEASE, call me on it.
Do not just go, "But, Lar says...."
Okay?
So, until I feel rested enough, I just have to stay away. Simple comments, I might well do. But an analysis of a situation, I will not. Not for now. A day or two? A week? Who knows.
And, if there are any inconsistencies in what I've said, please, bring them out into the open.
Regards,
Lar
Posted by Jakeman on June 3, 2006, at 18:45:08
In reply to Lar messed up, posted by Larry Hoover on June 3, 2006, at 12:21:04
No harm done. At least you catch errors and are willing to admit them. I'm very wary of people who are perfect.
Warm regards, Jake
> A couple of days ago, I caught myself in a doozy. That's why I'm resting. I had so much going on, off-line, that I really should not have been posting, on-line, on this board.
>
>
Posted by bassman on June 7, 2006, at 12:41:05
In reply to Lar messed up, posted by Larry Hoover on June 3, 2006, at 12:21:04
I've been a research scientist for 30 years and my most brilliant explanations have often been based on me getting the initial facts of the matter wrong. I got my degree in physical chem and I'm used to people asking, "why doesn't A do...B". And some chemist gives a long, scholarly explanation. Then the first person says, "no, no...I meant, 'why DOES A do...B". Without a second of contrition, the chemist now gives another explanation....:>}
You know your $hit, man. You can't fool us.
Posted by Larry Hoover on June 7, 2006, at 15:12:11
In reply to Re: Lar messed up, posted by bassman on June 7, 2006, at 12:41:05
> I've been a research scientist for 30 years and my most brilliant explanations have often been based on me getting the initial facts of the matter wrong. I got my degree in physical chem and I'm used to people asking, "why doesn't A do...B". And some chemist gives a long, scholarly explanation. Then the first person says, "no, no...I meant, 'why DOES A do...B". Without a second of contrition, the chemist now gives another explanation....:>}
I got published in J. Phys. Chem., on research I did as a sophomore. I didn't know that what I was observing couldn't happen. So, I had to prove it to the Chair of the department. My data gave an rČ coefficient of 0.9999, p = 0. I grock it.
> You know your $hit, man. You can't fool us.
Thanks. That is high praise, indeed.
Lar
Posted by bassman on June 7, 2006, at 15:22:11
In reply to Re: Lar messed up » bassman, posted by Larry Hoover on June 7, 2006, at 15:12:11
Impressive. Most scientists can't read J. Phys. Chem., let alone write anything worth publishing in it. I thought you might like this quote:
"It is disconcerting to reflect on the number of students we have flunked in chemistry for not knowing what we later found to be untrue".
--quoted in Robert L. Weber, Science With a Smile (1992)
Posted by Larry Hoover on June 7, 2006, at 15:57:25
In reply to Re: Lar messed up, posted by bassman on June 7, 2006, at 15:22:11
> Impressive. Most scientists can't read J. Phys. Chem., let alone write anything worth publishing in it.
Well, I didn't write the article. My supervisor wouldn't let me. I was naive enough to have tried, I think. This was the first one (the figures are my work entirely), but the ones with my own unique contribution came out later, after other people could verify my data. I noted an anomalous absorption band on one peak, and it turned out to be caused by a very special meta-stable intermediate (which couldn't happen, according to some principle I hadn't yet learned). I got authorship on at least a couple of papers because I discovered the effect itself. Anyway, it seems like another lifetime, and I think it is.
http://www.science.uwaterloo.ca/~tfridgen/pubs/one.pdf
> I thought you might like this quote:
>
> "It is disconcerting to reflect on the number of students we have flunked in chemistry for not knowing what we later found to be untrue".
>
> --quoted in Robert L. Weber, Science With a Smile (1992)That's neat. :-)
In high school, they teach you all the rules. In university, they teach you all the exceptions. Then, you learn everything is an exception. I'm not sure when that third thing happens.
Lar
Posted by teejay on June 7, 2006, at 21:13:13
In reply to Re: Lar messed up » bassman, posted by Larry Hoover on June 7, 2006, at 15:57:25
....or so it seems anyway.
Nice to see you here anyway lar instead of seeing you (along with me) banging your head against the brick wall that is DR Bob on the admin board ;-)))
Hope alls well with you buddy.
TJ
This is the end of the thread.
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