I have a shocking confession to make.

I think I may be a nerd.

No, no, don’t try to deny it. I think it pretty much has to be true for someone who reads a 10-page scientific paper (hover or click here to see the reference) in order to learn that bacteria-snot is slimy. Yes, I am a nerd. And for that I am deeply, deeply….

Oh, who am I kidding? I like being a nerd.

Stainless Steel fermenters at a breweryFor one thing, being a nerd allows me to fully enjoy one of the perks that my job gives me – namely access to a lot of scientific papers that I otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford to obtain access to from the greedy [insert your favority profanity here] who insist on charging $30 for permission to look at a decades-old articles for a day. I should add that this perk includes Inter-Library Loan for articles that I can’t get online, and the service on campus is great so far. Same day delivery of a classic article from 1930 in what I’m guessing most people would probably consider an obscure journal.

It doesn’t have quite the same thing in it that I expected from the source that pointed me to it, but I think it can still be considered “classic”. I need to re-read it more carefully to make a final decision on this, but I think I have my next “The Giant’s Shoulders” article in time for this month’s upcoming issue. And, yes, the picture attached to this post is a hint (and, no, it’s not directly related to the bacteria-snot article mentioned above in any way…)

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Epicanis

The Author is (currently) an autodidactic student of Industrial and Environmental microbiology, who is sick of people assuming all microbiology should be medical in nature, and who would really like to be allowed to go to graduate school one of these days now that he's finished his BS in Microbiology (with a bonus AS in Chemistry). He also enjoys exploring the Big Room (the one with the really high blue ceiling and big light that tracks from one side to the other every day) and looking at its contents from unusual mental angles.

6 thoughts on “I have a shocking confession to make.”

  2. But fortunately not to the point of writelessness, otherwise I’d never know…

    I fear there would be another thousand or so comments on this post except for the fact that most of my readers have collapsed from the shock of reading it and will need to be revived with cold water, smelling salts, or beer.

  3. This comment has nothing to do with you coming to your shocking conclusion. 🙂 (Well, ok, NOW it does.)

    I just wanted to let you know I’m sending off a package to you today, via priority mail, so you should have it in a couple days. Please let me know when you get it. (Maybe I’ll get cookies out of the deal… 😉 )

  4. I am long overdue for a bout of cookie-making (and I owe Righteous Fire of Purification Ginger Cookies to a number of people)…

  6. I do wonder if the name doesn’t relate to being cursed by winemakers – it’s one of the main species responsible for “ropy” (slimy) wine infections.

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