The Five-Minute Forums  

Go Back   The Five-Minute Forums > FiveMinute.net > Miscellaneous

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 04-18-2014, 03:06 AM
Sa'ar Chasm's Avatar
Sa'ar Chasm Sa'ar Chasm is offline
Our last, best hope for peace
Staff
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Sitting (in Ottawa)
Posts: 3,425
Default Gainful Employment

So, my sessional contract at Lakehead University is ended, and I've got something lined up for the next year. Having 12 months of employment is pretty unusual in my line of work, but the place I got hired is damn cool.

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. It's the biggest science project Canada has left.

It's a particle physics facility buried 2km down a nickel mine. I'll be the token chemistry, since particle physicists don't know how to chemistry. They want me to clean the trace uranium and thorium out of their detector medium.

It's not every job interview where you and the interviewer get naked. The facility is under cleanroom protocols, so everybody going in has to shower.

I thought I was done with research, but you don't say no to SNOLab. There's potential to continue the contract at the end of the year, but I suspect that's as much as I can stand living in Sudsbury. Hopefully my TV career will have taken off by then.
__________________
The first run through of any experimental procedure is to identify any potential errors by making them.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 04-18-2014, 09:50 AM
evay's Avatar
evay evay is offline
But if you put the hammer in an elevator...
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Deck Four, Section Seven
Posts: 522
Default

"So, what do you do for a living?"

"Eh, nothing exciting. I clean uranium and thorium out of a particle accelerator built in an old nickel mine."

(My entire family would respond with a collective scream of COOLEST JOB EVAR!!11!!!11!)
__________________
Any truth is better than indefinite doubt. — Sherlock Holmes
"The Adventure of the Yellow Face," Arthur Conan Doyle
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 04-18-2014, 03:33 PM
Sa'ar Chasm's Avatar
Sa'ar Chasm Sa'ar Chasm is offline
Our last, best hope for peace
Staff
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Sitting (in Ottawa)
Posts: 3,425
Default

It's not a particle accelerator, it's just a huge tank full of soap (it used to be heavy water, but they're using a different detector medium now).

And the nickel mine is still running. We have to take a cage down and wait for the miners to get off first.

But apart from that, coolest job ever.

/although it's not every interview where both you and the interviewer get naked
__________________
The first run through of any experimental procedure is to identify any potential errors by making them.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 04-19-2014, 12:56 PM
evay's Avatar
evay evay is offline
But if you put the hammer in an elevator...
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Deck Four, Section Seven
Posts: 522
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sa'ar Chasm View Post
It's not a particle accelerator, it's just a huge tank full of soap
Which perforce leads to the question "How does one clean soap?"
__________________
Any truth is better than indefinite doubt. — Sherlock Holmes
"The Adventure of the Yellow Face," Arthur Conan Doyle
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 04-19-2014, 04:08 PM
Sa'ar Chasm's Avatar
Sa'ar Chasm Sa'ar Chasm is offline
Our last, best hope for peace
Staff
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Sitting (in Ottawa)
Posts: 3,425
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by evay View Post
Which perforce leads to the question "How does one clean soap?"
With great difficulty. Fortunately, I don't have to clean the soap, I just have to clean the tellurium they're spiking it with.

They've already got a system set up, and it's the same approach I would have taken. I'm not entirely sure what they need me for, honestly.
__________________
The first run through of any experimental procedure is to identify any potential errors by making them.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 04-21-2014, 11:48 PM
NAHTMMM's Avatar
NAHTMMM NAHTMMM is offline
Noodles And Hot Tofu! MMM
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: St Louis, MO, USA, . . .
Posts: 2,959
Send a message via Yahoo to NAHTMMM
Default

Good luck!
__________________
My 5MV webpages My novel fivers list

Yup

“There must have been a point in early human history when it was actually advantageous to, when confronted with a difficult task, drop it altogether and go do something more fun, because I do that way too often for it to be anything but instinct.” -- Isto Combs
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 06:30 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.