1. satan on July 4, 2008 6:02 PM writes...

Maybe the second group list has to be updated with scientists turned administrators, special interest groups, environmentalists, activists, feminists, lawyers, MBAs and sophists of all kinds.

2. TX Raven on July 5, 2008 6:47 AM writes...

Satan,
I totally support the first line item in your statement.
Indeed, I believe that's the 600 pound gorilla in the drug discovery room.
The "ego" that plays such an important part motivating an upcoming scientist to get better as a scientist becomes their Achilles heel when they become supervisors and forget that their role has changed. Their huge egos become their worst enemies. They force political rather than scientific decisions down the throats of the people they supervise instead of letting them make their own decisions.

IMHO the debacle of our industry is not scientific in nature, but it rather reflects a character flaw in our leaders. To fix this, improving the science is not the bottle neck, but rather improving the people factors which send down the drain the best scientific efforts.

Happy 4th!

3. retread on July 5, 2008 8:03 AM writes...

My mother went to Goucher College in Baltimore in the 20's when Mencken was writing for the Baltimore Sun. She and her friends lived for his columns.

Mencken liked to drink and hated the prohibitionists. One semi-quote (which I can't source or quote exactly)

"The humble swineherd will drive us all into his pen." Burkha's anyone?

4. milkshake on July 5, 2008 11:41 PM writes...

I guess its all about passing on one's genes or sumthing.

You know, the cheats, the frauds, the shysters and demagogs, the pompous fools and bullies - they are all just imperfect human beings and they, too, want to be loved, admired and understood. And they too will be good, deep down.

When all is said and done, when the fight is lost (or won) and the life itself is gone.

5. Fries with That? on July 6, 2008 1:56 PM writes...

Good managers are the ones who know how to handle reality and have enough confidence in their team to not scapegoat individuals when things don't turn out the way everyone had hoped.

Nothing is so tedious as having to defend a result that is showing the "wrong" outcome. One can spend an eternity in conference rooms and behind closed doors pointing fingers at people, pipets, buffers, the phase of the moon, the passage of the cells, etc only to repeat the experiment several times more and still show the magic bullet that would make top management millions is not so magic after all.

6. HelicalZz on July 7, 2008 8:14 AM writes...

And just for fun on the topic (the 4th, not the quote which was a good one).

The Chemistry of Fireworks

http://chemistry.about.com/od/fireworkspyrotechnics/a/fireworkcolors.htm

Zz

7. Kent G. Budge on July 7, 2008 1:48 PM writes...

I have been too long in the scientific community to be so naively trustful of them as Mencken appears to be.

Scientists are also human, and so they are also sometimes corrupt, venal, or weak.

And there is the occasional politician, bishop, or so forth who is *not* corrupt, venal, or weak.

Humility becomes any of us.