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Well, I've been doing my best to research on my own, but at this point I need access to a high quality spectrophotometer in order to perform measurements of var

Well, I've been doing my best to research on my own, but at this point I need access to a high quality spectrophotometer in order to perform measurements of various materials' absorption spectrums under various lighting conditions. They can run ~$5k, so uni seems like my best bet. I figured I couldn't really just show up and ask to borrow their spectrophotometer... they'd probably want me to have a degree or some kind of credentials before trusting me at all. Project Breaker looks quite interesting. Thanks for letting me know!

hga 13y ago
No, no. Show up knowing what you're about, vs. someone with theories "no one else understands" (from watching this once, I wouldn't be surprised if MIT professors get a bit of training in how to handle the crazies), you've got a hypothesis that's interesting and you need to do specific tests, and, oh, yeah, you'll be happy to let them share credit. You might be surprised at how far you can get. Do some networking. If you don't have any contacts, start showing up for seminars at a target university. Listen, start contributing a bit to the community, then ease into "By the way, I have a [fill in the blank] I'd like to test...."
- sillysaurus2 13y ago
  Yeah, worrying about being thought of as a crazy person is precisely what's prevented me from trying to contact any professors, because I'd imagine they have to deal with that sort of thing pretty often: outsiders bothering them with unscientific pet theories. That's why it's frustrating not having credentials. Attending seminars is a good idea. Thank you. I wonder if I should call up universities and ask for info regarding any computer graphics related seminars / events. It seems like those would be very uncommon, but it's probably my only chance. I have no contacts because I was mercilessly harassed throughout highschool and leaped at the opportunity to drop out and write software for a living. So I have no idea how to network. Showing up and saying, "Hey, would you be interested in chatting about computer graphics theory?" seems like it'd earn me strange looks. I just moved to Chicago, so I was hoping University of Chicago has some sort of computer graphics program, and that I can figure out some way of becoming involved with it.
  - sanskritabelt 13y ago
    "I wonder if I should call up universities and ask for info regarding any computer graphics related seminars / events" That shit's on the website, dogg.
    - sillysaurus2 13y ago
      Hmm... Is it? Searching their events for "graphics" produced no results, and searching for "computer" (in hopes of anything CS related) wasn't very helpful. http://event.uchicago.edu/maincampus/search.php http://event.uchicago.edu/maincampus/search.php EDIT: The CS research interests page is interesting... http://www.cs.uchicago.edu/research/interests http://www.cs.uchicago.edu/research/interests though nothing specifically graphics-related. EDIT2: The closest thing to graphics research I can find is http://www.mcs.anl.gov/research/fl/research/index.php?p=proj_detail&id=28 http://www.mcs.anl.gov/research/fl/research/index.php?p=proj... ... though I don't really understand what its goals are based on its description: "Integration of Access Grid and ParaView to enable remote participants to interact with their visualizations in a coordinated manner across all sites, to improve information flow and expedite visualization development and scientific results. This will remove a significant bottleneck in achieving visualization results and understanding, by allowing participants to exchange data interactively while exploring their data visually. In this first development, specific areas of ParaView functionality will be targeted for inclusion in the shared interaction, based on feedback from the domain scientists as to the areas of highest relevance and impact." So I guess that's something graphics-theory-related, which I suppose is worth looking into...
      - sanskritabelt 13y ago
        Here you go: http://www.cs.uchicago.edu/events http://www.cs.uchicago.edu/events Looks sparse but I don't think the academic year's started yet, scroll back to last spring and it looks like the real departmental calendar. Could just be you're SOL on the type of stuff you want at UC. That's academic life.
        13y ago
cinquemb 13y ago
Totally understand. But have you looked into public labs? I know there are DIY biotech hacker labs[0] so maybe something is out there near you. Also, do you have any friends in uni who may have access to a spectrophotometer? I've asked friends to get me uni papers and run experiments if they had the time (though I have also helped them out with matlab code for simulations and such)… Also, these places aren't really the most secure places in the world. If you got swiped in with a friend, carried a backpack, picked up some lab gear by the door, and conducted a quick experiment, I'm sure you can get by. [0]http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/12/genspace-diy-science-laboratory/ http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/12/genspace-diy-scien...
harrytuttle 13y ago
Just rent kit. I needed a high end LeCroy DSO a while back. These fuckers are £18000. Leased one for a month for £700.

hga 13y ago

No, no. Show up knowing what you're about, vs. someone with theories "no one else understands" (from watching this once, I wouldn't be surprised if MIT professors get a bit of training in how to handle the crazies), you've got a hypothesis that's interesting and you need to do specific tests, and, oh, yeah, you'll be happy to let them share credit. You might be surprised at how far you can get. Do some networking. If you don't have any contacts, start showing up for seminars at a target university. Listen, start contributing a bit to the community, then ease into "By the way, I have a [fill in the blank] I'd like to test...."

sillysaurus2 13y ago
Yeah, worrying about being thought of as a crazy person is precisely what's prevented me from trying to contact any professors, because I'd imagine they have to deal with that sort of thing pretty often: outsiders bothering them with unscientific pet theories. That's why it's frustrating not having credentials. Attending seminars is a good idea. Thank you. I wonder if I should call up universities and ask for info regarding any computer graphics related seminars / events. It seems like those would be very uncommon, but it's probably my only chance. I have no contacts because I was mercilessly harassed throughout highschool and leaped at the opportunity to drop out and write software for a living. So I have no idea how to network. Showing up and saying, "Hey, would you be interested in chatting about computer graphics theory?" seems like it'd earn me strange looks. I just moved to Chicago, so I was hoping University of Chicago has some sort of computer graphics program, and that I can figure out some way of becoming involved with it.
- sanskritabelt 13y ago
  "I wonder if I should call up universities and ask for info regarding any computer graphics related seminars / events" That shit's on the website, dogg.
  - sillysaurus2 13y ago
    Hmm... Is it? Searching their events for "graphics" produced no results, and searching for "computer" (in hopes of anything CS related) wasn't very helpful. http://event.uchicago.edu/maincampus/search.php http://event.uchicago.edu/maincampus/search.php EDIT: The CS research interests page is interesting... http://www.cs.uchicago.edu/research/interests http://www.cs.uchicago.edu/research/interests though nothing specifically graphics-related. EDIT2: The closest thing to graphics research I can find is http://www.mcs.anl.gov/research/fl/research/index.php?p=proj_detail&id=28 http://www.mcs.anl.gov/research/fl/research/index.php?p=proj... ... though I don't really understand what its goals are based on its description: "Integration of Access Grid and ParaView to enable remote participants to interact with their visualizations in a coordinated manner across all sites, to improve information flow and expedite visualization development and scientific results. This will remove a significant bottleneck in achieving visualization results and understanding, by allowing participants to exchange data interactively while exploring their data visually. In this first development, specific areas of ParaView functionality will be targeted for inclusion in the shared interaction, based on feedback from the domain scientists as to the areas of highest relevance and impact." So I guess that's something graphics-theory-related, which I suppose is worth looking into...
    - sanskritabelt 13y ago
      Here you go: http://www.cs.uchicago.edu/events http://www.cs.uchicago.edu/events Looks sparse but I don't think the academic year's started yet, scroll back to last spring and it looks like the real departmental calendar. Could just be you're SOL on the type of stuff you want at UC. That's academic life.
      - 13y ago

cinquemb 13y ago

Totally understand. But have you looked into public labs? I know there are DIY biotech hacker labs[0] so maybe something is out there near you. Also, do you have any friends in uni who may have access to a spectrophotometer? I've asked friends to get me uni papers and run experiments if they had the time (though I have also helped them out with matlab code for simulations and such)… Also, these places aren't really the most secure places in the world. If you got swiped in with a friend, carried a backpack, picked up some lab gear by the door, and conducted a quick experiment, I'm sure you can get by. [0]http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/12/genspace-diy-science-laboratory/ http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/12/genspace-diy-scien...

harrytuttle 13y ago

Just rent kit. I needed a high end LeCroy DSO a while back. These fuckers are £18000. Leased one for a month for £700.