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Superstitions Science / Tech Folks Observe

escargot

escargot

Disciple of Marduk
Joined
Aug 24, 2001
Messages
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Location
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Comfortably Numb said:
you can either have science or religion. You can not, in my particular opinion, have both.
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The lines are often blurred, though it's probably cultural rather than purely about religion. Superstition is present too.

For example, on launch days at NASA free doughnuts are served across the site. It's supposed to bring good luck and is somehow connected to the round shape of the wheels that the module is moved on.

The CERN campus has a statue of Lord Shiva, a gift from India.*

This lovely (safe) biospace.com page has a list of scientists' personal superstitions -

7 Weird Superstitions and Rituals of Scientists

Here's the most ludicrous -

When he was a graduate student at Brown University, Michael Long, now a neuroscientist at New York University School of Medicine, had a ritual of having a hot-dog lunch at Spike’s Junkyard Dogs, because he believed it helped him with his work studying rodent brains.

“The days I ate at Spike’s, I had beautiful slices. It happened every time, so then everyone else in the lab started going to Spike’s more,” Long claims.
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*I did a bit googling about that and found a photo of the Higgs Boson discovery conference with Escet and me on it, haha!
 
escargot said:
This lovely (safe) biospace.com page has a list of scientists' personal superstitions -
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I have mentioned it before, I think, but I had a colleague who would literally throw himself across the lab to turn off the radio at the opening bars of "You Get What You Give" by the New Radicals. He was utterly convinced that the song brought him bad lab luck. Every time I hear the intro now - particularly if I'm in the lab - it makes me smile.
 
bugmum said:
I have mentioned it before, I think, but I had a colleague who would literally throw himself across the lab to turn off the radio at the opening bars of "You Get What You Give" by the New Radicals. He was utterly convinced that the song brought him bad lab luck. Every time I hear the intro now - particularly if I'm in the lab - it makes me smile.
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I always thought labs were quite well behaved... except when they gulp their food down, along with anything else that happens to be in the vicinity. So be careful there 'bugmum,' it's a wonder your colleague didn't get bitten throwing himself across him like that ~ no wonder he thinks it might bring him bad luck:mcoat:
 
Sid said:
I always thought labs were quite well behaved.
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Perish the thought. We've just had a trio of three male postgrads pass through. They called themselves "The Brain Trust"; we called the "The Three Stooges".

Plus my in-laws had golden retrievers, and I wouldn't call them that well-behaved either. Eating garlic bulbs... finishing dinner without taking a single breath... knocking stuff over with exuberant tail wagging... duvet stealing...
 
The love of filthy water.

"Oh, Im SUCH a good dog!"

The more than love of foxes droppings...

"Im a good dog STILL, be delighted at my utter shamelessness..."
 
Kondoru said:
The love of filthy water.

"Oh, Im SUCH a good dog!"

The more than love of foxes droppings...

"Im a good dog STILL, be delighted at my utter shamelessness..."
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? :huh:
 
When Yuri Gagarin was on the way to launch, he got the car to stop on the way and went out and relieved himself. Doing that has now become tradition among astro/kosmonauts.
 
The 'good luck' snack that makes Taiwan's technology behave

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/articl...ck-snack-that-makes-taiwans-technology-behave

Kuai Kuai crisps

By Hope Ngo16th April 2021

In Taiwan, coconut-flavoured corn crisps are seen as good-luck charms that ensure high-tech machines co-operate. But why?

Crisps have a sacred role in office culture. They are the perfect mid-morning pick-me-up, the moreish side to a light sandwich lunch, or the fuel that keeps us going when meetings run past mealtimes.
But in Taiwan, one particular brand of crisps does more than keep hunger pangs at bay. Many of the island’s machines – from cash machines to radio transmission towers – seem to rely on the presence of green bags of puffy, coconut-flavoured corn crisps to stay in tip-top condition.
People see these crisps as amulets – or good luck charms – that, if used properly, will ensure that technology behaves well and doesn’t break down. They place bags of this humble snack, known as ‘Kuai Kuai’, on or around vital machines in many of the island’s laboratories, banks and even hospitals to ensure the machines continue to do their jobs.
But how did this savoury product end up assuming near-mythical protective properties and, in a technologically advanced society that supplies most of the world’s semiconductors, why exactly do people buy into it?
 
Over the past few days I have found a single penny three times on the ground, which may not be so unusual since it was at places where people congregate like a grocery store.

I am not particularly superstitious, but I have heard finding coin is good luck.

Well, I can use all the good luck I can get these days.

Then someone told me if the coin was heads up it is extra good luck.

I can not remember what side I found these coins, but I will put them in a special place to save.
 
charliebrown said:
Over the past few days I have found a single penny three times on the ground, which may not be so unusual since it was at places where people congregate like a grocery store.

I am not particularly superstitious, but I have heard finding coin is good luck.

Well, I can use all the good luck I can get these days.

Then someone told me if the coin was heads up it is extra good luck.

I can not remember what side I found these coins, but I will put them in a special place to save.
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Sending good luck wishes your way.
 
charliebrown said:
Over the past few days I have found a single penny three times on the ground, which may not be so unusual since it was at places where people congregate like a grocery store.

I am not particularly superstitious, but I have heard finding coin is good luck.

Well, I can use all the good luck I can get these days.

Then someone told me if the coin was heads up it is extra good luck.

I can not remember what side I found these coins, but I will put them in a special place to save.
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'Save your pennies and the pounds will save themselves' as my old dad says :)
 
charliebrown said:
Over the past few days I have found a single penny three times on the ground, which may not be so unusual since it was at places where people congregate like a grocery store.

I am not particularly superstitious, but I have heard finding coin is good luck.

Well, I can use all the good luck I can get these days.

Then someone told me if the coin was heads up it is extra good luck.

I can not remember what side I found these coins, but I will put them in a special place to save.
Click to expand...
The way I heard it (east coast US) was that if it's tails up, you shouldn't take it at all, as it will be bad luck.
 
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