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Uh…

July 10, 2012 - 5:18 pm
Irradiated by LabRat 7 Comments

Seen in banner format above the main Los Alamos National Laboratory sign at the Otowi complex:

LANL Quality Assurance: Let’s all do it right the first time.

I see. That is exactly what I want to see as the quality control initiative of a high-powered science laboratory whose main mission is creating and implementing advanced weapons technology. It’s so comforting I could just wet myself.

Posted Arms races, Our Town, run that one by me again... |

7 Responses to “Uh…”

  1. Chris Byrne Says:
    July 10th, 2012 at 5:26 pm

    Well… as you know, scientists and engineers have an… interesting… sense of humor.

    Any profession that can take bets on whether their next experiment will ignite the entire atmosphere ending all life on the planet… and then use that as an example for future generations…

  2. LabRat Says:
    July 10th, 2012 at 5:43 pm

    The part that scares me is bureaucrats don’t.

    The will-this-set-the-atmosphere-ablaze thing was among the researchers, not on a Power Point presentation.

  3. Sparrowkin/Laura K Says:
    July 10th, 2012 at 8:05 pm

    Somewhere on a beach in the Sky, Richard Feynman might be making a certain gesture at that sign.

  4. bluntobject Says:
    July 10th, 2012 at 9:15 pm

    I think I sprained something rolling my eyes.

    Precious little science gets done right the first time, rather by definition. (FOOF synthesis, on the other hand….)

  5. LabRat Says:
    July 10th, 2012 at 9:31 pm

    If anything I think I’m too far indoctrinated into the company-town culture. I took it for granted that by “do it right the first time” they meant safety protocol, not results.

    The safety culture inaugurated by these guys is… um… not gone.

  6. Kristopher Says:
    July 11th, 2012 at 6:25 am

    That wouldn’t be the first time people learned from the deaths’ of others. For example, most of what is called Flight Discipline cost someone else their life to compile.

    If you want a real horror story, read Kern’s report on the Tsar-52 crash. Bad things happen when you don’t follow some protocols to the letter.

    For some endeavors, you must learn from the mistakes of others, because mistakes are usually fatal.

  7. Sigivald Says:
    July 11th, 2012 at 11:14 am

    Plus, IIRC, they ran the math on that before they got anywhere near lighting it off and decided it was impossible.

    (And yes, “Don’t Play With The Demon Core” is good advice, always.)