WTF why are my lichens in the drawer again????

[Aster]

I don't believe this. I left crystal clear instructions this week (both via email and with a physical sign) to NOT put the live lichens into the drawer with the dead lichens.

But what do I find today? MY LIVE LICHENS ARE IN THE DRAWER WITH THE DEAD LICHENS AGAIN.

This is the second or third time that this has happened. I have well-qualified and experienced laboratory technicians who usually are on the ball with most things. I don't get this. The live lichens were in a dish with a big sign saying "put under light cart". We have a big light cart that the technicians maintain, so they know what the light cart is. The live lichens live under the light cart for the entire year, except for 3 times in the year when I move them for student use.

Why is this so hard? I need a V-8.

[Thursday's_Child]

My sympathies.  Unfortunately, when you want something done right, you often have to do it yourself.  Which leads to too many time-consuming things to do and too much to remember so you start to forget things and then you're right back where you started...  A compromise may be to remember to check on the critically important things right after they should have been done.

Also, would you be willing to share your protocol for keeping lichens alive?  I've never managed that & I'd love to be able to do it!

[San Joaquin]

Did you check for wormholes?

<ducks and runs>

[apl68]

Our high school biology teacher wanted us to work with fresh, live lichens, so she sourced some tree branches with assorted lichens growing on them.  We had to scrape them off with scalpels and examine them.  One student, scalpel in hand, announced: "I shall perform an operation."  He got a big laugh.  And an even bigger one seconds later, when he accidentally snapped the scalpel blade.

[Parasaurolophus]

Not lichen, but...

My little sister's labmates (in a Master's program, mind you) thought they could save money by sourcing their algae the health food store. It took them months to realize the algae they'd purchased was completely sterile.


(Any and all errors and misrepresentations in the story are entirely my own, and the result of knowing nothing at all about algae cultures [apart from the fact that you'd want to make sure it hadn't been sterilized, like irradiated beans and things]. But you get the gist of it.)

[Hibush]

Not lichen, but...

My little sister's labmates (in a Master's program, mind you) thought they could save money by sourcing their algae the health food store. It took them months to realize the algae they'd purchased was completely sterile.

(Any and all errors and misrepresentations in the story are entirely my own, and the result of knowing nothing at all about algae cultures [apart from the fact that you'd want to make sure it hadn't been sterilized, like irradiated beans and things]. But you get the gist of it.)

Only some of the food you buy is dead. Few people realize how many beings they boil alive. Those beans, for instance.

[Parasaurolophus]

Not lichen, but...

My little sister's labmates (in a Master's program, mind you) thought they could save money by sourcing their algae the health food store. It took them months to realize the algae they'd purchased was completely sterile.

(Any and all errors and misrepresentations in the story are entirely my own, and the result of knowing nothing at all about algae cultures [apart from the fact that you'd want to make sure it hadn't been sterilized, like irradiated beans and things]. But you get the gist of it.)

Only some of the food you buy is dead. Few people realize how many beings they boil alive. Those beans, for instance.

Not the irradiated ones, surely! Just the usual dry ones?

[AmLitHist]

The title of this thread reminds me of one of the great joys of visiting the fora, in a "Now there's a sentence I've never seen before" kind of way.

Thank you, OP!

[apl68]

The title of this thread reminds me of one of the great joys of visiting the fora, in a "Now there's a sentence I've never seen before" kind of way.

Thank you, OP!

Well...I thought having one's lichens stuck in a drawer whenever one's back was turned (Again!) was an experience we could all identify with.  I guess not.  You learn something new every day....

[mamselle]

Can you actually kill lichens with radiation?

Many colonial gravestones want to know...

M.