The Worst Jobs in History

[KenpoTess]

And you thought you had it bad off...

http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/W/worstjobs/index.html

Sure glad I wasn't around in Tudor days..

 

[Lisa]

Wow! :erg: Glad I didn't live back then.

I have to say Tess, you find the oddest things on the internet, LOL!

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Ah, what wonderful jobs people have held during the
course of history! Anybody have some contemporary
jobs that are equally nauseating?

Brian R. VanCise

 

[shesulsa]

Ah, what wonderful jobs people have held during the
course of history! Anybody have some contemporary
jobs that are equally nauseating?

Brian R. VanCise

Here are the 10 worst jobs in Science according to the November 2005 issue of Popular Science:

10. Orangutan-pee collector: Venturing into the Indonesian national park of Gunung Palung, these scientists haul out and spread plastic sheets to catch the falling pee from the endangered tree-swinging primates. For more specific collection, a plastic bag is tied to a long pole which is hoisted above one's head. "It's kind of gross when you get hit...."

9. NASA Ballerina: NASA robot scientist Vladimir Lumelsky is testing a revolutionary 'skin' that robots can wear that will afford them a tactile sense of their surroundings and avoid interfering or hurting astronauts. Apparently, Lumelsky's prototype robot was in the shape of a giant phallus and to premier the item, hired a ballerina to "dance with" the robot. See for yourself at www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2005/vladskin.html.

8. Do-Gooder: Earthwatch Institute holds 'vacations' that desk jockeys pay as much as US$3000 per week for. These lucky folk get to "slog through peat bogs near Churchill, Manitoba, ducking polar bears and fending off biblical swarms of black-flies, blood-letting mosquitoes and deer-flies known locally as 'bulldogs.'"

7. Semen Washer: Lab techs get to centrifuge the goo to seperate plasma from motile cells, then add preservative and freeze.

6. Volcanologist: Climbing and lowering oneself INTO active volcanos to get samples of lava - need I say more?

5. Nuclear-Weapons scientist: Apparently, they've mastered fusion, but can't file worth beans, which resulted in missing data tapes, FBI investigations and data tapes turning up behind copy machines. One professor called for an expensive months-long shutdown of his laboratory while his scientists learned how to file like pros.

4. Extremophile Excavator: Microbes called extremophiles have been found at Mono and Searles lakes in California, thriving in some of the most putrid, nauseating, arsenic-saturated mud on Earth. This mud was once thought sterile. Researchers "suffer through 125-degree days, blinding sun, reflecting off the salt-caked lake and so much noxious gas that it makes their eyes water." They are smelling hydrogen sulfide, methyl mercaptan and highly volatile methylated amines (think dead fish).

3. Kansas biology teacher: Intelligent design theory is being introduced while radiocarbon dating is no longer being referenced. 'nuff said

2. Manure inspector: Researchers at the University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety wade knee-deep in fertilizer checking for blood, e. coli, et al. (why does it always have to be in Georgia?)

1. Human Lab Rat: The pesticide industry is now paying your college student to have their products introduced into their mucus membranes. Then there are references to Viagra studies ....

 

[arnisador]

In grad. school a friend in biology was involved in a sexuality experiment on rats. She was actually taught by the lead investigator how to masturbate a rat (it's different for males and females). She would occasionally tell us she had to leave now because it was time to masturbate the rats. It was all in the name of science...though she transferred to another school the following year.

 

[shesulsa]

One job Pop Sci listed (last year, I think) was cattle semen collector. I guess during the act between mating animals researchers are supposed to seperate the huge mating animals at the right moment and collect the sample in a jar. Dangerous work, no? Imagine doing this with elephants, moose, bears, primates, giraffes ....

 

[FearlessFreep]

(it's different for males and females)

I don't think that's unique to rats....

 

[shesulsa]

(it's different for males and females)

I don't think that's unique to rats....

:rofl:

 

[Bob Hubbard]

See these: http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/dirtyjobs/splash.html

Shows great BTW

 

[FearlessFreep]

I guess during the act between mating animals researchers are supposed to seperate the huge mating animals at the right moment and collect the sample in a jar.

Probably better then the afore mentioned method with the rats and then wondering why they never call, or they roll over and fall asleep when you are done