I’m under a series of non-disclosure agreements that serve to protect Big Talc. I can disclose that step one is to dig it out of the ground. The rest is processing.
I snuck into a defense industry convention once and just ate all the the free food and coffee while watching CEOs try and sell warships to admirals and stuff. It was dope. Free candy at every booth, it was like Halloween for business bigwigs.
A very nice Japanese businessmann spent 15 minutes telling me about the benefits of a Unicorn radar and radio mast array for medium sized frigates and I’m just like “Interesting!” As if I’m actually in the market for naval radar masts and not just some nerd who snuck in.
Honestly, I like to avoid them. They sound fun at first, but then you realize that you’re going to be in a room with strangers for 8 hours and at the last minute you realize, “would anyone really notice if I just skipped out?” And, “why do I always get invited to the talc and sulphates convention and not the candy convention?”
I do travel a lot for work, and frequently see conventioneers at hotels. The Excruciating Implantable Medical Device Convention (with posters) looked amazing. I honestly thought about crashing that one.
Honestly, the ‘Talc and Sulphates’ convention sounds fun to crash at least once in your life. It’s only when a topic is old-hat that it becomes boring… I’ve always enjoyed listening to people who really know their shit talk about topics they like.
‘Implantable Medical Devices’ is either AWESOME or AWFUL depending on the kind/purpose of the device. Excruciating is definitely on the awful side, though, so pass on that one.
They bore a one-inch diameter hole in the heart, suture a BLDC impeller motor (VAD) on, then cut into the aorta or whatever, suture fancy material stuff to a tube that then redirects the blood flow through the motor. And a fancy cable that exits your abdomen and connects to the electronics.
It was the single most disturbing thing I’ve ever had the displeasure of working with. I really wish I didn’t know how it worked.
Yep, I am sick unto the death over talc and talc derivatives. It’s all sunshine and lollipops for the first few years, but it gets old.
Anyway, these medical devices were sort of like spinal implants, or things that could mitigate damage from a bad alligator bite if one got ahold of a person’s ankle. Bone replacements, mostly. The photos on the posters were pretty unpleasantly graphic, but they all basically looked like good solutions to very unfortunate problems.
I actually left a job because every other employee was sent to attend a conference, and when it was “my turn” the word was that they were just… Not going to be sending anyone to conferences anymore.
At the last minute, management decided to go to the conference I was supposed to attend, without any of the lower level employees (it was just managers).
Trade shows suck. Go to a convention run by fans of something like sci-fi or anime and you’ll have fun even if it’s not something you are all that into because everyone around you is having a great time.
Trade shows involve people pretending to have a great time until it’s the evening and they can go find a bar.
Yep. Conventioneering! Except you get to learn about talc processing and talk to sales reps who are really big into talc processing.
Tell us more about talc processing.
I’m under a series of non-disclosure agreements that serve to protect Big Talc. I can disclose that step one is to dig it out of the ground. The rest is processing.
You know, I sort of guessed where you were going when you mentioned NDAs, and I was still caught off guard.
Seriously you can’t just leave me like that!
I’ve never been to a convention. :(
I snuck into a defense industry convention once and just ate all the the free food and coffee while watching CEOs try and sell warships to admirals and stuff. It was dope. Free candy at every booth, it was like Halloween for business bigwigs.
A very nice Japanese businessmann spent 15 minutes telling me about the benefits of a Unicorn radar and radio mast array for medium sized frigates and I’m just like “Interesting!” As if I’m actually in the market for naval radar masts and not just some nerd who snuck in.
Honestly, I like to avoid them. They sound fun at first, but then you realize that you’re going to be in a room with strangers for 8 hours and at the last minute you realize, “would anyone really notice if I just skipped out?” And, “why do I always get invited to the talc and sulphates convention and not the candy convention?”
I do travel a lot for work, and frequently see conventioneers at hotels. The Excruciating Implantable Medical Device Convention (with posters) looked amazing. I honestly thought about crashing that one.
Honestly, the ‘Talc and Sulphates’ convention sounds fun to crash at least once in your life. It’s only when a topic is old-hat that it becomes boring… I’ve always enjoyed listening to people who really know their shit talk about topics they like.
‘Implantable Medical Devices’ is either AWESOME or AWFUL depending on the kind/purpose of the device. Excruciating is definitely on the awful side, though, so pass on that one.
Hahaha, like the Ventricular Assist Devices.
They bore a one-inch diameter hole in the heart, suture a BLDC impeller motor (VAD) on, then cut into the aorta or whatever, suture fancy material stuff to a tube that then redirects the blood flow through the motor. And a fancy cable that exits your abdomen and connects to the electronics.
It was the single most disturbing thing I’ve ever had the displeasure of working with. I really wish I didn’t know how it worked.
And down the rabbit hole we go!
I found stuff about LVAD, but somehow RVAD seems to be
But maybe that’s what gets your heart racing…
Can’t figure out inline images in lemmy. This should be the joke: https://lemmy.myserv.one/pictrs/image/0990c4e3-e575-4824-a018-0ce119eb3ad4.jxl
Yep, I am sick unto the death over talc and talc derivatives. It’s all sunshine and lollipops for the first few years, but it gets old.
Anyway, these medical devices were sort of like spinal implants, or things that could mitigate damage from a bad alligator bite if one got ahold of a person’s ankle. Bone replacements, mostly. The photos on the posters were pretty unpleasantly graphic, but they all basically looked like good solutions to very unfortunate problems.
I’m in tech. We have… Different conferences.
I actually left a job because every other employee was sent to attend a conference, and when it was “my turn” the word was that they were just… Not going to be sending anyone to conferences anymore.
At the last minute, management decided to go to the conference I was supposed to attend, without any of the lower level employees (it was just managers).
I was… Salty about it.
… I still am.
I’d be salty about that too!
Trade shows suck. Go to a convention run by fans of something like sci-fi or anime and you’ll have fun even if it’s not something you are all that into because everyone around you is having a great time.
Trade shows involve people pretending to have a great time until it’s the evening and they can go find a bar.
I wouldn’t know.
Honestly, fan-run cons are an awesome time. Find one near you and check it out.