December 20, 2019
What happens when a Miss America contestant does a chemistry demonstration as her "talent" performance?
Answer: She wins!
Now, I think pouring those chemicals into flasks could be done by just about anyone. It's not like playing the piano, singing, and dancing — all of which take at least some talent and a lot of practice, but the woman in question, Camille Schrier "has two undergraduate science degrees and is studying a doctorate in pharmacy at Virginia Commonwealth University." She made a stage show out of real achievements that just happened not to be in the performing arts.
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69 comments:
They still have a Miss America pageant? And it's held in December now?
So biochemistry is not a talent? Ann is sounding pretty anti-feminist here.
Her talents are creativity and showmanship. I liked that she was clearly nervous and yet also seemed to enjoy what she was doing. Making science look fun is a talent.
The Miss America Pageant is a scholarship competition. Why wouldn't demonstrating some scholarship be acceptable?
No fair. No fair. Chemistry requires math. And the Miss America Pageant has never had a contestant that knows mathematics. They all just took off their Lab Coats to stripper music.
But according to Bill Bryson's new book called The Body, our bodies are all chemistry. So she wins.
Listen to the MC starting at 0:28. He says, "The new Miss America Camille Shriver, congratulations!"
Her name's Schrier.
That was very clever and somewhat entertaining.
The talent is in imagining and creating a unique presentation.
At least she's named for a flower.
The real beauty of the experiment is she seemed to have her measurements right. It wasn't just adding Mentos to soda water. Alas, the biggest surprise is there is still a Miss America contest. I thought that had gone away when Trump announced his candidacy and all things that Trump had owned had to be destroyed.
I wonder if, while she was pouring the liquids into the flasks and saying the words she'd worked hard to memorize, a part of her mind was sitting outside of that moment and thinking, "I should have worn a bikini and played the flute, while riding a unicycle."
Science!
So, what happens when all contestants are doing - apparently - more cerebral shows?
Also, did she win because of this? To me, that would be very condescending, I would think. But then, I never understood what 'Miss America' really was about, except a beauty contest, maybe?
Yeah, STEM educations require no talent whatsoever. It's just like cooking with your EZ-Bake oven. ::eyeroll::
If you are going to do a chemistry demo, blow something up. Much more entertaining when the demo has the apparent risk of death or bodily harm of the entire audience.
(yes, I did major in Chemistry)
Real Question. Who watches these things? Even when I was young and extremely horny I didn't have any interest in watching a beauty contest. That said, they are going to have to re-brand these things because in the competition for eye balls, there are plenty venues to see hot women.
It would have been more memorable if she had leveled the convention center.
A doctorate in pharmacy? OK,I guess.
Didn't Elvis Costello do a song about her?
This was the real winner:
https://youtu.be/Oe-DI7n5iPA
Better than having her blather about world peace.
She has nice STEMs.
Hubert Alyea on YouTube. Check it out.
Very cool. Talent isn't just being able to sing, tap dance, twirl a baton in a skimpy outfit. Smart can be beautiful too!! Good for her!!
I think pouring those chemicals into flasks could be done by just about anyone
True. I had a chemistry set, that I had requested for Christmas, when I was a young girl...about 9 yrs old. You could do all sorts of things, experiments, and the kit even told you how to put on a 'magic' show by pouring Phenothayline into other liquids which would turn red and then back again to clear with the addition of other liquids.
The TALENT lies in understanding why this happens (acidic and alkaline reaction of the chemical) and what purpose (other than amazing your other 9 year old friends) this has.
The desk top volcano was pretty amazing too! My microscope wasn't very entertaining. (What a nerd!)
As for me I prefer my pageant winner promising to end hunger, homelessness, drug abuse, domestic abuse, and war, all while in a bikini, hugging a perfectly white West Highland puppy. Then I know we've found someone genuine.
um, William morris, meaning ari Emmanuel is now in charge,
AA, thank you for saying "chemistry demonstration" rather than "experiment".
Anyway, it was one dopey demo repeated three times with different food colorings.
Fabulous table.
Anyway, it was one dopey demo repeated three times with different food colorings.
Illustration of not understanding chemical reactions.
Most everybody admires a person that can present to an audience. From our early years when we dreaded giving an oral book report, we all knew instinctively, that one or two among us had "it", that talent to convey an idea to an audience. None of us would disagree. Give 10 people the same power point presentation, and one of the them will rise to the top with the best presentation.
Not particularly lady-like, but that's not a bad thing.
I thought that had gone away when Trump announced his candidacy and all things that Trump had owned had to be destroyed.
Trump owned Miss Universe, not Miss America (Miss USA, not America, competes in the Miss Universe Contest). And Miss Universe is still going on.
So what is your point?
These ridiculous beauty pageants have always been for women's edification, and women have dictated T&A is verboten...was watching the classic 1971 supercar chase movie, "Vanishing Point", and in the middle of all this kinetic madness is a scene with a naked chick riding a motorcycle in the desert. Men don't need a estrogen fueled spectacle of pageantry, almost any 70's movie,TV show, or filmed rocknroll venue will suffice.
Chemistry takes practice. That is why they have labs. Sure, it was meaningless show to make judges go wow, but it is about as "talented" a demo as any of the others.
I guarantee that anyone of them that shows their talent level by playing piano isn't any more gifted than a talented chemist. Are they good enough to make a living at playing? Are they in the 75th percentile of piano players? Most likely, they just took lessons for 10-15 years in order to enter pageants.
I'm good with the concept, unless they do the volcano demo.
One second in and I thought Tik Tok. Brilliant creative mind. More power to her. Why all the snark?
i thought they'd Cancelled this shit?
Didn't they announce last year that they weren't doing this anymore?
As God is my witness, I thought she was going to strip off that lab coat into a bikini.
This is great! Maybe next year Miss New Jersey can do a demonstration of boosting a locked Mercedes!
Not every chemical reaction has this much fizz and sparkle. I guess it was more showmanship than science, but you had to have a grounding in science to know how to make such a show. Good for her. If I could recommend one tiny improvement, it would be show more cleavage while performing the experiment. There's an unfortunate stereotype that scientists don't show cleavage. This would have been an excellent moment to undermine that stereotype.
Bar tricks would be good. Balance a fork and spoon on the end of a glass, get an olive into a martini without touching it, tie a knot in a cherry stem with your tongue...
Could probably just do the last one.
William said...
There's an unfortunate stereotype that scientists don't show cleavage.
Dr. Christmas Jones certainly did her part to break down this barrier.
Why all the snark
Flush out your headgear new guy, if I'm going to get wasted for a word that word is poontang.
Danno said: So biochemistry is not a talent? Ann is sounding pretty anti-feminist here.
I'll reluctantly agree with Althouse on this one - biochemistry is not a talent. It's a field of endeavor, it's a pursuit of knowledge.
"I think pouring those chemicals into flasks could be done by just about anyone"
Right. And that's how you "break stereotypes."
I'll reluctantly agree with Althouse on this one - biochemistry is not a talent. It's a field of endeavor, it's a pursuit of knowledge.
If you just get points for having a "field of endeavor" (aka trying) then we would see more incompetent ballerinas, tone deaf singers, clumsy tap dancers and so on competing. They "tried". Right?
Talent isn't just performing arts. Stephen Hawking was very talented. Probably wouldn't have won any beauty contests though :-)
did she flash her tits?
1971, the year Miss Southwest Iowa was named Miss Iowa but not Miss America. Her talent was playing Rhapsody in Blue on piano. Perhaps a future Miss Southwest Iowa will become Miss America with a cattle herding demonstration of the Temple Grandin move.
"Anyway, it was one dopey demo repeated three times with different food colorings."
Illustration of not understanding chemical reactions.
Illustration of stupid person shooting off stupid mouth without doing any easy research because stupid: Schrier did the same silly demo three times with three different colors of food coloring.
Quayle, I believe it was Thomas Dolby.
As I think about it, I realize there has always been a strong biology undertone in beauty pageants. Their extensive male viewership proves that.
Props to her, but let’s be honest. This is a calculated bit of wokeness on the part of the judges/promoters. See? Our cheesecake show is still relevant! Women in STEM!
Reminds me of a marathon I watched in Olympia a few years back. A dude won handily then, a few dudes later, a woman crosses the finish line and the announcer makes a huge deal of it while the crowd dutifully plays along. How does she not feel patronized? In her shoes, I would have gone over and told the announcer to shove it.
Women in science are usually pre-med or related.
That's even better than the one who did the cross-legged cup-stacking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiicvK4VLf8
Admittedly, she also sang.
As a former "Igor" to a Chemistry professor's "Mad Scientist" in shows for kids at my undergrad school, I applaud the performance and the explation by this contestant. Not getting any of the foam on her lab coat gets her bonus points.
The talent was the ability to understand how to entertain an audience. This is a simple chemical magic trick that I have done myself, but to entertain children. I loved the addition of the dyes, though. If I ever do this again, I will steal that detail.
There is also a really good trick you can do with supersaturated sodium acetate solutions, but this one takes a bit of practice to get right. You heat up 500 grams of sodium acetate in about 150 mL of water until all of the salt has dissolved, you remove it from the heat and allow it cool slowly undisturbed. You then smoothly pour it onto a plate that contains a small amount of the crystalline sodium acetate- when done right, the liquid solution instantly crystallizes into a stalagmite.
The main problem is that the initial solution you make sometimes crystallizes in the flask before you can pour it.
Rhhardin have a good point, girls go in for biological sciences... unexpectedly
Perhaps I will be criticized, but earning two science undergrad degrees is a sign of a lack of seriousness. Move on and get a masters for less money.
"Perhaps I will be criticized, but earning two science undergrad degrees is a sign of a lack of seriousness. Move on and get a masters for less money."
You can earn them at the same time during the 4 years of college- is that what she did?
As a chemistry major she knows the formula for success with men:
36-24-36
Somehow without Trump barging into dressing rooms and telling the girls "He seen it all before" it seems all a bore.
Somewhere, Thomas Dolby is smiling.
A few years ago, the winner had a talent demonstration in which she brought a record player on the stage and played a record of a really really good opera singer. It's the same kind of talent that is displayed here.
Of course, character, not color. Well, some attributes are more colorful than others, with the wonderful plumage of the peacock in the human world. That said, feminine is not a deficit. It is a strength and a responsibility. Masculine, too. Neither gender is toxic.
"has two undergraduate science degrees and is studying a doctorate in pharmacy"
All of which require some talent and a lot of practice.
Ralph L said...
At least she's named for a flower.
nice STEMS!
DBQ wrote True. I had a chemistry set, that I had requested for Christmas, when I was a young girl...about 9 yrs old. You could do all sorts of things, experiments, and the kit even told you how to put on a 'magic' show by pouring Phenothayline into other liquids which would turn red and then back again to clear with the addition of other liquids.
"Phenothayline" is a phonetic way to spell phenolphthalein. The real name is a portmanteau word of phenol + phthalein and it preserves Adolf von Baeyer's classic synthesis from phenol and phthalic anhydride (the same Adolf who gave aspirin but not the one who gave us headaches). The word contains the flatulent-sounding consonant cluster "phth" which is easier in Greek: φθ
Didn't they use to announce measurements, like back in the 60's?
34-22-34. I think a thin waist was very important when I was a kid.
Glasses and a lab coat....
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