League of Mad Scientists Guidelines

• If a stupid idea works, it's not a stupid idea.
  • One demonstration trumps all theory.
  • If the experts (or local stores) say it can't be done, but someone shows you how they do it, it can be done.
• Don't ask a bird how to swim
  (unless he's a penguin, and any nearby fish don't disagree)
  • A doctoral degree in electronics identifies an expert in electronics, but not an expert in chemistry.
  • Ask a fish how to swim. If an expert tells you he has used or seen demonstrated a better way to do something, he is almost certainly right, and can probably walk you through it.
  • Penguins dont do scuba. If an expert tells you he has read or seen a better way, he can probably explain the theory and hidden assumptions, but there are probably still gotchas.
  • Common sense isn't. If a non-expert, or expert out-of-his-field, tells you how to do it, expect not a solution, but a step, possibly false, on the way to a solution.
• The laborer is worth his salt.
  • The League of Mad Scientists is not a vanity press, volunteer-staffed service, nor should it be solely a professional services flea market.
  • Knowledge and skill take time and effort to acquire and maintain. A casual opinion from a plumber at the League of Mad Scientists meeting in the local pub may be free, and save both of you much pain and suffering, but expect to pay for work done for a business, detailed instructions, or hands-on assistance.
• Fun is fun.
  • The League of Mad Scientists is a meeting of friends.
  • Customs have evolved to avoid hard feelings.
  • Whatever is discussed or expressed is disclosable. A member seeking help with a proprietary commercial problem needs to abstract from it an experiment or project that is publishable.
  • If a suggestion or discussion substantially aids a proprietary or commercial project, the contributers are granted a non-exclusive and (as limited by law) non-transferable right to use.