Ericomp thermal cycler

[Dennis J. Templeton]

After trashing the reputation of the Ericomp cycler in a thoroughly
unprofessional way, I thought I'd share with the group an apocryphal story
that may demonstrate an unexpected advantage of the water cooled cyclers.

It takes place in a San Francisco lab (UCSF I'm told) during the
world-series earthquake a couple of years back.  The story hinges on the
unlikely combination of a lab in which an Ericomp is running in the
proximity of a burning Fischer burner.  You guessed it, the quake jostles
the burner, starting a lab fire, that burns through the water supply,
spraying water over the fire and saving the whole building.  I suspect there
is a small kernel of truth in the story.

I'm a little surprised that Ericomp hasn't grabbed this story and used it
to promote it's product; I think it's one of the machines few advantages.

dennis :=)