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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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« There can be no chance, no junk, no purposelessness, or God is dead | Main | Eeek! Pretty, but with morbid implications »

It works, bitches

Category: Humor • Science
Posted on: August 7, 2006 1:35 PM, by PZ Myers

Our behind-the-scenes whip boss at Seed, Katherine Sharpe, mentioned this comic, and after I was done laughing, I had to post it.

It could be our new motto.

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Comments

Posted by: Bloviator | August 7, 2006 1:49 PM

Okay, I know (only) a little about this stuff - why does energy density peak @ 160.4GHz?

Posted by: Bloviator | August 7, 2006 1:51 PM

Ah, got it - cosmic microwave background -

Posted by: steve s | August 7, 2006 1:55 PM

When Paul Nelson and William Dembski drive by me on a flying carpet, I'll listen to them. In the meantime, STFU.

Posted by: Peter Backus | August 7, 2006 2:01 PM

I want the t-shirt!

Posted by: Joshua | August 7, 2006 2:11 PM

Is there a t-shirt? Please let there be a t-shirt! I want a t-shirt!

Posted by: Steve_C | August 7, 2006 2:12 PM

Ouch. I hate when science jokes fly over my head like Spinner on warp thrusters.

Posted by: Randall Munroe | August 7, 2006 2:23 PM

There will be t-shirt soon, and there are signed prints now!

Feel free to use the comics directly instead of mirroring them; we have plenty of bandwidth and I love to see them being shared! And it makes smile that Bloviator in the comments got that it was the background radiation. You don't know how much email I got asking about that.

Posted by: PZ Myers | August 7, 2006 2:32 PM

This is the kind of place frequented by geeks where a lot of the readers would get it.

Posted by: Steve_C | August 7, 2006 2:35 PM

I'm not dissing the joke. Just my lack of knowledge.

#10

Posted by: Steve LaBonne | August 7, 2006 2:39 PM

Baptizing the infidels by hitting them over the head with a Planck. ;)

#11

Posted by: Tom Renbarger | August 7, 2006 3:03 PM

I like all the little dots that presumably represent the FIRAS data from which the blackbody curve was derived.

#12

Posted by: Bronze Dog | August 7, 2006 3:43 PM

I should get a T-shirt version of this for Ryan, my recently-returned blog partner. Sounds like something that fffffffilthy-mouthed human would say.

This dog's mouth is much cleaner than that, though.

#13

Posted by: BlueIndependent | August 7, 2006 3:46 PM

PZ:
"This is the kind of place frequented by geeks where a lot of the readers would get it."

I am a laymen on this one too, so I'm not sure I get it either. But my weak analysis thus far leads me to conclude the punchline is in the equation, and that knowing what the terms of the equation represent would reveal said hilarity.

I'm guessing the visual graphing is meant to symbolize some sort of decrease in understanding leading to a correlative decrease in scientific interest?...

#14

Posted by: Jason (not that one) | August 7, 2006 4:02 PM

I enjoyed Binary Sudoku a great deal.

http://xkcd.com/c74.html

#15

Posted by: somnilista, FCD | August 7, 2006 4:02 PM

Which of those variables accounts for the number of pirates?

#16

Posted by: Joshua | August 7, 2006 4:04 PM

It's not my speciality, but I believe the equation is the energy density of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation predicted by relativity(?), while the graph represents the actual data confirming the equation's predictions. Hence: Science works. (Bitches.)

#17

Posted by: katherine sharpe | August 7, 2006 4:29 PM

"Behind the scenes whip boss"

Ah, FINALLY an accurate description of my occupation to fill into that little box on Friendster.

#18

Posted by: Scott | August 7, 2006 4:47 PM

The cartoon is Plank's Law on Blackbody radiation. The graph is usually represented as Intensity v wavelength. The 160.4 just represents the frequency in which we have max intensity. This value is different for different objects and doesn't have some hidden meaning. You learn about Plank's law in intro astronomy or your first modern physics class.

Also, this is not the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation. The CMBR measures the fluxuations in the background. That's all bitches!

#19

Posted by: Steve LaBonne | August 7, 2006 4:58 PM

Yes, this is the CMBR. Big Bang predicts that the background will fit the black body law and predicts the actual current-day temperature (which is related to the frequency distribution by the black body law). The fit between theory and observations is extraordinary.

#20

Posted by: Tom Renbarger | August 7, 2006 5:05 PM

"Also, this is not the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation. The CMBR measures the fluxuations in the background. That's all bitches!"

You're thinking of the angular power spectrum of the CMB anisotropy. There is a "monopole term" at 2.725 K represented by the graph in the comic. There's more cosmological information in the angular power spectrum than in the monopole, but they are both part of the CMB.

#21

Posted by: Rex | August 7, 2006 5:35 PM

It'd also look good on a coffee cup

#22

Posted by: IHateFundies | August 7, 2006 5:39 PM

Personally, I am sick of hearing the word bitches used in this fashion. The version where it is spelled beotch is less offensive, but only slightly. Too bad you can't find humor without insulting women indirectly.

#23

Posted by: Steve_C | August 7, 2006 5:52 PM

Are not bitches female dogs?

#24

Posted by: Blader | August 7, 2006 6:08 PM

A bitch will greet me at the door when I arrive home tonight, and gently lick my legs, before I go outside and throw the ball with her.

She thinks I am da shizzle

#25

Posted by: bitchin' | August 7, 2006 6:20 PM

oh come on... can't use the word bitch without insulting women... pah. that's just whiney-ass troll bait.

bitch is well beyond a gender specific insult these days.

#26

Posted by: Tlazolteotl | August 7, 2006 6:38 PM

Bitch:
1. A female canine animal, especially a dog.
2. Offensive.
a. A woman considered to be spiteful or overbearing.
b. A lewd woman.
c. A man considered to be weak or contemptible.
3. Slang. A complaint.
4. Slang. Something very unpleasant or difficult.
5. Slang.Pwn3d!

#27

Posted by: Tlazolteotl | August 7, 2006 6:41 PM

No offense, but really, I would think that someone who signs as "IHateFundies" would see the irony in complaining about the use of a derogatory word or phrase.

Just sayin'

#28

Posted by: Steve_C | August 7, 2006 7:29 PM

How bout "I hate those fundie bitches." :)

Just sayin'.

#29

Posted by: Buffalo Gal | August 7, 2006 7:40 PM

We've been taking back "bitch" for 30 years. Even the mildest-mannered of us in the early 70s had "Bitch" stickers under our names on the mailbox. Outspoken women, women who take no shit, have been bitches forever. Today, we say, "yeah, I'm a bitch - whatcha gonna do about it?" We gotta thank those who were bitches before it became popu7lar.

#30

Posted by: Owlmirror | August 7, 2006 9:32 PM

Because no-one else has mentioned it:

http://bitchphd.blogspot.com/

#31

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | August 7, 2006 10:23 PM

And just think, some cable channel didn't have to pay the author 50 million to come up with that.

How bout "I hate those fundie bitches." :)

killed me Steve_C

#32

Posted by: Graculus | August 7, 2006 11:28 PM

Too bad you can't find humor without insulting women indirectly.

Posted by: IHateFundies

From the local alpha female:

Quit yer bitching, bitch, or I'll bitch-slap you into next week.

PZ, that's one bitchin' graphic.

#33

Posted by: Keith Douglas | August 8, 2006 10:05 AM

I have always found that equations like that one suggest a certain inelegance to the universe. I mean, what's with the -1 in the denominator? :)

#34

Posted by: Joshua | August 8, 2006 10:10 AM

Have you bitches read the rest of those comics? There's a real slayer in there about Kepler as a janitor...

#35

Posted by: jeffk | August 8, 2006 10:24 AM

Yeah, the motivation of the comic is that the CMB has been something of a "smoking gun" (sorry, hate that phrase but it works here) for cosmological theory - the big bang, and later inflation.

Tom, did you go to the U of M for grad school?

#36

Posted by: Deepsix | August 8, 2006 12:26 PM

I think the equation is there just as a generic reference to science. They could have used any scientific equation or symbol. You don't need to know anything about the equation to get the humor in the tag line.

#37

Posted by: James | August 8, 2006 12:29 PM

Its a great Motto.

"Science, it works, bitches!"

Use it every chance you get!

#38

Posted by: James | August 8, 2006 12:33 PM

Oh, and accompany it with a picture of the blast cloud over Hiroshima!!

"Science, it works, bitches!"

I love it!

#39

Posted by: dr.steveb | August 8, 2006 1:25 PM