humor
evolvingthoughts | February 4, 2007
Who knew? Astronauts are human. A nice little soap opera has developed, according to NASA Watch, in which one female astronaut tried to kidnap (so the police allege) another female astronaut a woman Air Force captain because she was jealous of the relationship the latter had with a male astronaut. She sprayed her victim with pepper spray, and wore a wig and trenchcoat (don't parking garages have automatic trenchcoat recognition algorithms?).
Boy that's going to make mission tensions interesting. "I'm not firing the orbital deinsertion boost until you agree to stop seeing that woman!""But…
mikethemadbiologist | February 4, 2007...panda cuteness. In honor of Amanda of Pandagon becoming a famous and financially compensated blogger, I present you this photo montage:
Edwards blogging headquarters
Staff photo
Check out the panda on the right. What's he doing?
Let's hit the bar
Office cubicle action photo
Office cubicle action photo
Campaigning is hard
oracknows | February 4, 2007So says this Dalek:
Hilarious. Not as funny as the Jamaican Cybermen, but pretty funny nonetheless.
sporte | February 3, 2007`When I make a word do a lot of work like that,' said Humpty Dumpty, `I always pay it extra.'
-Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
In biology, we often ask our words do a lot of work.
In what other field would we write direction like this
"Transfer 10 lambda of lambda phage DNA into a cuvette and determine the lambda max."
grrlscientist | February 3, 2007Here's a story that needs no commentary from me;
A Blue Ridge Mountains Boy Scout troop accidentally discovered Vice President Dick Cheney's "undisclosed location" last week, a press officer with Boy Scouts of America said. The troop, consisting of a Scoutmaster and 17 boys from the region who were planning to camp for the night in the heavily wooded area, reportedly found the undisclosed location while hunting for shelter during a sudden hailstorm.
"We were heading to a nice clearing near Brushy Mountain we've used before when the squall hit," Pete Pubert, Scoutmaster for the troop, said. "…
clock | February 3, 2007A-ha! Finally! Now I understand the connection between Creationism and the overall anti-sex sentiment of the Fundamentalists!
New reseaarch shows that E.coli swim upstream due to the Design of their flagellum! And where do they swim from and swim to? Yes, you guessed it right! And you can also watch the movie.
j7uy5 | February 3, 2007It recognition of the lifetime achievements of
href="http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2007/02/molly_ivins_edu.html">Molly
Ivins, I propose that the term "
href="http://www.slate.com/id/76886/">Bushism" be replaced with
"Shrubism." But I'm not the decider when it comes to the
popularity of colloquialisms.
That aside, Shrubisms rarely make me laugh any more, because they are
so commonplace. But
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/01/AR2007020101800.html?referrer=blog">this
one gave me a chuckle:
Bush, making the media rounds in a State of…
evolvingthoughts | February 3, 2007
Here's a tastefully done blog on sex and physics: The Physics of Sex: Where Science and Intimacy Collide. They discuss what beds are best, how lubricants work, optimal strategies for mating based on network theory, and so on. It's a lot of fun. Even safe for work.
oracknows | February 3, 2007Here's a blog that Shelley discovered and that I've been meaning to mention for a week now: Drug Rep Toys.
Yep, it's a blog whose purpose is to review and rate the various bits of swag that drug reps hand out to us doctors in the hopes that (I guess) we'll prescribe or use their products. It's mostly pens and lights, though. He's missing some of the--shall we say?--over the top toys. For example, remember this post from long ago?
Yes! It's the very first time our intrepid blog mascot appeared, way back in December 2004, when I posted a picture of the stuffed EneMan doll and the multiple…
pharyngula | February 3, 2007While it's nice to have the Dilbonians* still whimpering and howling in frustration and fury, here's an even better testimonial to my talents:
PZ, I'm sorry I slighted you. I now have seen the light. You lull your victims into a false sense of security by manifesting as a mild-mannered biology prof, but in reality you are an unspeakably hideous hybrid of Cthulhu and the Flying Spaghetti Monster, living in a shadow lair beyond time and space, called Minnesota. You suck your victims' brains out through their eye sockets and gorge until sated. You are the very embodiment of evil.
I am well…
pharyngula | February 2, 2007Tara is talking about a trial that's putting the HIV-denialists in the same position the creationists were in the Kitzmiller trial—having to publicly defend absurdities in a critical venue. It sounds like they aren't coming off well, and this might be another trial where we collect amusing snippets of testimony. Maybe I just have a sick sense of humor, but I thought this was hilarious.
She was asked by prosecutor Sandi McDonald whether "you would have unprotected vaginal sex with a HIV-positive man".
"Any time," replied Ms Papadopulos-Eleopulos.
Slut.
omnibrain | February 1, 2007The Guardian has started publishing a column by Marc Abrahams who is editor of the bimonthly magazine Annals of Improbable Research and organiser of the Ig Nobel Prize. Check it out! The first article is called "Fizzy Logic" which covers the Coke vs. Pepsi debate. He also has a blog here.
Here's a little sample of the column in the Guardian:
The nagging question of which is better, Coca-Cola or Pepsi-Cola, sprang from an earlier, more basic question: Can anyone tell the difference?
Professor Nicholas H Pronko and colleagues at the University of Wichita, Kansas, conducted a series of…
pharyngula | February 1, 2007Commenter Rheinhard worked hard to get this up last night, so how can I not promote it to more prominence, and so everyone can see the inimitable Molly Ivins?
evolvingthoughts | January 31, 2007
Can't talk. Eating. Paper. Grant application. Start of School Year for Son. Eating...
Reading this:
"Making Sense of Evolution: The Conceptual Foundations of Evolutionary Biology" (Massimo Pigliucci, Jonathan Kaplan)
and this:
"Darwinian Reductionism: Or, How to Stop Worrying and Love Molecular Biology" (Alex Rosenberg)
Do likewise...
omnibrain | January 31, 2007Hah... if you haven't already - head on over to the NYT's for the new Tierney Lab Blog. He has an interesting post today about why people find Graceland so appealing.
I went to Memphis this past weekend seeking a scientific understanding of Graceland. I was there for a meeting of social psychologists, and I wanted to drag a few a few of them out to Elvis Presley's home so they could explain its appeal.
Fortunately, I didn't have to. A team of researchers already had data from Graceland to present at the meeting.
sarahdasher | January 31, 2007I enjoy the occasional chain-store burrito. I consider(ed) them a healthy alternative to traditional fast food. Then I entered my personal burrito preferences into this Chipotle nutrition calculator:
Chipotle Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1 Burrito
Amount Per Serving
Calories 840
Calories from Fat 229
% DV*
Total Fat 26g
Saturated Fat 9g
Cholesterol 30mg…
pharyngula | January 30, 2007The Little Professor has A Compendium of Professorial Magic that looks useful—I'm going to have to master these.
The list, though, is of low level spells. I think I really need an "Enchant Knowledge" area-effect spell that infuses all of the targets with mastery of the subject matter. It's probably a ninth-level spell, I'm afraid, and I'm going to have to get more experience before I can handle it. (Knocking over creationists is probably analogous to fending off a kobold raid—tedious hack-and-slash that garners darned little experience, and they don't even have any loot worth harvesting.)