humor
scientificactivist | August 18, 2006It has been known officially since 2002 that the sciences are hard, and, as much as we scientists love it when our friends and family tell us how smart and wonderful we must be since they could never understand what we do... is this elevated position going to cost us in the end? Big time?
Addressing this issue, an article by Emma Brockes in yesterday's Guardian explores the plight of the physical sciences in the UK, taking a humorous look at the question of whether a lack of interest from students will spell their eventual demise:
It is presumably never easy being a physics teacher, what…
tsmith | August 18, 2006 Workers at candy company see form of Virgin Mary in chocolate:
Workers at a chocolate company have discovered a 2-inch-tall column of chocolate drippings that they believe bears a striking resemblance to traditional depictions of the Virgin Mary.
Since the discovery of the drippings under a vat on Monday, employees of Bodega Chocolates have spent much of their time hovering over the tiny figure, praying and placing rose petals and candles around it.
OK, beside my initial thought of "shouldn't they be working??", I hope they're not getting those candles too close to the chocolate...
But…
sporte | August 17, 2006Chad Orzel posted a cute bit about True Lab Stories: The Party Game. I like these things because, yes, they make it clear that those of us who do science put coffee cups on top of our cars and drive off, just like everyone else. For those of who are thinking about careers in science, you don't always have to be brilliant, what you need is perseverance.
I can share one story from the lab where I was a graduate student.
One day, one of our visiting scientists came to me with a thermometer.
"It's not working!" he said.
I was skeptical, but I took a look.
The thermometer was really dirty…
mikethemadbiologist | August 17, 2006That's right--you heard it here first: algal blooms on the Charles River in Boston. Spake Universal Hub:
A blogger by the name of Mike the Mad Biologist, proving why we should get all our news from Technorati and Google Blogsearch, scoops the Globe by more than a week on the story (hmm, if a blogger posts in the Charles when nobody's around, does he still get coated in green slime?).
What's really sad is that none of the crack reporters at the Globe cared or knew that the water in the Charles River was fluorescent green for at least a week. Next time, you guys might want to check that out…
mikethemadbiologist | August 17, 2006Max, over at MaxSpeak, You Listen, is divulging top sekrit information. You would think he was a White House Staffer or something...
mikethemadbiologist | August 16, 2006So it turns out Mel Gibson was ranting about juice, not Jews. It must be the Coriolis Effect or something.... (hat tip: KAT)
mikethemadbiologist | August 15, 2006...but I think that God's got a sick sense of humor."* From the Back Bay Sun:
A planned demonstration in front of the Shaw's supermarket near the Prudential Center was foiled, not by police but by a bad case of food poisoning.
The demonstrators, from an environmental group called Oceana, were set to picket outside the Shaw's at 53 Huntington Avenue last Monday morning. Instead, the group of activists spent the morning recuperating from food poisoning. The core group of picketers, as it turns out, had eaten at a Boston restaurant the night before and fallen ill.
Katie Burnham, media advisor…
j7uy5 | August 15, 2006There's a
href="http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/060711_ska.htm">short
article on World Science, that informs us that "the search is
underway for sites that would be suitable for construction of a
radio-telescope array that could receive alien TV.
I knew there was a serious scarcity of decent TV shows, but I did not
know it had gotten so bad that we need to tune in to other planets,
just to have something to do on Friday night.
I used to use an antenna, and I got three stations, maybe four.
On good days, I could get CBC out of Windsor.
Usually, their programs were better. I…
grrlscientist | August 14, 2006I've seen this video before, but I was seriously remiss because I did not share it with you, my faithful readers.
.
tags: my cubicle, streaming video, humor, reality, music
evolvingthoughts | August 13, 2006Burning silo is holding the next Festival of the Trees and coturnix suggested a poem. So I wrote one:
I think that I shall never see
A definition of a tree
For trees evolved in many ways
With diff'rent forms, in diff'rent days
So resolution of the term
Requires phylogeny, not form
So Aristotle was not right
To hold morphology to light
And think that habitat would be
Enlightening, and nor should we
I know. I amuse myself sometimes... well, all the time, really.
oracknows | August 13, 2006Four words: Star Trek inspirational posters.
These are just freakin' hilarious, especially if you love the old series as much as I do.
An example:
Via Bad Astronomy Blog.
oracknows | August 13, 2006From an actual personal ad:
Gorgeous blonde model, tired of being patronized. Looking for sincere, understanding man. Must be willing to listen to stories of alien abduction.
(Source: The 365 Stupidest Things Ever Said Calendar 2004)
Would anyone out there answer this ad?
scientificactivist | August 11, 2006This week's installment of Fantastical Fridays discusses a not-so-impressive finding reported in the media in January 2006. From the archives:
(30 January 2006) To all of those who worried about the United States' dependence on Middle Eastern oil, who tried to raise awareness about dwindling global oil reserves, or who fought for decent fuel economy standards, you can all go home now. We found the answer: methane... methane hydrate. Boy were we misguided, thinking that renewable or clean energy sources might be a part of the solution. USA TODAY reports on humanity's newfound salvation…
jlynch | August 8, 2006I like Bill Maher. On Saturday he's playing here in Phoenix, and we'll be there. Here he is on Leno doing some good stuff on Mel Gibson etc.
pharyngula | August 8, 2006
Apparently, everything is sectarian. Now I learn that Windows is the Christian OS, to my vast relief. I'll stick with my secular humanist Mac OS X, with its Darwin core and its demonic platypus mascot.
pharyngula | August 7, 2006Our 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.