Category Archives: Humor
Because Graham is on Holiday and Chun Yao's Dead
Despite the fact that this is satire and thus includes some level of exaggeration, it does do a rather nice job of highlighting some of the frustration of science outreach. Not everything can be condensed down into an information mcnugget or two, and there are subjects where you really need a decent background in physics to understand what’s going on, even at a superficial level. That frustration comes to a head when you meet someone who thinks that advanced science should be understandable to them even without any background schooling, and those same folks seem to be the ones who hold you at fault when they don’t understand. (They also seem to conclude that it’s wrong if it doesn’t make sense to them, but that’s another level of frustration)
h/t to Schrödinger’s hat
And the Winner is… The Turboencabulator
Several years ago, Rockwell International decided to get into the heavy duty transmission business. We were getting ready to tape our first introduction video, as a warm up, the professional narrator began what has become a legend within the trucking industry. This man should have won an academy for his stellar performance. Now remember this is strictly off the cuff, nothing is written down, this became the biggest talk in the industry, vs our new product which we were introducing. I think you will enjoy this once in a lifetime performance from this gentleman.
That there’s some awesome word salad, with a creamy low-calorie cryptojargon sauce. The Wikipedia writeup has a reasonable approximation of the transcript.
Update: more fun at turboencabulator.info
She was My WIFE!
Pair of Ducks? No, it's a Buttered Cat!
Those who have tackled the problem as a thought experiment (meaning, no cats were harmed) have come to the conclusion that the buttered cat would stop falling at some point above the floor. Then, as the cat tries to orient its feet against the attraction of the butter to the floor, the cat would begin spinning -and never stop. The result could be called a true perpetual motion machine.
The claim is that the kinetic energy of the buttered (or jellied) cat is converted into rotational energy as the cat hovers; in that sense it is not necessarily an over-unity device since the cat could then slow down as you tapped into that energy.
Into the Great Wide Open
Hyperbole and a Half: Wild Animal (The Simple Dog Goes for a Joy Ride)
No one expects their dog to instantaneously develop an extremely specific fear of horse statues, and I was unprepared for her reaction, which was to sprint powerfully in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, what the simple dog lacks in cognitive capacity, she makes up in ground speed, and her sudden fleeing yanked the leash from my hand.
The Man Who Loved Math Dancing
You're Wrong About One Thing
… that whole “That’s not funny” part
Martinez gives a report on “piezo-electrics” — a phantom technology which electronically emits smell and taste from the screens of your iPad and iPhone. He coaxes his co-anchor to sniff and eventually lick (!) the screen of an iPad, only to find an “April Fools!” screen pop up shortly thereafter.
Piezoelectric technology is most definitely real; the “phantom” part is about letting you create smells and sounds. But what do you expect from a business site?
The Force of a Thousand Faces
Not Magic, or That Other Thing
Algebra (naughty language warning)
