Yoghurt advertisements are the funniest thing on TV. First, they are marketed almost exclusively to women – apparently those of us with a Y chromosome are not deemed by the marketing gurus to delight in fermented milk and fruit chunks with quite the same enthusiasm as the fairer sex. Second is the sheer creativity and [...]
Son-Of-A-Bitch Mouse Solves Maze Researchers Spent Months Building
Despite attempts to condition the mouse by screaming directly into its face, the researchers reported that the subject smugly completed the second and third runs of the three- dimensional spatial task with ease.
Sometimes, The Onion really gets it (source).
From the following article at the BBC, “Number of Alien Worlds Quantified” came this beaut:
While researchers often come up with overall estimates of the likelihood of intelligent life in the universe, it is a process fraught with guesswork; recent guesses put the number anywhere between a million and less than one.
(Emphasis added)
Nothing to Crow About
“Crows seem to be able to use causal reasoning to solve a problem, a feat previously undocumented in any other non-human animal, including chimps.” — NewScientist.com News Service, September 17, 2008
I don’t understand what all the fuss is about crows. Sure, they can “fly” and stuff, but come on, they’re birds. So what [...]
6:11am – Waking up. Fuck, I’m tired and I’m, oh no. There’s a wad of turkey meat slumbering away in the pit of my stomach. Second dinner at one o’clock this morning was a bad idea after all. Second dessert was, however, delicious.
Alright, lets go Dave. Move it. Shower time. This voting thingy is [...]
ELIZABETH MAY: Ooh oh – I know this one: Something to do with the colour green. That’s right. Wasn’t she in Anne of Green Gables? “Oh Elizabeth May, I do believe that your frock is on backwards, which is not the impression of civility one wants to make in Cape Breton.” (or something [...]
I googled fibromyalgia and this came up – what *is* it?
Along with a few other science flavored pieces (including one from the curator of SCQ’s FILTER), a humourous list I wrote went up today at Yankee Pot Roast:
Rock Band or Human Ailment? (click to read)
It reminded me of [...]
Carl Linnaeus, the oft-considered grandfather of biological taxonomy would be turning 301 years old today had he been a superhero, or a demon, or a Redwood. If he were alive today and had he just written System Naturae, I would have sent him the following birthday card.
Front Picture: Bobo the clown’s head
Front [...]
As convocation is a few weeks away for some of us, I was joking with a friend if they will play Pomp & Circumstance in the Chan. Then the conversation dissolved into naming bizarre theme songs for the ceremony. Here are some honourable mentionables:
I just couldn’t let this die.
Ladies and gents, esteemed Terry* readers, and internet goers directed here via Google: I invite all of you to take part in the fourth installment of Terry*’s Sunday Obscure Science Picture Caption Contest.
Here’s the deal – The New Yorker has a weekly cartoon caption contest where readers [...]
Today at my lab’s SCQ, there’s an awesome piece that imagines Charles Darwin being brought back to life for next year’s bicentennial celebration. As well, the piece is written in the context of him checking out the proposed (and, hopefully by then, built) replica of the H.M.S. Beagle. Better still, it’s being presented as [...]
Super-branding Hits Academia
Music Appreciation, now with an Apple iPod!
Honors Geometry, now with a Rubik’s Cube!
Film Appreciation, now with an Apple iPod!
General Metabolism, now with Power Bars!
Introductory Anatomy, now with Barbie and Ken dolls!
Advanced French Literature, now with Starbuck’s espresso and Marlboro Light cigarettes!
Introduction to Underwater Basketweaving, now with Visine eye [...]
Something funny happened this weekend.
On Friday Dave, Allen, and Terry* were relaxing on top of the knoll, spreading the good word on sustainability et al. Allen and a couple of students were discussing student activism on campus – he mentioned that, although student apathy is not a novel attitude among [...]
Microcredit Isn’t Right for Everyone
Mr. Wile E. Coyote
Rural Route 99
El Paso County, Texas
Dear Mr. Coyote,
Further to our telephone conversation of earlier this week, please be advised that you are no longer eligible for assistance under the West Texas Development Fund.
This was not an easy decision. As the state’s first and only [...]
Please make Banterist your one-stop source for potentially obscure, Harry Potter, Star Trek and Moonraker-related political humor.
(Re-printed with permission. See Brian Sack‘s original post at his website The Banterist. Also highly recommend, The Nigerian Email Experiment)
(This program is made possible in part by a grant from American World Corporation: “Meeting tomorrow’s energy needs, TODAY!”)
– – -
(On screen is a montage of public parks and backyard barbeques.)
Voice over: It’s a warm spring day. Gathered at the parks and picnic grounds across America, families are cooking meat [...]
No doubt, you are all aware of the bizarre dimensions of an anatomically correct Barbie Doll.
But what about the pundit of porkgrinds, the sultan of stupidity – Homer Jay Simpson?
Today marks both Big E’s birthday bonanza and Pi day (3.14, get it?), so a group of physicists have dubbed March 14 “Talk Like A Physicist Day“. I’ve decided to use “field” and “boson” in every one of conversations today. Luckily, keeping with science humor puns and my oceanography background, “boson” [...]
(Click on image to watch video)
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Pondering Scientific Humor, Again.
We know scientists are a quirky group – they love topical T-shirts, have an affinity for puns, and, as I discovered this morning, scientists love infusing scientific humor into everyday life:
Note the token blackboard with chemical equations and the Save-the-Earth poster in the background, both of which help groundtruth my proposition.