Yes, it is an advertisement, but it is such a good one*. Apparently, “There is no candy more magnificent or more powerful.”
12600 calories, apparently. Have a look:
Continue reading ‘Grin and Bear it!’
Archive for the 'humour' Category
I just thought you’d like to know this. I’m a Specialty Act. Got that?
Last month, just before taping some material for a new TV show (that you can see on a major broadcast network starting in a week or so) I signed some routine documents. One of them involved me ticking a box to specify my official status for Continue reading ‘Tales from the Industry XXX - Specialty Act’
Ah yes. I’ll admit it: Except for the moustache and a few other details, the scene is eerily familiar… 
(The embed for the video is below.)
Does anyone know who originally started this brilliant series? For those who don’t know it is a 4 minute clip from the 2004 film Der Undergang that several people have periodically re-subtitled with words that have Hitler reacting to an event of some sort. (Warning: Many of them are full of language some might find a bit strong, so watch out!!)
Here it is*:
Continue reading ‘Peer Review Reactions’
This is simply brilliant! The Matrix, but done in the style of a work from the silent film era*. Apparently it is a Russian actor’s group called “Big Difference” (Bolshaya Raznitsa). Laughing out loud will ensue for sure, not just in the “LOL” way.
Link/embed below. Enjoy:
Continue reading ‘Saving the Reality’
Have you heard about the rematch between Kasparov and Karpov, in commemoration of the classic matches of the 1980s? (I was always a Kasparov fan, myself). What is different about this time is that they are playing speed chess. (Collective sharp intake of breath… distant tinkling sound of dropped gins-and-tonic all over the web…) There’s a nice story by Giles Tremlett in the Guardian with some background on the earlier matches, their rivalry, and some discussion of the 80s era for those of you who suspect that period was only in black and white. There are some nice pictures (old and new) here. I cheekily borrowed the one above right (credited Kai Foersterling/EPA) for this post.
Look, the K vs K speed chess thing was bound to happen, given our increasingly limited collective attention span. Everybody is apparently too busy to take time to focus on anything for much of a length of time, so adjustments are happening to…
Continue reading ‘Speed Demons’
It is Friday, so time for a film release. So, get your popcorn, your ice-cold drink, and find your comfy chair! It has been a long time coming (see related posts listed below), but finally the first of the series of films I’ve been talking about is ready for you!
But before I run the projector, let me say a few words. As I said before, this short film is (I hope) fun, engaging, and informative. I hope lots of people take the time to watch it at least a couple of times. A basic scientific knowledge of the world is for everyone. Science is part of our culture and should be more widely circulated. Films such as this is one of the ways the National Science Foundation, who provided the support to make it, is helping to bring science to everyone. For this (and the other ones in the series) to be a success, your help is needed. It needs to be seen. Tell your family and friends, colleagues and students, local teachers, etc., about it. Forward it on to people you know. Blog it, tweet it, facebook share it, etc. Crucially, remember that it is designed to be not just for people who already know they have an interest in science, but others too, so make no assumptions about who might like it… just please send it. Thanks.
Ok, let’s dim the lights! Run the Projector! (Tip: It is a high video quality, so pause it and let it buffer Continue reading ‘Shine a Light’
My films are finished! There’ll be more on them here later (including their online premiere), so check back. I might even try to find time to cut a trailer for the first one soon.
Being somewhat insane, I’ve decided on the (sort of) spur of the moment to have a (tongue in cheek) red carpet premiere of the films this weekend. I’ve a confirmed list of 20 hungry guests coming (mostly friends who are filmmakers, writers, actors, journalists, educators and other related professions), and I’ve promised to prepare them lots of food and drink. (Well, the films are very short.) It is already late in the day and I’ve been procrastinating instead of starting my prep. As usual.
Anyway, I’ve decided to plan a few long-prep centerpieces, and will improvise all the other dishes based on whim, the Farmer’s market offerings later, and how many of Continue reading ‘Of Red Carpets, and Cooking’
Hmm… so this PhD Comics episode* (image left… click will take you to their site) is a really good idea, but I’m underwhelmed by the actual execution.
This might be because it is hard to do, and not because the person (people?) at PhD comics, whoever they are, aren’t smart and funny people, since there’s a lot of evidence that they are.
So I find myself thinking that this is an opportunity for some fun reader participation! Surely there are more science-tweets to be thought up? Perhaps even Continue reading ‘Your Science Tweets Here’
Ok, I’ve no idea how many will get the joke, but that’s ok. (Click for larger view.)
This is something I was shown in the reception room of the Burbank recycling center on Friday.
I had a good look around and learned a few things, while filming an analogy for a Continue reading ‘I’ve Found the Entwives!’
I know what you’re thinking, based on the title, but I’m not talking about me and my colleagues. (Stage cymbal crash.) I mean funny-ha-ha not funny-peculiar.
Saturday morning. I’m drinking a double espresso at Victoria’s (the newest of the cafes) and putting my aging ipod to the test after having opened it up and tinkered around inside to diagnose some strange behaviour. I notice out of the extreme corner of my eye that the guy who was sitting at a nearby table, now on his way out, changed his mind and is looking at me and now approaching and saying something. I Continue reading ‘Hanging with the Funny People’
There were a couple of string theory stories in New Scientist last week. I forgot to mention them earlier. One is entitled “What string theory is really good for”, by Jessica Griggs. The other is entitled “Why cats fail to grasp string theory”, by Ewen Callaway.
Well, since cats are involved, of course I’m going to start with an extract from the second (even though it is obvious that the cats are deliberately skewing the results):
[...] Osthaus’s team attached fish or biscuit treats to one end of a string. A plastic screen with a small gap at the bottom separated cats from their reward, requiring the felines to tug on the string to get the treat.
With a single string attached to the food, most cats learned to paw at the string to get a snack. But when Osthaus’ team introduced a second piece of string, [...]
Well, that was to pique your interest. You’ll have to go off to the source article to get to grips of this second piece of stringy research. The first article? It’s a discussion of Continue reading ‘Uses For Strings?’
Do you know what I’m thinking? I’m thinking “How come I never noticed this before after so many years?!”. Perhaps it wasn’t here before (upstairs from the Butcher’s Block, in Aspen, CO). I don’t know, but it makes for an amusing picture to me (click for larger view):
-cvj
This* is an excellent summary! Resonates with me a lot. Go to PHD Comics to get a close up to read the full thing!
-cvj
(*Thanks, Z!)
The (spoof) phone-in “Down The Line” on Radio 4 last week was brilliant! It featured a guest talking about science, with a particular focus on his dislike of string theory, and with the callers (the usual brilliant cross section of UK phone-in archetypes) taking the discussion all over the place: Doctor Who, soccer, “female scientists”, gay daleks, and so on and so forth.
My favourite question: “Why do they have to keep mucking about with the Continue reading ‘Down The Line on Strings’
Remember a couple of weeks ago I was mentioning an outbreak of schoolboy(-like) giggles from my physics 408b class due (it turns out, if you did the homework on the equation) to some audience-perceived off-colour hidden joke in some of the material I was presenting? (I’m still a bit embarrassed since I had no intention of making the joke they saw.) Well, just a couple of days later, I was witness to it again, but this time it was in a lecture by someone else, and the audience was mostly professors, and it was one of my esteemed colleagues who couldn’t help himself and broke out giggling. Well, actually, there was a short loud guffaw which burst out. So you see, even the fine upstanding citizens can submit to juvenile giggles.
Let me tell the story. We had the eminent evolutionary biologist Patricia Gowaty (UCLA) give an excellent talk entitled “Darwin and Gender”, as part of the College Continue reading ‘Professors Do It Too’
Of all of the videos I’ve seen of people visiting the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), this one is the funniest by very far… yes… it’s John Oliver again:
Embed died, so link here.
The probability discussion is just priceless…
Continue reading ‘John Oliver at the LHC’
…to deal with vital questions like this*:
-cvj
*Thanks Moh!
Marina Hyde at the Guardian wrote a hilarious article on the rise of celebrity spokespeople on matters of science and health, focusing on the claims of Madonna, Stella McCartney and Gwyneth Paltrow, concerning subjects such the healing powers of “energy injected” Kabbalah water, nuclear waste, “chemical-free” food and “biological foods (whatever those terms mean), among other things.
I recommend having a read of it, (here*) as it is an amusing distraction. I’m a bit puzzled, however as to why she does not mention the efforts of their esteemed Continue reading ‘The University of Celebrity’
Following on from the previous one, I could not resist sharing this one. It is a facebook style Haggadah. Rather brilliantly done, I must say. A snapshot:
Continue reading ‘A Facebook Haggadah’
Tim Burton’s film Sweeney Todd is utterly brilliant. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen it since its release in 2007, but it hasn’t grown old for me at all. The Sondheim songs are so well done, for a start, and Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter are especially wonderful as the leads (along with the excellent Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall, of course). I caught a bit of them again on HBO the other night and delighted all over again at darkly hued songs such as “A Little Priest”. How many other songs about eating people are quite so excellent? (Lyrics here if you can’t catch them all.)
Enjoy:
Continue reading ‘A Little Priest’
I hope Passover was good for those of you who observe it. I was honoured to be invited to a Seder last night and thoroughly enjoyed it, actually. Lots of telling, reading, telling, and more telling. And food. Plenty of food. And wine. Plenty of Wine. Then, lots of conversation into the night. More food, more wine. Excellent. (Image: Passover Seder plate from thedailygreen.)
Today, I was sent* a link to a Graduate Student Haggadah. It will no doubt resonate with many of you from either tradition. Among my favourite bits:
Continue reading ‘Haggadah’
This is just great. I don’t know what it is good for, except amusement and nostalgia, but that’s a good portion of the balance sheet of the good things in life, so that’s good enough for me. It is a periodic table of elements that you can click on to find a selection of early comic book references to it. It is by some of my old neighbours - members of the Chemistry department at the University of Kentucky (F. James Holler and John P. Selegue) - and I’ve no idea how old this project is (1996, perhaps?), but it’s new to me. Click on the table to go to their site:
Continue reading ‘Periodically Fun!’
Last week, John Stewart and John Oliver were hilarious about the Bush administration’s War on Science, and the Obama administration’s continuing efforts to undo some of the damage done. The rest of the content aside, John Oliver’s terrible Bush impression is worth seeing.
Enjoy:
Continue reading ‘Two Johns on the War’
This post would be better suited to three weeks from now, but the subject item is so very good, so here goes…
Astronomers Declare February No Longer a Month
Emboldened by their success in declaring Pluto not a planet, the International Astronomical Union determined this week by a close vote that February is too short to be considered a true month. It has, however, been granted the newly created status of “dwarf month.” It shares this dubious distinction with several other calendar time spans, including Labor Day Weekend, Christmas Vacation, and the Time Between When You Were Supposed to Get Your Oil Changed and When You Actually Did.
“It only seems fair,” said IAU President Ron Eckers. “February reaches a peak Continue reading ‘February for the Chop?’
No, it’s not my solution to things (you know, when patient, tiring, endless, circular discussion and explaining that it is work in progress does nothing to stop the whining of those who’ve made up their mind in advance…) but it certainly makes me laugh out loud! Enjoy:
(Click to go to larger version.)
Taken from Abstruse Goose, which is hilarious!* This follows on nicely from Continue reading ‘Another Approach?’
I’m sure there have been times when you received that message from the National Science Foundation saying that your grant application has been turned down, and in disappointment you’ve muttered something like “…bunch of W*nkers!” before taking a deep breath and moving on.
Right?
Well, now it seems it is official! See this story on MSNBC*, which starts:
Continue reading ‘NSF and NSFW’
Yes, that’s right. You read Merry and not Happy.
I’m breaking the mould. I’m upping the stakes. I’m wishing one and all a year of merriment. I’m afraid it can’t be returned, so you’ll have to work with it as best you can. I’m certainly going to.
To achieve the mean of Happiness that the millions of Happy New Year wishes every year are evidently striving for, we need to be aiming for some Merriness from time to time to keep us on track at settling at this particular position on the multidimensional emotional landscape.
Someone has to take this important business in hand, and so I’m having a go, Continue reading ‘Merry New Year!’
Gosh, look what I found on YouTube, quite by accident. It is video of the first Uncertainty event I did with science writer KC Cole way back in 2006, and was one of the first Visions and Voices events at USC.
It has as features (about 20 minutes each) Jonathan Kirsch on Monotheism (and how it actually isn’t, really), some opening thoughts by moderator KC Cole, her interview Continue reading ‘Remembering Uncertainty’
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant were on Daily Mayo for half an hour yesterday. It was a good bit of fun unscripted chatter that’s worth a listen. They were really there to plug the new boxed set of the TV show Extras (which if you have not seen you should put high on your list of viewing priorities - it is quite brilliant), but of course they were also there to mess around a bit.
They asked for a higher standard of question to be emailed in by the viewers, and so I wondered whether anyone would send in some science ones - maybe some physics ones. Sure enough there were. Continue reading ‘Gervais and Merchant on Mayo’
Last night, Stephen Colbert suggested that the Large Hadron Collider is responsible for Obama’s victory on Tuesday! When it switched on back in September, it kicked us into an alternative universe in which everything was the same except that McCain’s position in the polls had been eroded, and, well, you know the rest.
(Apparently it also explains the World Series result, but as I know nothing about baseball, I cannot tell if that is really supposed to be an anomaly or not.) Clip here, and item in question is about 2 minutes in.
Hey team, run and cover… he’s on to us!
-cvj
When I saw this back in August, I laughed in delight. I think it is a rather clever idea, well executed. (It’s by Farley Katz, and was in the New Yorker, Aug 11th ‘08. (Link is to cartoon bank where you can get it.))
Actually, it reminded me of the delicious fractal I photographed for you and that we discussed here not long ago. That one was real, this one imagined, but nevertheless rather good.
-cvj
Click on the image to go over to a site* that examines the nature of a Palin Presidency. You’ll laugh and shudder at the same time. Once there (not here) be sure to drag your mouse all over the image, clicking when you can, and revisit some of them (like the door) since more than one thing can be found in some parts. Enjoy! (Notice what’s in the trash can…)
(Don’t forget, she’s such a great debater…)
-cvj
(*Thanks Samantha!)
Aha… now text messaging while driving is going to be illegal in California. (See e.g., here.) Very good. (Wait, not even at traffic light stops…? How are you supposed to constantly update people on how late you are?) I have not seen much in the way of enforcement for the mobile phone law from earlier in the year, have you? I wonder how much change has come about… other than more and more people wandering around on foot with shiny blinking earpieces looking like extras from a bad SF TV show… Concerned cyclists would like to know…
Well, here’s a little fun video to remind you of many of the fun things for you to do (that are not banned explicitly) now that you’ve got all that free time for your hands (sorry about annoying commercial at beginning):
Continue reading ‘Stuff to do with your hands while driving’
Yes, that’s indeed why it is called Sunset Boulevard. Beautiful, isn’t it? And I wonder whether this is why the Vista Theatre is called the Vista. I saw this lovely warm evening light as I came around the corner on Tuesday, on my way to meet a friend to see a movie I’ve been waiting for for some time now - Burn After Reading. It’s a Coen Brothers movie, and for me, it is an event when one of theirs comes out.
As has been the case a number of times in the past, when people hear I am interested in seeing a Coen film, they tell me things like “oh, the reviews weren’t good”, or “it hasn’t been doing so well”, or “the reviews are mixed”. My response is to thank them but politely ignore them. Especially for films I’ve made up my mind to see, I ignore all reviews.
In fact, as a rule, I read film reviews only after seeing the film, and then mostly Continue reading ‘Laugh While Seeing’
Thursday is my first day I can take a breath this week. The last few have been crazy and so I’ve not found time to edit that bubble video I promised, but it is coming. I hope I can get to it tomorrow.
Today is still full of stuff here and there, including a referee report, another report, some administrative things for my class, and then another attempt to think through a thorny puzzle on a research project. The class admin should have been done last night since Thursday and Friday are supposed to be free of undergraduate teaching issues, according to my agreement with myself. However, we had a seminar visitor - Rene Meyer - and so after my class ended at 7:00pm, instead of doing the administration I went to get a bus to downtown to meet with him and my student Arnab for dinner, at the excellent Blossom, one of my favourites down there. There was a bit of walking around to show them some of downtown’s lovely hidden treasures in the form of so many elegant buildings that are ignored by most. (Yes, people, there are restaurants and cafes and things open downtown at night. And of course bars. Go see.)
Now on to the other thing:
As a result of a phone call that came through while I was hosting Rene yesterday, it Continue reading ‘Tales From The Industry XXIII - Big Bang Theory’
Aha! Regular commenter Yvette Cendes (over at The Chocolate Fish) has thrown down the gauntlet! She thinks that we can come up with more, and better, poetry about the LHC. The successful LHC song of Kate McAlpine (deserving of thunderous applause for raising awareness) should clearly be considered just the beginning. So she starts off the challenge to you all with some work of her own, which I shamelessly reproduce below. (Go over to her blog to submit your new writing - or do it both here and there. Up to you.) (My money’s on our regular commenter Elliot producing a marvellous LHC haiku or something like that.)
Yvette calls it an LHC Poetry Slam. Hmmm. I submit that it should be an LHC Poetry Event, or LHC Poetry Collision, or…. anyway, here’s her poem, and wow - true to form, it is good!
Continue reading ‘Yvette on LHC Poetry’
On campus yesterday, I ran into a colleague I had not seen in a long time. She was with her daughter. She introduced us, saying, among other things, that Professor Johnson is “Big in Cosmology”.
I’ll admit that I giggled like a naughty schoolgirl for a longish, unprofessorial moment. It was sort of hard to explain, and would have derailed the conversation, so I did not try. Why was I giggling? Well, it is just that the field of cosmology (which, for the record, Continue reading ‘Big?’
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