I’m definitely getting this T-shirt.

From Objective Ministries, via Cynical-C. (Be sure not to miss Project Pterosaur.)

Rumbling in the mix with Staff Seargent Max Fightmaster and Commander Flex Plexico in Cracked’s list of the 9 Manliest Names is…wait for it…drumroll please…

Max Planck.

Yes, this Max Planck. Our Max Planck. The guy with the constant named after him. Quoth Cracked:

He’ll hit you right in the goddamn face with a length of wood in a way that makes your quantums explode.

How the article missed astronomer Blair Savage, I don’t know.

(h/t Andrew Sullivan)

From the Onion:

According to the scientists, the electromagnetic science-maker will make atoms move and spin around very quickly, though spectators at the hearing said afterward they could not account for how one could get some atoms to move around faster than other ones if everything is made of atoms anyway. In addition, the scientists said that the device would be several miles in circumference, which puzzled onlookers who had long assumed that atoms were tiny. Despite these apparent inconsistencies, the scientists, in Rep. Gordon’s words, appeared “very smart-sounding” and confident that their big spinner would solve some kind of problem they described.

Nicely captures the “blah blah blah Ginger” aspect of communicating science to the general public.

(hat tip to Pure Pedantry)

I referred to this scene from Annie Hall in my talk yesterday. A classic.

“Something he read.” That’s always the problem, isn’t it?

(Note that everyone seems to be buying into some sort of Big Rip cosmology. It makes for a more vivid eschatology.)

T-Rex of Dinosaur Comics realizes that his personal kink involves reversing the arrow of time. And further contemplation just makes things worse.

The construction of jokes involving Boltzmann’s Brains and onanism is a temptation better left resisted.

Below the fold: hott entropy action! Not safe for work, perverts!

Continue reading ‘Exponentially Unlikely Fetishes’

It seems that a family in Illinois is picking up the black-and-white video feed from the space shuttle Atlantis. On their baby monitor.

The best part of the whole affair (besides the glorious randomness of it all) is the fact that the family really likes it!

“I’ve been addicted to it and keep waiting to see what’s next,” Meilinger said.

Finally a “God Hypothesis” that fits all the data! Mr. Deity is a completely consistent conception of the divine, free of the usual theological paradoxes.

Also, the consensus of YouTube commenters seems to be that Jesus is pretty hot.

This video has been making the rounds and makes me burst out laughing everytime I see it. I think we have all been there! From from the Norwegian TV show Øystein og jeg.

I agree with Cynical-C, this has to be one of the best creationist quotes ever. (From Fundies say the darndest things.)

One of the most basic laws in the universe is the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This states that as time goes by, entropy in an environment will increase. Evolution argues differently against a law that is accepted EVERYWHERE BY EVERYONE. Evolution says that we started out simple, and over time became more complex. That just isn’t possible: UNLESS there is a giant outside source of energy supplying the Earth with huge amounts of energy. If there were such a source, scientists would certainly know about it.

I guess they haven’t heard that scientists recently detected just such a source of energy, using our sophisticated neutrino telescopes.

Now if only we could figure out how to use this mysterious cosmic fusion reactor to generate a flow of entropy here on Earth. Someday, I’m sure, we’ll get there.

From Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.

We go to war with the laws of physics we have, not the ones we wish we had.