tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260161238059581294.post756292685730250078..comments2021-06-05T01:33:22.805+01:00Comments on Advancing gingerly: Funny Science (part one)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260161238059581294.post-85301171426535511212008-08-11T20:46:00.000+01:002008-08-11T20:46:00.000+01:00Darn the BBC! Unfortunately Lab Rats hasn't been p...Darn the BBC! Unfortunately Lab Rats hasn't been popular enough for anyone else to bother putting clips up, which is a shame, as there were some rather good bits in the most recent episode.<BR/><BR/>Feynman's great. Reading that book was the only point in my life that I've wanted to be a physicist! There's something wonderful about polymaths, even if they do make the rest of us look quite dull.<BR/><BR/>I'll let you into a secret... most scientists don't wear lab coats at lot of the time. I wore one on a handful of occasions when I was doing my PhD. I've even seen senior scientists who never set foot in the lab any more taking fresh new ones out the wrapper and donning them for photo shoots. Any genuinely worn lab coat tends to look too grubby for promotional shots!Gingerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08330196582825230156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4260161238059581294.post-1607780932081788562008-08-10T10:01:00.000+01:002008-08-10T10:01:00.000+01:00The BBC video isn't available to me for copyright ...The BBC video isn't available to me for copyright reasons. The BBC hates any reminder that the UK once gave half the globe cricket and the rule of law. <BR/><BR/>The geek interpersonal dynamics were quite funny. The sweet spot in our living room is also claimed by the family geek.<BR/><BR/>The educational film was painfully realistic, so much so that I wonder how long it would take a roomful of thirteen-year-old to switch on and start laughing. But I think you are right - most people (including me) aren't quick enough mathematically to realize when an equation is funny hokum. Our eyes glaze automatically. <BR/><BR/>Didn't Stephen Hawking's publisher have a formula to calculate how many sales would be lost with each additional equation in "Brief History of Time"? (I got to the first equation and then skipped to the end to find out whodunnit.)<BR/><BR/>The funniest nexus of science and humour is Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman's "Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman" and its sequels. If you haven't read them, please do, immediately, even if it means you stop blogging in the meantime. It must be glorious to be a physicist.<BR/><BR/>Lab coats? Why don't you just cut the sleeves off and turn up the hem with a stapler or packing tape? Nobody ever washes the things. Do they? Or, you could find a nice boy who's doing Textiles and Nutrition, and ask him to turn them up with his sewing machine ;-)<BR/><BR/>Cheers<BR/>OtepotiAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com