News:

NOTICE: Posting schedule is irregular. I hope to get back to a regular schedule as the day-job allows.


Monday, August 15, 2011

Monday FUnnies (on *Monday*! this time)

http://teddysratlab.blogspot.com [Full link to blog for email clients.][FT:C44]

Today's Monday Funnies focuses on the humor of Eric Schulman.  The good doctor has written a number of humorous works that focus on the less than serious side of science. 

For example - from: "How to write a scientific paper": 

The real purpose of introductions, of course, is to cite your own work (e.g., Schulman et al. 1993a), the work of your advisor (e.g., Bregman, Schulman, & Tomisaka 1995), the work of your spouse (e.g., Cox, Schulman, & Bregman 1993), the work of a friend from college (e.g., Taylor, Morris, & Schulman 1993), or even the work of someone you've never met, as long as your name happens to be on the paper (e.g., Richmond et al. 1994).
 and
You've written the paper, and now it's time to submit it to a scientific journal. The journal editor will pick the referee most likely to be offended by your paper, because then at least the referee will read it and get a report back within the lifetime of the editor. Referees who don't care one way or the other about a paper have a tendency to leave manuscripts under a growing pile of paper until the floor collapses, killing the 27 English graduate students who share the office below (Schulman, Cox, & Williams 1993).
Trust me - he's right on target!  The full text can be found here:  http://members.verizon.net/~vze3fs8i/air/airpaper.html - Note this was an actual paper published in the Annals of Improbable Research. [Formerly known as the Journal of Irreproducable Results until a bunch of lawyers got involved in science - a situation that should *never* be allowed!]

I highly recommend the "History of the Universe in 200 words" - especially once you see the result of running it through the automatic translation software:  http://members.verizon.net/~vze3fs8i/air/histtrans.html

or "Gunga Dean":

...

Now in administration,
Where I had great frustration,
A-servin' to the needs of faculty...
Of all the suited crew,
The worst one that I knew
Was our Arts and Science leader, Gunga Dean.
...   http://members.verizon.net/~vze3fs8i/air/gunga.html

The complete collection of Eric Schulman's science humor essays can be found at http://members.verizon.net/~vze3fs8i/air/index.html.

Enjoy, and exercise your brain - and funny bone!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please add comment - no links, spammers will be banned.