If you’re a mechanical engineer, you build weapons; if you’re a civil, you build targets; if you’re a chemical, you invent fuel… and if you’re an electrical, you sit in the corner and build systems.
As a Physicist, I feel offended, but as a teacher, I find that most of the scientists in the field do make little effort to get regular people understand what they are doing.
The third panel is particularly funny for me. My father-in-law was a nuclear engineer for the DOE in Oak Ridge for a good part of his life. Near the end of his career one of his jobs was to clean up and restore the old graphite reactor for public tours. This was the world’s first nuclear reactor and they actually have the log book for the date the reactor first went “Critical” ushering in the nuclear age.
Anyway, back on topic. He said one of the things the scientists used to do was slide the rods with the nuclear fuel into the reactor with different kinds of “Stuff” in the rod by the fuel. They did this to see how the various things reacted to the radiation.
See, Adam, you really are a scientist! Of course from the late 40’s and early 50’s, but a scientist regardless!
IF nothing else, this is a great example of true scientific experimenting and work – “Joe, what if we threw a chocolate bar with some marshmallows and graham crackers – which would melt first and could we eat it afterwards?” Somehow, I can’t see Iran or North Korea working that way…
Here in the “Hidden City” we have our own legend very similar to that. It is said that several “prospectors” who, liking very dry martinis, on July 16, 1945 placed a bottle of vermouth upon a gadget in the desert. Now to get the perfect dry martini all you have to do is hold your glass up and collect a few of those atoms. And this event is usually considered the beginning of the nuclear age. The first experimental reactor happened under the bleachers at the university of Chicago in 1942 by Fermi, called Chicago Pile 1. The one at Oak Ridge was called the X-10 Graphite reactor and began in 1943. This was modeled after the reactors in Hanford. History is awesome. Being married to a physicist can be, well, challenging. 🙂
my first thought for “most of physics is just making sure that physics still works” was something along the lines “NO, of COURSE NOT!, theres ALL SORTS… wait.. no.. ”
that is kinda what physicists do. every time they try to find some new quark about the universe with a new experiment, they are simultaneously testing that already discovered physics is still working…..
why does your humor make sence adam? that doenst make sence that your non-sence makes more sence then the people who are suppost to make sence of the world and make laws for us….
If it’s green or wiggles, it’s biology. If it stinks, it’s chemistry. If it doesn’t work, it’s physics (said the biologist).
If it doesn’t work, it’s computer science.
If it doesn’t work, it’s engineering.
Ha-ha!
If it “only works when you do it like this” it’s computer science. And that’s not a bug. It’s a feature!
Perfect.
If you’re a mechanical engineer, you build weapons; if you’re a civil, you build targets; if you’re a chemical, you invent fuel… and if you’re an electrical, you sit in the corner and build systems.
And one of the cats is always doing tabletop experiments with things to see if gravity still works. Every time so far, yes.
My cat continually forgets that gravity exists and falls off the tabletop.
Your plan has more holes than the cheese on that sandwich!
Ah yes, the next big discovery after the Higgs Boson: the Higgs Ham Sandwich!
Or a BLT: Boson, Lettuce, and Tomato.
As a Physicist, I feel offended, but as a teacher, I find that most of the scientists in the field do make little effort to get regular people understand what they are doing.
Adam usually offends SOMEONE with his strips, congratulations YOU are today’s winner…
As a physicist, I’m amused, not offended a slightest bit.
It’s pretty sad to feel offended by Bug making fun of his own cluelessness.
You need to look closer…closer…a bit closer…you have to look really close to see the element of…SURPRISE! *slap*
Nice, but I’m thinking you should’ve given the physicist bugs some Gordon Freeman outfits.
The third panel is particularly funny for me. My father-in-law was a nuclear engineer for the DOE in Oak Ridge for a good part of his life. Near the end of his career one of his jobs was to clean up and restore the old graphite reactor for public tours. This was the world’s first nuclear reactor and they actually have the log book for the date the reactor first went “Critical” ushering in the nuclear age.
Anyway, back on topic. He said one of the things the scientists used to do was slide the rods with the nuclear fuel into the reactor with different kinds of “Stuff” in the rod by the fuel. They did this to see how the various things reacted to the radiation.
See, Adam, you really are a scientist! Of course from the late 40’s and early 50’s, but a scientist regardless!
IF nothing else, this is a great example of true scientific experimenting and work – “Joe, what if we threw a chocolate bar with some marshmallows and graham crackers – which would melt first and could we eat it afterwards?” Somehow, I can’t see Iran or North Korea working that way…
Here in the “Hidden City” we have our own legend very similar to that. It is said that several “prospectors” who, liking very dry martinis, on July 16, 1945 placed a bottle of vermouth upon a gadget in the desert. Now to get the perfect dry martini all you have to do is hold your glass up and collect a few of those atoms. And this event is usually considered the beginning of the nuclear age. The first experimental reactor happened under the bleachers at the university of Chicago in 1942 by Fermi, called Chicago Pile 1. The one at Oak Ridge was called the X-10 Graphite reactor and began in 1943. This was modeled after the reactors in Hanford. History is awesome. Being married to a physicist can be, well, challenging. 🙂
You could become a quantum physicist and then you could just make up weird shit like they do (though you’d still have to deal with the spelling).
Become a quantum physicist and lie through your teeth in the most blatant way possible and say you’ve got a lot of math to back it up.
The numbers don’t lie!
xD
Be a theoretical physicist and work with time travel! :3
I’m going to assume the misspelling of the second “Physicist” in the first panel is intentional, which makes it cute 🙂
You’d be right to assume that
my first thought for “most of physics is just making sure that physics still works” was something along the lines “NO, of COURSE NOT!, theres ALL SORTS… wait.. no.. ”
that is kinda what physicists do. every time they try to find some new quark about the universe with a new experiment, they are simultaneously testing that already discovered physics is still working…..
why does your humor make sence adam? that doenst make sence that your non-sence makes more sence then the people who are suppost to make sence of the world and make laws for us….
ok, that was to many “sences”