this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2024
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xkcd

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The secret fourth kind is 'we applied a standard theory to their map of every tree and got some suspicious results.'

https://explainxkcd.com/2977/

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[–] [email protected] 56 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

What about 'we applied a standard theory to standard circumstances and somehow the results aren't right and it's probably our fault'

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Business as usual, just another day at the lab. People using actual real world samples instead of the expensive standards to produce a very messy calibration squiggle. Also, the machine probably requires some maintenance from time to time.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Should just assume a perfectly spherical cow in a vacuum for simplicity's sake 🤷

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Oddly enough, the lack of air pressure in a vacuum would have the effect of trying to turn a regular cow into a sphere.

(Do not do this. Not even if the cow is already dead. Thanks.)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

Do not do this.

Dammit, there goes my weekend! Oh well, guess I can still just eat that dead cow that's been taking up space in the lab 🤷

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (2 children)

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” but “That’s funny …”

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

My favorite is the one on fire

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

Not to be confused with "is it supposed to be making a noise", which is usually pretty bad