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Bad Astronomy
« The angels have my phone award
Emily live! »

Hello? Are you a skeptic?

What the heck is a skeptic ring tone?

I don’t know, but someone advertising on MySpace does. I went to check my page, and saw this:

What would this sound like? Randi harumphing? The Skeptologists theme song?

Ironically, I’m skeptical of the ad. But still… it would be useful for spam phone calls.

Share

May 13th, 2008 3:20 PM by Phil Plait in About this blog, Humor, Skepticism | 27 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

27 Responses to “Hello? Are you a skeptic?”

  1. 1.   GodlessHeathen Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 3:23 pm

    It’s a pleasant female voice saying “You might be getting a phone call, but if I were you I’d look for better evidence!”

  2. 2.   RinzeWind Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 3:28 pm

    I can’t believe it’s ringing!

  3. 3.   Kevin Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 3:39 pm

    It would just be a voice that says “yeah, right.”

  4. 4.   Christopher Ambler Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 4:00 pm

    It’s actually generated dynamically based on the keyword(s) from the web site requesting the ad.

    But I suspect you knew that ;)

  5. 5.   Thomas Siefert Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 4:05 pm

    I doubt that it will be any good…

  6. 6.   Andrew Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 4:11 pm

    I’d pay good money for Randi harumphing.

  7. 7.   davidlpf Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 4:15 pm

    I wondering what the expelled ring tone would sound like, “sorry sir you have leave but your friends can stay”.

  8. 8.   HP Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 4:16 pm

    You know, if you’d just plastered the name of your favorite band all over your MySpace page like a normal MySpace user, that ad would’ve made perfect sense.

  9. 9.   Ken_g6 Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 4:35 pm

    http://www.myspace.com/skeptic is a punk rock band. Maybe that’s what it’s referring to?

  10. 10.   jenni Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 4:45 pm

    they just pick things listed in your profile. i list charles dickens as one of my favorite authors, and they freqently advertise charles dickens t-shirts, ring tones, quizzes, etc…none of which actually exist. oh well. sure would love to hear a charles dickens ringtone.

  11. 11.   a.real.girl Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 4:57 pm

    I’d love a skeptic ring tone. Maybe a George Hrab song? Maybe Greydon Square?

    If you call, my phone plays Weird Science. FTW.

    If any of the Skepchicks call, it’s She Blinded Me with Science. Also, FTW.

  12. 12.   billsmithaz Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 5:10 pm

    Extraordinary calls require extraordinary ring tones.

  13. 13.   The Bad Astronomer Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 5:15 pm

    billsmithaz wins this commenting thread.

  14. 14.   Cameron Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 5:15 pm

    I’m just laughing at the other tabs you have open…

  15. 15.   Steve Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 5:21 pm

    It’s a new song called “New Skeptic” by the Fold…You can hear it here:
    http://www.flycell.com/real-tones/top-real-tones/the-fold/629489

  16. 16.   markii Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 5:32 pm

    my ringtone is the mr. deity theme song (downloadable on their website).

    yes, i am that cool.

  17. 17.   Jewel Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 6:01 pm

    I have a silent ringer for the spam phone calls. I much prefer to not actually hear the phone ring.

  18. 18.   Ken B. Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 6:02 pm

    Nothing new here. I often get “bad astronomy ringtones” banners on this website. I even captured an “amateur astronomy ringtone” ad once.

  19. 19.   ms Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 7:13 pm

    it’s a recording of claus saying ‘evidence?’

  20. 20.   alfaniner Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 8:52 pm

    I have The Jetsons’ door chime as my email notification (at home). Always wanted to have that as a ringtone but I rarely use a cell phone.

  21. 21.   Nemo Says:
    May 14th, 2008 at 12:57 am

    I once got an ad inviting me to shop for “Discount Climate Change”. I swear I am not making this up.

  22. 22.   Gareth Says:
    May 14th, 2008 at 1:35 am

    “Can you tell psychically who is calling?

    No, thought not…”

  23. 23.   Spiv Says:
    May 14th, 2008 at 6:57 am

    I was actually hoping for “The sun is a mass of incandescent gas.” Heck I may change my ringtone to that for the day.

  24. 24.   MartinM Says:
    May 14th, 2008 at 7:09 am

    I’d pay good money for Randi harumphing.

    I think that may be illegal in some states.

  25. 25.   Dorfl2 Says:
    May 14th, 2008 at 7:32 am

    Folks,

    I am not a great techy when it comes to phones, but why should we not get a few of our famous skeptics to record something & sell it online* as donation for, say, Randi’s organization? we could have

    - Randi harumphing
    - Randi saying “it’s a call, you kow”
    - Rebecca claiming that she needs a drink, or that it could be a party invitation
    - Phil claiming that it is not aliens, or (if it’s a spam call) that it’s a moan hoaxer calling
    - the guys from SGU having some fun snipets from the podcast
    etc..

    *However that is done

  26. 26.   FREQFORCE Says:
    May 14th, 2008 at 9:07 am

    The theme from “Cosmos?”

  27. 27.   Dizzy Says:
    May 14th, 2008 at 11:59 am

    A voice saying: “World’s Greatest Psychic….tarot cards, palms read, future lives….think about it…I’ll call you….”

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