Crap. What chance do I have when even xkcd joins sides with PZ?
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Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He has written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic, and fights misuses of science as well as praising the wonder of real science.
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Death from the Skies!
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December 22nd, 2008 at 9:05 am
Welcome your cephalopod overlords with open arms, and hope they eat you last? Not much of a chance, but perhaps it might give you a chance to invent an evil moon ray that will destroy all of the cephalopods! :p
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:08 am
What can one do against such cuttlefish?
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:20 am
If I were you, I would begin pointing out how much of astronomy falls into the realm of physics rather than chemistry, since that seems to be the war they are brewing. Either that or call their bluff and use it as an opportunity to mock them.
Minnesota Nice Myers isn’t teaming up with a cartoonist from Massachusetts any time soon.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:24 am
Remind what astronomers can do with Death from the Skies! …
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:35 am
Psh, us CS and engineering majors are nearly done with our robot revolution. Join us now…
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:46 am
Meh. Just trick them into climbing into the G.A.S. Problem solved.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:48 am
Poor Phil. Biologists gets all the love.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:57 am
I think our only hope is to form an alliance with the chemists now, before the flying cuttlefish destroy us separately.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:59 am
Astronomy is the study of the universe.
Biology is the study of life, which is contained in the universe.
Therefore Biology is a part of Astronomy, so we are safe.
The silly Physicists and Chemists are doomed though.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:01 am
well heck. now i have to upgrade my zombie plan to include zombie cephalapods.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:17 am
No, NO!!! I only have a B.S. in Physics! That doesn’t count! That doesn’t make me a Physicist! I dropped out of grad school!!! And I love cuttlefish! SPARE ME!!!
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:25 am
Fear not, as I bring you the ultimate deterrent against cuttlefish menace!
The Italian Chef
Risotto al Nero di Seppia…mmmm… tasty!
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:34 am
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:39 am
On the other hand… perhaps xkcd should be reminded of this:
http://xkcd.com/435/
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:40 am
Yoo Says:
‘Remind what astronomers can do with Death from the Skies! …’
Watch natural events happen without any ability to effect them? Scary
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:42 am
Us music majors watch from the sidelines, bemused.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:45 am
Wikipedia was proof enough for me. Cuttlefish are not some strange creature on our planet. They are ALIENS, and they want to take over our world!
Their muscles contain a toxic compound that we can’t even identify yet. Their skin can even alter the light’s polarization to communicate with others of their kind. These things have three hearts and green blood. GREEN BLOOD! If that isn’t alien, I don’t know what is.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:45 am
Personally, I welcome our new cephalopod overlords.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:46 am
Actually, taking out the chemists may be a good idea.
Materials scientists can do the work of chemists anyway.
/snark
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:49 am
didn’t that future evolution show on Discovery Channel end with tree-dwelling cephalopods evolving into the next sentient species on Earth? It has begun!
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:53 am
The comic really points out how short-sighted biologists are. I mean, without physicists, the biologists wouldn’t have any nifty tools to examine their critters: no microscopes, no deep sea cameras/robots, etc. And, without chemists, they would get sick an die, for they would not have the knowledge to properly compound medicines to comfort them in their illness, nor would they have the knowledge to devise new materials to succor them in the wilderness or to bind their limbs when they snap like little twigs.
@J.D. Mack
Us theatre majors will portray the horrible events and stir the population to rise up and stop the tyranny of biologists and their cuttlefish. The techies shall utilize that which is possible thanks to physicists and chemists to build the stage and light the actors (who are not too far removed from lemmings). After the performance, we shall party beneath the stars, so eloquently described and photographed by astronomers, until morning and sleep until 3 the next afternoon, when we shall repeat the whole cycle again.
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:09 am
Well, as a CS major with a love of both biology and astronomy, I guess it’s up to me to unite us all under the banner of my Space faring Robot Cephalopods. I’ve taken nature’s most perfect killing machine… and needlessly turned it into a robot… in SPACE!
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:20 am
HumanisticJones: other civilisations’ top science bloggers will include your creations in their versions of Death from The Skies. Cool, isn’t it?
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:38 am
@HumanisticJones: don’t Space faring Robot Cephalopods need a master of some sort? Oh, that would be you. In SPACE!
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:43 am
biology is just chemistry
chemistry is just physics
physics is just maths
maths is just philosophy
philosophy is just psychology
psychology is just biology…
Just be thankful astronomy is not part of this tangled hierarchy
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:47 am
Argh, it’s true! The robot revolution will never become due to constant issues with upgrades and users using them in unintended ways!
That, and they are probably written in Perl, so it is a nightmare to debug.
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:56 am
Who would win? A cuttlefish or a velocirepator?
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:02 pm
“The robot revolution will never become due to constant issues with upgrades and users using them in unintended ways!
That, and they are probably written in Perl, so it is a nightmare to debug.”
At least you will be able to look at the source code.
You could have buggy and slow operating system code that constantly requires security patching, all hidden brhind opaque source code.
Then you would have a Vista Robot.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:36 pm
The cuttlefish are just one of our programs,
We have mutant bats to rid the world of balding astronomers
(Their echolocation works best on a smooth surface)
The real death from the skies.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Cuttlefish a threat?
Wusses!
A skillet, some olive oil, garlic, and breadcrumbs–thats all you need to take care of cuttlefish. Or squid, or octopus.
If all of them come at you. Then throw in some rice, saffron and onions: The Paella defense–works every time!
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:50 pm
I never much liked XKCD anyways!
*Pouts*
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:02 pm
No, seriously, where DO geologists fit in?
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:34 pm
@Naomi
Between a rock and a hard place?
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:47 pm
For a really hilarious take on cephalopods, check out the article about the Giant Squid,
http://www.slate.com/id/2127109/
in which the author compares The Giant Squid to Tom Cruise:
“And, just like the diminutive actor, Architeuthis dux spends long periods lurking out of sight, surely up to no good, before bursting forth, tentacles flailing, and exercising its alternate belief system. In Mr. Cruise’s case, the alternate belief system is Scientology. In the giant squid’s case, the alternate belief system is a desire to wrap you in its horrible tentacles and poke you to death with its poisonous beak. There are similarities.”
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:43 am
Gimme the squid over Tom Cruise! Anyday!
Mchl asks :
“Who would win? A cuttlefish or a velocirepator?”
Ah, that all depends *where* the battle is taking place –
underwater, the cuttle,
on the ground, the velociraptor!
@ Mike Torr Saying :
“biology is just chemistry
chemistry is just physics
physics is just maths
maths is just philosophy
philosophy is just psychology
psychology is just biology…
Just be thankful astronomy is not part of this tangled hierarchy.”
Nyah! Astronomy is wa-aay * above * all those!
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:47 am
There’s an art to science
Ad a science to art
What we think is all apart
Is all one part
Of the same
Broad sphere
Assuming spherical geography
For a seemingly Euclidean cosmos … ?
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:50 am
AND a Science to art
Well that was what was intended to be written there ..
“There’s an art to science
*And* a science to art etc .. ”
*Groan.*
Well the universe is no more as we intend it than it is Euclidean ..
Ah, geometry, anyone (me aside mentioned that there yet?)
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:52 am
@ Naomi’s query of :
“No, seriously, where DO geologists fit in?”
Why below the others &o=under their feet of course!
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Don’t worry Phil, I’ve been playing a lot of Doom recently. Just give me a shotgun and a chainsaw and I’ll take care of it.