 |
Click to torture yourself, because then you will see these even bigger.
About Bad Astronomy
If you went to BadAstronomy.com and found yourself here, never fear: the BA Blog has moved to its new home at Discover Blogs. The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking and all that) is still online, too.
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.
Contact me: The Bad Astronomer "at" gmail "dot" com
Bad Astronomy is a Wikio Top Blog! Clearly, Wikio has excellent taste. 
Bad Astronomy was chosen as one of Time.com's Best Blogs of 2009. Subscribe to BA using an RSS Feed
Death from the Skies!
Order a copy of Death from the Skies! from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Borders.
"If things worked the way I wanted them to, any reporter about to do another 'sensational' story on deadly meteors would consult this volume, and bang! common sense would find its way into the news. How strange would that world be?"
-- Adam Savage, Mythbusters"Reading this book is like getting punched in the face by Carl Sagan. Frightening, but oddly exhilarating."
-- Daniel H. Wilson, author of How to Survive a Robot UprisingSocial/Networking/Cool Stuff
DISCOVERmagazine.com: Latest Articles on Space- Will Our Universe Collide With a Neighboring One?
- Visual Science: Polishing a Cosmic Spyglass
- Visual Science: NASA Unveils Its New Rocket
- Is Jupiter's Bizarre Moon Our Best Hope for Finding Extraterrestrial Life?
- Reviews: Clashes With Aliens, America vs. Science, and Really Horrible Sci-Fi: The Best in Science Culture
- DISCOVER Blogs: The Loom
January 10th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
my daughter says yummmmm
January 10th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Ooooh!!!
I see Mary’s face!
8 times!
January 10th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
I swore of the sweets in the new year, so this picture can’t harm me.
Also there’s not enough flour in those cookies.
January 10th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Glad I’ve finished an obscenely sized Thai meal, otherwise I’d be eating the monitor right now.
January 10th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
@Paul Claessen:
You are so wrong! That’s Bubba Clinton in the top middle, Grandpa Simpson in the top right and Steven Hawking in the middle right. All the rest are Mary.
January 10th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Yum! Food Science!
January 10th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
I laugh at your torture! I just whipped up a traditional brown rice pudding, with the face of Siddhartha Gautama no less…
HJ Hornbeck
(PS. First time poster, long time reader, book buyer, yadda yadda yadda, all-season tires)
January 10th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
What the heck is that?!
(I think I’m seing a fat Jesus in the middle one, though
)
January 10th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
And of course: now I’m hungry. See what you and your perfect cookies have done to me!
January 10th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
I hear (though I have not done the experiment myself,yet ) that if you mix in some baking flour with your all-purpose flour, the higher protein content will prevent chocolate chip cookies from being so flat. They should, according to the hypothesis, be thicker and more substantial with the same gooey goodness and flavor.
January 10th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
I hate you Phil. I just got back from getting groceries and you had to remind me that I didn’t buy any cookies.
January 10th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Quick! Everyone clear their browser history. Maybe these tempting cookies will go away. Mmmmm…..cookies….
January 10th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Phil, this is clearly not fair! I want your cookies!
January 10th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Not enough flour on the cookies? Riiiight. You keep telling yourself whatever you need to not be consumed with jealousy.
Remember too I’m at 1700 meters, so recipes have to be adjusted.
I can assure you experimentally that the cookies are indeed perfect.
January 10th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
UFO’s !!!!!!!!!!
January 10th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Fruitcake…
January 10th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Cookies? Except the one on the lower right is saying: “We came to your planet in peace, and look how you treat us?! Ahhhh!”
January 10th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Are these the cookies OF SCIENCE???
Btw: What about a live chat, Dr. Plait? Will there be one again sometimes? Or are they quietly pulled down like Q&BA? That would be too bad – ah, here we are!
January 10th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
If anyone ever gets in a huff about this blog being for only astronomy, please direct them to this post.
@ IVAN3MAN:
I find that…disturbing.
January 10th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
That middle cookie SO has a big smiley face on it.
January 10th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
IVAN3MAN, that is a great one!
January 10th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
As a practicing diabetic and abstainer from sugar, I must cast aspersions upon your “perfection”. A truly “Perfect” cookie would be ingestible with no glucose rush,,, for those of us with too efficient glucose absorption mechanisms,,,
Gosh those look good,,bummer,,,
GAry 7
January 10th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Wow. I bake for a living and I’m still impressed.
January 10th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Phil, Cookie Monster would like a word with you….
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pics/hostpics/98d966e0-9a64-4b80-a8d0-27ddcd7ce21cCookie_Monster.jpg
(Sorry I could not resist)
January 10th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
love your blog. I’ve said it before, but I don’t care. I love when you show us your personality
January 10th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Phil, I think that you agree that we (your bloggers) need a hard proof beyond just a picture that could be take out of a recipe book…as a scientist I request that you document with a video the making of the cookies AND that you send everyone on this blog a sample of those…and then we can be witness that your cookies are perfect
Everyone agree?
January 10th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
I see Jesus on the cookie!
Oh sorry…my real comment is *droooooooool* can i have one?
January 10th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
I love chocolate cookies so much… *drool*
Torturing people with pictures of cookies should be considered illegal.
January 10th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
@Peacock: Cookies aren’t supposed to be miniature cakes, they’re supposed to be flat, crunchy, chewy disks of goodnessmmmmmmmmmslurp. Dammit, Phil!
January 10th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Look like “perigee cookies” to me. 14% wider and 30% yummier than lesser cookies we’ll see later in 2009…
January 10th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Hmmm… these cookies almost look like they were intelligently designed. Since they can’t be considered chocolate-chip cookies is the chocolate chips are removed, I declare these cookies irreducibly complex!
January 10th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
eight is not a perfect number … and you do need more flour
January 10th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Mmmmmmm…….cookieeeeeeeeees.
January 10th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Mmm… cookies… click my name for perfect pancakes and fairy bread.
January 10th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
@HJ Hornbeck “…whipped up a traditional brown rice pudding, with the face of Siddhartha Gautama no less…”
wow! I’ve always used a whisk! (har-har!)
Phil- what happened to #9? already eaten?
January 10th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Hey Phil, check this link
US Army Assembles ‘Mad Scientist’ Conference. Seriously.
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/01/armys-mad-scien.html
January 10th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
I thought I had disabled cookies in my browser.
January 10th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Actually it looks like Phil had originally backed nine and couldn’t resist tasting one before he took the picture.
January 10th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
I see you decided to bake cookies per PZ’s suggestion:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/01/downtime.php
I’m sure Phil bakes his cookies with Hershey’s 100% Dark Matter…. Did you get the first batch out of the LHC before the Helium leak?
January 10th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Reminds me of a series of photos taken of planet Mars!
Say, since we have Io known as the Pizza moon, what can be considered the Cookie moon?
January 10th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
The one in the top right corner looks like Jeebus! Sell it on eBay!
January 10th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Well, let’s see, that’s about 200 pushups per cookie, which is 1600 pushups, plus about an hour of cardio (running, kicks, etc) and possibly some weights if they’re made with butter. Say, that would be an good excuse to eat cookies!
January 10th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Just made my own batch three days ago, and the cookie jar is still half full, so I’m covered. Think I’ll go have another….
January 10th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
I asked you two questions through MYSPACE and you didn’t have the decency to answer back. SO MUCH FOR WANTING TO HELP PEOPLE PHIL PLAIT.
January 10th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
@Hypatia:
I agree, but I thing the good Doctor Phil should send his cookies over the Intertoobs… My USB ports are open and waiting
January 10th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
@Gumbythecat:
If Phil made these cookies, I agree they are Intelligently designed. So, Phil has, in effect proven that Intelligent Design is a reality!
January 10th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Yes, it is quite clear that these cookies had a designer. After all, what is the point of having half a cookie?
January 10th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
blank: I don’t typically answer anything through MySpace. It’s too big a pain.
But feel free to read my comments policy linked from the sidebar. You just violated it.
January 10th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
@ Pieter Kok,
Thanks! Also, Phil Plait, thank you for having the sense of humour to let me post that picture.
January 10th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
I think those cookies are proof of life on mars.
Dr. Plait is of course a martian spy, doctoring photos of mars so that nobody except a select few can spot the real life on mars.
Then again this might be the fact that I’m delerious from a 18 hour stint of non-stop code writing (ccccooofffeeee izzzz myyyy ffffrrriieeenndd!!!!). Give me cookie! Cookie!
Ok, sorry about all that. I better go to bed.
January 11th, 2009 at 12:39 am
I thought this was supposed to be an astronomy blog, not your life blog. Dumb stuff like this that makes me want to unsubscribe from your RSS feed.
January 11th, 2009 at 12:54 am
@Gil
I thought this was supposed to be an astronomy blog, not your life blog.
How is a picture taken just minutes before the total eclipse of the eight moons of the planet quanka petuti in the ovenia nebula not about astronomy?
January 11th, 2009 at 12:59 am
Pfft. Natural rock formations if I ever saw them.
January 11th, 2009 at 12:59 am
Did you use the stolen Neiman Marcus recipe?
January 11th, 2009 at 1:39 am
Great. You know, this is why I’m a bicycle commuter.
So I can eat these cookies.
The very cookies you depict.
All of them, in fact.
Except we have no cookies; a critically significant oversight.
And the grocery store just closed.
Just now.
And I’m just plain jonesing for those delicious cookies.
Now I’ll probably be up all night, twitching and mumbling something incoherent about cookies and some guy named Phil just ate all my cookies and I’ll wake up in the morning, screaming,
“COOKIEEEEE!!!!!”
It’s gonna be a long night.
January 11th, 2009 at 1:44 am
@ José,
It’s probably just a ready-mix job from the supermarket.
January 11th, 2009 at 3:05 am
Cookies, Biscuits, Biscotti. What’s in a name?
Doesn’t matter, so long as they are fresh, tasty, and yummy. And consumed in moderation.
Oh, moderation? That’s another name for SHARING, dude.
Where do I line up?
Ivan.
January 11th, 2009 at 3:23 am
Clearly fake. Look at the shadows.
January 11th, 2009 at 3:29 am
@pattyann:
8 is a perfect number in China. But these do not look like fortune cookies.
January 11th, 2009 at 4:18 am
(engage Kirk mode)
PLAAAAAAAAAAAAIT! PLAAAAAAAAAAAAIT!
January 11th, 2009 at 5:19 am
I hope that’s chocolate chips I spot there, only evil people and old ladies like IVAN3MAN’s nanny use raisins.
January 11th, 2009 at 5:22 am
Wonderful cookies are made with eggs.
Vaccines are made with eggs.
Therefore vaccines are wonderful.
I guess I’ll leave the real convincing to Steve Novella….
January 11th, 2009 at 6:13 am
Next time try using Lindt Excellence Dark Chili chocolate. Adds a little zing.
January 11th, 2009 at 8:10 am
Oh! You jerk! Gimmeee!
You didn’t bring enough for everybody here.
January 11th, 2009 at 8:17 am
@John,
“Except we have no cookies; a critically significant oversight.
And the grocery store just closed.”
Just keep semi-sweet morsels, eggs, dark and cane sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and flour on hand and you can have hot fresh cookies in less than an hour.
@Undercover,
“And how are they exactly realated to astronomy or any other serious sciences!”
Serious science just couldn’t run without such goodies! And with the late nights astronomers need treats more than anyone.
Clear skies, Alan
January 11th, 2009 at 8:33 am
@Ivan3Man, Utakata (How DO you sing, anyway?), and Peter Kok (are you THE Peter Kok, from Calgary?):
What is the problem with someone making cookies shaped like the Buddhist symbol for peace? Or are you mistaking them for swasitakas? Surely not!
January 11th, 2009 at 8:33 am
@Ivan3Man, Utakata (How DO you sing, anyway?), and Peter Kok (are you THE Peter Kok, from Calgary?):
What is the problem with someone making cookies shaped like the Buddhist symbol for peace? Or are you mistaking them for swasitakas? Surely not!
January 11th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Oh my. I think that is the first time I’ve ever seen rocks from Titan in that great a detail. However, I seem to be suffering from Cookiedoughlia though as all I can see are chocolate chip cookies. And with my blood sugar all over the place I really don’t need to see those. But once again, thanks for the outstanding photos of the rocks.
January 11th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Thanks for letting us browse your cookies – I mean that in a nice way.
January 11th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Nice cookies :d
January 11th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Golden orbs, flecks of dark matter, and a grid of space-time. It’s another great Phil photo, and it is, as so many before, my new computer wallpaper.
January 11th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
I hate you Phil.
Why must you torture me like this?
January 11th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
mmm.. pareidolicious
January 11th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Click my name for the Truth behind Dr. Plait’s so-called cookies.
January 11th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
By an odd coincidence, I made chocolate chip cookies today as well. They’re misshapen and of all different sizes, and not at all photogenic, but I like them anyway.
January 11th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
****DROOL****
January 11th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
I made chocolate white chip cookies. My oven is terrible. My pans too, even though they are new. I am not nearly stupid enough to think that two minutes in the oven, is enough to COOK a dozen cookies. Yet, things start smoking. So I haul some out early and they’re gooey cakey things. Yum. And some I haul out later and they’re bigger firmer (not crispy) still cake like. Yum.
Either way you toss it, more flour, less flour, elevated or no, cookies are cookies and boy those look good!!!
January 12th, 2009 at 7:33 am
So, are these from Clifford Stoll’s recipe?
January 12th, 2009 at 11:00 am
@kuhnigget LOL! Unidentified flying objects indeed!
Also, re:the more flour argument….it depends on personal preference, a couple extra tablespoons to those cookies baked at altitude makes them a little fluffier and softer, but if you want them for dipping in your milk or coffee, crispy like these are the way to go.
January 12th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
So BA,
What brand of Chocolate Chips did you use?
January 14th, 2009 at 5:18 am
aww, thanks a lot Phil! I’m currently writing my Food List for tomorrow. The last thing I need to look at is a picture of delicious cookies!