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Bad Astronomy
« NASA UFOs explained
Best science post of 2009 voting now open »

Are you Penn or Teller?

After getting assaulted by approximately 3 gazillion useless "What kind of <insert thing here> are you?" Facebook quiz requests every day, I have dreamed up my own! Why should everyone else have all the fun of wasting supremely vast amounts of other people’s time, when it could be me frittering away your precious life?

So I created the following Facebook quiz flowchart. I have no programming skillz in that area, so I leave it up to my faithful BA droogs to unleash this on an unsupecting Facebook community. Hilarity! Fun! Shenanigans!

Here is the quiz: Are You Penn or Teller?


Are you Penn or Teller?


Turns out, I’m Jerry Lewis. Figures.

Share

June 2nd, 2009 9:17 AM by Phil Plait in Humor, Skepticism | 34 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

34 Responses to “Are you Penn or Teller?”

  1. 1.   Larian LeQuella Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 9:20 am

    Cute! I pretty much always ignore those quizes though. I’m not any of those things, I’m ME.

  2. 2.   Todd W. Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 9:23 am

    @Larian

    I’m not any of those things, I’m ME.

    But, you can’t be me, ’cause I’m me!

  3. 3.   Jules Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 9:26 am

    BWAHAHA, I can make that up right now if you want

  4. 4.   Ted Judah Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 9:27 am

    I’m mostly Teller until I hear something outrageous and then I spontaneously and forcefully shout “Bull$#i+!”

  5. 5.   Jules Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 9:32 am

    Okay its done and I have sent it to you

  6. 6.   Tim G Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 9:34 am

    I am three times closer to being Teller than Penn. I just don’t engage in small talk very much.

  7. 7.   Shane Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 9:38 am

    No, I’m Spartacus.

  8. 8.   Another Eric Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 9:40 am

    Even though I talk, I picture myself more like Teller, since I’m 5’6″, and I hang out with a friend who is (but not quite) as friggin huge as Penn!!

  9. 9.   hale_bopp Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 9:54 am

    I have heard teller speak. He was very nice after one of their shows chatting with people. The question should be do you speak onstage :)

  10. 10.   ... Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 9:59 am

    …

    …

  11. 11.   opossum Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 10:07 am

    Everybody knows Teller can’t talk. I heard he had fisticuffs with a chimpanzee and the little sucker took his tongue for a souvenir, but Teller stole the chimpanzee’s heart. <3 (facebook, huh)

  12. 12.   Romeo Vitelli Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 10:16 am

    What, I can’t be both? (I have layers, you know).

  13. 13.   unTheist Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 10:49 am

    Just made this quiz. It had to be expanded a bit, there are minimum number of questions and answers.

    http://apps.facebook.com/are-you-penn-ibigjhd/

  14. 14.   DrFlimmer Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 10:51 am

    Phil, you as a physicist (astronomers are sometimes just put in the same category as a solid state physicist, unbelievable :D ) should know that only an experiment can say “yes or no” and that the state of a system (in this case a human being) is normally a superposition of many states (in this case: two).

    So what if I am talking and remaining silent at the same time?
    :D

  15. 15.   Cheyenne Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 11:02 am

    I am a Teller. But I wish I was a Penn!

  16. 16.   Philip Storry Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 11:03 am

    DrFlimmer:
    “So what if I am talking and remaining silent at the same time?”

    Then you’re someone’s wife and the argument is almost over.

    (With apologies to all the wives out there whose husbands have driven them to this unusual state.)

  17. 17.   Phil Plait Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 11:15 am

    FWIW I almost made the question “Are you loud?”

  18. 18.   Jules Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 11:22 am

    @unTheist odd since I only asked the one question with two options

    http://apps.facebook.com/quizzes/fbqzr/qzr.php?id=329992

  19. 19.   Karen Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 11:30 am

    Two of my cats are named Penn and Teller. They came from the shelter as a pair. Penn the cat is larger and darker than Teller the cat, but, cats being the way they are, Teller is the more talkative. Oh well.

    Another of the cats, also a shelter cat, is named Sagan. The fourth (a stray who showed up at the barn) is Steffen, named after Steffen Peters, the rider who won the World Cup Dressage finals this year!)

    Yes, I am well on the way to claiming my merit badge as crazy cat lady. I can think of a lot worse ways to be crazy!

    I’d write more, but Penn the cat is making it difficult — between his walking across the keyboard and giving me head-butts of love, it’s a bit hard to type.

    –Karen

  20. 20.   Geoff Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 11:42 am

    If I say “No” out loud, will the world explode?

  21. 21.   John Paradox Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 11:43 am

    I AM KIROK!

    J/P=?

  22. 22.   Navneeth Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 11:44 am

    If there is a start, there must be an end.

    I’m a GENIUS! :D

  23. 23.   dhtroy Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 12:21 pm

    I put my finger on START and the flowchart blue screened.

  24. 24.   Harold Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 12:48 pm

    Teller talks like mad, at least in the lobby after the show! And, oddly, he always seemed to be offstage whenever Mofo the Talking Gorilla had something to say…

    I need to find my picture of my mom and Penn. She came up to his ELBOW!

  25. 25.   The Chemist Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 1:40 pm

    @Dr. Flimmer,

    So what if I am talking and remaining silent at the same time?

    You have someone observe you and tell you which it is… or you keep sitting in the box stroking the zombie cat.

  26. 26.   David L Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 1:41 pm

    I will gladly send this to all my FB friends for the ridiculous quizzes they send.

  27. 27.   rumleech Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 3:25 pm

    I doubt either of them would want me to be them.

  28. 28.   Bellatrix Orionis Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 3:26 pm

    Can I sit in the box with the zombie cat?

  29. 29.   Hunter Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 7:13 pm

    That reminds me of this Feynman Flowchart.
    What Would Feynman Do?

  30. 30.   Renee Marie Jones Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 9:06 pm

    Actually, I think Teller talks in almost every P&T performance! Isn’t he the voice of MOFO?

  31. 31.   Beelzebud Says:
    June 3rd, 2009 at 9:29 am

    I’d never pal around with Glenn Beck, and I’m not a anarcho-capitalist, or anti-government libertarian, so I’m Teller.

  32. 32.   Bellatrix Orionis Says:
    June 3rd, 2009 at 3:58 pm

    Love the Feynman flowchart

  33. 33.   Tara Rinalddi Says:
    June 4th, 2009 at 1:11 am

    Oh, these quizzes are so revealing and profound! wink wink nudge nudge

  34. 34.   Friday Link Love 6/05 | Brad’s Reader Says:
    June 5th, 2009 at 5:09 am

    [...] Are you Penn or Teller? [...]

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