I am the king of all nerds. There can be no other.
What else is a guy supposed to do after a big snowfall and while waiting for "Waters of Mars" to air here in the States? And of course TLA helped, sawing the snowballs in half and shaping the body.
And hmmmm. Dalek and dork both start and end with the same letters. Coincidence?
[More pictures are in my Flickr Snow Dalek set.]
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
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November 16th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Love it! No snow in Boston … yet. The longer it holds off, the happier I’ll be.
November 16th, 2009 at 10:12 am
Although I have to admire the geekiness of that picture, I spotted a rookie mistake: The plunger should be on the right!!! I never would have expected such a mistake from one such as you! *headshake*
November 16th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Is that a blue laser pointer, or a poor man’s sonic screwdriver? Doesn’t matter – I want one!
November 16th, 2009 at 10:20 am
If you feel like acting like a minor pirate, Waters of Mars was posted to YouTube by several pirates last night. I watched it around midnight. DARK episode!
November 16th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Okay, that had me LOL IRL! Thanks for the laugh.
No snow up here in NH either Christine (and I’m all the way up near Concord). I did see flurries back a while ago, but that was it. My duaghter is really looking forward to real snow though since we moved here from FL.
November 16th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Love it! Does that make me a bad person?
November 16th, 2009 at 10:29 am
I’ll see your “Fringe” hat, and raise you a “Slusho” ballcap, purchased during the runup to Cloverfield. JJA has come up with so many creative ways to siphon off our time & money – Slusho Zoom! Fresh for you!
November 16th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Dorlek.
November 16th, 2009 at 10:46 am
Hey Phil,
Bill Maher has responded to his critics on Huffpo, you should check it out:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/vaccination-a-conversatio_b_358578.html
November 16th, 2009 at 10:53 am
I think your Dalek needs more balls – snowballs that is.
November 16th, 2009 at 10:55 am
“There can be no other.”
No, no, no, it’s “There Can Be Only One! ” Some nerd you are!
November 16th, 2009 at 10:55 am
whatever happened to frosty?
November 16th, 2009 at 11:05 am
If you were king of the nerds, you would have also constructed a Phone Booth. To scale.
November 16th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Aren’t the whisk and plunger backwards?
November 16th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Phil, wait until you see “The Waters of Mars” and note the radical alterations to the laws of physics affecting three of the major elements (water, air and fire). Probably something wrong with earth as well – might have missed it when I was hiding behind the sofa…
November 16th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Makes mine look rather lame…
November 16th, 2009 at 11:14 am
One raucous guffaw from this quarter
November 16th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Ok, that’s just awesome Phil! Too funny. Thankfully, we haven’t gotten any snow here yet.
November 16th, 2009 at 11:21 am
That’s terrific for my lunch break! Sweet job BA and TLA
I second that Christine. The less I have to shovel, the better.
Tom- that is so adorable and looks like a greeting card.
November 16th, 2009 at 11:23 am
I laughed for about a minute straight. That was awesome. All hail King Phil I!
November 16th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Haha oh my, that is fantastic! I applaud your efforts. And that looks distinctly like a Sonic Screwdriver as well. And the flashlight and…are those shot glasses? Brilliant.
I think, however, my favorite part of this post is the title. Just a little clever icing on the cake.
November 16th, 2009 at 11:29 am
That may be the greatest thing ever created using snow. The Water of Mars is excellent by the way.
November 16th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Hahaha… love it!
November 16th, 2009 at 11:32 am
And here I thought I was Nerd King for forgoing sand castles and instead mimicking various types of lunar impact craters (including overlapping craters) at Fort Myers Beach, Florida three years ago. Dalek snowman beats that!
November 16th, 2009 at 11:33 am
That is pretty gorram awesome. Nice job.
November 16th, 2009 at 11:43 am
The neighborhood dogs will certainly be surprised when they try to piddle on it.
November 16th, 2009 at 11:48 am
tssk tssk tssk, call yourself a Doctor Who fanatic? Why, you’ve only gone and attached the daleks gun and sucker arm on the wrong way round! Unforgivable. Quickly mirror the picture before you embarrass yourself further
November 16th, 2009 at 11:49 am
I knew exactly what would be in this post based on the title. I win.
November 16th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Isn’t it a bit short for a Dalek?
November 16th, 2009 at 11:59 am
You have too much free time Phil, if you can do that! I’ll echo Christine’s sentiment — the longer we go without snow here in Boston the better I like it.
November 16th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
@ Phillip from Australia:
You’re thinking of Stormtroopers. Maybe the white confused you.. /jk
Great sculpture though Phil!
November 16th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Where is K9? If you can do a darlek you can definitely do K9!
November 16th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
How about the Tardis next? or the Cybermen ? and lets face it nerds rule the world because we have access to all the high tec. wile the jocks are bench pressing we’re on the computers .
November 16th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
*shakes head*
Thanks for the laugh Phil =)
November 16th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
LOL at the photo.
And a quick read of Maher’s article shows that he still doesn’t get it. Not even close. He believe that vaccines and antibiotics have the same risk of decreasing effectiveness through overuse — they don’t. He believes there is a vast undercurrent of doubt about vaccines in the medical community without any evidence save some stats about doctors not taking seasonal flu vaccines. So what? Many doctors smoke too, and I’ve only had two flu vaccines in the last 16 years, not because I think they’re dangerous, but merely through typical inertia and inattention.
In fact, Maher’s article is chock full classic conspiracy theory/alt med rhetoric. He claims all he has are reasonable doubts, but there is little reasoning of any kind in his argument.
November 16th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
While I believe you are correct as to the positioning of the gun and “plunger”, in Phil’s defense, he is in the US … not the UK, so Daleks drive on the right side of the road … hence the switched apparati
November 16th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Awesome!
I wish I could make one in my no-snowing country…
November 16th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Awesome! However, you lost me with the K-State sweatshirt. Rock, Chalk, Jawhawk!
November 16th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Oh man thats funny! I’ve had a crappy sort of day and that put a smile on my face. Thank you BA sir!
November 16th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Love your sweatshirt Phil! Go Cats! Wish they would have beaten Missouri this past weekend though.
November 16th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
I wish MY ears were made out of shotglasses….
November 16th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Huh. Well. You’re a real nerd. But wait until the first snow at my place…
November 16th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
All hail King of the Nerds. Now I can’t wait for snow so I can make my very own Dalek!
November 16th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Fantastic.
Makes me wish it snowed here so I could make one.
November 16th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
[...] Daleks! http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/11/16/precipitate-precipitate/ (via @BadAstronomer [...]
November 16th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
King of the Nerds. There can be only one—so keep your eye open for anyone wielding a sword.
[/Highlander reference]
So that’s where all our snow has gone. Up here in middle of Ontario (Canada) we’re several degrees warmer than average for this time of the year (for the past week and for the coming week). Instead of sub-zero temperatures and snow we’re basking in 8-13 degree C weather at mid-day. It’s like a sunny fall. It’s wonderful.
November 16th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
@ 5 Larian LeQuella
I live near Concord, as well.
@ Phil:
Is that a toilet plunger? I don’t think the Doctor would have been very much afraid of them if they were armed with anti-clog devices.
November 16th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
#1 attraction to a career in the sciences:
Feel free to embrace your inner dork.
November 16th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Adam & Larian:
Nuts! I’m a 4th generation Concord guy, but just moved to continue college (2-6 years depending on grad school). I felt so alone as a science geek and sci-fi dork up there. I plan to move back to NH, though. I’ll roll my D&D character and wait at the Barley House.
November 16th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
That seriously made my Monday!! My inner dork will be smiling for a week.
But if you’re creating Daleks, does that now mean that the Bad Astronomer has turned into Davros?
November 16th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
I just have to say this is one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever seen.
November 16th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
I thought you were super cool before but now I know it. You are truly an inspiration for future generations. My pain at waiting for Waters of Mars has been made a little less traumatic thanks to your admirable effort.
November 16th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
This is the most adorable thing ever.
November 16th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
OK you got snow already. I really live in the wrong country. We have some flakes in January and Februari. Once in a lifetime there is enough snow to build a Tardis. A tiny one. And then it’s gone in a day without a trace. I guess that part works.
How do you find time to construct H2O-Nanotech correct working Daleks, raise a family, write a blog, write books, travel, work and read this? You must be a Doctor.
November 16th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
[...] ARE NOT A DALEK. YOU MUST [...]
November 16th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
snow-terminate!
Who is that fellow in the picture ?
November 16th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
Little known fact: TLA is a Three Letter Acronym.
November 17th, 2009 at 2:44 am
Hail!
November 17th, 2009 at 3:52 am
Impressive, BA, very impressive.
November 17th, 2009 at 4:44 am
Way to get your geek on!
By the way, looking at the 1200 by 1299 original, I can see your two dogs watching through a window.
November 17th, 2009 at 4:53 am
You have made my day, and quite probably my week. You wont be disapointed by Waters of Mars either.
November 17th, 2009 at 5:50 am
Woof (57) said:
Nearly right:
TLA = Three Letter Abbreviation.
An acronym is an abbreviation that forms a word (such as “laser” or “NASA”").
November 17th, 2009 at 5:54 am
Is that a K-State sweatshirt you’re wearing? Did you go there? Teach there?
November 17th, 2009 at 6:12 am
Soo lucky to have snoooow. Then again, that much snow around here would paralyse the nation (again). And, being a Brit, I took the opportunity to watch Waters of Mars as screened at the weekend….And even with the science module of the brain placed on standby (or in fact unplugged altogether would be better) I have to say that it was incoherent gibberish from beginning to end – a slapdash, banal and trite script, only slightly redeemed by amusement derived from a classically whovian wobbly set, and the ever excellent David Tennant managing to salvage a decent performance from the wreckage. As had so often been the case it’s “thank you, Russell, for reanimating the franchise, but why oh why not make something less crappy out of it, because there is ample evidence elsewhere of how balanced, subtle, amusing, relevant, and entertaining imaginative TV can be.”
November 17th, 2009 at 6:49 am
The Waters of Mars was brilliant! Love the dalek, by the way.
November 17th, 2009 at 7:54 am
If this is determined a “sales pitch”, I’m sorry, but I believe Phil is wielding not just any blue pointer, but a sonic screwdriver replica. I’ve got one, and they’re neat. http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/cubegoodies/8cff/
November 17th, 2009 at 11:49 am
ZOMGZ ROFLmeow!1!!
November 17th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Tim G (60):
That’s what this blog needs – More Bad Astronomy Dogs!
Srsly, BA.
Nigel Depledge (62):
Oh, it’s ON!
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym
November 17th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
I heart this picture… may nerddom reign supreme.
November 17th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Let’s see, Fringe hat, check.
Sonic screwdriver, check.
Dalek snowman, check.
Yup, you’re a dork alright. No more than me anyway! =D
Water of Mars is excellent, but if I may say now, go easy on it for the more than iffy science. It’s Doctor Who.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
[...] In Colorado, however, the snow has already piled up, and Phil Plait got to show off his ubernerdiness earlier than most. Check out his Snow Dalek! [...]
November 18th, 2009 at 11:50 am
4. Jack Mitcham Says:
If you feel like acting like a minor pirate, Waters of Mars was posted to YouTube by several pirates last night. I watched it around midnight. DARK episode!
Saw it. Good thing FireFox doesn’t have any plug-ins that allow you to download.
/snark
J/P=?
November 18th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Brilliant! I wish I had snow in the Bay Area so I could have a snow Dalek!
Fortunately I have yarn. Which doesn’t melt.