Over on Randi’s site, they just posted this image of His Skepticalness and a familiar spaceship:
When I saw it, my first thought was, "I find your lack of faith… refreshing."
How would you caption this picture?
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About Bad Astronomy
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's written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic and fights the abuse of science, but his true love is praising the wonders of real science.
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August 16th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
“Well, I guess I owe Yoda a million bucks now.”
August 16th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
I’ll only say ” may the force be with you” Look out I see stormtropers and Darth Vader behind you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 16th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
“Let me state up front that this is a trick.”
August 16th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Woo or Woo not, there is no try.
August 16th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Please have your bearding pass and ID.
August 16th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Hmmm. Size matters not young Plait!
August 16th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Obi-wan, what’s with the pleats?
August 16th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
“Crude matter are we… not these luminous beings.”
August 16th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Bravo, ret3!
“May the farce be with you.”
August 16th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
when you reach my age, look as good you will not.
August 16th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
“There is no Xwing behind me youngling….”
August 16th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
“If you want me to believe in E.T. you have to show me proof! You know, a communication or something physical I can see and test.” … “Oh sure, an actual spaceship would work!”
August 16th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
A couple of Obi-Wan quotes come to mind:
“Your eyes can deceive you, don’t trust them.”
“Who’s the more foolish, the fool, or the fool who follows him?”
August 16th, 2010 at 12:40 pm
Ahh, a skeptic you want to be?
August 16th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
“Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good skeptic at your side, kid”
August 16th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
“When 900 years old YOU reach, look this good you will not.”
August 16th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
“Behind Mr. Randi is conclusive proof why talking to dead people why flying below the tree tops is dangerous.”
August 16th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Yeah, I’m not even going to try to top that one.
August 16th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
“If an X-Wing lands in a forest, does it make a sound?”
August 16th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Lol, Skepticism and Star Wars . . . two of my favorite things in the world that will never get me laid.
August 16th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
“Well, I guess I owe Yoda a million bucks now.”
I think number 1 has it.
August 16th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
Photoshop it I did, yes!
August 16th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
Nerds. I said I wanted to see some skeptical _stalwarts_!
August 16th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
“So as you can see, I can stare at this thing all day long, and even if I stare at it for a thousand years, I’ll never get it to levitate using the powers of my mind!”
August 16th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
“Based on the video ‘evidence’ presented, the JREF invites Master Yoda to apply for it’s $1M prize”.
Alternatively, “It’s a TRICK!”
August 16th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
“Now, young Luke, it’s time to give me back my cloak”
August 16th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
“Who landed this thing with the S-foils locked open?! Damn kids!”
August 16th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
“I don’t expect that the million will ever be won, simply because there is no confirming evidence for any paranormal claims to date.”
August 16th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
“Homeopaths would have you believe that if you dilute midichlorians down so much so that there isn’t a single organism left in the mixture, the patient becomes more powerful than you could possibly imagine. Well, earlier I took an overdose of homeopathic midichlorians. If homeopathy were true, that X-wing should be zooming all over the place and not stuck in the swamp.”
August 16th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
“Mystics claim they can read the future – skeptics will get us there, just give us a couple of years”
Then I would switch the picture to Virgin galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. Mostly because I don’t like Star Wars all that much :/
Ah, for that one picture:
“Where no man has gone before”
Buahahahaha
August 16th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Its the sceptic that made the kessel run in less than 12 parsecs!
August 16th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
‘If the ship is real and Geller is the pilot am I out two million bucks?”
August 16th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
“Dammit, where the HELL did I leave my keys?”
August 16th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Luke finally returns to Dagobah to finish his training.
August 16th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Off topic: Penn & Teller Take On The Anti-Vaxxers
August 16th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
“Yoda, 2010″
?
August 16th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
@jcm
Thanks for the URL. Penn & teller B*llsh*t rocks. I LOVE this show.
August 16th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
“It’s right behind me, isn’t it?”
August 16th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
I wish George Lucas would stop messing around with the old Star Wars films.
August 16th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Assuming this is not some sort of electronic trickery, the proper thing to say would be “Where is it because I want my picture by it also!”
August 16th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
“At long last, the mother ship returned for James Randi. Now he can get the hell out of this crazy place.”
August 16th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
“This? This is nothing. I used to bulls-eye womprats in my T-16 back home.”
August 16th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Yeti, I am your father.
This is not the woo that you seek.
Huh.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
This picture is cool, but it bothers me how implausibly close the X-wing is to the tree trunks. That, and the S-foils being open and the lack of landing gear… but other than that, awesome.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
@3 Shouldn’t that be:
“Let me state up front that this is a MIND trick.”
August 16th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
“Ok, Mr. Yoda – now let’s see you do this under controlled laboratory conditions.”
or
“But you haven’t done anything I can’t do. So I’m not buying your ‘force’ mumbo-jumbo.”
though, occasionally I feel somewhat cynically:
“No, I didn’t see it floating. It’s impossible, therefore I didn’t see it happen.”
August 16th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
He’s going to fly to the Death Star and give Darth Vader the 1 million dollar prize IF he can prove he can actually force choke you.
August 16th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
“Woos — Bring ‘em on! I prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around!”
August 16th, 2010 at 7:55 pm
“Wars do not make one Amazing.”
August 16th, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Simple….Yoda grows up! ;o)
August 16th, 2010 at 8:05 pm
Let’s see Geller bend this.
August 16th, 2010 at 8:21 pm
“No. Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try.”
August 16th, 2010 at 8:49 pm
Thinking Star Wars this article may be of interest here :
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=7945606
The fact that toy sales were a big consideration may not be such a surprise but the possible plot twist that we didn’t get is!
BTW. Great captions here – my fave would have to be Jeremy C (#52), (#47) Lewis & (#1) NthDegree256.
August 16th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
“How did this get past SETI?” BTW Phil, great job drumming at the Rock Band event on Friday
August 16th, 2010 at 9:08 pm
When you 900 you look as good.
August 16th, 2010 at 9:34 pm
“We’re not out of the woods yet, thanks to the course padawan Plait has plotted in.”
August 16th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
“This is not the X-wing you’re looking for…” (misdirection)
August 16th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
This is what happens when you fly in from a galaxy far, far, fay away…
August 17th, 2010 at 12:55 am
Caption: “The empiricist strikes back!”
August 17th, 2010 at 1:50 am
Scientists showed this picture to 1000 skeptics and not one of them could see the spaceship.
August 17th, 2010 at 2:25 am
“Skeptic leader, standing by.”
also, this is relevant:
http://home.netcom.com/~rogermw2/force_skeptics.html
August 17th, 2010 at 5:27 am
Okay, Yoda. Try it now I’ve cut those wires… Oh, you didn’t think I’d notice them? Tusk, tusk.
August 17th, 2010 at 5:32 am
#1 “Look I so old to young eyes?” (with apologies to Randi)
#2 “Judge me by my size do you? No. And well you do not, for Scepticism is my ally.”
#3 “The Endor Landing was an obvious hoax: there’s not even space to fit an X-wing between these trees! See how they fooled the world by buying my new DVD – The Forest-Moon Hoax.”
#4 “Who are you, who are so wise in the ways of science?”
#5 “No, Luke. I am your father.”
August 17th, 2010 at 6:55 am
“Race your Mark VII Viper for pinks? YOU’RE ON!!!!”
August 17th, 2010 at 9:17 am
“it’s only a model.”
August 17th, 2010 at 9:32 am
“Could we get this damn photo session over with? I gotta meet Zefram Cochrane for happy hour in fifteen minutes.”
August 17th, 2010 at 9:52 am
“Forrest J. Ackerman had three of these in his basement, all cherry.”
August 17th, 2010 at 10:04 am
“Ewoks, I AM your father!”
(can’t believe no one has made an Ewok joke yet…)
August 17th, 2010 at 11:12 am
Fine, alfaniner. This is shot after Master Randi freed us from the lame mind tricks of Sylvia the Hutt and Darth Geller.
“Yub nub, eee chop yub nub;
Ah toe meet toe peechee keene,
G’noop dock fling oh ah.”
August 17th, 2010 at 11:58 am
“So, how do you like my latest Swampgas Edition?”
“Hokey, which one of you smart***es has put a pink unicorn in my hangar?”
August 17th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
“For my next trick, here’s my version of David Copperfield’s Vanishing Statue of Liberty Illusion…”
August 17th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
My X-wing has been here so long, trees have grown up around it.
August 17th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
“We may disagree with Randi on certain points, but we ignore his ability to levitate an X-Wing Fighter at our peril.”
– C. Sagan
August 17th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
get off my lawn…
August 17th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
With your kind indulgence, one last bad joke…
“I was going to perform a card trick, but it appears I’ve forgotten to bring my Svengali Deck.”
August 17th, 2010 at 10:22 pm
“Hey, US Supreme Court …
“Legalize it …
“NOW!”
Or …
… “Don’t Look at me, My PARTNER is The One with The Itchy Trigger-Finger!”
August 18th, 2010 at 5:29 am
(Check out his hands in his pockets)
“Has anyone seen the damn keys for this thing?”
August 18th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
Probably avoiding someone putting his car on blocks. He must have black neighbors.
August 19th, 2010 at 9:08 am
As I said on Twitter the other day, “when 82 years of age you reach, look as good you will not”
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:43 am
“That belongs in a museum!”
Oops, wrong movie reference…