This made me laugh.
If you don’t get it, this might help. Well, this too.
Found at BuzzFeed who actually found it at, of all places, Hemant Mehta’s Friendly Atheist, who heard about it from Rebecca!
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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.
The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking, movie reviews, and all that) can be found here.
Contact me: The Bad Astronomer "at" gmail "dot" com
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March 9th, 2011 at 7:07 am
Brilliant!
Thanks for the laugh.
March 9th, 2011 at 7:10 am
In my world Carl Sagan is as sexy as Isaiah Mustafa. Well, almost!
March 9th, 2011 at 7:22 am
There’s a Grover version as well…”Smell like a monster”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkd5dJIVjgM
March 9th, 2011 at 7:24 am
Genius!
March 9th, 2011 at 7:35 am
Dangit…photo’s blocked
Anyway, I’ve noticed your new banner. Who came up with that, I wonder?
March 9th, 2011 at 7:36 am
Sorry to have to say this, but the little astronaut in the “Bad Astronomy” header looks like he’s takin a pee…
March 9th, 2011 at 7:38 am
I kept expecting it to say “THE PLANET IS NOW DIAMONDS!”, oh well.
I can’t decide whether I should have that guy’s voice or Sagan’s voice reading the lines in my head. I suppose Sagan wouldn’t be quick enough.
BTW, your new banner…why is he in a spacesuit when he’s so clearing standing on a bright sunny Earth day?
March 9th, 2011 at 7:44 am
@4
same reaction
—–
can’t get anything to load that explains the horse
just a deodorant commercial?
March 9th, 2011 at 7:44 am
Am I the only one who thought this was gonna be a Dune reference.
March 9th, 2011 at 7:51 am
@6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE&feature=related
Gotta watch the entire thing.
March 9th, 2011 at 7:52 am
That’s too brilliant. Oh man, I laughed so hard at this!!
March 9th, 2011 at 7:56 am
@ Caleb (7) -
No, not just you.
March 9th, 2011 at 8:02 am
When I first saw this title, I thought it had something to do with Dune. I was wrong, but still very happy when I saw the .gif!
March 9th, 2011 at 8:03 am
I prefer the Sesame Street version of the Old Spice commercial (especially because it has my favorite muppet, Grover): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkd5dJIVjgM
March 9th, 2011 at 8:05 am
I see I’m not the only one. Also not the only one who noticed the urinating astronaut. =)
March 9th, 2011 at 8:14 am
@7: Same.
And I must agree Murff that the astronaut actually does look like he’s doing that…so who designed this, Phil?
March 9th, 2011 at 8:15 am
@Jeffersonian
Scroll down to “The Man Your Man…” and play that one.
@Murff
Ditto.
March 9th, 2011 at 8:16 am
thought it was a dune reference too.
March 9th, 2011 at 8:31 am
The Cthulu version is funny too.
March 9th, 2011 at 8:40 am
I also thought of “Dune” when I first saw the title. I am happy to see that I am not alone in thinking that.
GMTA, I guess. LOL
March 9th, 2011 at 8:45 am
[...] at Pale blue spice | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine Other Results :UPDATED HOURLY – NEWS – World Premiere! Big Shane feat Trae & Zed Zilla – G Til [...]
March 9th, 2011 at 8:58 am
I’m going to add myself to the list of people who were expecting a Dune joke from the title.
March 9th, 2011 at 9:00 am
@15 Well, it’s appropriate since he is apparently at Uran-us.
March 9th, 2011 at 9:14 am
Amazing how many of us read “spice” and immediately thought of Dune…
March 9th, 2011 at 9:32 am
I just snorted coffee out of my nose! BRILLIANT!
March 9th, 2011 at 9:41 am
That’s not an astronaut in the banner, it’s Adam Savage.
March 9th, 2011 at 10:32 am
@7 Arick Rice:
“BTW, your new banner…why is he in a spacesuit when he’s so clearing standing on a bright sunny Earth day?”
The trail of his urine goes all the way around the planet, so he’s either in orbit (and had a very full bladder) or it’s a very small planet (I bet the Little Prince has problems like that).
March 9th, 2011 at 10:36 am
26 Bart Says
That’s not an astronaut in the banner, it’s Adam Savage.
Yes, and don’t try this at home. He’s what you call an expert..
March 9th, 2011 at 10:44 am
Genius! ROFL
March 9th, 2011 at 11:00 am
Minos @ 27: Man – you beat me to it, about Adam’s urine going into orbit… Too funny!
Cheers, Regner
March 9th, 2011 at 12:31 pm
You couldn’t fool me with that BA logo. Everyone knows that spacesuits don’t have flies, because they’re unisex… well, that, and the escape velocity of urine. I think.
March 9th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
Steve,
You probably mean specific impulse rather than escape velocity (although escape velocity gets the meaning across.)
I can’t remember title nor author, but there was a science fiction story in which the suit’s urine repository was the key to getting a drifting astronaut back to his ship.
March 9th, 2011 at 1:18 pm
The guy who does the amazingly funny ‘Engineer’s Guide to Cats’ also does a take on the Old Spice commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zJKpiMlgFA
March 9th, 2011 at 2:39 pm
[...] Bad Astronomy If you don’t get it, this might help. Well, this too. GA_googleFillSlot("468x60_default"); [...]
March 9th, 2011 at 3:28 pm
Ha ha. Now that you mention it, the idea of the astronaut trying to blast himself into orbit by taking a leak is a whole lot more funny than the way I mentally pictured it, which was as a stream of urine orbiting the planet (thus the escape velocity allusion). Go figure.
March 9th, 2011 at 3:37 pm
A misleadingly Dune-ish reference and a peeing astronaut? “The urine must flow.”
Now I want to send a letter to Old Spice complaining that I’ve been drinking ther product for years and it hasn’t slowed down my aging or enhanced my prescience one bit.
March 9th, 2011 at 5:36 pm
Wow, imagine starting a new topic and all the critical thinkers are in the toilet. Kinda off base for the topic at hand. I have “The Pale Blue Dot” on mp3 and listen to it every so often. Can’t say I remember the spice side of things though so the humour is lost on me on this one. bummer.
March 9th, 2011 at 5:40 pm
That is pure brilliance. I am still laughing over that.
March 9th, 2011 at 7:44 pm
I didn’t see an astronaut urinating. Now I can’t see anything but. Thanks. Thanks a lot.
As for the gif display, quite funny.
March 9th, 2011 at 8:54 pm
(After I posted, the post was changed. I was referring to:
@6 I, too, first thought it was an astronaut peeing; still looks like it
@10 Thanx for update. Earlier, the link went to a different Old Spice commercial, sans horse)
March 9th, 2011 at 9:53 pm
This is 99.9999% pure, refined win.
March 9th, 2011 at 9:58 pm
Regarding the astronaut – it looks like s/he’s standing on a surface, in an Apollo-type suit (as opposed to floating in an orbital EVA suit), and the background is green and blue, as if the astronaut is on earth, but there are planets hanging from strings in the background, as if they’re props. Is this a reference to the “moon-landing hoax” conspiracy theory? And if so, why on earth would Phil make it his logo? Unless I’m missing the intentional irony, or something.
Jeez, I didn’t even see the astronaut as urinating until everyone brought it up! Bah!
Now I’m trying to picture a urine-ring around a planet.
Actually, Phobos has an escape velocity of about 40 kph, so if you stood on a high point and peed in the right direction… Of course, in a pressure suit, I’m not sure how you’d do it. You’d need to design a compression suit, probably one that’d only work for men. One that’d cover absolutely everything except for a very tiny hole for the end of… er… ok, I’m gonna stop right there.
*trying to get the image of vacuum-bruised genitals out of my head*
March 9th, 2011 at 10:34 pm
Awww, Carl. Back when Science was still popular.
March 10th, 2011 at 12:00 am
@42 Joseph G, end of second paragraph: HAHAHAHAHAHA! Hahahahahaha! Gawd. And I also thought it was about Dune.
March 10th, 2011 at 12:18 am
At the risk of offending language purists like myself –
OMG – ROFLMAO!
March 10th, 2011 at 1:13 am
Great one for Carl, enjoyed it.
As others have mentioned it, on your new Astronaut looks like he is taking a leak.
March 10th, 2011 at 5:14 am
Brilliant!
March 10th, 2011 at 10:43 am
I read this in Isaiah’s voice…
March 10th, 2011 at 12:17 pm
Nice one! I’ll be passing it on
March 10th, 2011 at 8:03 pm
[...] Via Boingboing, Bad Astronomy [...]
March 11th, 2011 at 7:29 am
[...] Pale Blue Spice [...]
March 13th, 2011 at 7:01 am
[...] Carl Sagan is Awesome. Share and Enjoy: [...]
March 14th, 2011 at 7:35 am
[...] Pale blue spice [...]
June 4th, 2011 at 12:53 pm
Well done…
I’ve got the Old Spice – but no style.
Best Regards,
Frank Hatch
Initial Mass Displacements