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Cosmic Variance
« The Black Hole War
Matter v Antimatter II: Electroweak Baryogenesis »

The Things That It Discovers Will Rock You In The Head

by Sean Carroll

I suspect the LHC must be close to ready — they’re coming out with rap videos now.

Via Adam at US/LHC Blogs, although the video was posted by writer/rapper Katherine McAlpine, formerly of Physics Buzz.

Share

July 28th, 2008 3:20 PM
in Humor, Music, Science and Society | 24 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

24 Responses to “The Things That It Discovers Will Rock You In The Head”

  1. 1.   Bside Says:
    July 28th, 2008 at 3:43 pm

    Sean,

    That video makes me wish that little black holes will form and suck the earth into oblivion. Because that would mean the video would also disappear forever. But thank you for your fine work otherwise, sir.

    b

  2. 2.   oh dear Says:
    July 28th, 2008 at 4:07 pm

    talk about cringe-worthy…

  3. 3.   Rien Says:
    July 28th, 2008 at 4:44 pm

    Ouch. If you want to prove that physicists don’t have a clue, this is the perfect way. Average Homeboy without the laughs.

  4. 4.   jiminy Says:
    July 28th, 2008 at 5:31 pm

    and if you wanted to prove that blog commenters were humourless stiffs, this thread would be a good start.

  5. 5.   andy.s Says:
    July 28th, 2008 at 5:55 pm

    I think the Hawking voice synth was a nice touch.

    Shall we flag this as a sign that silly season is almost here?

  6. 6.   Aramael Says:
    July 28th, 2008 at 6:00 pm

    This is one of the most wonderful things I have ever seen — no sarcasm, no irony. This is brilliant. I think there is a, shall we say, peanut gallery, that believes SCIENCE! is too important for these sorts of antics, but to them I would say, think of the children. Wait, I would never say that, that phrase has been completely appropriated by the far right.

    What I will say is that this video is, in terms of public relations, worth a hundred papers, and if you don’t think PR is important, you obviously don’t give a crap about what the next generation is going to be doing.

    Hi! I’m Aramael, I’m normally a very nice person.

  7. 7.   The Subtle Rudder » Blog Archive » Dropping dark matter on yr. ass Says:
    July 28th, 2008 at 6:00 pm

    [...] Via [...]

  8. 8.   mogget03 Says:
    July 28th, 2008 at 6:01 pm

    I really like this. The Hawking voice is very reminiscent of MC Hawking. There’s actually a “genre” of rap about science and the like called nerdcore.

    Why can’t science be funny?

  9. 9.   Evan Says:
    July 28th, 2008 at 6:17 pm

    This is awesome, but in a totally nerdy, almost embarrassing way. I think its mad sweet, but it is probably a bit too nerdy for those who like science but aren’t ‘hardcore’, or ‘nerdcore’ if you will. The problem with things like this is that you already have to buy into the awesomeness of the LHC, for instance, to get past the dorky aspect. But even still, its awesome, funny and needs a whole album!
    Smugness serves nothing but extinction!

  10. 10.   Flaming Pope Says:
    July 28th, 2008 at 8:26 pm

    Reminds me of that scene in the Incredible Hulk. “Stupid Graduate Students”

    lol – but seriously, the video still showed them piecing the thing together, though hard to tell on the large scale however. Its supposed to be up and running this year so I wouldn’t be too surprised to find out the students aren’t needed for the final stages of completion.

  11. 11.   Rien Says:
    July 28th, 2008 at 8:32 pm

    #4 jiminy:
    Yes, or that some of them are so humorless that they laugh at anything. You know, if you find everything or anything funny, you don’t have a sense of humor either ;-)

  12. 12.   Aaron Says:
    July 28th, 2008 at 8:51 pm

    This was gold! What’s wrong with you people?

    Song is like a real-life ‘intergalactic’ (beastie boys)

  13. 13.   michael Says:
    July 29th, 2008 at 12:19 am

    I’ll admit my first thought at the suggestion was, why waste the effort on something like that…. Then I got jealous and realized the last time condensed matter physics had a music video it was made by Hitachi to announce perpendicular magnetic storage bits.

    http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/research/recording_head/pr/PerpendicularAnimation.html

    Sigh… Why can’t we make something better than that? Taking your message to the public (even if a bit wacky) : High Energy Physics 10, Condensed Matter 0.5

    Michael

  14. 14.   Lawrence B. Crowell Says:
    July 29th, 2008 at 12:26 am

    It is a curious aspect of the modern world. While our science, mathematics and technology has risen to amazing heights, in our age things like the arts, music, architecture have sunk into the toilet.

    Lawrence B. Crowell

  15. 15.   Harold Says:
    July 29th, 2008 at 3:16 am

    I was just going to post in the comments of the previous post a link to this video. Thanks for spreading the word yo!

  16. 16.   Pieter Kok Says:
    July 29th, 2008 at 3:36 am

    Aaron, please do not compare this to the Beastie Boys.

  17. 17.   World… Just push the button. « Begrenzte Wissenschaft Says:
    July 29th, 2008 at 5:31 am

    [...] Cosmic Variance und US LHC [...]

  18. 18.   mk Says:
    July 29th, 2008 at 9:49 am

    Wow!

    For #s 1, 2 and 3… Seriously kids, lighten up. Longer, happier life will follow. Sheesh.

  19. 19.   Sili Says:
    July 29th, 2008 at 11:40 am

    Why Lead by the way? Can’t they get their hands on a bit of Uranium? Or is bigger not better in this case?

  20. 20.   Sili Says:
    July 29th, 2008 at 11:46 am

    Oh! And why don’t the three other forces escape into the extra dimensions like Gravity does?

  21. 21.   gyokusai Says:
    July 29th, 2008 at 4:32 pm

    Lawrence B. Crowell sez:

    It is a curious aspect of the modern world. While our science, mathematics and technology has risen to amazing heights, in our age things like the arts, music, architecture have sunk into the toilet.

    Well we’re certainly glad to hear that the fine art of apocalyptic doomsday comment, in contrast, is far from moribund in the modern world.

    Cheers,
    ^_^J.

  22. 22.   Lauren Says:
    July 30th, 2008 at 10:25 am

    Are you kidding? All the haters need to re-evaluate. This video is awesome. It’s tacky, goofy, poorly shot… and completely thrilled to be itself. It’s hilarious and accurate.

    Any way (even the super-dorky ones) to help spread the word on the fascinating new ideas coming/set-to-come out of CERN is good.

    It need not be Art to be clever and valuable… and fun.

  23. 23.   Me Says:
    July 31st, 2008 at 6:16 am

    I want one of those CERN Fiats.

  24. 24.   The First Excited State Says:
    August 5th, 2008 at 11:47 am

    LHC Rap Video…

    You might have seen this already, but it’s just too good not to post:

    The vibe is decidedly old school, with straight delivery reminiscent of early rappers like Kurtis Blow or the Sugar Hill Gang.  (In fact, since the rapper is a woman, it actu…





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