EPMA Humor

[John Donovan]

This topic is for silly science humor that you just can't resist sharing with others.

I'll start with this: the venerable Edwards 306A carbon coater:



Did you ever notice that the power knob "goes to eleven"?  Here's a close up:



For those of you not in the know, here's the relevant wiki page for the phrase:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_to_eleven

When I first noticed this I happened to be talking to an Edwards service engineer (to order a new variac) and asked him if this was a tribute to the movie "Spinal Tap", but he sadly informed me that the coater knob predated the movie by a decade or so.

Of course it could be that the Edwards carbon coater knob engineer was referencing the locomotive engine that "Goes to eleven" mentioned in the above wiki page!   Anyway, here's the clip from the movie for those that are interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOO5S4vxi0o

And here is XKCD's take on the meme (attached).

[Richard Walshaw]

I'm not sure this counts as humour, but its amusing me at the moment,
here's the current view from my desk.......
it was a gift from my new favourite PhD student.
I'm making this an essential condition of all future instrument bookings.

[John Donovan]

This isn't EPMA humor specifically, but it is related, and as Julien Allaz pointed out to me, he's currently working with HVAC contractors for his lab renovation.

This is a shot (see attached photo) from a restaurant that Barb and I ate at this evening.

I'd like to met the trades person that did this work and shake their hand!
john

[John Donovan]

Here's a closeup of this amazing HVAC work (see attached- remember you have to be logged in to see attachments).

[Richard Walshaw]

Happy St Patrick's Day Y'all!

(I love these little inclusions in PfE)

[John Donovan]

Happy St Patrick's Day Y'all!

(I love these little inclusions in PfE)

These little messages are only for "special" users, but thank-you!



By the way everyone, I don't mean to exclude anyone, so if you'd like to also be a "special" user and see these cute little messages a few times a year, please let me know and I'll add you to the list!   

[Probeman]

This is a bit of a "blast from the past", but it's one of my favorite pictures.  It was taken while the four of us were treking in... *Mordor*  (lights dim momentarily...).  Actually of course it was during our visit to the Kilauea eruption in 2015, but I just had to use the LotR font!

[Mike Matthews]

Happy St Patrick's Day Y'all!

(I love these little inclusions in PfE)

These little messages are only for "special" users, but thank-you!



By the way everyone, I don't mean to exclude anyone, so if you'd like to also be a "special" user and see these cute little messages a few times a year, please let me know and I'll add you to the list!   

Who could say no to that!

[Probeman]

See attached pdf below for an example of a typical calm and dignified scientific discussion at the last EMAS meeting in Konstantz...

photo credit: Richard Walshaw

[Probeman]

A handy flow chart for the night sky...

[Probeman]

Maybe this is something that everyone knows already, but I was recently looking into some possible "localization" issues regarding the asterisk character. That is to say the "*" character.

This character is sometimes referred to as the "wildcard" character as well, because when you use it, at say a command prompt, e.g., dir *, one gets everything listed. So the asterisk could be thought of as the "everything" character!

Now the ASCII decimal code for the asterisk character is 42, which is also interesting because 42 is the answer to the question: What is the meaning of life?, from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, of course. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrases_from_The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#The_number_42

42 is also the 2nd two byte word in every TIFF file, which according to my Microsoft-Aldus documentation is "for deep philosophical reasons".

So that must mean that the simple asterisk, is the answer to the "what is the meaning of life?" question, that philosophers have pondered over since the dawn of time. And that answer is of course, *everything*!   

john

[Probeman]

I hope Richard Walshaw doesn't mind me posting this but he sent me this video of his brass band playing a tune for the season:

https://youtu.be/pZVWbp_OTB8

I think Richard is behind the tuba on the left. He says:  "Here's me and my band playing with our youth bands. About 70 of us altogether. Ages ranging 6-65."

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.
john

[Probeman]

https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/error_bars.png



https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/models_of_the_atom.png

[Anette von der Handt]

This might fit in as well



https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/curve_fitting.png

[Probeman]

This was published in our local paper today:



It made me smile, but I wonder how many readers got the reference?