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45%

Submitted by kebernet on Tue, 07/26/2005 - 00:23
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I’m not sure I’m prepared to reveal my personal party stories. Most of the silliest things I’ve heard came from people I know pretty well and who would recognize their role in any such story if they were to read the post (I do like the idea that, if they do read this post, they’ll be running their minds back through the rash comments they may have made to me in a half-soused haze). Rather, I’ll let you have a story from a different setting. About eight years ago I was getting a haircut at a random place to which I never returned. My hairdresser was a very sweet woman who seemed to enjoy chatting with her clients. Part of our conversation went like this: HD: “So what do you do then?� MT: “Oh, I’m a physicist.� HD: “That sounds interesting - what is it?� MT (Thinking a little more specificity is required): “I study cosmology and particle physics. I’m interested in the universe and black holes and the big bang - that sort of thing.� HD: “Yeah, but what sort of thing is it?� MT: “You mean cosmology, or physics, …?� HD: “Whichever. What you do� MT (Trying to make touch with more everyday concepts): “You know, when you look up at the sky, at outer space, you see stars and galaxies. Well I care about the universe - how all that space and those galaxies came into being and behaved between the beginning of the universe and now.� HD: “Hmmm…� MT (Now thinking more generality is needed): “You probably remember physics, from school. You know - figuring out the laws of nature, like gravity and magnetism. How they work. I’m interested in those questions, applied to the universe.� HD: “Yeah, but what is it? Is it dead bodies or what?� MT: “Would you mind using the child-proof scissors please?� OK, so I didn’t actually say the last quote. But I wanted to.
Cosmic Variance You know, I have heard many, many people say many, many stupid things about science. Hell, I still remember a horrible chat at a bar with a guy (whom I later found out the staff called 'Genius Boy') who I somehow ended up trying to explain the difference between an expert system, a knowledge base and a classic AI and how they relate to the Turing Test. However, when I think about horrible science blurbs, the Commander in Chief still takes the cake:
Mars is essentially in the same orbit... Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe.

Comments

RE: 45%

Submitted by atrox (not verified) on Tue, 07/26/2005 - 07:15.
He didnt really say that, from wherest did thou get that quote?. Some scary shit if the President believes the "canals" thing, much less the same orbit, much less if water there is oxygen? Wow. As to the "common man" and science, thats one of the reasons I really loved Carl Sagans work, he connected the way many scientists cannot. I think Brian Greene does some of that now, but Sagan left a void that definitely needs more help to fill. Science is vital stuff, not just some crap those nerds do and pseudoscience is rampant, Micheal Shermer (skpetic.com) and such do a great job of debunking, but its such a noise to signal problem that we end up with the President quoting "canals" on mars, brilliant (and BTW - there is a podcast for "skepticality" now - its in the iTunes dir - good stuff, even had a Shermer interview the other day).

RE: 45%

Submitted by cooper (not verified) on Tue, 07/26/2005 - 09:30.
That was one of the prime choices from the Slate Bushism's collection a while back.

RE: 45%

Submitted by cooper (not verified) on Tue, 07/26/2005 - 09:35.
Actually, I stand corrected. It seems that quote is attributed to Bush, but it was actually Dan Quayle who said it. :P

RE: 45%

Submitted by atrox (not verified) on Tue, 07/26/2005 - 10:12.
Ok so Bush did not say that, thanks for the clarification. Surely that mix up attributing it to him has no basis in the fact that he often says really dumb shit, surely. This is a real Bush example, just to keep the focus on him, nice for the people and all: "My trip to Asia begins here in Japan for an important reason. It begins here because for a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times. From that alliance has come an era of peace in the Pacific." http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1825000/video/_1828526_presser01_bush_vi.ram

RE: 45%

Submitted by jeepmutt (not verified) on Wed, 07/27/2005 - 12:40.
Don't you wonder what the speech writer meant? I'm working on the assumption that he (and all of the others) don't actually write their own speeches, so what I always wonder when people prep him or write the notes or speeches or whatever, "What was the information that that his peeps were *trying* to get him to say or understand?" You know someone gave him a sentence that had 150 years + peace + modern in it. So what was the bit that he dumped on? Maybe its just me.

RE: 45%

Submitted by atrox (not verified) on Wed, 07/27/2005 - 13:45.
Now I will agree that his speechwriter maybe gave him that crapola, but come on, ultimately his words are his responsibility? 150 years of peace with JAPAN? I mean WWII, Pearl Harbor, so on, where his FATHER was a fighter pilot that was shot down? No sir, no escape from this one.

RE: 45%

Submitted by jeepmutt (not verified) on Thu, 07/28/2005 - 07:17.
You misunderstand, I'm not defending his words. I'm really just curious what he was supposed to say. It's like those games played as a kid where the teacher would whisper something in one kids ear and then they'd whisper in the next and then that kid would pass it on, etc. In the end, you ended up with some fucked up garbled version of the original message. I'd just like to know what the original message was supposed to be before it got W-ized.

RE: 45%

Submitted by atrox (not verified) on Thu, 07/28/2005 - 12:34.
I bet he just added 100 or something, just a mental typo. And I sort of understood what you were getting at, I just mean regardless, I know hes not THAT dumb, and I know the speechwriters cringe when he improvs, its just that a mistake like that is ridiculous even if was a "typo".

RE: 45%

Submitted by anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 08/10/2005 - 12:20.
He doubtless meant to say "half a century" rather than "a century and a half". The man has a host of neurological problems including, most likely dyslexia.

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