Slashdot Mirror
Muppets Named Top Scientists
praedictus writes "Apparently Bunsen and Beaker of Muppet fame have been nominated favorite TV scientist in a poll conducted by the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). and the BBC, soundly beating other contenders such as Mr. Spock, and Agent Scully."
Bill Nye the Science Guy or Mr. Wizard?
Oh, and it was an unscientific internet poll.
Why wasn't Quatermass on the short list? It's astounding to think that early TV SF horror shows were broadcast live.
Not a surprise really. Oxford University recently announced that Beaker will be delivering the inaugural lecture for this year's Department of Biochemistry Distinguished Lecture Series. Rumor has it he will address "Neuro-imaging and Neuropathological Studies of Mood Disorders in Primates." Although not widely known, Beaker's contributions to science have far outweighed his achievements in the field of entertainment.
"...all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness..." yada yada
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Am I the only one missing the x-files? What ever happened to it anyway? Wasn't the last season without David Duchovny where it went downhill?
2. That would be only logical.
A Slashdot poll? Surely CowboyNeal would have won it.
called Sigfreud TheCount
You could imagine having him as a teacher "The answer is TWO. TWO!"
...they're not just for /. polls anymore!
What about Samantha Carter from Stargate?
The Swedish Chef had these words of congratulation:
"He-a's a greet mun, a guud freeend. Thees echeeefement feenelly recugneezes zee cuntreebooshuns he-a hes mede-a tu zee sceeence-a und zee betterment ooff hoomuneety. I shell beke-a a ceke-a in hees hunur! Bork Bork Bork!"
This may offend some but Scully is certainly not a scientist. Now, as for Bunsen and Beaker they may have been somewhat inept but scientists they were!!
It has to be Professor Farnsworth
In a forum of virgin nerds, you have to give the nod to Scully.
/^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
Come on! Where's Frink from the Simpsons? Nerdy scientist with Jerry Lewis gyrations... he gets my vote. Maybe the French would have rated him higher too.
Marge : There's a man here who says he can help you.
Homer : Is it Batman?
Marge : He's a scientist.
Homer : Batman's a scientist.
Marge : It's not Batman!
His exact words for YOU, Mr. Anoymous Coward:
"Meep mee, me meep meep meemeemee meep!"
Dag, yo. You got served! You better apologize.
Mee mee meeeee me meeeeee mee meee meeeee. Meeee me meeee mee meeeee me.
e to the pi i plus one equals zero
I mean for gosh sakes, I never saw Scully make a battery out of a coconut!!
Unless Jerry Falwell is one.
From Star Trek Voyager. He's awesome :)
I can't believe slashdot would run a story with that title. "Bunsen, Beaker Named Top Scientists" would have been much more dignified. You would never see "Whites Named Top Scientists" or "Hispanic, Woman Named Top Scientists" would you? Please, Bunsen & Beaker are scientists first, muppets second.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/05/muppets.s cientist.reut/index.html
I like how CNN has a poll on the bottom right and has over 45,000 votes in 1 day, while the original poll only has like 43,000 votes and that took 5 weeks. Not to mention according to CNN spock is the top scientist.
Let me vote ehre and now for the one and only Doctor!
In Soviet Russia you dant have to put up with these crappy jokes
Actually, I thought Dr. Strangelove may have a good chance to win due to his cult status.
They keep talking about some Dr. Who. Never heard of him. Don't they mean Doctor Who?
Argh.
Hmm, think I'll vote for Pons and Fleischmann.....
What is going on in the UK? I thought they were our allies. I mean, before I saw this article, I was a huge fan of Honeydew and Beaker. But after seeing this picture, it is obvious that Dr. Honeydew is a terrorist, and, furthermore, is violating Beaker's civil rights with the electrical cord from a washing machine. This kind of thing cannot be tolerated. What would Mr. Wizard say? And why is Kermit supporting this? If things keep going this way, I know that it is clear to us all that we will have to liberate the citizens of the United Kingdom from the terrorists and cults that are being imposed on them by their evil dictators.
-
Truly one of the funniest things you will ever see.
Doctor who came in third. (sigh)
For me it is a tie between Professor Frink and Professor Farnsworth. Both Matt Groening creations.
When wanting a childhood retreat from the dryness of Bill Nye science, I found much joy in Beakman and his antics. Fact, he should have won.
--
"pain is weakness leaving the body."Fictional characters can be a better role model for young people than real scientists and engineers. Perhaps a few children will think of becoming scientists because of these characters.
"Scotty" on Star Trek has just got his star on the sidewalk (covered by slashdot). Many student engineers at one US school said they were inspired to take engineering by Scotty. (I can't find the link.)
I'd still vote for Beaker and Bunsen. It's refreshing to see a realistic portrayel of the respect scientists have for their assistants. Besides, they aren't cops or adventurers or political advisors or crap like that. They'e scientists! They sit around in a lab and mess around with stuff. If we got to see Bunsen grubbing for grants, it would be perfect.
-aiabx
Just this guy, you know?
More like scienticians. Prof Frink might rate. I would nominate John Harrison from the wonderful A&E adaptation of Longitude. Their list is pretty silly.
Carl Sagan should be #1. Do they get Sagan in Britland?
Muppets are cool but wouldn't it be better if we could get our kids actually excited about REAL SCIENCE rather than things blowing up and cartoon humor.
Then again, more than 50% of the US thinks that creationism should be taught in PUBLIC schools. ("authoratative" source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution)
How about: Wile E. Coyote Super Genius ?
wbs.
Huh?
It's been a long time since I've seen the Muppet Show, but I too was very much a fan of Muppet Labs, where the Future is Being Made Today, with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his faithful assistant Beaker. Doctor Honeydew looked remarkably like a science teacher I had in high school. Liked to sprinkle nitrogen triiodide around the school at Hallowe'en. Bang!
Curiously, when I think of fictional (television or otherwise) women scientists, the two that come to mind (Professor Sam Ryan and Dr. Kay Scarpetta) are both forensic pathologists. Hmmm...
...laura
They seem pretty popular - I am watching a back to back CSI labour day marathon on Spike.
I heard enrollment in forensics college courses is way up on account of that program.
My rights don't need management.
...a few years ago, I was visiting a local videostore, suddenly feeling the need to see Peter Sellers again in his wonderful appearance of the mad german scientist.
:)
I asked the clerk if he could provide me with the movie "Dr.Strangelove".
Immediately, the man points to the back of the store : the x-rated section...
I guess most people seeing the vote were disgusted when they saw this name in the contest
Slashdot: stuff for news, nerds that matter, matter for news, stuff that nerd
I cant believe scully didn't get it. She was always doing autopsies, and she was hot. In the early episode, you even go booby shots.
That beets a muppet any day.
ebay
That muppet like show "Dinosaurs" was hilarious, they had a Mr. Wizard clone called "Mr. Lizard" IIRC. He was always wasting his kid assistants with bad science going even worse--> BOOM! "Oh well, guess we need ~another~ Billy!"
You'll notice Beaker and Honeydew were the only traditional scientists on the list. Mr. Spock, the doctor, and Dana are more explorers than scientists, Q is an engineer, Frank 'n Furter, Mr Evil, and Dr Frankenstein are, well, mad. Dr Strangelove is a consultant. Even Emmett Brown is portreyed as more mad than scientist.
Why not include more traditional scientists on the list, such as Bill Nye, Mr. Wizard, or popular untraditional ones like Peter Venkmin or the Answer Guys?
The ______ Agenda
Actually, if you look, the CNN article has an internet poll attached, and if you look at the results of that poll, Spock is winning by a large margin.
La primera pregunta es: Que es mas macho, MacGuyver o pineapple?
Nothing like a good muppet to beat humans/Vulcans, at least on TV.
Po' Scotty and Spock.
/b
|f(x)dx = F(b) - F(a)
Bunsen and Beaker ... have been nominated favorite TV scientist ... soundly beating other contenders such as Mr. Spock, and Agent Scully.
Sounds like they won, instead of just being nominated.
Punctanym: alternate spelling of words using punctuation or numerals in place of some or all of its letters; see 'leet'
For duplicate stories.
From Star Trek Voyager. He's awesome :)
;-)
I liked him better when he wore the big green H on his forehead.
You can't take the sky from me...
Where is the CowboyNeal option??
The first one was highlighted, and went on and on about how he was going to use ropes, wind them around the stone and unwind it. They went into pretty good detail, interviewing the professor and students.
The view switched to the other team, all staring at a giant rock, and the narrarator chimed in with "Professor Soandso's method, on the other hand, involves..." and I cut in with "...rolling the huge stone over the screaming bodies of grad students".
Which pretty much sums up how science works these days.
--
Evan "+1 Funny for those who have been there"
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
I'd rather fsck Scully.
What is slashdot?
Is the same... I expect the same low turn-out of around 26% voted - the same people that voted Tony Bliar into Dictatorship (and he has done a far site better than Hitler and Napolean ever wanted to do to England).
Beakman and his truly luscious assistant Leeza rocked. Lester the rat was cool too. On second thought, I'll just take Leeza.
When all else fails, run.
Ahhh... Peter Venkman. Yes.
Now you got me wishing for the ultimate 80's sci-fi team up: Venkman, doc Brown and Buckarro Banzai fighting pan-dimensional time-travelling ghosts!
: )
You can't take the sky from me...
Bill Nye is a weak white-bread second-hand clone of Beakman, and does not deserve to be on any list of anything.
Note that in the link above, you'll find that by amazing coinceidence a Beakman DVD is due out tomorrow! For those of you not privledged enough to see science done with a guy in a giant rat suit for a sidekick, you owe it to yourself to spend the $10 and get a copy.
I'll still place Dr. Bunsen Honeydew in the lead though - but followed by Beakman.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
This is kind of a repeat of a reply post I just did, but it is important enough to bring to the top level - A Beakman's World DVD is due out tommorrow (September 7th)! Only $10.
Show support for a show that never should have been taken off the air, and throw a copy of any Bill Nye stuff you happen to see on teh ground in a gesture of disgust.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
we could somehow get these guys into farscape.....
It's a British poll.
"2) I wonder what the poll results would be if it was conducted as a Slashdot poll? I'm guessing Spock would win due to the nerd contingent."
He's lost, Jim. There's nothing I can do.
I have gas, but my car uses petrol.
How on earth did this get modded insightful? Mods who use the Oscars as their only authoritative source for the meaning of words?
Nominate:
To name, or designate by name, for an office or place; to appoint
"Buddha! Zeus! God! one of you guys do something! . . . Help! Satan! You owe me!!!"
"I still don't understand why you wouldn't let me craft a laser cannon onto your chest, to crush those who disobey you..."
"Sure, everyone's always in favor of saving Hitler's brain, but put it in the body of a great white shark... oooooh, suddenly you've gone too far!"
As we used to say in Old Europe.
"...and through the magic of the Enlarge-o-matic, Beaker can more easily study this common household germ."
"WRAAAAR!" "MEEEEEEEP!"
"...and vise-versa!"
Please help metamoderate.
Professor Magnus Pyke?
Sir Patrick Moore?
Professor Lord Robert Winston?
Professor Sir David Bellamy?
Sir David Attenborough?
None of them anywhere in the top ten. Sigh...
I hate to tell you, but most of us (myself included) are still excited by blowing things up and antics. Look at the computer games we talk about - Doom, Half-Life, etc.
Besides, wouldn't you rather the kids watch Bunsen and Beaker than Pokemon?
"Even Emmett Brown is portreyed as more mad than scientist."
It's been a while since I saw the trilogy, but what 'madness' did he perform that outweighed his scientific tendenancies?
*Genuinely curious*
"Derp de derp."
Apparently things got really tough after the show was axed. Desperate to pay off the civil suit brought against him by Beaker, he went to Iraq and worked on Saddam's REALLY Big Rubber Hammer project. He was later killed in Belgium in what was believed to be a Mossad hit.
Mod this guy up, he is right after all....
...listed on Google under "stoned chick".
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Dr. Emmett Brown : The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?
Dr. Emmett Brown : What on Earth's this thing I'm wearing?
Marty McFly : Ah, this, this is a radiation suit.
Dr. Emmett Brown : Radiation suit? Of course, because of all the fallout from the atomic wars.
Dr. Emmett Brown : If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour... you're gonna see some serious shit.
Marty McFly : Wait a minute, Doc, are you trying to tell me that my mother has got the hots for me?
Dr. Emmett Brown : Precisely.
Marty McFly : Whoa, this is heavy.
Dr. Emmett Brown : There's that word again; "heavy". Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the earth's gravitational pull?
Marty McFly : So does it run on regular unleaded gasoline?
Dr. Emmett Brown : Unfortunately no, it needs something with a little more kick - plutonium.
Marty McFly : Plutonium... wait, are you telling me that this sucker is nuclear?
Dr. Emmett Brown : No no no, this sucker's electrical, but it requires a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity I need.
Marty McFly : Doc, you don't just walk into a store and buy plutonium... did you rip that off?
Dr. Emmett Brown : Shhhhhh. Of course. From a group of Libyan nationalists. They wanted me to build them a bomb, so I took their plutonium and in turn, gave them a shiny bomb-casing filled with used pinball machine parts
[seeing a poster for the Enchantment Under the Sea dance]
Dr. Emmett Brown : Look. There's a rhythmic ceremonial ritual coming up.
Doc : The time-traveling is just too dangerous. Better that I devote myself to study the other great mystery of the universe: women!
Marty McFly : That's right, Doc. November 12, 1955.
Doc : Unbelievable, that old Biff could have chosen that particular date. It could mean that, that point in time inherently contains some sort of cosmic significance. Almost as if it were the junction point for the entire space-time continuum. On the other hand, it could just be an amazing coincidence.
Young Doc : No wonder this circuit failed. It says "Made in Japan".
Marty McFly : What do you mean, Doc? All the best stuff is made in Japan.
Young Doc : Unbelievable.
Doc : Clara was one in a million. One in a billion. One in a googolplex!
The ______ Agenda
Someone care to oblige and make this happen? /my bet on Spock
--
Try Nuggets, the new question answering search engine per SMS.
What about Beakman from the beackman's Show.
We want Seven of Nine. Now she's AWESOME!!!!!
The Doctor third? I'm mortified!
My Wife who is a Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist, told me that when she was in graduate school she worked in a lab run by Dr. Honeydue and that his assistant was Beaker. Those were not their real names, which the Muppets changed to protect themselves from lawsuits, but that was them. They worked at large hospital in New York City and that is the only clue I am going to give you.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
images to prove it here
What with me having ginger hair and being tall and uncoordinated and having a more than passing intrest in science, I spent 6 years of secondary school with the nickname "Beaker"
/. therapy.
I hated it. I loathed it. and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I tried everything that I had ever heard of, "Ignore them they will get bored and stop", bollox, they never get tired of humiliating you and if they do then its only someone elses turn.
"Fight back, attack is the best form of defense." Bollox, how exactly do you take on the whole school?
"Tell a teacher, they can get it stopped." well Bollox again, the bloody teachers where useing the nickname aswell.
I had really had enough when a teacher called me Beaker. As I got older the name was still there used by everybody even first years soon got in on the act, shout "Beaker" and run. I could not leave that school fast enough and get away and meet people who didnt know me as Beaker.
I am still nervouse and go quite if a conversation turns to nicknames at school.
Well... what a lot of anger I had. quite suprised myself.
The Muppets is hardly ever shown here, and doesn't have the same status as either Dr Who or Star Trek.
Someone somewhere set up a script or got the word out very well on some Muppet boards.
That quote is definitely from the roadrunner.
Stop worrying about the risks of nuclear power and start worrying about the risks of not using nuclear power.
The Ghostbusters were scientists. Sure, they had the odd job or two, but that was just gathering samples for their analysis. Maybe not Peter Venkman, he wasn't really on task most of the time.
Now, if Scully was trying to get a Toyota Rav4 to run around the California desert autonomously, then I would grant the laurel of scientist to her. Do all of you who got Computer Science degrees think you are doing computer science inside an IT department?
Where is the professor from Gilligan's Island!? He was a genius that could make a nuke out of coconuts and vines!!! So maybe he was blinded by his own greatness and was unable to fix a small 3' diameter hole in a boat! Big deal! He kept that radio working for 15 years!! I'd like to see ANY engineering student keep a crap radio like that working! HA! HAHA!! MUAHHAHAH!!!!!
-=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
On the Saturday morning kid's show 'Land of the Lost' (am I just showing my age?)
considering they both started on air at the same time (1993), I find it hard for one to be a clone of the other
Looks like the file is corrupt.
Julius Sumner Miller? Physics was his business! http://au.geocities.com/rocket42au/jsm/
Obviously the polls were rigged!
Debunking the "59 Deceits"
Correction: I want Dr. Egon Spengler, not Venkman.
;-)
I got the names confused. Venkman was just the front man, with no real scientific passion. Egon is the man. He designed all the gear, he develloped all the theories, he made the speech about the twinky.
Venkman is Egon's Marty McFly, he's lovable, but replacable
You can't take the sky from me...