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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.
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
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!"
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
His exact words for YOU, Mr. Anoymous Coward:
"Meep mee, me meep meep meemeemee meep!"
Dag, yo. You got served! You better apologize.
I mean for gosh sakes, I never saw Scully make a battery out of a coconut!!
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.
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.)
...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
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
"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!"