Category Archives: Joke

Joke, Philosophy

Science delusion

It is a bit annoying. If you google for science delusion, you are only referred to Sheldrake. But this is not what I wanted, I was more interested in mad scientists. Not Frankenstein, not Moreau not Dr. Faustus not any literary character, some more real life figures. Also not Venter. But here comes something interesting

In 1951, entomologist Jay Traver published in the Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington [Traver, J. (1951). Unusual scalp dermatitis in humans caused by the mite, dermatophagoides (Acarina, epidermoptidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 53(1), 1-25.] her personal experiences with a mite infestation of her scalp that resisted all treatment and was undetectable to anyone other than herself. Traver is recognized as having suffered from Delusory Parasitosis: her paper shows her to be a textbook case of the condition. The Traver paper is unique in the scientific literature in that its conclusions may be based on data that was unconsciously fabricated by the author's mind.

The author ( Matan Shelomi, Mad Scientist: The Unique Case of a Published Delusion Matan Shelomi, Sci Eng Ethics (2013) 19:381-388) believes that a possible retraction of the 1951 paper raises the issue of discrimination against the mentally ill – others may consider this as delusionary correctness.

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 29.07.2026
Joke, Software

Der Ramstetter Faktor 10,0613083

Jahrelang mussten sich das die ADAC Motorwelt Leser antun, jeden Monat neu, 15 Jahre lang, den einseitigen Autolobbyismus des Michael Ramstetter. Und jetzt ist sie auch quasi amtlich

die Zahl, mit der der mittlerweile ausgeschiedene ADAC-Pressechef Ramstetter die tatsächlich abgegebenen Stimmen bei der ADAC-Wahl zum “Gelben Engel” aufgepimpt hat

Der Spiegel hat wohl etwas gerundet in seinem Artikel, Continue reading Der Ramstetter Faktor 10,0613083 →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 29.07.2026
Joke, Philosophy, Software

Bad news are good news

e! Science News reports a new study in EPJ Data Science by Marcel Salathé showing that anti-vaccination sentiments spread more easily than pro-vaccination sentiments.

We find that the effects of neighborhood size and exposure intensity are qualitatively very different depending on the type of sentiment. Generally, we find that larger numbers of opinionated neighbors inhibit the expression of sentiments. We also find that exposure to negative sentiment is contagious

Read the full paper for the tricky design – at least the results fully underpin daily life experience. It’s certainly much easier to do Twitter than Facebook studies on the other hand these rather short messages are certainly not the main channel of many great “opinionated” people.

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 29.07.2026
Joke

Stultitia loquitur

Having seen so nice pictures of Erasmus this week at “Dürer, Cranach, Holbein, Die Entdeckung des Menschen: Das deutsche Portrait um 1500” I had to look his famous quote

Utcumque de me vulgo mortales loquuntur – neque enim sum nescia, quam male audiatur STVLTITIA etiam apud stultissimos – tamen hanc esse, hanc, inquam, esse unam, quae meo numine Deos atque homines exhilaro. Vel illud abunde magnum est argumentum, quod simulatque in hunc coetum frequentissimum dictura prodii, sic repente omnium vultus nova quadam atque insolita hilaritate enituerunt: Sic subito frontem exporrexistis, sic laeto quodam et amabili applausistis risu, ut mihi profecto – quotquot undique praesentes intueor – pariter deorum Homericorum nectare non sine νεπενθη temulenti esse videamini, cum antehac tristes ac solliciti sederitis.

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 29.07.2026
Joke

It’s all electric now … The 1200 Watt bicylce

There has been so much progress with electric motors and high capacity batteries finally reaching widespread use. There are kayaks with an electrict support (Torqeed here in Starnberg, that I wished to have one yesterday at Ammersee). There are engines for ultralight planes like the Electraflyer while I just read at science.slashdot about an electric airplance.

The most fascinating piece, however, I have seen last Sunday at bike expo here in Munich is a 1200 Watt kit that can be mounted on most frames of current MTBs. Tthat’s a lot of savings compared to buying a custom built e-bike like the KTM eGnition, Elmoto, eRockit, Grace or eSpire that all come at weights of 25-35 kg.

The kit will be sold by the next month by ego-kits.com while here are two pictures from the Munich fair.


Continue reading It’s all electric now … The 1200 Watt bicylce →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 29.07.2026
Joke, Software

Less than one mistake in every 6 million deliveries

I have seen recently a TV documentation about the Dabbawalas in Mumbai who deliver freshly cooked food to the workplaces and return the empty boxes back to the customer’s home. According to Wikiedia.

In 2002, Forbes Magazine found its reliability to be that of a six sigma standard. More than 175,000 or 200,000 lunch boxes get moved every day by an estimated 4,500 to 5,000 dabbawalas, all with an extremely small nominal fee and with utmost punctuality Continue reading Less than one mistake in every 6 million deliveries →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 29.07.2026
Joke, Theology

Open letter

a screenshot from Pubmed without words

probably as good as an email that I received recently:

This is the final reminder of your registration.
THE ABOVE BARCODE CONTAINS YOUR BADGE AND TICKET INFORMATION!
Please be sure to PRINT out this e-mail and BRING it with you to the meeting. The barcode included on this reminder will speed you through the registration and materials pick-up area.
…
Please consider the environment before printing this email.

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 29.07.2026