Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: [Phys-l] scientists are wimps



That was probably not to Ze-ev's taste - here's an equal-opportunity
somewhat racist joke - that may have more chuckle value?

Mexican Jews
Two old Jewish men, Sid and Al, are sitting in a Mexican restaurant in
Los Angeles one day.
Sid asks Al, 'Do you know of any people of our faith born and raised in
Mexico ?'
Al replies, 'I don't know, let's ask our waiter.
When the waiter arrives, Al asks, 'Are there any Mexican Jews?'
The waiter says, 'I don't know senor, I ask the cooks.'
He returns from the kitchen after a few minutes and says,
'No senor, the cook say no Mexican Jews.'
Al isn't satisfied and asks, 'Are you absolutely sure?'
The waiter, realizing he is dealing with 'Gringos' replies, 'I check
once again, senor!'
and goes back into the kitchen.
While the waiter is away, Sid says, 'I find it hard to believe that
there are no Jews
in Mexico . Our people are scattered everywhere.'
The waiter returns and says, 'Senor, the head cook say there is no
Mexican Jews.'
'Are you certain?' Al asks again. 'I just can't believe there are no
Mexican Jews!'
'SENOR, I ask EVERYONE,' replies the exasperated waiter, '
All we have is Orange Jews, Grape Jews, Prune Jews, and Tomato Jews.

***
On a more serious political note: though the Jewish homeland would be
USA, based on population count - 700,000 more than Israel - Mexico is
home to 39,000 jews, about 0.04% of that population (src: Wiki)
Israel is a nuclear state however, with a propensity for snatching
similar toys from other war-like states like Iran.

Brian W

On 4/14/2012 8:39 PM, Ze'ev Wurman wrote:
Perhaps you are right, that we are humor challenged.

Or, perhaps, if the example for confidence and non-admitting errors
would use global warmists' and Obama's push to legislate cap and
trade, eliminate coal-generating power stations, and subsidize green
energy to the hilt in the name of the "assuredly impending" climate
disaster, instead of maligning Rumsfeld for what every western
intelligence service believed at the time, I would find the humor
easier to notice.

Take take the beam out of your eye ... Ze'ev

On 4/14/2012 5:39 PM, brian whatcott wrote:
Good one Isaac!
On the other hand, expecting patrons of this list to see the humor
of the situation is just one significant digit too far.... :-)

Brian W

On 4/1/2012 2:00 PM, Isaac Bickerstaff wrote:
Scientists are wimps.

Scientists are always talking about theories. I don't
want theories; I want certainty.

Last year, my grandfather had one extra ticket to the
ballgame. He wanted to give it to one or the other of
his two sons. They decided to settle it by playing
scissors-paper-stone. My older uncle, who is a real
manly man, always chooses ``stone'' because stones are
tough and steadfast. Everybody knows that. My other
uncle, who is an ivy-league quiche-eater, chose
``paper'' and won the ticket, but that's not important.
The important thing is to always show people how tough
you are.

Real men don't admit error, even when they are wrong.
For example, Donald Rumsfeld said ``We know where the
WMDs are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad
and east, west, south and north somewhat.'' Some
people think he was wrong about the WMDs, but that's
not important. He was right about the important thing,
which is to project absolute confidence. That's what
leadership is. To say the same thing the other way, if
you are not absolutely certain, it doesn't matter what
the facts are, because people won't trust what you're
saying, and you will fail as a leader.

Scientists are always talking about error bars. That's
foolish, because real men never admit error. It's
ridiculous to write a number in the form 3.45±0.12.
Either the answer is 3.45 or it's not. If you're not
sure whether the answer is 3 point 4 something or 3
point 5 something, you should round it off to 3. That
way everybody gets the same answer. I don't care
whether or not 3 is the right answer. That's a nuance.
Nuance is for wimps. Getting the right answer is not
important. Conformity and certainty are what's
important.

That's the beauty of the ``significant digits'' method.
It means that everybody will get the same answer.
Obviously, writing down insignificant digits would be
useless. Actually it would be worse than useless,
because it would make people doubt your toughness and
steadfastness. Only a wimp would let that happen.

_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l