Archive for January, 2009
Mike Brotherton and the Science Comedian
January 18th, 2009
Mike Brotherton has a really nice blog post about me. Mike is a science fiction writer who also happens to be an associate professor at the University of Wyoming in the department of Physics and Astronomy. Quasars are his specialty! And there’s a lot of great content in his blog. Check it out.
I’m ecstatic that, of the two jokes he singled out for mention, one is an analogy that rarely gets the laugh I wish for it. It’s about the ability of a virus to take down a human. We must outweigh them by a factor of a billion or more. It’s the ultimate David and Goliath… “It’s like Luke Skywalker taking out the Death Star in a little X-Wing Fighter.”
Well, it is, isn’t it?
He also says this about the embedded video:
Next time I teach an introductory science class, I’m going to show some of these. I might be able to deliver a couple of the simpler jokes and fit them into lectures. I’m a good lecturer, but not great, and waking people up with a smart joke that has some real science in it isn’t pandering, it’s educating.
Too often I think thatI just get depressed about the never ending battle with ignorance and science illiteracy, with the folks who reject our best knowledge because it contradicts their political or religious beliefs. Getting people to laugh and want in on the joke is probably a better method of doing something other than preaching to the choir and bringing in some people who want to chuckle, too.
Thanks, Mike!
I haven’t read his two novels yet – Star Dragon and Spider Star - but they’ve been praised by David Brin and Paul Di Filippo. They are hard SF and have been compared to the books of Larry Niven and Robert L. Forward. Sounds good to me!
Unconvincing Spam
January 15th, 2009
Some phishing attempts are better – more honorable – than others. They might be HTML, for instance, and carefully mimic the look of an actual email from the particular bank or business they’re spoofing. They are evil, no question – but at least they have the respect to make a decent effort to hoodwink you.
There’s something especially insulting and infuriating about the much more common spam we get – the unconvincing spam: plain text, ugly formatting, misspelled words, terrible writing, apparent lack of familiarity with the language they’re written in – in short, embarrassingly poor execution.
Sometimes I’m so offended by their apparent lack of respect and effort that I’m nearly tempted to reply. Nearly, but not quite.
Here’s one I just got…
First of all, it’s simply from “Support.” Then the subject line is misspelled and has a dash that leads nowhere – a dash in-between nothing…
Subject: Messge from eBay -
Inside, I find one block of pathetic plain text that says…
Dear eBay Member,
This is your official notification from eBay. Your online has expired.
If you want to continue using our service you have to renew your online.
If not, your online will be limited and deleted.
To confirm your Account records click on the following link:
The link, of course, is scary-looking with the word “ebay” sprinkled through it three times – but not in the one place you want to see it. And then it is signed…
Thank you,
Scott R. Shipman, CIPP Senior Counsel, Global Privacy Practices eBay Inc.
My online has expired??!! My online will be limited and deleted??!!
“Scott R. Shipman,” you dishonor me with your pitiful lack of effort. You call that a lure? You are a poor excuse for a phisherman.
Science Comedian on Public Radio
January 14th, 2009
Roman Mars of KALW, a San Francisco public radio station, produced a piece on me that aired yesterday on the show Cross Currents:
“The Bay Area is home to some of the smartest people on the planet. So, it makes sense that our brainy nature would demand the occasional brainy entertainment. That’s where Brian Malow, the science comedian, comes in. Malow stopped by KALW to tell Roman Mars why he thinks science is so funny.”
If you have five minutes, you can hear the segment on their website:
Brian Malow, the Science Comedian.
My thanks to Holly Kernan and Roman Mars of KALW!
Cross Currents airs at 5pm (Pacific), on FM 91.7, and streams live from the KALW website.
Science Comedian on Pirate Cat Radio
January 12th, 2009
I’ll be on Pirate Cat Radio at 8pm Pacific tonight for about 20 minutes. It’s a low-power FM station that broadcasts on 87.9 FM in SF, LA, and Berlin. It also streams live for the whole world.
Even if you miss me, check it out sometime. It’s a good thing. Pirate Radio!!
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UPDATE: I had a great time on the Canary Hour. Pirate Cat Radio makes all their shows available as downloadable mp3s, so here’s the show for 1/12/09:
http://www.nerdnetworks.org/pcr/Canary-20090112.mp3
I was on for the first 20 minutes. Friday 1/9/09, I was on the Morning Show with Casey and the Notorious BAG:
http://www.nerdnetworks.org/pcr/MorningShow-20090109.mp3
I come on around the midpoint of the show/file. Much fun.
Pirate Cat rocks!
Behind the Scenes at ScienceComedian.com
January 12th, 2009
Seems like all my recent posts are about media attention but, fear not, behind the scenes, the science comedy team (i.e. me and Tara – and our Texas affiliates, Chuck and Albert – all powered by wheels turned by teams of genetically-enhanced rodents from Monsanto) has been hard at work on new comedy material, as well as audio and video content that will appear here soon-ish (and that delivery date is firm).
We are preparing for two big public shows this week – in San Francisco and Sunnyvale – and one next week in Sacramento (see Upcoming Shows). All the shows are being recorded.
Plus, we have some interviews with scientists and science fiction writers (for instance, Gregory Benford – he’s actually a stony killer of both those birds – he’s a physicist and a Nebula-award winning science fiction writer).
Stay tuned. Or leave and come back. That’s fine, too.
Science Comedian Slashdotted!
January 11th, 2009
I’ve lost my virginity! I’ve been slashdotted!
If you found your way here from there – thanks for stopping by. The blog is relatively new. There will much image, audio, video, and text content added in the coming months.
To find your way from here to there:
Stand-Up Comic Makes Science Funny
Thanks to Andrew Hessel for first bringing it to my attention (it became pretty obvious soon after that!).
It feels like a rite of passage – like a geek bar mitzvah. Today I am a man geek!
San Francisco Chronicle Features Science Comedian
January 9th, 2009
The San Francisco Chronicle ran a feature story on me today (the print version actually appears in the Datebook section, Sunday, January 11, 2009):
Making Science Funny: Brian Malow
It’s written by Nick Thomas, who we love! Last year, Nick did a Q&A with me for Nature:
In addition to being a prolific freelance writer, Nick is Associate Professor of Chemistry at Auburn University in Montgomery, Alabama.
The article comes out in time to promote my upcoming Bay Area shows – Tuesday at the San Francisco Punch Line, and Wednesday in Sunnyvale at Rooster T. Feathers. Also, a week later at the Sacramento Punch Line on January 22.
P.S. The book I’m holding is Cosm by Gregory Benford, one of my favorite reads of 2008.
SF Chronicle Best of 2008 Portraits
January 9th, 2009
This weekend, the San Francisco Chronicle should be running a story about me in conjunction with next week’s shows at the SF Punch Line Comedy Club (Tues, Jan.13) and Rooster T. Feathers (Wed, Jan.14), in Sunnyvale. See Upcoming Shows for details.
A Chronicle photographer, Paul Chinn, met me over at the new California Academy of Sciences several weeks ago for a photo shoot.
Apparently, even though the story hasn’t run yet, they’ve included a picture of me in their “Best of 2008 Portraits.”
They spelled my name “Brain” (I’m used to it) and called the show “Irrational Comedy for an Irrational Planet” (which is close – the planet is, indeed, irrational but the comedy is rational)… but it’s still pretty cool.
[In the comments, Jim Hardy brought it to my attention that they also misspelled "science-themd." Three mistakes in two sentences!]
The feature is dated 12/29/08. Nobody even told me it was online. I had to do a vanity search on the Chronicle site. Interestingly, it only works if you search on “Malow” or “Brain Malow.” A search on “Brian Malow” returns no relevant results.
Anyway, nice pic…
