4 ms·
I don't see much connection here between miss BS and semiconductor physics. It's just a physics book that happens to have pictures of the popstar in it.
by amelius 1y ago
I don't see much connection here between miss BS and semiconductor physics.
It's just a physics book that happens to have pictures of the popstar in it.
- conception 1y agoIt’s a 25 year old joke. It was a simpler time.
- aeve890 1y agoBut what's the joke though?
- artyom 1y agoSimpler time, simpler jokes.
- twodave 1y agoIt’s called absurdity. It’s funny because it’s obviously not true, and also funny because of the undertones that it’s a clever way to get horny teenagers to study physics who really just want to see the photos.
- makeitdouble 1y agoIt would be absurd if pop stars by defintion could not explain semiconductor physics. Like how a snake wearing boots is absurd.
- ChrisMarshallNY 1y agoDr. Brian May comes to mind... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_May#Scientific_career https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_May#Scientific_career Maybe not so absurd. Also, Todd Rundgren used to be a registered Apple developer. We'd see him moseying around the WWDC, every year.
- twodave 1y agoYou are being pedantic, but I’ll play along. Absurd has multiple meanings. It can mean nonsensical, but it can also mean utterly ridiculous or silly. Under those other meanings I believe the pop-star-physics-professor still qualifies.
- makeitdouble 1y agoIt sounds pedantic, but "absurd" is fundamentally different from "rare". A lot of baggage comes from flagging something as absurd, instead of just unexpected or uncommon. Winning the lottery isn't absurd, having 3 pairs of some chromosome isn't either, and being a successful pop singer with an academic background isn't either, it's just rare.
- twodave 1y agoIt IS pedantic, because we are talking not of pop stars in general, but Britney Spears specifically.
- netdevphoenix 1y agoVery heteronormative even for 2000
- jchw 1y agoIt's a non-sequitur.
- toast0 1y agoEveryone knows Alanis Morissette is a master electrician. That's why she has one hand in her pocket, while the other is probing a circuit. Anyway, it's kind of Ironic [1] that the dude from Queen is an astrophysicist, and Britney Spears is writing Semiconductor Physics tutorials. Something something music and math. [1] Sorry
- sunrunner 1y ago> master electrician It’s true, she’s high but she’s grounded (not sorry).
- rybosome 1y agoOthers have pointed it out, but it’s the juxtaposition of the fact that she’s definitely not an expert in this subject with a lesson in the subject. There’s some subtle bits to the humor depending on how charitable you’re feeling. It might just be absurdist, as in “Blackbeard’s guide to astrobiology”, or it may be more mean spirited and playing on a belief that she is not intelligent. TL;DR - the joke formula is just: subject=… person_not_familiar_with_subject=… joke=“${person_not_familiar_with_subject}’s guide to {subject}“ And the amount of implied cruelty in the comparison is variable.
- amelius 1y agoI guess we can now use an LLM to produce a new absurdist book every day.
- stinkbeetle 1y ago"I don't get it."
- dymk 1y agoSame as “the narwhal bacons at midnight” or 67.
- chasd00 1y agoAt the time she was ground zero for all of pop culture and pretty much every single man’s crush. When that website came out it was funny because we were all looking at pictures of Britney anyway so may as well learn some physics at the same time. Btw, she really went downhill once she fell out of popularity. I think she has a life put back together finally but she got a raw deal. I’m rooting for her.
- PlunderBunny 1y agoAn attempt was made in the section "Band Structure and Effective Mass" of the chapter "Basic Semiconductor Physics" to tie the two disparate subjects together.
- coqadoodle 1y agoRoutergod.com was one of the greats, good times.
- bjourne 1y agoI recently watched A Fish Called Wanda because some old folks said it is a great movie. It is not. It is shit.
- davidham 1y agoI’m team old folks on this, youngun
- commandlinefan 1y agoThere was a meme that was floating around about the Hawk-Tuah girl analyzing differential equations (IIRC) just last year. I fell for it, though. My son had to explain to me that it was fake.
- sheepscreek 1y agoAutistic me wanted to half believe it. You don’t get any cookies for bursting my bubble :(
- rester324 1y agoInteresting, I can see a clear connection between the two subjects on this image: https://britneyspears.ac/physics/basics/images/britneycbvb.jpg https://britneyspears.ac/physics/basics/images/britneycbvb.j... This can't be coincidence!
- Dilettante_ 1y agoNon-sequitur humor was the style at the time.
- shermantanktop 1y agoA joke is like a soap bubble. The act of explaining a joke pops it and reveals it to have no substance. The essence of humor is simply surprise. Once the surprise is gone, or if it never was surprising, it seems flat or silly. Some people enjoy humor with deeper meaning, and explaining that meaning might be illuminating. But that’s lipstick on a duck.
- stavros 1y agoIf I share the OP's objections, which I think I do, the problem isn't with the joke attempt itself, it's with the execution. The joke isn't tied in to the content at all, it's literally just the title, and nothing else. If the author had tied song references into the text, for example, that would make it a much better execution.
- shermantanktop 1y agoAgree, this is definitely Penguin of Doom level humor. But the mechanic is the same as most comedy - the tickle of surprise from two ideas coming together.