Category Archives: Darwin Eats Cake

biology, comic, Darwin Eats Cake, evolution, music, Ronin Institute, science

Clarification re: "Hot like Mexico"

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So, I just got back from the Colorado School of Mines (And boy are my picks tired!!!), where I was speaking about the Ronin Institute. One of many wonderful things about the trip was the opportunity to meet Alejandro Weinstein, who has been featured twice on Guillaume’s Mailbag over at Darwin Eats Cake. Following a conversation with him, I wanted to clarify something regarding the following strip:

Best URL for sharing: http://www.darwineatscake.com/?id=43
Permanent image URL for hotlinking or embedding: http://www.darwineatscake.com/img/comic/43.jpg

Alejandro apparently took the third frame of the comic to mean that Guillaume thought that he was from Mexico. I asked Guillaume about this, and he said no, that with a name like “Alejandro Weinstein,” he had assumed that Alejandro was from Argentina. It turns out that Alejandro actually hails from Chile, which is sort of the Argentina of the west coast of South America, so, he wasn’t too far off, really.

Guillaume went on to explain that, actually, “hot like Mexico” and “cool the bad” are references to the lyrics of the Lady Gaga song “Alejandro.” Guillaume had assumed that this was common knowledge, at least until I pointed out to him that the set of people with a high degree of fluency in Lady Gaga lyrics probably shares little overlap with the set of people who read Darwin Eats Cake.
Anyway, Guillaume felt bad about the misunderstanding, and asked me to address it here.
On a related note, Guillaume’s Mailbag is still accepting submissions. Send in any biological trait of any species, and Guillaume will provide an adaptationist explanation for its evolutionary origin. You can reach him at guillaume@darwineatscake.com. 
comic, Darwin Eats Cake, science

Faster-than-light neutrinos and faulty wiring

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So, the latest on the faster-than-light neutrino saga is that the discovery may have been the result of measurement bias resulting from faulty wiring. Which is sort of sad. As Jason Kottke noted, “Neutrinos? More like Nintendo . . . they forgot to blow in the cartridge.”

Anyway, Dev made an effort to explain the situation to Guillaume, and I thought that I would share their conversation with you:

Best URL for sharing: http://www.darwineatscake.com/id=95
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comic, Darwin Eats Cake

Latest from Darwin Eats Cake: The Comatose

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So, you know that meme that’s been going around, where there’s some profession, or group of people, and then a series of pictures showing how different people perceive them?

Are you tired of it yet? No? Well, then, bookmark this page, and come back when you are. Just remember, the first one to go meta wins!!

Best URL for sharing: http://www.darwineatscake.com/?id=94
Permanent image URL for hotlinking or embedding: http://www.darwineatscake.com/img/comic/94.jpg

comic, Darwin Eats Cake, math, poetry

Darwin Eats Cake Valentine’s Day Cards

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So, it’s almost Valentine’s Day here in the States, and you’ve forgotten to buy something for your spouse / fiancé(e) / boy- and/or girl-friend. Fortunately, we’ve got you covered. Just print out these handy-dandy Valentine’s Day cards, and you’re all set.

If you’re in Australia, Valentine’s Day is already half over, and while you also forgot to buy anything for your special someone, you’ll get away with it, because sheep never know what day it is.

Higher-resolution versions can be found over at Darwin Eats Cake.

comic, Darwin Eats Cake, Occupy Wall Street

Pandering to Mongolia

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So, I’ve just posted the most recent Darwin Eats Cake strip: Where in the World is Darwin Eats Cake? Mongolia Edition.

Where in the World is Darwin Eats Cake is the regular feature where we look at Google Analytics to see where people have been visiting the comic from. We then put together some humor designed to appeal to those countries that have not ever visited. Previously, we have done Papua New Guinea and Bolivia.

There was an unfortunate episode during the period when the Darwin Eats Cake cast was camping out at the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York. In an effort to keep up production, I was forced to hire replacement characters, who put together an installment on Finland, despite the fact that we actually get a fair amount of traffic from there.

It was terrible. Just terrible.

There’s probably a lesson in there somewhere.

Anyway, here’s the latest one.  Much easier to read on the original.

Best URL for sharing: http://www.darwineatscake.com/?id=83
Permanent image URL for hotlinking or embedding: http://www.darwineatscake.com/img/comic/83.jpg

UPDATE: Oh, I forgot two things.

First, as of right now, Darwin Eats Cake has received visits from 126 different countries, but still a total of zero visits from Mongolia, Bolivia, and Papua New Guinea, combined.

Second, thanks go to Manduhai Buyandelger for consultation. However, she should be held in no way accountable for the offensive, stupid, or just unfunny bits here. Shit, maybe that’s the whole thing. Well, still thanks and apologies to Manduhai!

comic, Darwin Eats Cake, evolution, math

Welcome back to the obscurity

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So, I just got back from a NESCent catalysis meeting, and boy is the free energy of my transition state reduced!

There’s been a lack of bloggage over the past week, since I was actually off doing some science, or, rather, talking with people who have been doing actual science. When you’re a theorist, it’s a fine line.

[Note to self: include clever transition here before posting.]

Which brings us, obviously, to the latest two Darwin Eats Cake strips, which feature abusively obscure equation-themed humor:

Best URL for sharing: http://www.darwineatscake.com/?id=80
Permanent image URL for hotlinking or embedding: http://www.darwineatscake.com/img/comic/80.jpg

Best URL for sharing: http://www.darwineatscake.com/?id=81
Permanent image URL for hotlinking or embedding: http://www.darwineatscake.com/img/comic/81.jpg

Darwin Eats Cake, science, sex

Medical emoticons and the orgasm face

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So, a few months ago, I posted the series of three Darwin Eats Cake comics in which Guillaume explains why we make funny faces when we orgasm. (You can find the original comics here, here, and here.)

Neuroskeptic pointed out the need for an orgasm-face emoticon.  I thought maybe something like this:

!O

but John Wilkins (no recent relation) suggested this:

>8-{p

I came across this chart of medical emoticons, which includes the Viagra Emoticon and the Priapism Emoticon, so we’re getting close.  Anybody out there ever see or receive an orgasm emoticon?  Maybe one of Herman Cain’s former employees?

Post your submissions in the comments !O

via I Love Charts