this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2025
346 points (97.5% liked)

Science Memes

16534 readers
2487 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 37 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Zerush@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 hours ago

I always compared pinguins with a Klein Bottle

[–] icelimit@lemmy.ml 2 points 6 hours ago

As opposed to a rectangular cylinder

[–] pH3ra@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

... how many linux users got mad?

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 5 points 1 day ago

Enough to create at least 5 different distros

[–] lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com 4 points 1 day ago

Other than break accessibility, searchability, fault tolerance, & make the web less usable, what is this image of text lacking alt text doing that real text doesn't?

[–] Dr_Nik@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

...of bird like material which can be represented by a mass average of bone and flesh. This can be used in bird strike simulations for studying aircraft windshield performance as compared to thawed penguins shot out of a pneumatic canon. (I actually went to a talk that discussed exactly this except you replace "penguin" with "bird" in general).

[–] CubitOom@infosec.pub 58 points 2 days ago (2 children)

It is imperative that the cylinder not be harmed.

[–] Raptorox@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago

It's a cylinder

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 1 day ago

... the cylinder knows where it is, because it knows where it isn't: where it was, and where it likely will be.

[–] filtoid@lemmy.ml 37 points 2 days ago (1 children)

takes to Reddit

Help! Something sensitive is stuck in a cylinder and I need to get it out...

[–] 4am@lemmy.zip 23 points 2 days ago

You should only ever use penguins with a flared base

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

...

...

...

In conclusion, the physical properties of penguins constitute a suboptimal replacement for graphite moderation of neutron propogation in a nuclear reactor.

Further, tested penguins were largely non responsive to all different training approaches attempting to have them associate the verbal command "Scram!" with the desired behavior of promptly entering the reactor pool.

[–] tomiant@programming.dev 5 points 1 day ago

The only thing missing is a period.

[–] omgboom@lemmy.dbzer0.com 24 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Accelerate the penguin to 99% the speed of light

[–] FilthyShrooms@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago

Assume no air resistance

[–] Gustephan@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

(...) of uniform density in a neutral vacuum.

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

Now assume pi is 4. Proceed to have a nervous breakdown.

20 points.

[–] billwashere@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

On a frictionless plane?

[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 14 points 2 days ago

Sorry but even after doing that it is still clear we need more tariffs on the penguins whether we assume they are cylinders or not.

[–] toofpic@lemmy.world 14 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Not sure if it's popular internationally, but in Russian, "a calculation for a spherical horse in vacuum" is used quite often

[–] wewbull@feddit.uk 9 points 1 day ago

Spherical cows is the one I always hear.

[–] beveradb@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] toofpic@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago (2 children)

It's when you make some calculations or plans, but they would only work in "perfect" conditions. Like when you have an assignment about a horse running from A to B, and you made some calculations, but you disregard horse's shape, friction, air resistance, and gravity

[–] beveradb@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Oh cool, thanks for explaining! I guess the closest equivalent phrasing I'm used to would be "sounds good on paper" - or in Scotland (home for me) someone would probably reply with "Aye, and if my granny had wheels she’d be a bike.” 😂

[–] alzymologist@sopuli.xyz 6 points 2 days ago

Nah, that's more like russian "if grandmother had balls, she'd be grandfather"

[–] Engywuck@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago

And the horse

[–] y8h8do3a2vg5@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago (2 children)

It is not a square cylinder.

A triangular cylinder is right out.

[–] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

But what shall I do once a circular cylinder has been assumed? A cylinder whose cross section takes the shape of a circle?

[–] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Square cylinders are just cubes. Triangle cylinders are triangular prisms.

I don't see the problem, really. What other shape would a penguin come in?

[–] notabot@piefed.social 4 points 2 days ago

What other shape would a penguin come in?

They're typically roughly cuboid, though best approximated with rounded corners, and wrapped in a layer of plastic.

I might need a snack.

[–] don@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

What other shape would a penguin come in?

An oloid, the only shape nature has ever intending them to be in.

...In a vacuum.

[–] bazus1@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago

Therefore the density of penguin flesh on a flat glacier surface can be estimated to be 3pi/4 l x w x h where length and width are the area of the penguins, and h is the average height of the penguin.

[–] als@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 days ago

My guess is that this is to do with penguin huddling and circle packing

[–] kubica@fedia.io 4 points 2 days ago

Ok, but let me see the the source code of the cylinder.

[–] whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago

From the patent for pneumatic tubes delivery systems