this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2026
1105 points (99.6% liked)

Science Memes

20768 readers
385 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.


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 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 33 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 101 points 3 days ago (1 children)

There are also fractal bastards, who are uniformly lousy at any zoom level

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 38 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Technically it only describes spherical bastards in a vacuum.

[–] Mok98@feddit.it 22 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Well spherical bastards rapidly deteriorate if put in a vacuum

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Not if you assume no friction.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 8 points 3 days ago

I'd say it describes spherical bastards in the absence of an extrenal bastardness field.

[–] hOrni@lemmy.world 23 points 3 days ago
[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

What if the bastard is also fat, so they are physically spherical as well?

[–] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Spherical in multiple dimensions

[–] OryxAndCake@slrpnk.net 4 points 3 days ago (2 children)
[–] qarbone@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

4D spherical bastard

[–] a_postmodern_hat@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Hey, fuck you too buddy

[–] Aarrodri@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] craftrabbit@lemmy.zip 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] fartographer@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

Welcome to Costco

[–] Rusty@lemmy.ca 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

It's just a variation of the old physics joke about a Spherical cow.

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 10 points 3 days ago

Not really? The joke about the spherical cow is about reducing a problem to a hyper-simplified version to make computation easier at the cost of accuracy.

The spherical bastard is more a joke about mathematical projections, since a sphere looks the same from any angle.

[–] rmuk@feddit.uk 7 points 3 days ago

Oh, yeah, haha, very funny joke. Or you could treat the topic with the gravity it deserves:

https://youtu.be/xgnuxd0tiHk

[–] ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip 3 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Fritz Zwicky was truly insane. He claimed the sun was powered by dwarves and that the solution to interstellar travel was to move our entire solar system from place to place.

[–] OhStopYellingAtMe@lemmy.world 34 points 3 days ago

I think he called them “nuclear goblins,” not dwarves. And they weren’t actual mythological creatures, just a silly nickname for “bodies of nuclear density” which floated around inside stars, and exploded when they got too far out from the core, causing solar flares.

The concept of moving the entire solar system is fascinating though. It was used in Larry Niven’s “known space” series of novels.

I mean, moving the whole solar system just makes sense at a certain level of energy expenditure - if you are already generating enough power to do interstellar travel, might as well take the whole house with you. Sucks if you live here and don't like the new travel direction of the system though, I guess. Find a new solar system to live in at that point?

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

Farnsworths ancestor?

[–] SnailMagnitude@mander.xyz 2 points 3 days ago

I wonder if there's an etymological connection to cuntybaws https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cuntybaws

[–] fleem@piefed.zeromedia.vip -3 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] craftrabbit@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 days ago

Call the exorcist!