The Bad Astronomer Featured on Astronomy Picture of the Day!!!

Kwyjibo · September 23, 2003, 2:00pm

Got Here:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030923.html

Mmm…standing Eggs!

Mullinator · September 23, 2003, 2:03pm

It should be pointed out that I own the exact same fridge as The Bad Astronomer. I feel all tingly.

Algernon · September 23, 2003, 2:14pm

See also this thread in IMHO.

FreeRange_Maniac · September 23, 2003, 2:14pm

Wow! That is a nice fridge!!!

Encinitas · September 23, 2003, 3:05pm

Who knew astronomers could be so sexy! And handy around the kitchen!

Bruce_Daddy · September 23, 2003, 3:22pm

[Groundhog Day]

Phil?!

[/Groundhog Day]

lieu · September 23, 2003, 3:46pm

I wonder what the floor looks like.

Billdo · September 23, 2003, 6:06pm

Hey! Not only is Phil featured in the APOD, Cecil’s own Straight Dope Column is cited in the link in “This long-standing myth loses much of its mystique …”

The_Bad_Astronomer · September 23, 2003, 7:03pm

Sadly, we left that fridge in Maryland when we moved to California. In fact, I have a fridge that is better now. The freezer is on the bottom, which is better because in the northern hemisphere, cold air swirls counterclockwise. But only on the vernal equinox. Really.

Kwyjibo · September 23, 2003, 7:22pm

So maybe the secret to balancing the eggs was actually the fridge!

It cooled them to just the right temperature to allow the magnetic field of the earth to let them so stand on end at exactly the right time of year and I have no idea what I’m talking about…

Geobabe · September 23, 2003, 9:01pm

Are those real granite countertops? sigh

sailor · September 23, 2003, 10:03pm

In Spanish culture Columbus is credited with being the first man who stood an egg on end.

History of the New World
Girolamo Benzoni
Venice 1565

Columbus was dining with many Spanish nobles when one of them said: “Sir Christopher, even if your lordship had not discovered the Indies, there would have been, here in Spain which is a country abundant with great men knowledgeable in cosmography and literature, one who would have started a similar adventure with the same result”.

Columbus did not respond to these words but asked for a whole egg to be brought to him. He placed it on the table and said: “My lords, I bet with anyone of you that you are unable to make this egg stand on its end like I will do without any kind of help or aid.”

They all tried without success and when the egg returned to Columbus, he tapped it gently on the table breaking it slightly and, with this, the egg stood on its end.

All those present were confounded and understood what he meant: that once the feat has been done, anyone who has seen it done knows how to do it.

The_Bad_Astronomer · September 23, 2003, 11:31pm

In the APOD picture it’s a veneer. I have real granite now though. Got it half off because of a scratch. I have egg images on the new counters, and they look awesome.

I have a friend who is a PhD geologist, and when he first saw them he got kinda lost in thought tracing the veins and inclusions. Pretty funny.

Also, the countertops are magnetic. Lotsa iron in them.