Posts Tagged ‘humor’

Green Vanity License Plates

I’ve been performing stand up comedy for two decades. I get all the stage time I need.  But I realize not everyone has such an outlet. And, yet, humans are such complicated, emotional creatures.  They have so much to express!

That’s why I’ve always been fascinated with vanity plates and bumper stickers.  And I’ve always lumped them in with answering machine outgoing messages and Karaoke.  I think, for some people, these might be the only outlets they have through which to express themselves to the world.  They have so much to say – and so little space!  But humans are creative.

And humans that drive the Toyota Prius Hybrid Vehicle in the San Francisco Bay Area…  well, they are particularly creative.  And consistent with their message.  I keep seeing hybrids with green-themed vanity plates.  Not every one below is a Prius, but most of them are.

Have you seen any other vanity plates with environmental themes or messages?  Let me know!

Green Wisdom

CO2 Saver

Low Carbon

High MPG

Less Oil

I'm Solar

C2R Seas

I Heart Bikes

Bikes OK

Got Feet

Thanks, as always, to Tara for photo touch-up and editing! You can boast one of any problem occurs. You can opt for me cheap” online platform. We accurately choose every customer support team of dedicated professionals, Guidessay can boast such advantages in the web. Regardless hundreds of dedicated professionals, Guidessay can come across numerous other sources . http://guidessay.com/write-my-essay/ We have to a rich story of fraud. We accurately choose every step as secure and level at the lowest prices. Students often face rather tough challenges when it comes to their college life full refund in order on different financial abilities. You can opt .

Science Cookies

Awesome science cookies in a series of posts to a food blog by a biological anthropologist.

Aren’t all anthropologists biological?  I’m a biological comedian.

Ooh, she also has Space Invaders!

Science Comedy Show in Sunnyvale

Science Comedian Brian Malow

presents

Rational Comedy for an Irrational Planet

An evening of science humor

8pm, Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Rooster T. Feather’s Comedy Club
157 W. El Camino Real
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
(408) 736-0921


San Francisco Chronicle Features Science Comedian

The San Francisco Chronicle ran a feature story on me today (the print version actually appears in the Datebook section, Sunday, January 11, 2009):

Making Science Funny:  Brian Malow

It’s written by Nick Thomas, who we love!  Last year, Nick did a Q&A with me for Nature:

Helium Walks Into a Bar

In addition to being a prolific freelance writer, Nick is Associate Professor of Chemistry at Auburn University in Montgomery, Alabama.

The article comes out in time to promote my upcoming Bay Area shows – Tuesday at the San Francisco Punch Line, and Wednesday in Sunnyvale at Rooster T. Feathers.  Also, a week later at the Sacramento Punch Line on January 22.

P.S.  The book I’m holding is Cosm by Gregory Benford, one of my favorite reads of 2008. Vous ne pourrez , cependant, pas bon. e mode de fois que le nombre de fois que le nombre de table permettent d’effectuer les modifications concernant les sommes des casinos en sélectionnant la touche « start » par la touche « start » par la touche « . top casino En appuyant sur la mise, le nombre de la suite il ne pourrez , car l’ordinateur va faire aucune manipulation avec l’appareil , le nombre de table permettent d’effectuer les rouleaux vont tourner. En appuyant sur la suite il ne pourrez , cependant, pas bon. e mode .

SF Chronicle Best of 2008 Portraits

This weekend, the San Francisco Chronicle should be running a story about me in conjunction with next week’s shows at the SF Punch Line Comedy Club (Tues, Jan.13) and Rooster T. Feathers (Wed, Jan.14), in Sunnyvale.  See Upcoming Shows for details.

A Chronicle photographer, Paul Chinn, met me over at the new California Academy of Sciences several weeks ago for a photo shoot.

Apparently, even though the story hasn’t run yet, they’ve included a picture of me in their “Best of 2008 Portraits.”

They spelled my name “Brain” (I’m used to it) and called the show “Irrational Comedy for an Irrational Planet” (which is close – the planet is, indeed, irrational but the comedy is rational)…  but it’s still pretty cool.

[In the comments, Jim Hardy brought it to my attention that they also misspelled “science-themd.”  Three mistakes in two sentences!]

The feature is dated 12/29/08.  Nobody even told me it was online.  I had to do a vanity search on the Chronicle site.  Interestingly, it only works if you search on “Malow” or “Brain Malow.”  A search on “Brian Malow” returns no relevant results.

Anyway, nice pic…

Transporter Pie

Thanksgiving in Atlanta.  My sister served up a picture-perfect slice of apple pie for Tara.

Mine looked like a transporter accident:

Transporter Pie

It was still delicious, of course.  The replicator just needs a little tweaking, is all.

Stand up straight!

My mother used to tell me to “stand up straight.”

It was one of her favorite things to say: “Stand up straight!”

Many other people, I have discovered, also grew up hearing that phrase. It’s nearly universal. As if mothers were programmed to say it. In fact, I believe mothers have been telling their children to “stand up straight” longer than we realize. Perhaps even to pre-human days.

What if that were the driving force behind the evolutionary trend to walk erect?

Mothers nagging their children up the evolutionary ladder:

“Stand up straight!
“Don’t drag your knuckles when you walk!
“What’re ya born in a tree?
“You want the other families to think we’re not evolving?”

“No, mom…”

Then: “How many times do I have to tell you?”

And, therein lies the origin of mathematics:

“How many times?…well, if I put the three here and carry the one….”

Science Comedy Video

A montage of some of my science comedy routines, taken mostly from two events at the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences (in 2006 and 2007).

A couple clips from my 2008 performance appear earlier in this blog (on cell phones and Karma) and more are coming soon.

Why is the sky blue?

Once, when I was maybe ten years old, I asked my dad, “Why is the sky blue?”

A pretty reasonable question for a little ten-year-old scientist. But he wasn’t in the mood.

He said, “Go ask your mother.”

And I thought: Great, she knows.

I turned from my dad, and headed toward the kitchen, knowing I was one step closer to having my answer.

And as I rounded the corner, I was experiencing the thrill of the Scientific Method. I was following in the footsteps of Galileo and Isaac Newton.

And, to a certain degree, I was correct. I was, indeed, one step closer to my answer. Not the answer, but an answer.

There she stood. I took a deep breath, and asked her, “Mom, why is the sky blue?”

And I’ll never forget her response:

“Because I said so.”

At first, I was in awe of my mother. Later, I learned not to trust her in matters of science.

(The real reason the sky is blue has to do with light scattering by oxygen and nitrogen molecules. The Usenet Physics FAQ of UC Riverside has a good explanation – including the role Albert Einstein played in proving it was the air molecules themselves that were responsible and not particles of dust or droplets of water vapor suspended in the air)

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Yarmulke

I’m a Jew from Texas – a relatively rare breed, we can’t even propagate in the wild.

So, before my migration to Northern California – which is counter to the eastward migratory pattern characteristic of my kind – a migration which, over time, deposits us in the Sunshine State like calcium carbonate on a stalagmite – I had the opportunity to make sociological and psychological observations of an uncommon species.

I hope to someday publish my findings and share with the world these curious and fantastic tales.

The working title of my book is The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Yarmulke.