this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2024
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xkcd

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The secret fourth kind is 'we applied a standard theory to their map of every tree and got some suspicious results.'

https://explainxkcd.com/2977/

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[–] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 56 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (8 children)

What about 'we applied a standard theory to standard circumstances and somehow the results aren't right and it's probably our fault'

[–] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Business as usual, just another day at the lab. People using actual real world samples instead of the expensive standards to produce a very messy calibration squiggle. Also, the machine probably requires some maintenance from time to time.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Should just assume a perfectly spherical cow in a vacuum for simplicity's sake 🤷

[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Oddly enough, the lack of air pressure in a vacuum would have the effect of trying to turn a regular cow into a sphere.

(Do not do this. Not even if the cow is already dead. Thanks.)

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

Do not do this.

Dammit, there goes my weekend! Oh well, guess I can still just eat that dead cow that's been taking up space in the lab 🤷

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