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Absolute Zero Gravity: Science Jokes, Quotes and Anecdotes
Gathers jokes and anecdotes about academia, scientists, teaching professors, scientific reputations, academic publishing, women scientists, and popular science
162 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1992
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January 9, 2026
Absolute Zero Gravity: Science Jokes, Quotes and Anecdotes by Betsy Devine – ‘A collection of jokes, anecdotes revealing the funny side of mathematics, biology and other branches of science’ - you have more than five thousand reviews of amusing work, magnum opera from The Greatest Books of All Time and other sites, together with as many or more notes on films from The New York Times Best 1,000 Movies of All Time and other lists waiting for you on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... advertised here with no visible effect
8 out of 10
Humor is one of the ingredients of being positive: the psychology classic Positivity https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... by Barbara Fredrickson has the other nine elements: awe, interest, hope, inspiration, pride, serenity, joy, gratitude and love
You find humor as one of the character strengths, under the chapter Transcendence, which has also appreciation of excellence and beauty, gratitude, hope and spirituality grouped together by Professor Martin Seligman https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... co-founder of Positive Psychology
Absolute Zero Gravity has some familiar quotes, anecdotes, perhaps those connected with Albert Einstein in particular – he was so popular that other scientists (some at least) got jealous, when the father of relativity complained about all those intruders, a colleague said he should ‘get a decent haircut’ and then he would get rid of them
Indeed, another insisted that ‘having a hair like Einstein takes work’, or something like that, musing that nobody has something like that on their head, if you neglect it, it gets tangled, anyway, it does not have that look – Einstein was also distracted, thinking of his theories, he would stop on the street, ring the bell and ask for the way to hist street
Nonetheless, my favorite hilarious luminary is Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... acclaimed as the best humorous novelist of the second part of the last century, in the first part, there is more competition, perhaps from Evelyn Waugh
Some jokes, or quotes show prejudice, but they can also be relevant and the jest accurate for this day, take this one: In America: Everything is permitted that is not explicitly forbidden; In Germany: Everything is forbidden that is not explicitly permitted; In France: Everything is permitted that is explicitly forbidden’ think about it
Beyond the satire and preconceived ideas, America is a different, outré land now, with not just a bizarre leader, but an outrageous one, breaking the law, and making a mockery of ‘what is forbidden’, he is allowed anything, while his adversaries – ‘lock them up’, that is his favorite mantra and he is working on it, when he is not sleeping on the job
The other day he has captured Maduro, the Venezuelan dictator, who was a loathsome former bus driver, however, international law does not allow one country to just intrude and snatch the president on a whim – critics would say this fellow lost the elections, he was not the legitimate supreme commander, and I agree
Notwithstanding that, let us emphasize what this Orange Calamity has done recently – he pardoned the former president of Honduras, who was serving a jail sentence of forty-five years for drug related charges, and accusations of drug smuggling – ‘narco terrorism’ – are exactly what they used to justify this capture
The Orange Abomination went on to say that the US will be in charge, and dismissed Mrs. Machado, the latest winner of the Nobel Prize for peace (which the idiot covets, so reason for envy and revenge) and said she could not lead Venezuela, though she won the elections…let me finish with another joke from Zero Gravity ‘Wolfgang Pauli's department chairman once asked him to teach a 9 A. M. class. "Impossible," snapped Pauli. "I never stay up so late."
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
8 out of 10
Humor is one of the ingredients of being positive: the psychology classic Positivity https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... by Barbara Fredrickson has the other nine elements: awe, interest, hope, inspiration, pride, serenity, joy, gratitude and love
You find humor as one of the character strengths, under the chapter Transcendence, which has also appreciation of excellence and beauty, gratitude, hope and spirituality grouped together by Professor Martin Seligman https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... co-founder of Positive Psychology
Absolute Zero Gravity has some familiar quotes, anecdotes, perhaps those connected with Albert Einstein in particular – he was so popular that other scientists (some at least) got jealous, when the father of relativity complained about all those intruders, a colleague said he should ‘get a decent haircut’ and then he would get rid of them
Indeed, another insisted that ‘having a hair like Einstein takes work’, or something like that, musing that nobody has something like that on their head, if you neglect it, it gets tangled, anyway, it does not have that look – Einstein was also distracted, thinking of his theories, he would stop on the street, ring the bell and ask for the way to hist street
Nonetheless, my favorite hilarious luminary is Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... acclaimed as the best humorous novelist of the second part of the last century, in the first part, there is more competition, perhaps from Evelyn Waugh
Some jokes, or quotes show prejudice, but they can also be relevant and the jest accurate for this day, take this one: In America: Everything is permitted that is not explicitly forbidden; In Germany: Everything is forbidden that is not explicitly permitted; In France: Everything is permitted that is explicitly forbidden’ think about it
Beyond the satire and preconceived ideas, America is a different, outré land now, with not just a bizarre leader, but an outrageous one, breaking the law, and making a mockery of ‘what is forbidden’, he is allowed anything, while his adversaries – ‘lock them up’, that is his favorite mantra and he is working on it, when he is not sleeping on the job
The other day he has captured Maduro, the Venezuelan dictator, who was a loathsome former bus driver, however, international law does not allow one country to just intrude and snatch the president on a whim – critics would say this fellow lost the elections, he was not the legitimate supreme commander, and I agree
Notwithstanding that, let us emphasize what this Orange Calamity has done recently – he pardoned the former president of Honduras, who was serving a jail sentence of forty-five years for drug related charges, and accusations of drug smuggling – ‘narco terrorism’ – are exactly what they used to justify this capture
The Orange Abomination went on to say that the US will be in charge, and dismissed Mrs. Machado, the latest winner of the Nobel Prize for peace (which the idiot covets, so reason for envy and revenge) and said she could not lead Venezuela, though she won the elections…let me finish with another joke from Zero Gravity ‘Wolfgang Pauli's department chairman once asked him to teach a 9 A. M. class. "Impossible," snapped Pauli. "I never stay up so late."
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
October 31, 2025
This book was published in the late 1900’s so some of the jokes are a little dated (like a reference to Pope John Paul II being a Pole) and a bit sexist but the false math proofs and stories about scientists are fun and timeless.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews