
The story of Stronzo Bestiale and other scientific jokes - jseip
http://www.parolacce.org/2014/10/05/the-true-story-of-stronzo-bestiale/
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maho
This reminds of the "proton enhanced nuclear induction spectroscopy" [1],
which is notable because its acronym almost spells out the name of one of its
inventors (Alexander Pines).

[1] [http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton-
enhanced_nuclear_induc...](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton-
enhanced_nuclear_induction_spectroscopy)

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byerley
"If you are able to insert in a publication the name of a nonexistent author
in a publication, who will guarantee that even the scientific contents have
been examined with care?"

Reviewers are typically asked to disregard the authors of a submission,

"Your review should be directed at the paper, not the author" \- Jay Smith,
"The Task of the Referee", 1990

Scientists can get away with not considering the authors precisely because
they base their evaluation on careful examination of the contents. This is a
better example of selective attention than it is of lapses in scientific
review.

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judk
See also Zeilberger's "Shalosh B Echad", and whatizname the CMU "professor"

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lumberjack
I think the proper translation would be "inhuman asshole" as "bestiale" means
"beastly", an insult alluding to the inhuman nature of insultee.

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Ecio78
Yes and no. "Bestiale" means literally "beastly" as you said but it is often
used in Italian to describe something really big (huge etc..), like "ho un
sonno bestiale" (I am incredibily asleep) o "ho una fame bestiale" (I am very
very hungry - ok in this case "beastly" could make sense as well :)) So I
suppose in English you would use Total (or "such as" or anything else?)

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tjradcliffe
"Beastly" is used as an amplifier in English as well (English English, not
American English).

"I'm beastly tired" and the like is something I've heard from plenty of
English and some Scots.

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Ecio78
Thanks for the info, it's always nice to improve my English knowledge! :)

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ot
Also worth of note: the Cox-Zucker machine

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cox–Zucker_machine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cox–Zucker_machine)

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dang
Url changed from [http://io9.com/this-widely-cited-physicist-is-a-total-
asshol...](http://io9.com/this-widely-cited-physicist-is-a-total-asshole-he-
also-1645289295/+kellyconaboy), which points to this.

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tunnuz
"Yet, in 1987, professor Bestiale, supposedly a physicist in Palermo, Sicily,
authored major ... ".

Just to clarify, there is no country called Sicily, and there hasn't been one
for a while. The correct country here is Italy.

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taejo
I don't think that phrasing has any implication that Sicily is a country: "New
York, New York" is a place but New York is not a country.

