Slashdot Log In
NASA Produces Rap Video On Astrobiology
Posted by
samzenpus
on Wed Sep 24, 2008 07:45 AM
from the nerds-do-the-darndest-things dept.
from the nerds-do-the-darndest-things dept.
An anonymous reader writes "You've seen the Large Hadron Rap by Kate 'Alpinekat' McAlpine. Now a NASA magazine has commissioned an astrobiology rap. Jonathan Chase, aka 'Oort Kuiper', produced a six-minute YouTube rap video on astrobiology, the scientific search for extraterrestrial life. The lyrics include: 'We've been on Earth for many years and we are still producing answers; as time passes, collective knowledge advances.' This epic rap battle sees Alpinekat/CERN on top with over three million views on YouTube compared with about ten thousand for Oort Kuiper/NASA."
Related Stories
Submission: NASA Produces Rap Video On Astrobiology by Anonymous Coward
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
Loading... please wait.
what about leprechaun's? (Score:1)
i just want to know where the gold's at.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZfyrIPw3wY [youtube.com]
Re: (Score:2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlufxatPxnA [youtube.com]
See Kidz (Score:1)
See kidz, i said the astrobiology was kool..
Re: (Score:2)
I knew this would get all the hep-cats to think we're keen!
Re: (Score:2)
NASA Goes Rap? (Score:2)
Nerdcore rising! (Score:2)
http://www.nerdcorerisingthemovie.com/ [nerdcoreri...emovie.com]
Black Helicopters (Score:1)
I like the black helicopters at the end :-]
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
There were no black helicopters.
Thanks,
unnamed government agency who is not the NSA, DIA, DSA, CIA or FBI
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
There were no black helicopters.
Thanks,
unnamed government agency who is not the NSA, DIA, DSA, CIA or FBI
REMAIN CALM
Of course there were black helicopters. They were flying cloaked, and so were invisible. Invisibly black cloaked stealth silent helicopters, yeah. They absolutely must exist, as they make it totally unnecessary to have such expensive and non-existent technology as orbital mind control lasers, which do not exist. Believe this message, not the quoted message. If you feel any confusion or discomfort, please email us at targeting@omcl.mil and provide your precise spatial coordinates, then stand clear
Oort Kuiper? (Score:2)
Phobos Deimos would be a better rap name
Re: (Score:1)
or MC Tycho.
It's a (w)rap! (Score:3, Funny)
Please, no more science raps. The LHC by Alpinekat is pretty unbeatable anyway. What next, a programming language? I can't wait for the C-rap!
Re: (Score:2)
The QBasic Nerd [youtube.com] guy tells you to get of his lawn. And learn to sing.
Re: (Score:2)
"Please, no more science raps. The LHC by Alpinekat is pretty unbeatable anyway. What next, a programming language? I can't wait for the C-rap!"
Dude, it's all C-RAP!
and alpinekat's work would have been much better if they had written the music instead of sampled and overplayed an already overplayed 90s song.
Re:It's a (w)rap! (Score:5, Funny)
well, check out this appendage:
don't be so object oriented.
The C programming language
doesn't need to be defended!
you believe in classes
but C is for the masses!
i f*ck you with my struct
on this 24th september
like it private and protected?
better stroke my public member!
now kneel down and dereference my pointer.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
noice! (Score:2)
This is definitely a better rap than the CERN one. Buddy knows how to flow, and manages to actually discuss the subject without falling into cutesy rhyming.
Q: Does this qualify as nerdcore?
Re: (Score:2)
This guy is a rapper, not a scientist, and the whole project is professionally done, not a bunch of researchers goofing around. By that standard, it's pretty poor. And the LHC video is much more scientifically informative than the NASA one, although that's probably due at least in part to the much greater scientific soundness of the LHC in general, compared to exobiology.
If I had to choose where to work based on the two videos, no question I'd go for the people at CERN who obviously love their work and want
Re: (Score:2)
I'd dispute that, but my snobbery aside ... he's training for a communications job, he has no connection (AFAICT) to NASA and he was brought into this project purely as a rapper/publicist.
Actually, where I was mistaken was in thinking that Kate McAlpine was a researcher. In fact, she's also a publicist with an undergrad degree. But she does work for CERN, the people in the video are researchers, it was film
Refined Rap (Score:2)
mc hawking still the best (Score:5, Interesting)
to the tune of OPP
Trash Talk
Harm me with harmony.
Doomsday, drop a load on 'em.
Verse 1
Entropy, how can I explain it? I'll take it frame by frame it,
to have you all jumping, shouting saying it.
Let's just say that it's a measure of disorder,
in a system that is closed, like with a border.
It's sorta, like a, well a measurement of randomness,
proposed in 1850 by a German, but wait I digress.
"What the fuck is entropy?", I here the people still exclaiming,
it seems I gotta start the explaining.
You ever drop an egg and on the floor you see it break?
You go and get a mop so you can clean up your mistake.
But did you ever stop to ponder why we know it's true,
if you drop a broken egg you will not get an egg that's new.
That's entropy or E-N-T-R-O to the P to the Y,
the reason why the sun will one day all burn out and die.
Order from disorder is a scientific rarity,
allow me to explain it with a little bit more clarity.
Did I say rarity? I meant impossibility,
at least in a closed system there will always be more entropy.
That's entropy and I hope that you're all down with it,
if you are here's your membership.
Chorus
You down with entropy?
Yeah, you know me! (x3)
Who's down with entropy?
Every last homey!
Verse 2
Defining entropy as disorder's not complete,
'cause disorder as a definition doesn't cover heat.
So my first definition I would now like to withdraw,
and offer one that fits thermodynamics second law.
First we need to understand that entropy is energy,
energy that can't be used to state it more specifically.
In a closed system entropy always goes up,
that's the second law, now you know what's up.
You can't win, you can't break even, you can't leave the game,
'cause entropy will take it all 'though it seems a shame.
The second law, as we now know, is quite clear to state,
that entropy must increase and not dissipate.
Creationists always try to use the second law,
to disprove evolution, but their theory has a flaw.
The second law is quite precise about where it applies,
only in a closed system must the entropy count rise.
The earth's not a closed system' it's powered by the sun,
so fuck the damn creationists, Doomsday get my gun!
That, in a nutshell, is what entropy's about,
you're now down with a discount.
Chorus
Trash Talk
Hit it!
Doomsday, kick it in!
Baby got brains... (Score:2)
It really reminds me of a rap I wrote back in college, to the tune of "Baby got back."
I like SMART GIRLS and I can not lie...
You other nerds can't deny,
when a girl walks in with a Ph.D.
or some other advanced degree,
you get SPRUNG. Wanna pull out math problems
'cause you notice her brain was awesome
Even the books she's carrying...
I'm hooked and I can't stop staring.
Quantum Physics!...
It goes on and on. The 36-24-36 part is changed to 15-13-15, referencing her MCAT scores.
I don't know whether to be proud o
Re: (Score:2)
There used to be a web site where you could post ideas/lyrics for parodies and sometimes they were actually produced.
BTW: Were talking about 10y ago.
Too bad this one didn't get "produced" on Youtube
Re: (Score:2)
Heh, I like. I also redid a pop song praising smarts.
I know you woulda voted for me (I know you woulda voted for me)
And maybe you did (and maybe you did)
I know I look damn good compared to Bush 43
You want a president not an embarrassment (president not embarrassment)
It's easy to see (it's easy to see)
And in the back of your mind
I know you shoulda voted for me
[Chorus]
Dont cha wish your president was smart like me
Dont cha wish your president could talk like me
Dont cha, dont cha
Dont cha wish your president had
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Special place in hell? What, you're still hating on my sig?
Re: (Score:2)
Entropy....how can I explain it? (Score:1, Informative)
MC Hawking [youtube.com]
I would expect (Score:2, Funny)
Your tax dollars at work (Score:1)
I hope this got paid for out of the education/marketing-to-future-astronauts budget not the entertainment budget.
Bah... (Score:1)
It's been done before [youtube.com]
JJ
Are they insane?!?! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Expect shootouts with lasers...
Easily solved... they just need to stay away from the frickin' sharks.
Huh? (Score:2)
Actually funded by NASA? (Score:2, Informative)
So claiming this rap was commissioned by NASA is slightly misleading in my opinion.
Along the same lines (Score:2)
Check out the Search Engine Rap Battle [youtube.com]. It's hilarious!
Re:When you're too stupid.... (Score:5, Interesting)
...to learn to play an instrument and write your own music, just steal someone else's, talk all over it and call it "rap".
Rapping well actually has a lot of skills in common with 'real' singing - it's more technical that you'd think. For example you need at least as much timing, enunciation and breath control as singers do, and if you're rapping tunefully you've got to actually hit the note first time, you can't fudge it in vibrato if you're having an off day. Don't dis the rap stars.
Parent
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Rapping well actually has a lot of skills in common with 'real' singing
I'll give you that. But they say that a professional working a chainsaw is also pretty skilful, and I don't listen to that for fun either.
Re: (Score:2)
But they say that a professional working a chainsaw is also pretty skilful, and I don't listen to that for fun either.
I'm guessing you've never heard the solo to "The Lumberjack" [youtube.com] by Jackyl... {starts at around 1:37}
I just listened again for fun. Thanks for the reminder!
LHC Astrobiology (Score:2)
Astrobiology doesn't do it for me. The LHC rap had a sense of fun, was well constructed, managed to have a high density of content, and didn't take itself too seriously.
I appreciate Jonathan's effort and his very cool video editing, but it suffers from following an act like LHC.
Re: (Score:2)
When Eric Clapton plays a mean blues guitar solo, he can do so minus the countless medallions, bling jewelry, fashion street clothing and any need to wave his hands at the camera.
But then there's Hendrix who burns his guitar on stage or one of the countless others who smashes theirs up at the end of the set. The posturing isn't the music.
Blues - yes, you've got a point, but it isn't necessarily everyone's thing. You could say the same about jazz or classical - it's out there, there's an incredible history of it, but they aren't pop culture today.
Re: (Score:2)
When Eric Clapton plays a mean blues guitar solo, he can do so minus the countless medallions, bling jewelry, fashion street clothing and any need to wave his hands at the camera.
Maybe you need to be black to appreciate rap music but it never ceases to amaze me how the much deeper culture of black blues music, played equally well by both black and white musicians, is totally ignored by those who follow rap and modern black street culture.
Thats just ridiculous. Maybe they don't bling, but blues players have the fanciest guitars of any guitar players. Every genre has their thing.
Some rap does the bling thing. Thats part of Black youth culture. Look rich. White youth culture when I was young at least, was to look "poor." Of course they paid top dollar for those ripped up faded jeans and simple t-shirt. Music is part of culture and vice versa.
When you say "maybe you need to be black to appreciate rap music..." there is some truth to it.
Re: (Score:2)
So, by your theory, Bootsy Collins is the missing link between Blues and Rap?
Re: (Score:2)
George Clinton did say that "Funk is the DNA for hip-hop". So yeah, that's not too far from the truth. I find the hip-hop I like the best is heavily funk influenced. A Tribe Called Quest, Del Tha Funky Homosapien, etc.
Re: (Score:2)
Music videos as a form have a lot of unnecessary crap in them. For example, Crash Here Tonight could just be the image of Toby Keith and co. playing the song, but instead he gets Heather Locklear to be in it. Different target audiences perceive success differently.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't claim to be an expert in such matters and even within the minimal attention I gave to religious lessons at school, I recall nowhere in Christ's teachings any mention of "hoes" or "booty".
Re: (Score:2)
You just replace "hoes" and "booty" with "Christ" and "salvation."
Big salvation christ!!!
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I guess now all first posts are marked offtopic? "This" was referring to... wait for it... the topic. It was definitely on the topic.
What exactly is the criteria for stuff on idle? Isn't idle just a soapbox for how stupid letters to the editor are?