Oh noes! Robin Ince broke his Charles Darwin mug!

September 28, 2012 • 1:53 pm

by Matthew Cobb

Earlier on today, UK comedian Robin Ince tweeted:

“Damn, broke my Charles Darwin mug. years of tiny errors to get it like that, now destroyed. Oh life”

Here’s a picture of Robin’s mug, before The Accident (of which he has remained mysteriously silent):

d0qwhz.jpg
Not all evolutionary change is “very gradual” (tell that to the dinosaurs that did not survive the asteroid impact that late November Tuesday afternoon 65 million years ago, which was, of course, curiously like the unspecified accident that befell Robin’s mug), but most of it is.

For those of you who don’t know of Robin, amongst other things he is co-presenter of the excellent BBC Radio 4 science-based comedy programme The Infinite Monkey Cage, along with my University of Manchester colleague Professor Brian Cox. There are 18 episodes of this Sony Award winning programme available for you all to listen to. Highly recommended for anybody with a funny bone.

(I admit it, I was on the last series, and will be on the next. Despite this, it is still very funny.)

Robin has a great blog (NOT a website) just down the wordpress corridor.

Here’s Robin’s take on creationism and “intelligent design” from a few years back:

25 thoughts on “Oh noes! Robin Ince broke his Charles Darwin mug!”

    1. Whiskey; eau-de-vie; the water of life. Sorry, Ben. You cross ’em over, and I’ll nod ’em in.

        1. It’s Freedah neet (Geordie pronunciation) and I’m on the bitter again; we must stop meeting like this, Ben! Slaínte.

          1. Damned foreigners…never can understand a word the lot of ’em are saying. Why can’t they speak real English like we do here in America where we invented the language?

            Oh…Hi!…um…I didn’t type that out loud, did I?

            Cheers!

            b&

    2. The beverage should be ‘bitter, weak, thoroughly fermented Indian Ale’ (Medication prescribed for Charles by his physician father, Robert Darwin)

      1. Curious. Would this be what’s today known as IPA? If so, I’ll drink to that…though I’ve no clue what ails it’s supposed to cure you of….

        b&

        1. Yup, IPA is India Pale ale, a type of bitter, and, from memory, it’s the descendant of Indian ales, some connection
          with the Raj and British colonialism from 200 years ago. One of my modest quenchers at the week’s end.

  2. I saw him live in Copenhagen, he’s really funny just as a comedian. And The Infinite Monkey Cage is brilliant, Geek Paradise.

    1. Ditto in Dundee. Great jokes about Schrödinger’s cat, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle etc.

    1. Dunno if you’re British, CJ, but BBC Radio 4 also does ‘The Material World’ – half-hour slot with up-to-date scientific break-throughs, Thursdays 4.30 p.m.. Undertandandable, even for science illiterates like me, more ‘scientistic’ than …Monkey Cage’s entertainment agenda.

      I hope the Americans and all foreigners can get it on the BBC i-player; I recommend it. Don’t take my word for it; I’m sure Dawkins et al. would second my promotion.

      1. Blimey, Marella just spotted your gravatar. Goya, eh? I saw loads of his paintings in the Prado in Madrid. They were great. Have you been there? The late paintings were brahma.

        Like Rothko, only 150 years before their time; have you seen the dog peering over the dark lines? No idea of the title, but wonderfully mysterious, frightening, alienating.

        Proto-modern, from early nineteenth century medievalist Spain of all places; much like how modernist literature was born in colonised backward semi-feudal, Catholic Ireland in the form of Joyce.

    1. Yes, I noticed that too. I suspect this is a photo of the mug after it broke. The handle appears to be taped back on.

      That’s not going to work …

      1. But that would be contrary to Dr. Cobb’s observation:

        Here’s a picture of Robin’s mug, before The Accident (of which he has remained mysteriously silent)

        The fact that the handle appears to be broken must be an optically delusional enhancement rendered by special request upon submission of additional fees as per an optional agreement. I suppose, or some other such noumenon.

  8. “Years of tiny errors to get it like that”.

    Puts me in mind of a theory by a famously bearded fellow…

    On the other hand, most every one of those errors perpetrated on the mug was destructive, reducing its fitness for its intended purpose. This of course is predicted by the 2nd Law of Dynamic Thermals, based on observations of the movements of whitener Clouds In My Coffee.

    On the other other hand, this is the sort of thing you might expect to find in a junk yard, the way it’s all cobbled together.

  9. If I could have a postal address I will send him a new Darwin mug. I have a photo of this but alas cannot attach.

Comments are closed.