Who Up Pondering They Orb (etc.)

[We’ve all been there: 11.47, swamped by a long stretch of dense scientific talks at a conference. Six slides into a hyper-technical presentation, the speaker suddenly cracks a joke. The room erupts. Shoulders relax. Minds re-engage. Humour is a powerful but underused tool in scientific communication, often sidelined by academic norms that view levity as unprofessional. Social biases can further shape who feels safe joking without risking credibility. At 14 biology-related conferences, we collected data on humour use across 531 talks. Jokes clustered at the beginnings and ends of talks, with an extra bump in successful jokes midway through. Most jokes (66%) earned only polite chuckles. Humour success was unrelated to the type of joke or form of delivery; however, male speakers told about 0.35 more jokes per talk, and both male and native speakers had a 10% higher probability of eliciting laughter. This suggests how social dynamics influence who feels comfortable using humour and whose jokes resonate with the audience. Until academia reckons with these biases, humour will remain a privilege. Still, for those brave enough or granted the social licence, a well-placed zinger can turn a forgettable talk into one people actually remember—and perhaps even enjoy.]

When are you gonna do wizard stuff? You've been etching that same spell array for the last 5 streams lmao

"When am I gonna do wizard stuff? You're watching it right now man. This is it."

you should hunt more demons again

Laughs "Look man, that was last month. This is now. You gotta understand the role of violence in the cycle if you're ever going to thread the needle of your will into the tapestry of fate."

So are you not gonna accept ManaMuncher2003's wizard duel challenge?

"Okay first of all, I don't even know who this guy is. Second of all, you gotta remember that wizard duels are fought across the entirety of reality and the victor is decided long before the challenge is ever issued. But I guess no one ever taught you that."

you're calling us stupid lol

"No I'm just saying that there's a reason why I'm the one doing spells and you're the one watching me from your mom's laptop. No shame or anything."

fuck you and your entire mage guild you shitty hedge witch

"Alright buddy, you're getting annoying. Mods, send this guy to the mind prison where he has to fight a shadow doppelganger representing his deepest insecurities to escape"

NL's never shown us his shadow demon because we know he'd have hair