And the Nobel Prize for Common-sense goes to…

© 2015, Barbara W. Beacham

At first, it looked like an ordinary marble, but it was far from it.  But how could Tim have known that, when he had much so many other valuable marbles that earned him the Nobel prize in science? So he threw that dull ordinary marble in the dirt ..

When he opened his mouth in a science delegation in Korea, stupid words poured out:  “Let me tell you about my trouble with girls. Three things happen when they are in the lab. You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticise them, they cry,

The room was still ,like the calm before the storm. Not aware of the big hole he was digging himself, he continued,  “I’m in favour of single-sex labs but I don’t want to stand in the way of women”

The prevalent theory in the scientific community: Tim has lost all his marbles.  In reality all he lost was one ordinary dull marble called : common-sense.

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“lost his marbles” is an euphemism for “losing one’s mind” or “acting stupidly”

The above quotes in blue are from Tim Hunt, who is more famous for his sexists remarks than his Nobel Prize in 2001. More news about him is in the below link:

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jun/13/tim-hunt-forced-to-resign

His remarks have started an avalance of tweets from women scientists who have posted humorous pictures under the hash tag #distractinglysexy.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/12/413986529/-distractinglysexy-tweets-are-female-scientists-retort-to-disappointing-comments

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The above story was in response to ‘Monday’s finish the story’ flash fiction challenge. This unique flash fiction challenge  provides  a new photo each week, and the first sentence of a story. The challenge is to finish the story using 100-150 words, not including the sentence provided. Details are available here:

Mondays Finish the Story – June 15th, 2015

22 responses to “And the Nobel Prize for Common-sense goes to…

  1. Love the link to history. I thought of that as soon as I read the first quote!

    Liked by 1 person

  2. I like that! Well done! Thanks for writing again for the Mondays Finish the Story challenge and be well… ^..^

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  3. Francesca Smith

    I do not think the part of his brain which controls common sense was working when he said that.
    Great story!

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  4. This made me laugh and the fact that it’s real made me laugh harder. What a good story. 🙂

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  5. Heh, very topical! I still can’t believe he said those things, what a muppet. Well done linking it to the marble picture 🙂

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  6. This is pretty funny. Maybe this is where the “mad” scientist originated. LOL! Very interesting!

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Excellent and so much fun to read!

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  8. OMG…. I love, love, love this. I was a female scientist working in a lab, and if I remember correctly, the male scientists did all the chasing! Not all of them but a few…. This was wonderful!!!!

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  9. The fact that these quotes are real makes the story even more entertaining! Love it.

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  10. That is an excellent and very contemporary take on this prompt. Very well done.

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  11. I laughed when I read your post. That would explain why the guy was such a jerk at that conference.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. What I’ve heard is that if sense was common, everyone would have it. How very unfortunate he was put in a position where his views made news. Well done. 😀 — Suzanne

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