So I’ve got this astronomer friend named Aaron who works for the American Association of Variable Star Observers, and one day he says to me, “Have you ever heard of podcasting?”.
My immediate response was to back away slowly and see if anyone could help me restrain him. Come to think, that’s my normal reaction to anything he says.
Anyway, podcasting is pretty cool. It’s like an on-demand web broadcast. People record a show of some kind (topics range from — you guessed it — sex to food to just random silliness) and put it on a server. You can then subscribe to their show on your PC or iPod and it will automatically download a new show when it comes online.
This idea may revolutionize the web, and radio. It’s an audio blog!
Aaron and me during the podcast, showing my lame self-timer camera abilities
There are a few astronomy-related podcasts. One of the first (maybe the first) is the one my friend Aaron does with his friends Pamela and Travis (also astronomers). They call it Slacker Astronomy, with the tagline "Because if you aren’t going to care about something, you may as well not care about astronomy."
Pamela and me, showing that I can learn how to frame things better if I try.
It’s a fun podcast, full of real astronomy and really cheesy jokes. So naturally they asked me to be on, knowing my propensity for fromage. We got together at a meeting of the AAVSO in Las Cruces New Mexico, and rambled on for an hour or more about the badness of astronomy. They condensed this down to about 13 minutes, which does not speak well of my conciseness. But it’s a pretty good 13 minutes. The whole hour-long ball of wax is also available from their site as well.
My friend Fraser Cain who runs the great website Universe Today is also starting a podcast, and has some interviews with astronomers up on his podcast page.
So the obvious question is, why don’t I do a podcast? Well, for one, it would take effort. More than blathering into a blog, say. And second, yet another friend of mine who podcasts, NASA Janet, told me how much it would cost (in $$$ and time) to do one. Personally, I think she doesn’t want the competition. Either way, her stratagem worked. I’ll stick with blogging, though I might appear on the random podcast or two as time permits. I’ll mention it here when I do.
April 12th, 2005 at 5:28 pm
Not living in the US, I haven’t listened to Coast-to-coast, so have never actually heard the Bad Astronomer talk. It was a good rambling show – I listened to the full hour (and a bit). I liked the Dr. Nick impressions Phil.
April 13th, 2005 at 4:23 am
Phil, Welcome to the Blog world!:)
Glad to see that you are doing this!
Never heard of “Podcasting” until today but I knew it had to
have something to do with Ipods. I guess it’s going to be
a possible new medium. Who knows, perhaps we will have
Astronomy “Podcasts” by Jack Horkheimer?
And while we are talking of Ipods and such ( because I work in the electronics industry ) here is a little tip for anyone
who has a car stereo and wants to hook up an Ipod:
Don’t go taking it out of your car to install it via aux or audio outputs! Just go down to your local Radio Shack or another electronics store and buy an FM/Modulator. These work on the same principle as do the Sirius Satellite Radios in that you tune to and FM station and it plays. This adapter will plug into your Ipod and then into the ciggy lighter and you tune to a specific FM station. My company does not make Ipod Car Audio yet so that’s how I know.
We get calls like this from teens as well as twenty-somethings.
Just thought it might come in handy!
Good Luck with this!
P. Edward Murray
Past President
Bucks-Mont. Astronomical Assoc., Inc
A membership-based 501 (c) 3 Non-Profit Educational Org.
April 13th, 2005 at 6:03 am
Just listened to my first podcast, and yes, it was yours. Downloaded the full hour, but haven’t listened yet. I haven’t caught Coast-to-Coast AM either, so it was cool to hear the bad astronomer himself via podcast.
April 15th, 2005 at 6:53 pm
Oh my! you said lots of bad words! Shame on you, BA.
That was a nice 13 minutes, that’s for sure. I liked it! Finally I heard a chat with the BA!
…Can you listen to the full hour without a pod?
April 17th, 2005 at 9:54 am
Yes. Just download it. It’s an mp3.
April 21st, 2005 at 10:56 pm
Like Jamie above, this was my first ever podcast. Enjoyed it. Good stuff.
–A longtime fan.