Some random interviews I’ve done lately, and a little link love.
Those weirdos at the Skeptics Guide to the Universe interviewed me at TAM5. I may have flirted with Rebecca a little bit (actually just sitting next to her makes my heart beat a wee bit faster, so I don’t need to work much) but she did profess her love for me. My interview starts about 42 minutes in; if we all sound funny it’s because we were recording just outside the main auditorium so we didn’t want to disrupt the meeting. Adam Savage and Tory Belleci from Mythbusters are on after me.
I did my "Brains on Vacation" bit for "Are We Alone", this time about wishing on a star. You can get it in MP3 or WMA.
Derek and Swoopy at Skepticality, having embarrassed me last time by asking Julia Sweeney if she knew of my undying crush on her (Julia knows that very well, D&S, as I would have been happy to tell you, and as anyone will tell you, to know her is to love her), go on to talk about me some more at TAM5 (here is a direct link to the MP3). Actually, it’s only for a moment, and it’s 51 minutes in. So you might want to listen to the podcast because they talk to my buds Adam Savage and Ben Radford from Skeptical Inquirer. They’re probably more interesting.
I was interviewed on the Conscious Particles podcast, a topically eclectic show. We chatted over a lot of different things, including UFOs, asteroids, and the usual nonsense.
And I must give props to the Seed magazine Zeitgeist meister, who has the excellent taste to frequently link to me. Back atcha, Herr Meister.
Phew! I think that’s it for now. But then I’m doing two podcast interview in the next week, and one for an online magazine too. I’ll link to those as they come out, too.
Good thing I already have an enormous ego, or else all this might otherwise give me one.
March 11th, 2007 at 10:04 am
Ummm, big ego. What was it Khan(startrek) said? “Superior intelligence breeds superior ambition”,,,but sometimes it just breeds,,,I guess that’s because of a big ego,,,or something,,,
I watched EarthStorm last night on SciFi. This has to be an example of the latest version of B-movies.
First error:
the mandatory SOUNDS IN HARD VACUUM. Virtually every SciFi flick except Alien does that.
2) They had no mid course deceleration and with an apparent 1 G constant acceleration that would have them traveling at about 77.459 km/sec or rather about 278,852 km/hr when they reached the moon. Even with nuclear pulse engines, that’s bloody fast,,,
3) I wonder where they had enough chemical fuel to leave the moon(ignoring how they managed to stop in the first place) after dropping their nuc. pulse engines.
4),,,and of course they were able to twist and turn like a jet in atmosphere to avoid collision with lunar debris.
5) About the only saving grace was that, for the most part, the acting was,,,adequate,,, maintained by Baldwin, though I noticed a distinct pause in one line he uttered, wherein he says to his second,,,” Listen,,,(pause for 3 seconds as he tries to remember his lines),,,you’re my eyes and ears here,,,”
Ah, maybe I’m just getting old and picky,,,
GAry 7
March 11th, 2007 at 10:13 am
A talk you did with the Infidel Guy is now available at:
http://infidelguy.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=189645
March 11th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Gary Ansorge Says: “I watched EarthStorm last night on SciFi. First error:
the mandatory SOUNDS IN HARD VACUUM. Virtually every SciFi flick except Alien does that.”
2001: A Space Odyssey. Predates Alien by a decade.
- Jack
March 11th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Check this out: http://www.conservapedia.com/
Hilarious! Check out the article on Kangaroos.
March 11th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Jack: Yes,,,I’d completely forgot about 2001 and now I can’t recall if 2010 had space wooshy sounds> Ah, the advantageous of a good forgettery. Now I can go back and re-watch those classics and they’ll be like new.
Gary 7
March 11th, 2007 at 5:54 pm
Rick, please tell me it’s a parody site. I honestly can’t tell. I need to know whether to tear my hair out or laugh.
March 12th, 2007 at 4:00 am
All this talk about you and Rebecca (it’s been going on for some time) might come off a little differently than you think, Bad. I love Rebecca, too, that is I love what she’s doing for science literacy and the skeptical movement, but…
I love you, too. LOVE you! Tell the world about you! But…
TAM already sounds so much like a frat party that a good many of us have decided we’ll never go.
March 12th, 2007 at 4:25 am
Ibrahim: It isn’t a parody site. Let the hair pulling begin.
March 12th, 2007 at 7:11 am
I do hereby second the insight shown by Sherry Austin…”TAM already sounds so much like a frat party…” After two trips, I don’t have much desire to return. The only person who was the least bit warm was, of all people, a chiropractor from Idaho. It’s the same with magicians’ conventions. I have been to as many as thirty of those and I have yet to run into anyone who remembers me from a previous convention. In other words, they can be so focused/obsessed/self-centered, while trying to sell themselves or their wares, that they actually lessen their chances of success. I must say that Michael Shermer is one of those who comes down from the clouds to be a real mensch, but when Phil talks about how neat the others are, he forgets that he is “one of them.” and so they treat him as an equal. The rest of us are often treated as the audience whose job is to shut up and write checks. So, Phil, you do many good things, but your perspective is not the whole story. I think TAM is often way too elitist, and way, way too damned expensive! Some of us are retired and only one social security check away from eating cat food, my friend. And I’ll bet you don’t remember me either, even if we have met on several occasions, ’cause I ain’t Julia, Rebecca, or Randi.
March 12th, 2007 at 8:23 am
Sherry, I’m not sure how anyone interprets anything I write. It’s always a crapshoot. I have a lot of respect for the work Rebecca does, and we get along really well. I’ve also written that I love Dr. Who, and George Hrab, and Evelyn from SkepChicks, and a lot of other folks, too.
But Mrs. BA is the One for me.
MO Man, well, you’re right– I don’t remember you, but then you haven’t given me much to go on. In fact, I’m not very good at remembering people well, though I’m good at recognizing faces and such. It usually takes a memory poke or two for me to remember specifics.
But bear in mind, at TAM I meet several hundred people all at once, and it’s hard to develop any sort of real connection with all of them. When I go to TAM, I don’t hang out too much with the “stars”. I sit up front with the other guests (that’s a perq I’m not willing to turn down!) but in my off time I’m generally hanging with the JREF forum folks. They’re my old friends.
I’m sorry you haven’t been getting a good impression with TAM, but I’m also very sure that the people who run it would be more than willing to hear you out and try to figure out how to improve it. They know it’s expensive, and they want to make the experience as good as it can be.
I’ll let you know, too, that the majority of people with whom I’ve spoken have been really impressed with how accessible the “stars” are. If you’ve had a different experience, then go to the JREF board (www.randi.org) and talk about it. People are willing to listen, and there have been some excellent discussions about it.
March 12th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Thanks for the reply, Bad. I love you (and Mrs. Bad!) and what you’re doing, so I just wanted you to know how it came across, that’s all. Your values are not for me to judge, but I didn’t think you meant it the way it appears, otherwise I wouldn’t bother pointing it out.
Believe me, I want to see you (younger than me, I think!) people prosper in the skeptical movement. I am in a peculiar position to know how bad it is. We need you and Rebecca, et al. desperately. You’ve all taken up a very heavy cross and I am behind you in every way.
About Mo Man’s agreement with me about TAM sounding like a frat party. I’ve seen too many posts on JREF forum and elsewhere where the attendees have bragged incessantly and unnecessarily about how much booze that they put down. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it does give the impression that that’s a lot of what it’s about. Plus, it makes the ones posting sound like they’re trying so hard to look cool. Frankly, I want you scientists to have a good time however you see fit, but I also want you sober (at least most of the time!) because we NEED you! In those instances, I’d rather read what TAM attendees learned rather than the details of how they quenched their thirst.