The interview I did with the folks at Skeptically Speaking is now online on their website. Funny– while I was on, it seemed like I was just babbling, but listening to it now I seemed lucid enough.
We talked about the JREF, the Million Dollar Challenge, NASA, Star Trek, and then I had to field a bunch of much tougher questions from the audience than usual. Hopefully that part made some modicum of sense. Well, either way, I had a lot of fun!
If you went to BadAstronomy.com and found yourself here, never fear: the BA Blog has moved to its new home at Discover Blogs. The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking and all that) is still online, too.
Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He has written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic, and fights misuses of science as well as praising the wonder of real science.
Contact me: The Bad Astronomer "at" gmail "dot" com
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June 22nd, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Phil Plait:
Err… Phil, that should be than, not “then”.
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:02 pm
@IVAN3MAN
Maybe he meant “much tougher questions from the audience, then [the] usual [stuff]“?
June 22nd, 2009 at 3:13 pm
@ Todd W.,
Like, er… “… much tougher questions from the audience, then [the] usual [stuff from creationists and 'Electric Universe' nutters got on my tits!]”
June 22nd, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Phil, It’s the wonderful quality of your “babble” to convey so much understandable information and excitement about your subject that we love so much. Keep on babbling!
I listened in while you were on the air and was really impressed with how cool headed you stayed. Each new “big” question I thought, “he will never manage to explain this on the air” and you proved me wrong again and again. I learned a lot.
The live podcast crapped out about 2/3 of the way through for me so I will have to go listen to the rest. *and FYI to Skeptically Speaking the volume of everybody really was too low on the internet broadcast.
June 22nd, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Yeah, babbling is always a problem when you’re excited and passionate about your subject. I just try to remember to “Breath, Idiot, Breath,,,”,,,sometimes that will slow me down just enough,,,
GAry 7
June 22nd, 2009 at 7:14 pm
The difference between babbling and lucidity is called editing.
June 23rd, 2009 at 12:40 am
Hi Phil,
Hopefully this is a good place to take issue with something you said on the show.
I haven’t seen the recent Star Trek, for which I am shameful, but you described diving from a spaceship hundreds of kilometers up. Then you said heating would not be an issue. As a spacecraft developer I have to take exception. The rule of thumb for heating is that a capsule falling straight down from 300km sees the same peak heating rate as an orbital capsule reentering the atmosphere and a fall from 500km sees the same peak heating rate as an Apollo capsule returning from the Moon.
You could posit materials and thermal management advances in spacesuits, but I don’t think they will ever be good enough to jump from a craft hundreds of kilometers up with just a spacesuit.
Anyway, just thought I’d let you know, and also other than that technical nit, I thought you did well!
Dave