My old pal Richard Saunders from Australia skyped me up (which sounds dirtier than it is) and we chatted about doomsday prophecies — 2012, mostly, but also all the endless failed predictions of years gone by — for his podcast The Skeptic Zone (you can grab the MP3 here too). It’s always fun to chat with Richard. We’ve known each other a long time (as you can tell by the picture of the two of us there — click to southernhemispherenate) and I think that helps.
I also gush a bit about the live stuff I’m doing with Fraser Cain on Google+, including astronomy news roundups every Thursday, and live video telescope viewing via webcams. My part starts at about 12:30 in, but you should listen to the whole thing. It’s a good podcast, and he has an adorable accent.
January 16th, 2012 at 1:17 pm
You look “startled”, Phil…was the hug unexpected??
January 16th, 2012 at 1:54 pm
Dinosaurs went extinct when they overgrazed a laxative fern to extinction, hence coprolites. Humans go extinct when they overgraze credit default swaps to economic extinction. That would be later this week.
January 16th, 2012 at 2:30 pm
Mate, accent? What are you bloody talking about?
January 16th, 2012 at 2:54 pm
Richard has no accent but you do
another from Down under
January 16th, 2012 at 11:23 pm
hmm, wouldn’t southernhemispherenate turn the picture uʍop ǝpısdn?
From NZ (across the ditch from Down Under)
Listening to the podcast now. They don’t sound quite as Australian as I expected!
January 17th, 2012 at 5:44 am
@ all Aussies commenting about the “accent” comment -
Don’t worry about it, guys. Those USAians even think that we Brits have an accent! Can you believe it !
January 17th, 2012 at 9:55 am
LOL. Hilarious picture. Looks like a still shot from a B-Rated Vampire flick with Phil playing the soon-to-be victim.
January 17th, 2012 at 5:41 pm
Phil, are you groping Richards boob???
January 18th, 2012 at 9:48 am
As I’ve said I’m not worried about the end of the world coming in 2012. I think you may need to respond to one prediction. Many of you may have seen comercils form a encomist predicting an event that will bring down America. Well hears his prediction : the dollar will lose all value, the economy of the U.S. will collipse along with other world economys , there will be rioting like we’ve never seen before ,the President will declare martial law , and will become the nations frist dictator, all civil rights will be taken away. Sounds a bit farfeched ,but this guy predicited the cirisis of 2008.and also this is not some religous prophcey, I’ll just wait and see.
January 19th, 2012 at 10:20 pm
Meh!
I thought your gonna talk about the upcoming climate doomsday, which is expected to become inevitable at any moment now, if it is not a certainty already.