Comments on: Neil Tyson's congressional testimony

By: Carlos

Carlos — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 18:24:45 +0000

I’ve always like this quote from Randall Munroe the creator of the webcomic xkcd: “The universe is probably littered with the one-planet graves of cultures which made the sensible economic decision that there’s no good reason to go into space– each discovered, studied, and remembered by the ones who made the irrational decision.”

By: bigdaddyhen

bigdaddyhen — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 19:21:29 +0000

Not sure of a better place to put this, but just came across this article on EW.com about the Dr, and how he prodded to James Cameron to correct the stars visible in the sky during the pivotal end scenes of Titanic in the newly released 3D version of the movie. Thought this would hit home with your original BA website.

http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/04/02/popwatch-confessional-titanic-starmap/

By: kat wagner

kat wagner — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 16:39:34 +0000

Followup! In last night’s intro to The Daily Show, Jon Stewart talked about an engineering contest. A team from the GW School of Engineering won for building a Bamboo Bicycle and one of the team members asked Jon if he would ask Neil to speak at their commencement. SOO, Jon said to the audience, Neil “consider yourself asked.” How cool is that? I mean, the team won for building a BAMBOO BICYCLE.

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 04:40:54 +0000

PS – Take Me To Your Leader. This Message Comes To You From Outer Space (well, geosynchronous orbit – close enough!). J.

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 04:33:12 +0000

Hi again. Let’s see… Hm. Okay, let’s go:

1) @B, 23: The respect is indeed due to action, not title. The title is awarded because there has been action. It’s past tense, not future.

2) @Infinite123Lifer, 24: Thanks for clarifying, and although I disagree that ‘Dr’ is cold and sterile (I think it’s as warm as any title, Mr. or Ms. included), I can see your point. Unfortunately, my chess isn’t so good – Perhaps I can wallop Dr. Plait at backgammon sometime.

3) @Jojo, 26: Dangit!! I can get paid for this?!? Where do I send the invoice?

4) @Nigel Depledge, 28: You’re right, I was being redundant and unclear talking about “Dr. Smith, M.D.”, but the point was that in medicine, an M.D. is a doctor in the subject at hand while a “Dr. Smith, PhD in geology (e.g.)” isn’t.

You make a point that your colleagues call you Nigel, and that’s perfectly reasonable for them, but it presumes a familiarity with you that I do not have. So for the moment I’ll address you as Dr. Depledge, even in the context of selling you a used car (Want a 20-year old Mercedes? Runs great! Sold as is – no warranty.).

Again, the point is the professional context. Doctors of astrophysics have earned, through action, the title of Doctor of Philosophy, Astrophysics. Doctors of medicine and jurisprudence likewise, and they have already earned those titles, and (one hopes) deserve them, in their respective fields.

Finally, to get back on track, it was remarkable testimony. Unfortunately, and parts of the video didn’t help (the guy casually wandering through the background), I’m cynical enough to feel that despite Dr. Tyson’s obvious passion for the subject (which I share!) the representatives of the people he was addressing probably won’t care. If they do, they won’t be effectual. It’s a sad state, really, and I am not optimistic.

Allow me to leave you with this quote, attributed to a sign at an Occupy Wall Street protest,

“If voting could change anything, it already would have”.

Jon

By: Lorena

Lorena — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 18:36:32 +0000

“watch out, we got a badass over here” XD XD

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:39:26 +0000

http://www.booktv.org/Watch/13308/quotSpace+Chronicles+Facing+the+Ultimate+Frontierquot.aspx

he did a long talk at BookTV above, watch it, it is good. He is doing a good job laying out the history and rationale for spaceflight in a way that inspires people. That is what is needed. The details bore most of the public, but not the vision. And visions can change societies. Today’s media is dominated by people trying to peddle their own products and not get a society behind a goal, other than shopping at their store/website.

By: Gary Ansorge

Gary Ansorge — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:56:52 +0000

Gee, sometimes my pedantic switch gets stuck…but then I DO have German ancestry…

Gary 7

By: Stathis Dimopoulos

Stathis Dimopoulos — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:24:38 +0000

Nigel Depledge (30) said:

Hey, we have Brian Cox and Patrick Moore.

Don’t forget the special 55 years anniversary Sky At Night today.

By: Nigel Depledge

Nigel Depledge — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:50:36 +0000

Jojo (18) said:

Also (again), we’ve had pirates on the sea for probably as long as people have been sailing the seas. What makes you think that we won’t need pirate protection in space? And that has to be a function of government, who need to have bigger and badder ships and armaments than the pirates have.

Wait a second. When did “we came in peace for all mankind” become “we need bigger guns”?