Well, nuts.
First, the good news: my friend Richard Saunders has put out another Tank vodcast.
The bad news is that Tank reporter Kylie Sturgess went out to a beach in Australia, showed people a picture of James Randi, and asked if they knew him. Most didn’t.
But the really bad news is that she showed folks a picture of Randi, Richard, and me, and no one knew who I was at all.
Go to about 19 minutes in to see that last part. Aussie women in bikinis don’t know who I am! All for the best, I suppose. Fame is fleeting.
February 29th, 2008 at 8:28 am
I’m sure your wife will be very happy
I would only recognize you if you wore a cap though, were you wearing a cap?
February 29th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Mrs. BA probably sleeps a lot better at night because of it. (I kid, I kid)
Seriously, most people are only topically interested in science, and only then when Big Things(tm) happen. Stuff like the Martian Rovers’ first pictures. Men walking on the moon. Possible cures for cancer…that sort of thing.
Ask an intelligent but non-scientific common, everyday person something about science and they’ll echo back precisely what mass media has fed them if anything at all. They tend to think of scientists as “geeks” or something, but happily gulp up the benefits of science and research.
That’s fine, they just want to drive the car, and not know how to take it apart, much less know anything about the materials that were used or what even those materials are made of…and so forth and so on.
So it’s no surprise that Skeptics are not famous. Maybe when you flaunt it like Britney or as sauve as Clooney or as outrageous as Paris you’ll be famous. But judging by two of three aforementioned people, it doesn’t look like all that much fun anyway.
February 29th, 2008 at 8:34 am
Aww, come on Phil, maybe the Aussies didn’t recognize you, but you know you are quite famous worldwide in both the skeptic community and the rest of BABlog readers around the globe.
February 29th, 2008 at 9:20 am
You need a TV show and a catch phrase. Maybe your catch phrase could be something like “Space is big.” or “Astronomy r00lez” or how about “I cAn Haz fame?!”
February 29th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Show a photo of Doctor Karl Kruszelnicki though and I’m sure most Australians would recognize him instantly, even if they can’t pronounce his surname. So no need to worry. Skeptics are well represented down under.
February 29th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Here’s the real question:
would you prefer they have no idea who you are
or mistake you for Adam Savage of the Mythbusters?
J/P=?
P.S. I notice there’s a ‘lookalike’ page on the MB site, and your picture is not there.
J/PS=?
February 29th, 2008 at 9:50 am
How about:
The Bad Astronomer
To Boldly Debunk Where No Man Has Debunked Before!
February 29th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Maybe you can keep on trolling intelligent people by writing that some anonymous Berkeley guy claims that wind power is impossible, and linking to out of context windmill failures.
If you do that enough, perhaps you can get a gig on Fox News as the anti-wind power consultant, and then we’ll all know who you are!
February 29th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Well, sorry BA that no one knew who you were. However, it looks like you may have dressed up as a firefighter.
http://www.iaff3574.com/single_pic.cfm?PicID=55296&gallery=On%20the%20Job
I say it’s a dead ringer!
February 29th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
get over yourself man !
February 29th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
It’s ok BA. We already have a famous Science Guy here in Aus, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki. Hang out with him for a bit, go on a few tours and bam, everyone will know who you are ;p (Remember there are only 20+ million people in Australia)
I personally have a lot of his books, most of them are about debunking popular myths in science. “Dis-information” is probably my favorite. Actually I am sure I heard you on the radio (JJJ) once before on one of his shows a few years ago. I’m sure it was for Astronomy Myths or something.
http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/
Big it up for Dr Karl … and also BA ;p
February 29th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
The best TV in years.
I did recognize mr. Plait. He was sitting on a surf board.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:36 am
Phil -
It’s a nice picture of the three of you. I’m surprised none of the interviewees said you were “cute”!
However, it isn’t bad to know that some think you might be a world leader (unless they think you led us to where we are!)
On another topic, maybe Texas SHOULD become a creationist state. Then we can force them out of the country. BA bloggers can retain their U.S. citizenship as long as they are wearing one of your hats or can show us a copy of your book. About the only thing I’d miss would be lamb ribs.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:37 am
Oh, yeah. We would have to move the Johnson Space Center.
March 1st, 2008 at 4:27 am
I’d offer to take a pic of me in a bikini to prove that at least one aussie woman does, but sadly, there are things the world shouldn’t have to endure.
March 1st, 2008 at 5:55 am
They weren’t Australian. They were in Australia.
/trolling
//slashies
March 1st, 2008 at 6:03 am
Knock knock.
“Who’s there?”
Phil
“Phil who?”
That’s showbusiness.
March 1st, 2008 at 8:54 am
Maybe all of us science geeks down under weren’t at the beach? We were probably sitting in basements behind our computers or something! LOL. If I were on a beach surrounded by hot Aussie babes in bikinis I’d pretend not do know a darned thing about astronomy! I luv ya Phil but I need all the help I can get in that department. PS, any smart, pretty women feel free to write me!!
March 1st, 2008 at 4:49 pm
I think of Phil as a world leader! Well, he should be anyway.
March 1st, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Ah Phil. There was a wide range of nationalities interviewed. But you did get their attention though.
Or maybe that was the bikini I was wearing that you couldn’t see off camera… never mind. Maybe for the next vox pop I do for The TANK Vodcast…
March 2nd, 2008 at 4:36 pm
David - I think you are either misunderstanding or misrepresenting what BA and the Berkeley guy were saying about wind power. It wasn’t wind *power* but wind *farms* that seemed to be the issue. Apparently the Berkeley guy thinks the transmission loses from wind farms is too great for them to be economically viable, but point-of-use wind generators are another thing entirely.
I disagree with this, at least in many circumstances. The local wind project I am most familiar with is the Cape Wind project to put several hundred windmills in Nantucket sound, off the south coast of Cape Cod. The wind farm would generate about 2/3 to 3/4 of the power currently used on Cape Cod. Most of the current power there is generated by a (coal, I think, but it may be oil) fired generator at the north end of the Cape Cod Canal, at the west end (base or shoulder if you think of the Cape as a flexed arm.) The wind farm would be closer to most of the Cape then the current generator, so the transmission losses should be significantly less. (Cape Cod is about 90 miles long,
so the average place on the Cape would be 45 miles from the coal plant, but only 25 miles from the wind farm.)
These distances may be too short to matter, the Berkeley guy may have been considering cases where the wind farms are hundreds of miles from the users, and traditional power plants are located right near them. This may be true for many locations but is quite wrong for many others. If wind power was only viable in a handful of locations in the world, it might be true that there wouldn’t be enough economies of scale to make building wind generators, towers, turbine blades, the electronics needed to control them, train builders to put them up and maintenance people to maintain them, and so on would all be too expensive, but there are hundreds if not thousands of potential sites, and a market for thousands of towers, so this should be an issue.
March 3rd, 2008 at 6:01 pm
There there buddy. I still love you.
We also just missed Sydney mardi gras, it was a prime publicity spot!
If you’re ever around this way, you may not be able to score a free hotel room to trash but I have a fold out bed and a trashable dwelling you’re more than welcome to!
Stay Sharp
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Dr Karl is a god, and if I possessed a uterus I would be working hard to have his babies.
March 7th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
If they showed me the picture I’d know who you were… wouldn’t catch me in a bikini though