Date – August 2nd, 2011 read by Derek.
- You can send in your cool Science Shoutout to hosts@skepticality.com
- TAM 9 was fun, but now Dragon*Con with Skeptrack is only a month away.
- As part of Dragon*Con 2011 weekend, there will be fun with Pamela Gay, Phil Plait and Nicole Gugliucci.
- You can get tickets to the Atlanta Star Party now, it is the day before Skeptrack.
Skeptic History Notes
- James “The Amazing” Randi was born August 7, 1928.
- Skeptic Dr. Robert A. Baker Jr. died on August 8, 2005.
- Skeptic Dr. Karen Stollznow was born August 12, 1976.
- Susan Gerbic-Forsyth’s blog Guerilla Skepticism on Wikipedia gives editing tips for skeptics.
- The first Skepticamp was held August 4, 2007.
- Get daily Skeptic History facts on Twitter, Facebook or the new (free) JREF iPhone app.
Interview
- Bill Nye is now the executive director for the Planetary Society.
- When people are forced to not drive their car.
- How inefficient the transportation system tends to be in the USA.
- So many cars our level of service causes carpocylpse.
- Bill was a fixture up in the Seattle area on radio.
- Tide pools are just cool.
- Teach children by getting them 'hands on' to learn how nature and reality works before age 10.
- It is cheaper to get them involved early to save money.
- Astrology is a classic example to show people how woo-woo 'works'.
- Good television is fantastic to show, and teach people about the world and science.
- Will we still call it 'Television' in the future?
- Watching television is good, but you still need to get 'out' and do stuff.
- The Chabot telescope above Oakland is still a great instrument even more than 130 years later.
- Using tools it is a great way to show people tons of proof of climate change and how we know it is happening.
- Nye's 'Climate Lab' project.
- The Myan culture went out of business, 2012 isn't the end of the world it was just a 'round rock'.
- American Express is NOT believing the end of the world is 2012.
- Even with the retirement of the Space Shuttle, we will still be part of the 'Space Generation'.
- The planetary society is working hard to ensure we stay that way, the James Webb Telescope should do that.
- Human exploration is still the best way to explore space, people do it faster and more efficiently.
- With the retirement of the Space Shuttle, will that free up more money to focus more on climate change.
- Instruments in space are our best instruments to measure and monitor the effects of climate change.
- Science and Politics keep ending up against each other.
- We need to raise of generation of scientifically literate people, getting kids involved is the best way.
- The best indicator of someone becoming a science literate citizen is learning algebra and it is a 'cheap fix'.
- We want to save the world to save the humans.
- Educator buzz-words are many, but we just need to solve the problem.
- Nye was a guest on the television show 'Numb3rs'.
- Nick and Cheryl were guests on Skepticality, and were inspired by a speech by Nye.
- He still loves his CalSci T-Shirt.
- Math is inherently cool.
- Nye was awarded by the National Humanist Society.
- To make a difference we need to write your representatives.
- You do not become a skeptic 'right away' you need years to go through the 'process' and requires discipline.
- Sharing ideas and techniques is one of the best ways to change the world.
Links/Resources
- Bill is educating us all about how we solve for X – makes sense to me, even if nonzero rational numbers don't.
- You can follow Bill Nye at billnye.com.
- You can find out more about the Plantary Society and listen to Planetary Radio at planetary.org.
- Find out more about Bill Nye's climate lab at chabot science center at billsclimatelab.org.
- Follow Bill on Twitter where he goes by @TheScienceGuy.
- As always you can find links to all of the information presented in this program at our website, Skepticality.com.