Little Kitten – Bad Universe: Making A Comet

by podblack on August 31, 2010

Or was it ‘comment’? Anyway, this clearly shows how Sydney features in the show that just broadcast in the US:

{ 0 comments }

An Update On The Flight…

by podblack on August 30, 2010

Approximately twenty minutes time. Flight delays.

This time, as I wait in the Qantas lounge, there are no loud members of a well-known band talking about ‘Lars and the Real Girl’ - however, there are the ubiqutous UK-accented fellow passengers loudly dictating their Facebook updates:

‘Tell her we Haven’t. Left. Yet!’

‘We Nout. Left. Yet! I have it now, just waiting to see if she replies, like…’

So, nothing really that much out of the ordinary. I have tried pretty much all of the olive-types on offer from the buffet and I’m going to try the cappuchino machine next. I am, however, terribly grateful to Milton for sending me something to read, as I have a rather lengthy flight ahead of me (which has been delayed, due to the incoming plane getting itself lost or some such nonsense).

I have at least three different business magazines next to me and a large, cheerfully glowing LED sign telling me all the stock market results. It’s kind of cosy in a ‘greed is good’ kind of way. I might go see if I can write “Gordon Gekko was ‘ere” in a bathroom stall or something.

And, as a great start to it all? I left my tickets at the front counter and they had to call me to go get them. Sheesh. It was kind of like getting lost at the shopping centre when you’re ten. :(

Other than that, I think it might be time to get out of here. See you, Australia, back in… however long it takes. :)

{ 1 comment }

Little Kitten – Alan Davies And Cats

by podblack on August 30, 2010

Oh man. I’ll be on the road again, very very soon. This evening in fact!

I’ll blog while on the road. In the meantime, enjoy (apparently we have a similar hairstyle…)

{ 0 comments }

Two well-worth-reading articles by Gia Milinovich (whose work I’ve read and enjoyed long before I knew who this ‘Brian Cox’ fellow was – she inspired me to see about getting a proper photograph done of myself for the website! :p):

From The lady vanishes: Invisible Wife Syndrome (The Guardian):

When we first met, I was the expensively groomed television professional, working on mostly science and technology shows, and he was the newly appointed physics academic with a student’s wardrobe and a single bed. All that remained of his music days with D:Ream were a few William Hunt suits in his wardrobe and framed backstage passes on his bathroom wall. It may have been my love of the Apollo moon missions or him telling me he worked at Cern, but we instantly struck up a geeky friendship. Together we started writing ambitious documentary ideas with the sole aim of “making science part of popular culture”. Fast-forward 10 years and we’re a lot closer to our goal, but it’s not quite how I imagined it would be.

When Brian first started appearing on TV, he was more of a cult figure than a celebrity. People would occasionally come up to him with a question about black holes or the Higgs boson, having seen him on Horizon or This Morning. The only time he was asked for his autograph was after a talk he’d given in a school, or occasionally at a nerd gathering such as Skeptics In The Pub. Then he presented Wonders Of The Solar System and everything changed.

From In the exit stairwell of fame (Parent Dish):

The other night we attended a screening of one of his programmes to a sold-out audience filled with adoring young women. After the screening, there was a Q & A. I’d seen the programme many times so all I wanted to see was the Q & A. Our son luckily fell asleep in my arms just before the screening, so slept peacefully during it. The moment it ended, however, he woke up. As my husband sat down on stage, our son shouted out… So I left the auditorium and spent the next hour sitting with my son in the exit stairwell. And all I could think of was what a perfect analogy it was…

{ 1 comment }

Little Kitten – Silent Star Wars

by podblack on August 28, 2010

This one is thanks to Josh. :)

{ 0 comments }

Tribal Scientist on Communication, Science And That ‘Politeness’ Thing

August 28, 2010

A little while back I read the following by Chris Mooney, a post about what he considered to be a good example of science communication. My friend Michael McRae responded with his own post – Encouraging Scientists To Speak For Science.
I’m intrigued by these kinds of discussions, as over the past year I have met [...]

Read the full article →