How Prescient am I?

NPR has jumped on the presidential science debate wagon, or at least is taking notice of the call for one.


Click here to listen to a great appeal by Shawn Lawrence Otto, one of the organizers of the Science Debate 2008 movement, on Talk of the Nation: Science Friday from earlier today.

My Fifteen Minutes

In reference to the previous post, I actually first heard about the dent in the solar system on my favorite podcast, The Bryant Park Project. The BPP is a new morning show on NPR with a fresher, hipper vibe, and as such it's hosted by the absolutely awesome duo of Luke Burbank and Alison Stewart. Some of you may remember Alison from MTV Choose or Lose fame. I listen to the BPP podcast every weekday morning over here to keep me entertained, informed, and connected to the homeland. If you are at all inclined to listen to NPR but you still like your radio a little funky, you must check out the BPP.

So on the broadcast for Wednesday morning (which I was listening to on my Thursday morning), one of the newscasters, Korva Coleman, brought up the story of the dent in the solar system. Only problem is, she kept referring to it as the dent in the universe. Being the astute listener and astrophysicist that I am, I immediately took offense to this and was compelled to email the show and say as much! I then went on with my day.

To my surprise, around 2pm, I received an email from Korva Coleman herself with the best. subject. line. ever. - "sorry about the universe". Not only did she get my comment and correct the mistake on air, but best of all, she gave me a shout out during the broadcast for bringing the matter to her attention. I MUST find a way to isolate that segment of the podcast to post later! It is the greatest fifteen seconds of my astrophysics career to date. And for that, the BPP is totally getting an acknowledgment in my thesis.