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Postednon September 30, 2016
Postednon September 30, 2016n
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nIsnit a compliment to be called The Bad Astronomer?
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nOnenwould think that Phil Plait, an astronomer who lives in Boulder,nColorado, would feel insulted when people call him The BadnAstronomer. But actually, it’s a name he embraces and uses himself.
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nYounsee, in the late nineties, working astronomer Phil Plait noticed thatnthere was a lot of public interest in astronomical topics – butnalso a lot of misconceptions, conspiracy theories, and muddlednthinking. He saw astronomical goofs in movies, in the news, innarticles, and especially on the Internet.
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nHendecided to do something about it. In 1998 he launched a website hencalled Bad Astronomy. On that website, he provided correctninformation and good sources plus some all-important criticalnthinking about news items and conspiracy theories. Some of the topicsnhe discussed on Bad Astronomy included the so-called Moon landingn“hoax” (newsflash – not a hoax, people really have landed onnthe Moon) and the predictions of a Planet X cataclysm. n
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| One would think that whoever made this claim had never seen his own looooonnng, skinny shadow when the Sun is near the horizon. Get out more, dude! The silliness of claiming that the Apollo moon landings were faked Remember when people were convinced the world was going |
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| And then the world was going to end again, in December of 2012, due to a so-called prediction from a Mayan calendar? |
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nPlait’snwebsite got a lot of attention, especially after he criticized a FoxnNetwork special. He started getting a lot of thanks from averagencitizens who weren’t sure what to make of crazy-sounding claims andndoomsday predictions, and he started getting thanks from others innthe scientific community as well.
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nSoonnPlait started a blog – also called Bad Astronomy – and to somenextent he branched out from astronomy. Soon he was working with NASAnand Discover Magazine, becoming a person of interest at skeptics’nconferences, becoming a speaker… He has since appeared on TV and other media, given TED talks, hosted a TV series,nwritten books, served as president of the James RandinEducational Foundation – well, he has since done LOTS of things! He’s won several awards andnhonors and has even had an asteroid named after him (165347nPhilplait)!
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nEnjoy some wisdom, Plait style:
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nAlso on this date:
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Saventhe Koala Day
Saventhe Koala Day
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n(lastnFriday in September)
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nAnniversary of the premiere of The Flintstones
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nIndependencenDay in Botswana
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- n Anniversaryn of the first tooth extraction with anesthesia
- Chewing-gumn mogul William Wrigley’s birthday
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nAnniversarynof the commissioning of the world’s first nuclear submarine
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nPlannahead:
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Checknout my Pinterest boards for:
Checknout my Pinterest boards for:
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n Septembern holidays
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n Septembern birthdays
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n n Historicaln anniversaries in September
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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n Octobern birthdaysn n
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