Science and Nerd Content

[Thewintersoldier]

Back in my college days before I got in the health care field, I was getting my degree to be a teacher. I was a science major and math minor. I've always been into space since I was a little kid obsessed with NASA, and science fiction like star trek and star wars. I took 2 astronomy classes in college even though I didn't have too. My wife is huge into science as well and is an astronomy and astrophotography. We are all about that nerd life.
She turned 40 on March 27th and last night I finally gave her the surprise second birthday present she didn't know about. I took her to see her idol and hero Neil DeGrass Tyson. I bought these when they went on sale last November. Third row at the Fillmore Theatre in Detroit. His lecture on Collisions was amazing. Such charisma and charm. Half astrophysicist half comedian, he schooled us for two hours. She was in awe the whole time. Then the best part was the VIP Q&A for an hour and a half. Raw and off the cuff answers with passion and emotion not in his show. I even got to ask him a question. We got signed posters by Neil. It was no photos or video during the show so everyone is not distracted and in the moment. It's was amazing, if you are into this stuff see him if you get the chance. I snapped a couple candid photos before the after show Q&A started.

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[zombie_rock123]

That is so cool! What an awesome present dude. Also loving that scientists now have merch!

[zombie_rock123]

Also, what did you ask the fella? I have literally no follow up questions to anything science related that hasn't been featured on Mythbusters but I'd be psyched pitching a question

[jimilee]

He was the one that demoted Pluto..[emoji12]. Very cool opportunity man, I bet your wife was looking yours the rest of the night.


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[Thewintersoldier]

Also, what did you ask the fella? I have literally no follow up questions to anything science related that hasn't been featured on Mythbusters but I'd be psyched pitching a question

I asked him If we sent out Voyager one today and you were picking music to put on the gold records, as a musician I want to know what would be on your playlist? He basically said Carl Sagan was a dope for putting that on there, and Sagan was his mentor and homeboy. He wouldn't put music on there. That's us assuming that they had sensory responses like hearing. Not even all humans can here. And it's assuming they would understand how to play it. He said he would put artifacts that represent things that represent the human race and things we value. Like diamonds, gold and other elements. Perhaps images of earth, water, or tartigrades lol. He said not to burst your musical bubble though 🤣

[midwayfair]

Also, what did you ask the fella? I have literally no follow up questions to anything science related that hasn't been featured on Mythbusters but I'd be psyched pitching a question

I asked him If we sent out Voyager one today and you were picking music to put on the gold records, as a musician I want to know what would be on your playlist? He basically said Carl Sagan was a dope for putting that on there, and Sagan was his mentor and homeboy. He wouldn't put music on there. That's us assuming that they had sensory responses like hearing. Not even all humans can here. And it's assuming they would understand how to play it. He said he would put artifacts that represent things that represent the human race and things we value. Like diamonds, gold and other elements. Perhaps images of earth, water, or tartigrades lol. He said not to burst your musical bubble though 🤣

Voyager is such a depressing object when I think too hard about it. Someone described it as throwing a message in a very tiny bottle in the koi pond in the backyard and hoping someone on the other side of the earth will see it, and even that analogy doesn't quite capture the enormity of space.

On the other hand, the fact that it exists demonstrates the completely insane levels of optimism that scientists at the top of their game have. I've often noted at work that I'm the pessimist of the team, and I've also noticed that I tend to have few ideas about new projects to pursue. I think ambition requires some level of optimism. (Or delusion.)

That said, I think if they had a way to decipher the symbols we put on the thing (assumes they have visual senses), they could figure out how to play a record that is a physical representation of sound waves on a medium. It's not a CD after all (which is digitally encoded) -- analog media mirror the physical nature of the phenomena that produced them.

[Bio77]

That's awesome, Chris!  I also love, as zombie-rock said, that a scientist has merch 

[cooder]

Flippin' stellar! 

[mjg]

I saw him years ago, and someone asked him who would win between Batman and Ironman.  His response was Ironman, hands down, as he is smart enough to build his own gear. 

[Muadzin]

He was the one that demoted Pluto..[emoji12]. Very cool opportunity man, I bet your wife was looking yours the rest of the night.

Dwarf planets are planets too! So what if the discovery of other dwarf planets like Eris and Sedna means that memorizing all the planets would become a bit harder. It's like with pedals, moar is better!

[jimilee]

He was the one that demoted Pluto..[emoji12]. Very cool opportunity man, I bet your wife was looking yours the rest of the night.

Dwarf planets are planets too! So what if the discovery of other dwarf planets like Eris and Sedna means that memorizing all the planets would become a bit harder. It's like with pedals, moar is better!

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[Thewintersoldier]

what's funny is he had a slide that showed a picture of Pluto in comparison to the size of the united states, that's a small boi. I can see both sides of the argument but I have no dog is in this fight lol

[Bret608]

What an awesome gift! Also, I'll have you know, when I was an undergrad at the City College of New York, I took astronomy from the great Michio Kaku. Similar to DeGrasse Tyson, I could listen to him talk all day. We even got into comparing Star Trek universe peoples with the "levels of civilization" matrix he worked on with SETI.