Okay, it’s a little galling to realize that I have no fond memories of watching the Science Guy on TV because he’s the same age I am. I am informed, by the NYTimes, that a lot of you kids feel differently:
AMES, Iowa — As the car pulled into the parking lot of a Starbucks, William Sanford Nye unknotted his trademark bow tie and slipped it off…
Roughly two minutes later, before his drink was ready, he was recognized anyway. Two awed young women approached to ask if he was really Bill Nye the Science Guy. Like more than a dozen other college students who would approach him over the next several hours, they asked if they could take a picture with him. He smiled, took a proffered iPhone, scooched the students in and, in a practiced gesture, stretched out his arm to take a shot of the three of them that you just knew was totally going on Facebook.
Mr. Nye had come to talk to them, and a few thousand of their friends, at Iowa State University. If he were a politician, college students would be his base. Instead, he is something more: a figure from their early days in front of the family TV, a beloved teacher and, more and more these days, a warrior for science. They, in turn, are his fans, his students and his army.
They have gone from watching him explain magnetism and electricity to defending the scientific evidence for climate change, the age of the earth and other issues they have seen polemicized for religious, political and even economic reasons.
He takes on those who would demand that the public schools teach alternative theories of evolution and the origins of the earth — most famously, in a video clip from the site BigThink.com that has been viewed some five million times. In it, he flatly tells adult viewers that “if you want to deny evolution and live in your world — in your world that’s completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe — that’s fine. But don’t make your kids do it, because we need them. We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future.” …
Adorable video at the link.
Apart from standing proudly with the Reality-Based Community, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
YellowJournalism
I remember when he was blowing stuff up as part of the “Almost Live!” crew on KING 5 in Seattle.
NickT
I never realized that Bill Nye was so old. One Laurie Unit is an impressive achievement!
Keep on fighting, Bill!
canuckistani
I watched Bill Nye with my daughter for years. He is a Hero of Science.
SectionH
Heading down to the “kids'” place in a bit. It’s our granddaughter’s 2nd birthday. We also have two Neil Degrasse Tyson books as a belated birthday present for my DiL. (Speaking of science guys)
dan
I lived in Queens and worked in Manhattan during and after 9/11. For some reason, the only TV that I could handle every day for a couple of months afterwards was Bill Nye, The Science Guy. And Cheers reruns. And I was 42. Weird.
Litlebritdifrnt
Apparently Michael Hastings has died in a car accident in LA. Twitter is all over it but keeps sending me to a bad Buzzfeed link.
TaMara (BHF)
Bill Nye is a total rock star. That is all.
Stella
I watched bill Nye with my daughter too! That is how I came to be a big fan. I just loved his show and learned a few things along with my daughter.
bill d
When I was growing up Wernher Von Braun was the science guy. Nobody snuggled up to him to have their picture taken.
jeffreyw
@Litlebritdifrnt: Slate link.
Mandalay
@Litlebritdifrnt: Wow!
Someone has already updated Wikipedia…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hastings_(journalist)
bill d
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Hastings, His Wiki page has been updated.
BillinGlendaleCA
Bill Nye, Bill Maher, and Kieth Olbermann were all at Cornell at the same time. They graduated in 77, 78, and 79.
Cacti
@Litlebritdifrnt:
How sad. Only 33 years old.
Which BJ’er will be in first with a conspiracy theory?
David Koch
Bill Nye has sold you out!
Comrade Carter
Bill Nye is a Science Warrior! Keep it up, big guy!
SatanicPanic
@Cacti: He was droned.
JWL
@NickT: I’m “that old”, too. You snot nosed punk.
(My favorite National Lampoon Magazine Cover: a withered, ancient man in a wheelchair, a cowl draped over his bony shoulders, looking out onto a street from the second floor of a house (probably a retirement home), and shouting down, “HEY! YOU YOUNG PEOPLE! GO TO HELL”!!
I caught Nye many years ago on Saturday morning TV when I worked a graveyard shift. (I was drinking beer at 9 AM because my 9 AM was everyone else’s 9 PM).
The guy was fantastic. I learned things that he presented in a genuinely fascinating way. Granted, I was 3 sheets to the wind when his show came on, and don’t recall a single episode. But he was great!
The only show I dug more on Saturday mornings was the California Agricultural Report, that was broadcast at 6 AM. Because it was broadcast earlier than Nye’s show, I recall more of it, having just got home and cracked my first beer. But each was extremely entertaining, in its own way.
Hal
Reminds me of the time I took a Clinical Psychology class with a Professor who was 3 years older than me, and had had his Phd since he was 26. He started out the lecture with “You’re all probably too young to remember” and proceeded to talk about some show on TV in the mid 90’s. I just sat their looking around the class going I’m soooo old.
Cacti
@SatanicPanic:
Obama had NSA cut his brake lines. Stand by for a fact-free Glenn Greenwald exclusive.
bill d
@David Koch:
OMG Bill Nye is an Obamabot?!!! They should start calling him Bill Nye, the Sheeple Guy.
/sarc
NickT
@JWL:
I was expressing my admiration for the venerable among us, those mighty remnants of the human race clinging on like the last leaves in autumn.
srv
@Litlebritdifrnt: I’m going to go with conspiracy on this one.
rda909
Tonight? Botsplaining. What else is there?!?
Cacti
@srv:
Too late.
SatanicPanic already beat you to it.
rda909
@Cacti: First Obomber took out Breitbart in LA, and now Hastings?!? (who is Hastings, by the way?).
Gin & Tonic
GFY.
quannlace
My favorite character of his on ‘Almost Live.’ was ‘SPEEEED WALKER!” He really had a good hitch in his git-along when he started walking.
I think that was carried on HBO, no?
Cacti
@rda909:
A print journalist of middling fame.
srv
Stan’s new mission
burnspbesq
The sports hit of the year? Maybe.
sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/zealand-teen-delivers-sports-hit-school-rugby-match-175…
Weaselone
So are there any actual journalists left in the wild or can we finally move them from the critically endangered list to extinct in the wild?
Mandalay
I am not fond of Rand Paul, but unlike everyone else in Congress, he had the balls to bluntly state the ugly truth: James Clapper lied to Congress:
And what did Feinstein, Chair of the Intelligence Committee, have to say about Clapper lying?
The “traitor” word is flying around a lot lately, and nobody is more of a traitor to this country that Feinstein. As a politician and a human being she is shit slime, no better than Cheney.
NickT
@rda909:
He wrote the Rolling Stone article that ended McChrystal’s career.
Cacti
@Mandalay:
Cool, me neither.
srv
@rda909: Obummer didn’t do it, Hastings said that Stan said Obama was afraid of him.
Probably some quid-pro-quo with Putin.
David Koch
remember when Bloomberg evicted OWS, Michael Moore immediately started saying Obummer.was secretly behind it.
So I won’t be surprised when Hasting’s tragedy is eventually misappropriated by Obummer Derangement haters
raven
@NickT: A cheery thought as I gulp through the last third of a gallon of GaviLyte. We’re gonna live foreeeeveeer,
NickT
@Mandalay:
Can the credibility of an intelligence committee which includes Michelle Bachmann actually be damaged further?
NickT
@raven:
We’re gonna learn how to fly/
I feel it coming together…
eemom
A Tale of Two Heros.
eemom
moderation….wtf?
raven
@eemom: -k
Gin & Tonic
@raven: Hey now, you’re going to have fun tonight…
low-tech cyclist
@bill d:
“Vunce the rockets are up
Who cares vere they come down,
Dat’s not my department,”
says Wernher Von Braun.
Weaselone
@Mandalay:
Clapper actually gets off on a couple of technicalities.
1. The phone companies were the entities that actually collected the phone data.
2. The data collected is linked to phone numbers not the actual Americans themselves.
YellowJournalism
@quannlace: Comedy Central carried it for a short time in the 90’s.
I loved the “West Side Story” parody and the High Fivin’ White Guys.
NickT
Sadly, Toronto’s attempt to win the Most Corrupt Mayor Of The Year award crashed and burned as Montreal overtook them in the final furlong:
bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22960593
piratedan
was more of a Beakman’s World aficionado, but both had the effect of introducing science to kids and turning them on the wonders of the world around us. Loved Bill’s segments with the REALLY COOL SCIENTIST types who were doing experiments and field work that could and would include kids.
lamh35
I know it’s a sad fact in too many children’s life now-a-days, but still am I the only one who felt a bit sad about these statistics when I heard about this? Still, good on Sesame Street I say.
New Muppet on Sesame Street Has Dad Behind Bars
t.money.msn.com/now/new-muppet-on-sesame-street-has-dad-behind-bars
Bubblegum Tate
I’m seeing wingnuts claiming that some German physicist has “disproven” climate change and something about “it was hotter during Roman times than it is today, so suck it LIEbruls!” Anybody have any idea what they’re blithering about?
burnspbesq
@Mandalay:
Rand Paul wouldn’t know the truth if it unzipped his pants and started playing with his weenie.
And if Clapper gave the committee accurate information in a closed-door, classified session, I don’t give a flying fuck whether he lied about classified information in a public hearing. That, simply put, is his job.
NickT
@Bubblegum Tate:
Sounds like the usual stupidity where they try and claim that there are cycles of warming and cooling so there ain’t no climate change. I guess it’s a little different to see a German scientist implicated, rather than a fake British lord or crackpot Australian.
Cacti
I am not fond of Rand Paul.
Because what difference does it make if you can smoke weed, if you’re working 60-hours a week for $3.00/hr at the asbestos plant, until your boss fires you without cause after finding out you’re gay.
NickT
@burnspbesq:
It would however suggest that someone with the intelligence of a 15 week old fetus can masturbate.
livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/rep-burgess-abortions-should-be-banned-because-male?ref=fpb
pokeyblow
@raven: Good thing it’s a short walk from the trailer to the outhouse.
David Koch
I was wondering how greenwald’s apologists were gonna spin his endorsement of the racist, sexist, homophobic Baby Doc. Now I know.
bill d
John Americablog Avavosis calls the AngryBlackLady a racist homophobe on the Twitter machine.
raven
@efgoldman: I’m three years overdue. None of this stuff is ever as bad as the conventional wisdom says. This will be the second buzz I’ve had in 20 years so I’ll go with that!
raven
@low-tech cyclist: Tom Leher.
Cacti
@David Koch:
Actually, it’s kind of insulting to libertarians to label the Pauls as such. Papa doc and Baby doc are southern-strategy GOPers who pay lip service to a few libertarian ideas.
Warren Terra
For a couple of years there Almost Live was terrific. The stuff people have bothered to post on YouTube (mime hunting, Eastside Story, The Fugitive, Speedwalker) is some of the best. I really did think it was a shame that an article about how Bill Nye is a god to college students didn’t mention that he got his start – and “The Science Guy” character was invented – on a local sketch-comedy TV show that had a rabid following on the area’s college campuses.
As I recall, the golden age of Almost Live was the nadir of Saturday Night Live, and people used to watch the former and switch their TVs off when it finished and the latter came on.
ETA PS apparently Bill Nye The Science Guy made more “Billy Quan” sketches, another Almost Live character.
Chris
@Bubblegum Tate:
They come up with something like this every few months. It’s always bullshit, but damn if they don’t believe it.
This is one of the biggest problems holding a conversation with a conservative: they live in an alternate universe of facts where they’re constantly showered with made-up “facts” that totally prove their worldview. (“Did you know they just proved global warming wasn’t true?” “Did you know Obama had Indonesian citizenship when he was a kid?” “Did you know the French government went bankrupt from too much public health care?” “Did you know they found Saddam’s WMDs in Syria?”) Etc, etc, etc. It’s like being showered by a schizophrenic’s hallucinations, which you couldn’t possibly all keep up with.
NickT
@Cacti:
Well, when the libertarians stop following Papa and Baby Doc like loathsome lemmings, then they can protest about being unfairly labeled.
Mandalay
@Weaselone:
You really think that is a possible explanation?…
Question from Senator Ron Wyden:
Reply from James Clapper:
Even Clapper didn’t have the nerve to spin your argument! At least he had the honesty to admit the obvious: he gave an untruthful answer.
Cacti
As for Glenn Greenwald, here’s what’s going on in his progressive paradise of Brazil:
As long as they don’t block the views of Copacabana from his love nest, I doubt he’ll even notice.
M31
Well, in Pompeii, on August 24, AD 79 it was way hotter than it is now, so climate change is a hoax.
Chris
@Cacti:
“Libertarianism” goes hand in hand with Southern identity politics – it’s been the fancy ideology with which the racists dress up their racism since forever (“states’ rights!” “Free markets!” “Property rights!” Etc).
NickT
@Chris:
Scratch a libertarian and find an angry little rich white boy who thinks he earned his inheritance from Daddy.
NickT
@efgoldman:
Libertarians have three ideas:
ME!
ME!
and
ME!
Bobby Thomson
Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill!
Mandalay
@burnspbesq:
Well that is certainly a defense, but I respectfully disagree. Clapper was given the question the previous day. He knew it was coming, and he could have easily refused to answer the question on “National Security” grounds, but instead he chose to lie. And now he and the Intelligence Committee look like total assholes to the American public.
Of course everyone here will brag that they knew that all along, but the great American public didn’t. Now there can be no doubt, even for them.
Even if you can forgive his dishonesty, can’t you wish him gone for raw incompetence?
NickT
salon.com/2013/06/18/bank_of_america_whistleblowers_bombshell_we_were_told_to_lie/
Further evidence that BoA is neither a bank, nor American, but simply a ponzi scheme blended artistically with an extortion racket.
Poopyman
@pokeyblow: Don’t need no stinkin’ outhouse with that benjo ditch in his back yard.
JWL
@NickT:
I’m a Niner fan, first and always. But I’ve dug the Raiders since the Immaculate Deception game, too.
So let’s talk autumn.*
(Lyrics courtesy of the late, great Steve Sabol, as narrated by the late, great John Facenda):
“The Autumn Wind is a pirate,
Blustering in from sea,
With a rollocking song, he sweeps along,
Swaggering boisterously.
His face is weather beaten.
He wears a hooded sash,
With a silver hat about his head,
And a bristling black mustache.
He growls as he storms the country,
A villain big and bold.
And the trees all shake and quiver and quake,
As he robs them of their gold.
The Autumn Wind is a raider,
Pillaging just for fun.
He’ll knock you ’round and upside down,
And laugh when he’s conquered and won”.
*(dedicated to John Cole).
Poopyman
@raven: The drugs truly are awesome.
I waited a couple of extra years and then they found a couple of polyps, so I’m on a seven year cycle now. Better luck to you.
NickT
@Mandalay:
I don’t think Clapper can claim not to have lied – but simply citing National Security concerns as a reason for not answering the question would have been instantly taken as an affirmative to it by all concerned and by the media. You can see why he might not have wanted to go down that path all on his lonesome.
David Koch
@Cacti: digya see the photos? Where’s the outrage? I’m sure it’s obummers fault.
raven
@Poopyman: A 7 year would put me at 70.
patrick II
I know that some older people post here so I’m surprised that no one has mentioned Mr Wizard Don Herbert the original Science Guy every Saturday morning for many years.
Poopyman
@raven: Well, is there an age at which they figure it’s not worth the effort to go digging any more? I guess I should have asked my butt Dr. that.
NickT
@JWL:
That’s a fun piece. Thanks for sharing it.
Bubblegum Tate
@efgoldman:
Ha! Good point. It sounds like more of the same ol’ stuff, but they’re talking about these things with such casual familiarity, and I don’t even know what “studies” or “debunkings” or what have you they’re referring to. I was just curious if there was some new specific thing (bullshit, no doubt, but still a new thing) that I had missed.
@Chris:
Not only that, but they are utterly unable to deal with any sort of factual rebuttal. Bad enough that they believe all that crap; even worse that they aggressively reject any sort of reality.
NickT
@Bubblegum Tate:
I think a lot of their aggression stems from an uneasy feeling deep down that they are wrong – and so must bluster harder to defend their position.
Warren Terra
@M31:
As I recall, they also had rather a high level of carbon emissions there on that day.
quannlace
90? Our doc has been trying to get my Mom to stop smoking for decades. When she passed the big 9-0, he kind of shrugged with a ‘not a lot of difference now.’ expression.
raven
@Poopyman: I think since I’m in pretty good shape it will be beneficial to do it at 70.
YellowJournalism
@patrick II: I’m not THAT old, but I happen to recall Mr. Wizard on Nickelodeon melting some snow in a microwave to show how much water is contained in a snowball.
Omnes Omnibus
@patrick II: Don’t forget Dr. Emilio Lizardo.
Comrade Mary
Bill Nye is fucking hot.
YellowJournalism
@YellowJournalism: Okay, I am that old. This cracked me up:
Mr. Wizard is a dick.
Chris
@Bubblegum Tate:
Here’s an example; look at the front page of PJMedia and you’ll find one story about how Obama’s NSA “dragnet” is being used (or going to be used, which to them is the same thing) to harass his enemy; a story about “Europe’s greatest cathedral” about to be turned into a mosque; a story about California being doomed because liberalism; and a story about Obama having an “enemies’ list.”
A handful of new stories like that pop up every. Single. Day for people who’re plugged into right wing media – it’s their daily Two Minute Hate. Somewhere in that galaxy of bullshit are those few special stories that they deem juicy enough to seriously promote – Obama’s birth certificate; ACA death panels; the Ground Zero Mosque; Benghazigate; IRSgate, etc. Those are the Daily Wingnut Scandals we get to hear about. But those things are just the tip of the iceberg; a committed wingnut reads about two or three brand new Benghazigate-style horror stories daily. So, naturally, that’s what they talk about.
MomSense
@Litlebritdifrnt:
That is sad news. Only 33 years old.
Omnes Omnibus
@Chris: Since I refuse to click, what cathedral are they saying it is?
Weaselone
@Mandalay:
I was addressing the against the law part of the statement. I said that he gets off on technicalities, not that I actually consider his statement to be truthful. You know, the “depends on what you’re definition of is is” crap that seems to pass muster when politicians are on trial.
Joseph Nobles
@Mandalay: Refusing to answer on national security grounds would have been confirming the collection happens. Wyden put Clapper in an impossible situation: refuse to answer and reveal the program or lie and protect it. Clapper choose to lie.
Chris
@Omnes Omnibus:
I clicked so no one else would have to –
Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. It was a cathedral that became a mosque after the Islamic conquest and then became a museum after Ataturk secularized everything. According to them, “A parliamentary commission is considering an application by citizens to turn the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul into a mosque…. A survey conducted with 401 people was attached to the application, in which more than 97 percent of interviewees requested the transformation of the ancient building into a mosque and afterwards for it to be reopened for Muslim worship.”
Bonus material: “Built in 537 A.D. in Constantinople, the heart of the Christian empire, it was also a stalwart symbol of defiance against an ever encroaching Islam from the east.” Apparently, someone forgot to mention that to Western Christendom when the Crusaders sacked Constantinople…
MomSense
@David Koch:
Oh Michael Moore. To him Obama is simultaneously too weak and conciliatory to stand up to Congress and so dictatorial that he would underhandedly get rid of OWS.
MomSense
@piratedan:
Loved Beekman’s World! Thank goodness for Bill Nye, Magic School Bus, and the Kratt Brothers. Watching children’s programs and movies can be painfully boring.
Omnes Omnibus
@Chris: It hasn’t been a cathedral since, what, 1453?
::headdesk::
MomSense
@lamh35:
I think this is such a great addition to Sesame Street.
Full Metal Wingnut
@Mandalay: With Connecticut Joe out, DiFi just might be the worst Democrat in the Senate.
And you know what tips the scales, and makes her worse than, say, Baucus? The fact that she comes from a blue state. I used to live in Northern California, I know there’s more to the state than the gay bay and Hollywood. But we can do better out of a state like that.
Linnaeus
@Chris:
“The heart of the Christian empire”. Heh. Not only has the Hagia Sophia not been a cathedral for over 500 years, Christianity itself had undergone a significant fissure 400 years before that. But very few people reading the article would know any of that, I’m guessing.
MomSense
@Chris:
The big thing today for my teapublican “friends” is that the CBS reporter who was hacked was investigating “Fast and Furious” and Benghazi so of course eebil Obama and Holder are behind her computer troubles.
Chris
@Omnes Omnibus:
One oft-repeated claim teabaggers make about Islam is that Muslims consider any land that has ever been Muslim, regardless of how much time has passed since then, to legitimately belong to them.
I don’t know whether it’s true of Muslims or not, but based on this Hagia Sophia story (not to mention their justifications for why Israel is totally entitled to the West Bank), I’d say it’s definitely true of themselves. Say, you think they’re into projection?
Mandalay
@Joseph Nobles:
Not really, though some might make that interpretation. But he could have waffled about it being “a complex issue”, and a “private briefing would be more appropriate”. Government officials do that all the time, and it would have been far better than telling a stupid lie which has come back to haunt him.
Too bad for Clapper, but not for the nation.
Omnes Omnibus
@Chris: I’ll go Occam here and just say they are idiots.
maya
@raven: Caught your and Poopyman’s exchange late but being a 4 time veteran of the 5 headed snake up the ass,(my fifth due November) putting up with a slight discomfort, ie, drinking that shit and a raw asshole, the alternative for aging men, possible and very curable colon cancer, is unacceptable. Lost a brother to it. He never had one. He was 55.
NickT
@Chris:
Given that Hagia Sophia was first turned into a mosque in 1453, it seems that the wingnuts are a little late in deploring this particular Muslim outrage.
Warren Terra
@NickT:
I just checked with Google which side of the Bosporus the Hagia Sophia is on. Turns out, the wingers are right about one thing: it is in Europe. By less than half a mile.
Omnes Omnibus
@Warren Terra: I googled it too.
Yatsuno
Holy shitballs Gronk.
Yatsuno
@Yatsuno: FYWP
espn.go.com/boston/nfl/story/_/id/9400603/rob-gronkowski-new-england-patriots-undergoes-back-surgery
Steeplejack
I learned all my basic science from that classic BBC series Look Around You.
“Water Experiment No. 1” was a classic.
NickT
@Yatsuno:
It’ll be interesting to see if the Patsies can get 8 games out of Gronkowski and Amendola combined.
Baud
@Steeplejack:
What’s with using your bare hands to get stuff out of boiling water?
Burnspbesq
Bad first half by the US. Honduras is denying the middle, and the US isn’t taking what’s available outside.
USA 0-0 Honduras
Yatsuno
@NickT: And apparently Hernandez is under investigation for murder. Something very strange is happening up in Foxboro…
Steeplejack
@Baud:
Maybe you just just move on to “Water Experiment No. 2.”
mainmati
In my era (same as Anne Laurie), the Bill Nye guy was Jacob Bronowski, the brilliant scientist who did the famous BBC Science (PBS Nova) series “The Ascent of Man”. He had already earlier turned me on to science in middle school when I read his famous “The Common Sense of Science”, which was required reading in my school and should be today, IMO. Yes, the GOP/conservatives hate the scientific method (like they hate public schools) but it underpins our civilization.
Watch the series (it’s all on YouTube). He was a treasure.
mainmati
@Chris: Also the ground around it has been built up over the centuries that its foundation is well below street level. Sort of like the many layers of Troy on Anatolia. Great place to visit and live in fact.
Chris
@mainmati:
It’s on the bucket list. Troy, that is. Even more so than Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul, although I’d like to go there too someday.
Mustang Bobby
Never insult a chemist; he may hand you a hot retort.
Thanks, I’ll be here all week.
Another Halocene Human
I met Bill Nye once in the 1990s; he’s awesome.
I remember him ranting about science stuff (and popular misconceptions) on his show, and he’s even more outspoken now. (I also remember “Because it’s my show” :)
Nye was in a Seattle-tv-based comedy skit show before the children’s television gig. I finally found it on youtube. He does chemistry gags but he also did these sort of Monty Python inspired group improv/skit things around Seattle. It’s actually kind of amusing, in an early 90’s Seattle kind of way.
Bubblegum Tate
@efgoldman:
Catholic wingnut I know says the biggest mistake in the history of the world was not “finishing the job” during the Crusades (i.e. not exterminating all Muslims).
StringOnAStick
I seem to recall something fro Smithsonian magazine about the Hagia Sofia, mainly that in the current situation with so many different groups wanting to claim ownership/caretaker status but none being able to, the thing is suffering greatly from lack of restoration/care. The carefully stated conclusion was that turning it back into a mosque would bring in badly needed funds for restoration, otherwise this amazing building was doomed.