Phil (he doesn't like being called Dr. Plait) was here in Austin for an astronomy convention. He liked my Bowie shirt which I wore for the rock star's birthday and musical space themes.
Most of you may think this entry is a stretch for my Brushes with Greatness category, but Dr. Phil Plait is famous to me: he has a popular web site, he wrote an impressive book (another due later this year), he is a guest on podcasts and he is part of my intellectual arsenal against all the Flat Earthers, Global-Warming Deniers and Creationists living in Texas.
This week, there’s an Astronomy convention with experts from all over the world converging on Austin. I read how he’d be here on his site and with that asteroid coming dangerously close to Earth, I’d better hurry. He invited everyone to come to the Iron Cactus Downtown to meet him, Pamela & Fraser of Astronomy Cast and other visiting scientists. The restaurant’s hostess was confused when we arrived but when the party’s coordinator appeared, we were allowed upstairs to join the festivities. The view from the roof of the Iron Cactus over Sixth Street was sweet. Only part of the deck was covered without a cloud last night giving everybody a decent view of the sky. Good thing we were surrounded by people who instantly knew which star (or planet) was which up there.
Phil was great to talk to. He was very engaging and laughs about his “celebrity” status. He gladly signed my book, it’s personalized to me! Somara told him she found it at a Discovery Store which made Phil pretty happy because the only place to normally find Bad Astronomy is through Amazon. Thanks to him, I’m now getting started on catching up on the Astronomy Cast podcast run by his friends Pamela & Fraser, both very friendly scientists. I highly recommend both and emphasize the book if you can get it. Sorry, mine’s autographed so I won’t loan it out anymore.
Jan. 10, 2008: D’oh! When I was showing off my autographed book I realized that I’ve been spelling Phil’s last name with an additional ‘t’ at the end. I’m sure it’s because my mind was stuck in all those silent letters in French since it is pronounced like ‘lait’ (milk), what harm could an additional silent ‘t’ do?