Crazy Eddie's Motie News: Bill Nye

Showing posts with label Bill Nye. Show all posts

Friday, January 26, 2024

Bill Nye joins the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists as the Doomsday Clock remains at 90 seconds to midnight

As I wrote yesterday, "Stay tuned for the Doomsday Clock." Watch NBC News report Doomsday Clock stays at 90 seconds to midnight for second straight year.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has kept the Doomsday Clock set to 90 seconds to midnight for the second straight year, largely attributed to the war in Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas war and the threat of artificial intelligence. The clock is a symbolic indication of humanity’s perceived proximity to human-caused catastrophe.

The PRESS RELEASE: Doomsday Clock remains at 90 seconds to midnight elaborated on the threats.

The Doomsday Clock was reset at 90 seconds to midnight, still the closest the Clock has ever been to midnight, reflecting the continued state of unprecedented danger the world faces. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, stewards of the Doomsday Clock, emphasized in their announcement that the Clock could be turned back, but governments and people needed to take urgent action.

A variety of global threats cast menacing shadows over the 2024 Clock deliberations, including: the Russia-Ukraine war and deterioration of nuclear arms reduction agreements; the Climate Crisis and 2023’s official designation as the hottest year on record; the increased sophistication of genetic engineering technologies; and the dramatic advance of generative AI which could magnify disinformation and corrupt the global information environment making it harder to solve the larger existential challenges.

Bill Nye joined the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, who uploaded Bill Nye on the #DoomsdayClock this morning.

The press release quoted Nye.

Bill Nye, who participated in the 2024 Doomsday Clock announcement, said: “For decades, scientists have been warning us of the dangers facing humankind. We could be facing catastrophe unless we better manage the technologies we’ve created. It’s time to act.”

I think Nye is a good addition to the panel and helps draw attention to the event and the issues it raises. It helps that he's gotten into the apocalypse space with The End is Nye, which won the EMA Award for Reality Television. This reminds me that the EMA Awards are tomorrow, so they're up next. Stay tuned.

Thursday, December 15, 2022

PBS NewsHour and CNN report on nuclear fusion breakthrough

I mentioned that "nuclear fusion passed an important milestone" and "I plan on writing more about that in the near future." Watch PBS NewsHour report on the achievement in Breakthrough in nuclear fusion technology could dramatically alter clean energy landscape.

For the first time, scientists have produced a fusion reaction that created more energy than was expended, a breakthrough to tap into the same kind of energy that powers the sun and stars. It could have huge implications for potentially creating clean and limitless energy. Science Correspondent Miles O’Brien joined Judy Woodruff to discuss what was achieved and what still needs to happen.

Miles O'Brian saying that nuclear fusion has been twenty years away for as long as he's been following the topic is more optimistic than the thirty to thirty-five years I cited a decade ago.* However, I think that optimism is actually warranted now. Also, while the U.S. can claim this milestone, we are not alone, as Stephen Dean pointed out. Researchers from other countries could beat us to making nuclear fusion a practical source of energy. While that doesn't bother me as a scientist, it worries me as an American.

Bill Nye echoed those concerns on CNN in Bill Nye explains why nuclear fusion breakthrough is a big deal.

For the first time in history, US scientists at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California successfully produced a nuclear fusion reaction resulting in a net energy gain. Science educator Bill Nye explains why this is such a big breakthrough.

Everything you say, Bill, I agree.

Stephen Colbert's monologue Tuesday night prompted me to write this, so it's only appropriate I return to his show for There Were Many Attempts To Achieve A Fusion Reaction Before The Breakthrough.

Considering nearly 200 lasers were used, someone could have probably seen this coming.

Meow. BOOM!

I probably will include this advancement in a planned 2022 year in science post. Until then, stay tuned for Time Magazine's Icon and Athlete of the Year.

*The couple who sold my ex-wife and I our first house in Ann Arbor worked for a company working on fusion power that went under. That was thirty-one years ago. I wonder what they think of this announcement.

Sunday, November 27, 2022

The 2022 Environmental Media Association (EMA) Awards winners

I concluded Emmy and EMA Awards for 'Abbott Elementary' on World Television Day by telling my readers "I plan on examining the rest of my picks [at the EMA Awards] for the next Sunday entertainment feature." Read as I compare my picks to win among the 2022 EMA Awards nominees with the actual winners.

I'm glad to see two science fiction movies nominated in this category, "Don't Look Up" and "Jurassic World: Dominion." I also think these are better choices than last year's nominees. "Don't Look Up" got snubbed at the Saturn Awards while "Jurassic World: Dominion" earned two nominations, but I think "Don't Look Up" will win tonight.

And "Don't Look Up" won. Congratulations!

On the other hand, I had not heard of any of the Documentary Film nominees before. "Eating Our Way to Extinction" has the kind of star power that might sway the EMA voters. "Fin" has a more focused subject. I like the subjects of "Youth Unstoppable," but IMDB has a 2018 date for it, so what's it doing being nominated this year? Speaking of IMDB, I can't find an entry there for "Burning." I think it's a good field, but other than all the celebrities involved with "Eating Our Way to Extinction" and the two festival awards for "Youth Unstoppable," I have no good way to handicap their prospects. Any of them could win tonight.

"Eating Our Way to Extinction" indeed had the star power to sway the EMA voters, so it won. Congratulations!

Follow over the jump for the television nominees.

2022 EMA Awards nominees

I closed The 2021 EMA Awards for World Environment Day 2022 with "I promise not to be so tardy recognizing the 2022 nominees and winners." Since the award ceremony is tonight, I need to write about the nominees today before that part of my promise turns into a pumpkin. Here are the nominees being recognized as the best in environmental storytelling in movies, television, and streaming media.

I'm glad to see two science fiction movies nominated in this category, "Don't Look Up" and "Jurassic World: Dominion." I also think these are better choices than last year's nominees. "Don't Look Up" got snubbed at the Saturn Awards while "Jurassic World: Dominion" earned two nominations, but I think "Don't Look Up" will win tonight.

On the other hand, I had not heard of any of the Documentary Film nominees before. "Eating Our Way to Extinction" has the kind of star power that might sway the EMA voters. "Fin" has a more focused subject. I like the subjects of "Youth Unstoppable," but IMDB has a 2018 date for it, so what's it doing being nominated this year? Speaking of IMDB, I can't find an entry there for "Burning." I think it's a good field, but other than all the celebrities involved with "Eating Our Way to Extinction" and the two festival awards for "Youth Unstoppable," I have no good way to handicap their prospects. Any of them could win tonight.

Follow over the jump for the television nominees.

Bill Nye, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and NASA all nominees at the 70th Emmy Awards

For this week's Sunday entertainment feature, I'm returning to the Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards to recognize three regular subjects of my blogging here, Bill Nye, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and NASA, all of whom have nominated shows at this year's Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

I begin with Bill Nye Saves The World. The Netflix series has earned a nomination for Outstanding Production Design for a Variety, Reality, or Reality-Competition Series. This is almost identical to the nomination it earned last year for Outstanding Production Design for a Variety, Nonfiction, Reality, or Reality Competition Programming. Congratulations on the near-repeat! On the other hand, Nye's series is competing against "Dancing With The Stars," "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver" (the episode on the now-dead Sinclair-Tribune merger and long-dead Warren G. Harding I already wrote about), "Saturday Night Live," and "The Voice." "Saturday Night Live" won this Emmy Award last year and I think it's favored again this year. As I wrote last year, "Bill Nye and Netflix should just be happy to get the nomination."

"Bill Nye Saves The World" missed out on being renominated for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming this year, a category it lost to "13th" last year. I'm not surprised, as this year's nominees compose a tough field, which I plan on writing about later. In the meantime, here is the Official Trailer for Season Two.

He's a science guy. An entertainer. A spiffy dresser. And he's back to drop some knowledge on life-changing topics.

Once again, I'll have to watch this show; I know my students are.

"StarTalk With Neil deGrasse Tyson" earned a fourth nomination for Outstanding Informational Series or Special, a repeat from last year. This joins its nomination for Reality Television at the 2018 EMA Awards, where I mentioned its Emmy nomination.

I'd have rooted for "StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson," as it was nominated for an Emmy last year and again this year. It lost to "Vice," which it is competing against for Outstanding Informational Series or Special this year, just as it was last year. I'll be writing about both later, especially "Vice," which also has nine News and Documentary Emmy nominations.

I doubt either "StarTalk" or "Vice" will win. Instead, I think it will be either “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath,” which won this category last year, or Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, which won the category the four years before that. Because of Bourdain's recent suicide, I suspect his show has the inside track. As for "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman," I will tell the show and Netflix the same thing I said about "Bill Nye Saves the World," just be happy to be nominated.

I'll write about "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown" and its competitors in the other six categories in which it is nominated later, but before I do, I'm being a good environmentalist and recycling what I wrote in June.

I'm sure I'll be writing about Emmy nominations for both Bourdain and "Parts Unknown" next month, just as I will for R.I.P. Stephen Hawking 1942-2018. Those will be bittersweet experiences.

"Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places" was not renominated at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards this year, but he was a guest in an episode of StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson.

As tribute to the life and works of world-renowned Stephen Hawking, host Neil deGrasse Tyson’s recent StarTalk interview with the groundbreaking theoretical physicist. Also featuring astrophysicist Janna Levin, comedian Matt Kirshen, physicist Michio Kaku, and Bill Nye the Science Guy.

That sort of makes up for the lack of a nomination for Hawking.

Follow over the jump for NASA/JPL's nomination as well as two nominees that I consider to be honorary entries about space.

Bill Nye represents The Resistance for the seventh year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News

Yesterday, I wrote "The next entry will be about Bill Nye and The Resistance" and that I would post it today. Time to follow through.

The 43rd most read entry of the seventh year of this blog and the 38th most read actually posted during the blogging year is Bill Nye cited the Constitution to justify the March for Science on Colbert's show from May 9, 2017 with 2120 raw page views. It was also the most read entry during June 2017 with 1874 default page views.

The entry had 83 page views before being shared at the Coffee Party USA Facebook page on June 1, 2017. It earned 974 page views in the first two hours after being shared and 1782 in the first 24 hours. It maxed out at 1957 default and 2063 raw page views at 7:59 P.M. on June 7, 2017.

When I wrote "I will be serving political leftovers" this week, this is one of the items I was planning on warming up.

By the way, here is Bill Nye at Huge Science March Crowd “Science Must Shape Policy!” from Climate State where he cites that section of the Constitution.

On Earth Day, April 22, Bill Nye, CEO of the Planetary Society, also known as “The Science Guy,” spoke in front of large crowd in Washington DC.

He didn't start saying that on Colbert.

The next retrospective will be about the Oscars. I will post that next week. Stay tuned.

Previous retrospective about The Resistance.

The resistance for the sixth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News

Previous entries about the top posts of the seventh year of this blog.

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Bill Nye thinks eating bugs will save the world

I am so disgusted with the news about Trump pulling the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal that I think eating bugs is more appetizing. Fortunately, Netflix provided just the video on the topic yesterday: Bill Nye Saves The World - Season 3 | Eating Bugs.

Will bugs become a major food source for humans? Join Bill Nye to find out, when season 3 of Bill Nye Saves The World premieres on May 11.

I'll tell my students to watch this and not just to gross them out. They might learn something. Here's to this season of "Bill Nye Saves The World" earning more Emmy nominations, just like last season did.

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

'The Last Jedi' gets its first nomination plus speculative fiction in nearly every category of the Art Directors Guild Awards

I've twice promised to write about the Art Directors Guild Awards. Today is the day to follow through. Here are the nominations from Variety: ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi,’ ‘Dunkirk,’ ‘Lady Bird’ Nab Art Directors Guild Nominations. Note that there are speculative fiction or science nominees in just about every category. Also, "The Last Jedi" finally received a nomination from one of the Hollywood guilds after being passed over by the Writers Guild and Producers Guild, making this its first nomination.

1. PERIOD FILM

DARKEST HOUR
Production Designer: SARAH GREENWOOD
DUNKIRK
Production Designer: NATHAN CROWLEY
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS
Production Designer: JIM CLAY
THE POST
Production Designer: RICK CARTER
THE SHAPE OF WATER
Production Designer: PAUL DENHAM AUSTERBERRY

While "The Shape of Water" is a fantasy film, it's also a period one, so it earned a nomination here. While it won Best Production Designt at the Critics' Choice Movie Awards, those are the critics, not the Hollywood professionals, so it might lose to "Murder on the Orient Express." I hope it doesn't; I'm rooting for the monster.

2. FANTASY FILM

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Production Designer: SARAH GREENWOOD
BLADE RUNNER 2049
Production Designer: DENNIS GASSNER
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI
Production Designer: RICK HEINRICHS
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES
Production Designer: JAMES CHINLUND
WONDER WOMAN
Production Designer: ALINE BONETTO

Here it is, the first nomination for "The Last Jedi." It's also up against a slew of speculative fiction films here. I'm not sure who to root for, although I really enjoyed "Wonder Woman."

3. CONTEMPORARY FILM

DOWNSIZING
Production Designer: STEFANIA CELLA
GET OUT
Production Designer: RUSTY SMITH
LADY BIRD
Production Designer: CHRIS JONES
LOGAN
Production Designer: FRANÇOIS AUDOUY
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
Production Designer: INBAL WEINBERG

Two speculative fiction films were nominated as Contemporary Films, "Downsizing" and "Logan." The first works for me, while I found the latter a bit suspect. Doesn't this film happen in 2029? Still, I'm glad to see nominations for both, making a total of eight speculative fiction live-action films nominated out of possible fifteen.

4. ANIMATED FILM

CARS 3
Production Designers: WILLIAM CONE, JAY SHUSTER
COCO
Production Designer: HARLEY JESSUP
DESPICABLE ME 3
Art Director: OLIVIER ADAM
THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE
Production Designer: GRANT FRECKELTON
LOVING VINCENT
Production Designer: MATTHEW BUTTON

I'm glad to see "Cars 3" get some recognition. It's been generally ignored by the awards shows I've covers so far, although it has received some recognition from the Annie Awards and the Sound Editors Guild. It might get into the Academy Awards because of all the Disney/Pixar voters. If so, a worthy film will not make the cut. Speaking of which, "Loving Vincent" is the one nominee that I don't consider to be speculative fiction.

That's it for films. Follow over the jump for television and other nominees.

Nature and science at the Primetime Emmy Awards

It's time to follow through on my telling my readers at the end of 'Wild Yellowstone: The Frozen Frontier' to "Stay tuned for more about this year's nominees from both the Primetime and News and Documentary Emmy Awards." In the previous installment on this year's Primetime Emmys, I talked about science fiction. Today, I'm looking through the Emmy nomination list for science fact, where I found three shows.

The first was "Planet Earth II" with ten nominations. Before I list them, I'm sharing its official extended trailer.

10 years ago Planet Earth changed our view of the world. Now we take you closer than ever before. This is life in all its wonder. This is Planet Earth II.

A decade ago, the landmark television series Planet Earth redefined natural history filmmaking, giving us the ultimate portrait of life on Earth. Planet Earth II, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, will reveal our planet from a completely new perspective, using significant advances in both filming technology and our understanding of the natural world.

And if you are not excited enough already it features an original score by legendary composer Hans Zimmer.

The series was nominated for its music, but not for its theme song, which is the soundtrack for the trailer. Instead, composers Jacob Shea and Jasha Klebe were nominated for Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score) for the first episode, "Islands." The other nine nominations include Documentary or Nonfiction Series, two nominations for Directing for a Nonfiction Program (Fredi Devas and Elizabeth White), two nominations for Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program (one each for the teams for "Islands" and "Cities," the final episode), two nominations for Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program (Dave Pearce and Matt Meech), Outstanding Sound Editing For Non Fiction Programming, and Outstanding Sound Mixing For Nonfiction Programming. I'm rooting for it in all categories, although it's competing with "O.J: Made in America" and "13th" in many of them. The former won an Oscar; the latter was nominated for it. That's a quality field.

Speaking of quality, two other shows about science and scientists were nominated for Emmys. Follow over the jump for them.

Bill Nye cited the Constitution to justify the March for Science on Colbert's show

I'm not done with the March for Science. Bill Nye went on Colbert's show last night and, among other things, explained why The March For Science was necessary">
.

'Bill Nye Saves the World' star says current administration isn't upholding the U.S. Constitution's promise to 'promote the progress of science and useful arts.'

That's an angle I hadn't thought of, but Nye was right to use it. It helps show how abnormal this administration really is.

The U.S. Constitution isn't the only reason Nye has given for the March for Science. Here's another.

I agree with this explanation, too. In fact, it's among the reasons I marched on Earth Day, again at the People's Climate March the next Saturday, and why I'll be marching again at the next protest I support. To a better tomorrow for everyone!

Friday, March 24, 2017

Bill Nye and I get our wish from Trump on Mars, sort of

In last November's Trump pulls a Gingrich on space, I found a silver lining in the dark storm cloud of a Trump presidency, writing "space policy is the one area where Trump might actually be good for the country." I also wrote of his campaign plank on space that "Trump's plan is actually not a bad idea." I was not alone in my hopes. Last week, The Planetary Society uploaded Bill Nye's Open Letter to President Donald Trump to its YouTube channel to urge him to do what the organization thought was necessary to achieve the goals of the plan and then some.

Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society, and our Board of Directors present five recommendations to the Trump administration as it contemplates the future of the U.S. space program.

This week, Newsy reported Trump signs bill to let NASA explore Mars.

President Donald Trump authorized $19.5 billion in funding for NASA for fiscal year 2017.

That was an increase from the $19.1 billion for NASA in the proposed budget Trump submitted last week, so that was an improvement, if not the 5% increase Nye was asking for. As for me, I'm treating this the same way I did the Rusty-Patched Bumblebee finally being placed on the Endangered Species List, as a rare bit of good news coming out of this otherwise deplorable administration.

That written, I still stand by my conclusion from that entry in November.

Sorry, I want more ambitious goals for both space exploration and climate monitoring along with people who understand science and technology in charge of both. This combination isn't good enough for me. It's like hoping for the alternative history in "The Man in the High Castle" to happen just so there could be commercial SSTs by the early 1960s...The cost would be too high.

Funding for NASA research into climate change was still cut in the new bill. That's not all. Here's the cost, as depicted by Science Magazine, in terms of cuts to all kinds of federally funded research.

The cost is indeed too high.

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Happy 100th birthday, National Park Service!

Today is the 100th birthday of the National Park Service, a day close to my heart not only because of the many years I visited Yosemite during my youth but also because I was a Park Ranger at Channel Islands National Park 30 years ago. I could go on, but someone expressed the importance of the U.S. National Park System better than I did, President Obama in his Weekly Address: Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service.

In this week's address, President Obama commemorated the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service and encouraged Americans to "Find Your Park."

Another famous person celebrating today's anniversary is Bill Nye, who talks national parks, climate change, and the 2016 election with CBS. He put all of those together in these two paragraphs.

We want to preserve our parks and the 100th anniversary is an appropriate time to remind everyone their significance and importance. You know, when you vote this November, you should vote to preserve our parks -- it’s another line item in the federal budget, another thing for the government to do. I want everybody to realize that once you “find your park,” you will find an appreciation for the importance of the parks.
...
You have to say to everybody: “vote.” I’m not telling you for whom to vote, but please take the environment into account when you vote...If the election goes to the candidate who is in favor of addressing climate change and preserving the environment it will move in one way, but if it goes the other way, it will be very difficult -- it will lower the quality of life for billions of people. Unite[d] States has to be a world leader when it comes to the environment.

Follow over the jump for two more examples of politics and the national parks.

Crazy Eddie's Motie News