Philip Plait: How to save the world from Asteroids.

1. Philip Plait
: How to defend Earth
from asteroids
Grant Ross

2. The founder of Bad Astronomy.com
Which is a website dedicated to debunk
Myths about outer space, Plait has also
Written a book called “Death from the Skys!”
Astronomer and a web designer.
On TEDS Plait gave a speech talking about how
We should, will or might need to protect
ourselves
From asteroids in the future.

3. He starts out with, “65 Million years ago
the Dinosaurs had a bad day.”
He then talked about not only the size of
a 6 mile long asteroid slamming down
into the Yucatan Peninsula, but he
described the impact.
If you took every nuclear weapon ever
built at the height of the Cold War,
lumped them together and blew them up
at the same time, that would be one one-
millionth of the energy released at that
moment.” (Phil Plait on the asteroid that
killed the dinosaurs )”

4. The Yucatan Peninsula is in the Mexico
And is at the it of Mexico.
Scientist now agree according to Plait
that this is the site of the Dinosaur Killer.
Whipping out 75% of species and blocking
the sun with debris and dust.
Me made the comment that if you killed
all bugs
In the world the planet would die,
Kill off all humans and the world would
flourish. Gulf of

5. Comets are out in space and do pose a threat to us,
And according to Plait its just a matter of finding them and
Trying to find a way to stop them.
He showed several pictures showing the size and devastation a
asteroid or comet Could make

6. Bringing up the end of the world he mentioned the
Mayan calendar and how people
Have mentioned a giant asteroid devastating the
earth and killing us all.
And then he mention Apophis.

7. So how are we going to protect ourselves
from something so large that it could
destroy the earth and kill us all.
This is Apophis

8. Nope, this isnt
the movies
But there is an
idea
That Plait talks
about
that seems to
come
From Hollywood.

9. Operation Deep Impact was launched in 2005.
It was to hit a moving comet going 10 miles per
Second. It was to strike the comet so they could
Try to get samples.
It succeeded and also when it stuck the
Comet it moved it orbit….just a little bit.
But enough to help create a theory
of moving large asteroids like Apophis
Out of the way…like jumping out of the
Way of a car headed towards you.

10. In using the TED Commandments I would have to say that Philip Plait used
Commandment #1.
Dream Big.
Strive to create the best talk you have ever given.
Reveal something never
seen before .Do something the audience will
remember forever. Share an idea that could
change the world.

11. Plait used lots of humor
And showed he had no remorse for being a nerd
He even quoted Spock
“They have an ion drive, they are 100’s
of years ahead of us we don’t have one.”
Then as he laughed he said” the USS Enterprise
dosent’t have a Ion Drive. BUT WE DO!”

12. If I had to grade this presentation by the
Dynamism Scale I would have to give it…
4 out of 5
I feel that he was very relatable to the audience and that he had their attention.
He was animated and didn’t just stand in one place.
He could have gone into more detail, although he might have I only watched
A 15 minute clip.
He tried to goive examples of size of the blasts and of the asteroids,
He could have made pictures or had better examples

13. If I had to compare Philip Plait to Sir Ken Robinson I would say..
Ken Robinson seems to be more comfortable with speaking and has a very well
knowledge of what he was speaking about. He had the audiences attention
And used lots of humor and had from what I saw no props or pictures just him on stage.
Plus, there is an uncanny resemblance to Actor Michael Caine..
Sir Ken Robinson Michael Caine

14. Philip Plait was very comfortable speaking but you could tell he was not a professional
And he at times seemed like he had to use his power point to remember where he was.
He used lots of humor, especially showing he was a nerd and a Star Trek fan.
He did have the audiences attention and he was knowledgeable of the subject matter
He was talking about.

15. So what have I learned by watching this TED clip and listening to Philp Plait?
Several things…
Be yourself, use yourself, your education and your humor to keep the audiences
attention
Make sure if you use jokes, props and pictures they need to be relevant and still
Entertaining and stimulating as well.

16. The End
Brought to you by Grant W. Ross
2012
This is a GrantLand Production