I sometimes read Gawker, a celebrity gossip site, because I enjoy the snark. They go too far sometimes (many times), but it’s usually entertaining.
And it’s a gossip site, which means you can awaken any particular writer there out of a cold sleep and they’d still be able to recite Lindsay Lohan’s daily measurements. So it’s no shock that they don’t know much about astrophysicists.
It’s an article about a crowd going to a book signing event by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, head of the Hayden Planetarium in NYC, author of many books, and frequent talk-show guest. I have no surprise that the Gawker writer didn’t know who he was, since Neil’s never hit a paparazzi, not been seen to do drugs after swearing he doesn’t do them, or hasn’t had massive plastic surgery.
Neil is, though, kind of a big deal. He’s hosted his own PBS series, been on Colbert a number of times, and was on Conan Leno recently too. Of course, readers of this particular blog are probably far more likely to know who Neil is, so we’re biased.
But in a sense, it’s cool that Neil has risen to the level of getting snarked by a gossip blog. It’s something all us astrobloggers can aspire to.
Tip o’ the autograph pen to Rebecca.
