Playing the saxophone Why do you play saxophone? Some thoughts.

[Colin the Bear]

Beware of AI. Lots of very real looking videos of NdGT. One was him declaring, he had been wrong and the Earth was flat after all.

 

[Grumps]

..., he had been wrong and the Earth was flat after all.

It is where I'm standing...

 

[Targa]

It is where I'm standing...

Norfolk?

With thanks to Noel Coward.

 

[Colin the Bear]

It's pretty flat in Holland, but not round here. ⛰️

 

[JayeNM]

There is no border to Neil deGrasse Tyson's ignorance.

And THIS folks...says it ALL about our forum member right here

 

[Grumps]

Well, unlike old hippies, I chose not to reject wisdom with age.

 

[mark_addy]

Hey, hey. I've never heard of the guy, so I went looking and found this

" While universally respected as an astrophysicist and science communicator, Tyson frequently comments on subjects outside of his field—such as philosophy and history—where he has been accused of being unknowledgeable while remaining overly confident."

As someone who has spent the last 32 years working in Higher Education (and some of the previous 5 as it's victi...sorry, student) I have to tell you that statement shocks me to my very core. I'm shocked, I tell you.
🙂

 

[mizmar]

so I went looking...

Oh, yeah, the internet.
I actually disagree with some of his philosophical leanings. But that doesn't mean he's ignorant; it's part of societies debate.
Popular history and philosophy is knee deep in people who have strong views and are prepared to slag people off. Which isn't debate, it's a sign of defeat.
.

 

[Targa]

Oh, yeah, the internet.
I actually disagree with some of his philosophical leanings. But that doesn't mean he's ignorant; it's part of societies debate.
Popular history and philosophy is knee deep in people who have strong views and are prepared to slag people off. Which isn't debate, it's a sign of defeat.
.

Popular history - winners
Unpopular history - losers

 

[mark_addy]

Oh, yeah, the internet.
I actually disagree with some of his philosophical leanings. But that doesn't mean he's ignorant; it's part of societies debate.
Popular history and philosophy is knee deep in people who have strong views and are prepared to slag people off. Which isn't debate, it's a sign of defeat.
.

I'm sure. It's just that university professors (in the US that might be 'full professors') - especially those involved in the public understanding of science - are a familiar species to me from the 'inside'. That they might overstretch the limits of their knowledge from time to time (in print, or in the media in general) is just the way it goes. It's a bit like my friend the obstetric surgeon, who is wildly (from my perspective - from yours that might just be 'strongly') self-confident, sometimes (I think, personally) to his detriment - if he wasn't like that, he probably couldn't do the job.

But more, it's just 'public science professor speaks with great confidence outslde of his field' shapes up to be a decent 'Onion' headline without much further work!

 

[mizmar]

I'm sure

Yes, there is a thing; the philosopause.
However, as I'm sure you've found, in recent years good science communicators have felt the need to have their say in an increasing number of hot-topic science issues being undermined by Po****cs ... And catching it from the Troll farms. So one has to look on a case by case basis to avoid being censored or censorious.

 

[cappers]

Many Professors, experts and leaders in their fields pontificate about subjects outside their sphere, Dr Tyson isn't new. Dunning-Kruger effect?

Mind, Volume 128, Issue 510, April 2019, Pages 367–395,​

Abstract​

Epistemic trespassers judge matters outside their field of expertise. Trespassing is ubiquitous in this age of interdisciplinary research and recognizing this will require us to be more intellectually modest.

 

[mizmar]

Not to mention the millions of non-psychologists that quote - and diagnose - the Dunning-Kruger effect!

 

[lig]

As always, YouTube has the answer:

The Duke of Silver

View: https://youtu.be/UJdPeMZrcMw?t=55

That is awesome! Never really watched much of that show. Fun stuff.


And for those not getting the desired response from the ladies - get yourself a Vibratosax. 😀

Naturally I am kidding even though I did meet my wife of 29 years on a gig.

Just for fun - a house party during covid (neither are my wife btw)

 

[Grumps]

It's not always money that corrupts. In Neil's case, it's celebrity. It's taken his mind hostage, unfortunately. You can dig him though. I've said that from the get go. Especially if he's telling you things you want to hear. He's just no longer a serious person in my view.

 

[mark_addy]

Yes, there is a thing; the philosopause.
However, as I'm sure you've found, in recent years good science communicators have felt the need to have their say in an increasing number of hot-topic science issues being undermined by Po****cs ... And catching it from the Troll farms. So one has to look on a case by case basis to avoid being censored or censorious.

Ah, I see I may have wandered in above my head, as usual. FWIW, I play an old saxophone (to get back on topic a little), in part because I try not to buy much new stuff because I am concerned about consumer impact on climate change (to get back off it again). I cycle as much as possible for similar reasons; whether I can tow a baritone in a trailer is an experiment in on-topicness which I guess I ought to try to resolve fairly soon. Maybe tomorrow, as we have a gig a mile away, but I would need to cycle in this sweaty heat in my suit!

 

[Wonko]

Why do you play music?

I have been drawn to playing music for quite some time.
When I was about 9 or 10 I started music education. But that didn't last very long. My mother used to say that I fell asleep when I had to study my lessons. At that time you had to take a year of theory lessons (learning to read the notes and stuff) before you could start with an instrument.
At that time I didn't have a clue as to which instrument I wanted to play. I asked my father what instrument he liked, he liked the oboe.... Good thing that didn't go through ;-)

When I was about 20 I wanted to learn how to play the saxophone, specificly the tenor sax. I was listning to CD's by Coltane, Sonny Rollins, ..... at that time.
But I was studying biology then and didn't have the time to take up music then.
After that I kept saying that I would take up the saxophone when I got the time, after my pension date probably .....
When I was about 38 I heard some saxophone music on the news (June 30, 2001, Joe Henderson had just died). That triggered the desire to take up the saxophone quite strongly. In september of that year I started taking lessons.....

Fast forward 25 years, and I am still playing the tenor. Did have some (large) gap's in my playing/learning carreer. But I got myself a bari and a curved sop since then and I'll be starting lessons on soprano next september.

 

[LostCircuits]

It's not always money that corrupts. In Neil's case, it's celebrity. It's taken his mind hostage, unfortunately. You can dig him though. I've said that from the get go. Especially if he's telling you things you want to hear. He's just no longer a serious person in my view.

You could say the same thing about Kenny G, couldn't you?

 

[mizmar]

You could say the same thing about Kenny G, couldn't you?

In could name a good few folks corrupted by money and fame - but that would be political!

 

[Hoosierken]

As for Pluto being a planet, I don't see how it could be since it is even smaller than Earth's moon. The mistake came because early on, astronomers thought that they were seeing a single large planet, not two objects, Pluto and Charon that appeared to be a single large body. Even Mercury is more than twice the size of Pluto. NDT is correct, Pluto is not a major planet.