# Bad Astronomer quoted on the West Wing!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 24, 2003, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-astronomer-quoted-on-the-west-wing/170742 "2003-04-24T01:54:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-astronomer-quoted-on-the-west-wing/170742/1 "2003-04-24T01:54:39Z")
On the West Wing tonight, CJ was going on and on about standing an egg on end during the equinox. They finally looked it up on the internet, and what they read off the screen was, “This has to be one of the silliest misconceptions around, and it never seems to die.” That sounded awfully familiar, so I went to [Bad Astronomy’s Vernal Equinox page](http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/egg_spin.html) and sure enough, there it was! Even though the didn’t mention the site by name, congrats, BA! ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-astronomer-quoted-on-the-west-wing/170742/2 "2003-04-24T02:01:02Z")
Cool! The guy keeps getting more and more famous! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-astronomer-quoted-on-the-west-wing/170742/3 "2003-04-24T02:11:23Z")
Wow! Well, I am impressed. **Bad Astronomer** , I hope they…cited you in the credits, or paid you, or something useful. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-astronomer-quoted-on-the-west-wing/170742/4 "2003-04-24T02:21:46Z")
Whee! Yay BA! ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-astronomer-quoted-on-the-west-wing/170742/5 "2003-04-24T02:23:11Z")
Sure, all the Good Astronomers toil away in the background, in complete anonymity, and it’s the Bad ones that get all the glory. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-astronomer-quoted-on-the-west-wing/170742/6 "2003-04-24T02:26:34Z")
Wow! Congrats! Go Bad-A! ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-astronomer-quoted-on-the-west-wing/170742/7 "2003-04-24T02:36:37Z")
Hmmm, I wonder why they didn’t give his URL. The URLs mentioned on the episode were things like stuffthat’[swrong.com](http://swrong.com). [badastronomy.com](http://badastronomy.com) would have been perfect. 🙂 Oh, and CJ’s claim about the antipodes was conservative. There is a point on the Earth at which the temperature _and_ pressure are _both_ the same on the opposite side. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-astronomer-quoted-on-the-west-wing/170742/8 "2003-04-24T03:04:22Z")
Oh, and in case any one wonders, yes, Cecil’s [covered this one](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_089.html) as well. I was saddened that they didn’t quote him, but it wouldn’t have fit with the story. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_The\_Diver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Buck\_The\_Diver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_The_Diver)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-astronomer-quoted-on-the-west-wing/170742/9 "2003-04-24T04:39:21Z")
Phil gets more press everyday. He’s, like, famous and stuff. When is he gonna change his name to **Bad-Ass Astronomer**? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-astronomer-quoted-on-the-west-wing/170742/10 "2003-04-24T06:02:27Z")
yeah, way cool, guy. I’m honored to be a member of a board whose other members get a little recognition! ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-astronomer-quoted-on-the-west-wing/170742/11 "2003-04-24T12:46:22Z")
I saw this last night, and was surprised as heck that they didn’t mention [straightdope.com](http://straightdope.com). I was considering calling my mom (who watches West Wing religiously) and rubbing her nose in it, but discretion won out. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-astronomer-quoted-on-the-west-wing/170742/12 "2003-04-24T13:44:12Z")
The problem is that West Wing got it completely wrong. It’s not that you can’t stand an egg up on the equinox, it’s that you can stand an egg up every single day of the year. From Cecil’s article linked above: > [@](#): > > Moral: you can stand an egg on end any old time. All it takes is very steady hands. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-astronomer-quoted-on-the-west-wing/170742/13 "2003-04-24T16:27:03Z")
They did a good job on some things, like when CJ said that the gravity of the Earth and Sun were lined up, and Toby said (correctly) that that’s _always_ true for _some_ point on Earth. And they said that you had to do it on the exact moment of the equinox, and while nobody knew exactly when it was, they correctly deduced that it wasn’t midnight (Midnight _where_?) When CJ finally succeed in balancing the egg, I took that as a continuation of the theme of faith. 'Cause, as we all know, when it comes down to it, belief is more important than knowledge or logic . . . But, you know, whatever. It’s not quite irritating enough to warrant a rolley-eyes smilie. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bad_Astronomer)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-astronomer-quoted-on-the-west-wing/170742/14 "2003-04-24T21:43:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Podkayne \* > \*\*They did a good job on some things, like when CJ said that the gravity of the Earth and Sun were lined up, and Toby said (correctly) that that’s _always_ true for _some_ point on Earth. \*\* Yes, well, that’s also from my webpage on this. 🙂 I was surprised to start getting phone calls around 7:00 my time, as family on the right coast saw the show. I did see it, and was vastly amused by the whole thing. There’s a thread about this at Cafe Society, BTW. 😃