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TV For Nerds: Cable Science Network?
Ridgelift writes "Wired is covering The Cable Science Network. New York Times science writer Sandra Blakeslee puts it best: "I cover a lot of meetings and I can just see things unfolding, but we can't cover it all in print media, so it would be wonderful to have things like talks and plenary sessions accessible to the public. There are a lot of C-SPAN junkies, and I think there would be a similar interest (in science TV) from the American public." There's also a home page for the network here."
Seems like only two months ago we discussed the possibility.
It's called the SciFi Channel.
Hopefully a channel like this can stick to what it was meant to show. Remember TLC? Didn't that used to stand for The Learning Channel? When did it become The Trading Spaces And Other Non Educational Crud Channel?
If they include Mr. Wizard!
Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
At home, I have 293 channels of TV for dorks and boobs, why not ONE channel for nerds?
It's simple: I demand prosecution for torture.
By focusing mainly on medical developments and boiling everything down to 30 seconds, science is often sensationalized and distorted, said Sandra Blakeslee, a science writer for The New York Times.
Of course we don't have any problems like that on Slashdot, where everything is reported accurately and with little fanfare...
Oh wait, this just in, THE MILKY WAY JUST GOT BIGGER!
WARNING: If accidentally read, induce vomiting.
It's called the SciFi Channel.
no, it's the Playboy Channel.
24 hour coverage of DMCA, RIAA, MPAA and other tech rights issues - it would be cool to see news anchors talking about students being sued for holding down the shift key, keyboard manufacturers being sued for creating circumvention devices, and the rest of the fool's parade that is the entertainment industry these days. I think it would wake a lot of people up.
Several of us posted comments pointing out that there are at least three channels that do this now. They are all run by universities and show science lectures, in depth debates, etc. These other stations, though, do also run non-science content, but they are non-commercial so you get fairly true and balanced content.
I REALLY would like to see a channel that focuses on science for the intelligent. TLC used to be nice, then they went all foo foo, so they started the Discovery Science channel. They are now starting to run non science and non educational stuff, plus they are so beholden to ratings and the sponsors that they never run any lectures or shows that actually raise debate or cover controversial subjects.
I'll give this new channel a shot as soon as it comes on my sattellite lineup, but I don't have any high hopes. The first show I see like "The science behind Microsoft Windows XP", the channel comes out of my lineup. Keep the programming more like NASA TV, CSPAN, UCTV, FSTV, Research Channel, etc and you'll keep me as a viewer.
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
Okay first of all, from the male perspective, TLC is crap because its nots about geek stuff, or science, or history, or any of those things geeks value as learning.
Now try to put yourself in the place of the average woman, stay at home or otherwise. Women learn a lot from that home decorating stuff! You might be surprised what you might learn. Also there all those medical shows which tell you about medical conditions people have and stories of what they have gone through. Your average female TV viewer, especially the stay at home mom, eats that stuff up, and its still learning!
I'm not belittling women's TV by far, I'm in fact showing that comments like the parent to this are subjective, usually based on the male or geek (or both) point of view. Learning is subjective. Just because it's not science, history, or math doesn't mean its not learning. The channel just switched tracks from men to women. Yes it was done for business reasons, switching to a better demographic, and yes I, personally, absolutely do not like, what they show now, but the discovery and history channels filled in for me quite nicely, and this science channel will help too.
I watch Queer Eye for the Straight guy (okay that's on Bravo but its the same idea), and it's decidedly a "chick show." But DAMN do you know how much stuff guys could learn from that? And I'm not talking about "learning to match clothes so you can be superficial." I'm talking about things that matter (or should matter) to geeks like:
1) Getting your house organized so you don't look like a slob and can find things.
2) Keeping and staying healthy and reasonably well groomed.
3) Learning to cook more than ramen noodles.
4) Looking and acting like a guy a woman might want to go to bed with.
5) Looking like a guy someone might want to hire.
6) keeping your girlfriend happy!!
I call that learning... maybe that's why the gender gap is still so wide, because men don't think these things that women consider learning about are learning.
Think of it this way... this is a low level sociology channel. Be fascinated by the interations of people and their living spaces!
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
I was just thinking the other day about how nerds don't spend nearly enough time staring at a screen!
Have you guys considered getting a few hours air time per week? Might be good to have SlashTV or something...
...is that everyone is at a different level when it comes to science. Every show is either going to be too complex for some or too simple for others. Usually both. It is very hard to make a show that is deemed worthy science to someone with a graduate degree and still be understandable to a highschool student.
The key to entertainment through science is the idea that you are learning something new. Thus for the show to be entertaining it must be something you don't already know and actually be able to teach you it. This is very hard to do.
Discovery and TLC realized this and resorted to the lowest denomiator seeing as there are a lot more people without degrees.