Overheard....

On 10/2, at La Salle's honors convocation, we presented an honorary degree to Derrick Pitts, chief astronomer at the Franklin Insitute (he gave a great talk) and who does a weekly spot on WHYY. Before the ceremony, I overheard Pitts tell someone, "People tell me I sound shorter on the radio." Pitts is 6/4": I asked him if I could send that quote to Dan Gross, a columnist at the Philadephia Daily News, and he said, OK. Dan's column is pretty much about local celebrities or when famous people are in town, but he also likes the occasional quip or anecdote IF there's a good hook or angle to it. Dan published at item about Derrick's comment and his recieving an honorary degree from La Salle. (Before that, he wrote how a student responded to a tweet and shorter after that a crew from ABC News w/Diane Sawyer filmed her family having dinner.) In these two examples, there was a "name" involved, Derrick and Sawyer.

One a personal note, I was shocked to learn that this was Derrick's first honorary degree! He was really honored by the recognition and had a great time on campus. Following the convocation, there's a reception for the students and their families, and I took Derrick there, thinking we'd spend five minutes: well, a bunch of folks came up to said, I always hear your show on the radio, and my son wants to be a scientist and can we take your picture with him?" Derrick was very gracious and we stayed more than five minutes.