astronomy

Sheldon Rampton

Sheldon Rampton is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sheldon Rampton rather than just read about it. In short: Sheldon Rampton is an American editor and author. He was editor of PR Watch and co-authored with John Stauber several books that strongly criticize the public relations industry.

Key takeaways

Sheldon Rampton belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sheldon Rampton to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sheldon Rampton from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sheldon Rampton is an American editor and author. He was editor of PR Watch and co-authored with John Stauber several books that strongly criticize the public relations industry.

Career In 1995, Rampton teamed with John Stauber as co-editors of PR Watch, a publication of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). They were described as liberal, and their writings are regarded by some members of the public relations industry as one-sided and hostile, but their work drew wide attention. ActivistCash, a website hosted by Washington lobbyist Richard Berman, has castigated them as "self-anointed watchdogs," "scare-mongers," "reckless," and "left-leaning." Rampton and Stauber have, in turn, argued that the ActivistCash critique contains several "demonstrably false" claims. According to a review in The Denver Post, their 1995 book, Toxic Sludge Is Good for You, offered "a sardonic, wide-ranging look at the public relations industry." After leaving the Center for Media and Democracy in 2009, Rampton became a website developer, joining an open government initiative led by New York State Senate chief information officer Andrew Hoppin. In 2010, Hoppin and Rampton co-founded NuCivic, an open source software company, which they sold in December 2014 to GovDelivery, a software services company now known as Granicus. Rampton currently works as a software engineer at Granicus. He also serves on the board of directors of Global Energy Monitor (GEM), a non-governmental organization that catalogs fossil fuel and renewable energy projects worldwide in support of clean energy.

Writings by Rampton With Liz Chilsen: Friends In Deed: The Story of US-Nicaragua Sister Cities (1987) With John Stauber: Toxic Sludge Is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry (1995) Mad Cow U.S.A.: Could the Nightmare Happen Here? (1997) Trust Us, We're Experts: How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles With Your Future (2001) Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq (2003) Banana Republicans (2004) The Best War Ever: Lies, Damned Lies, and the Mess in Iraq (2006)

References

External links PR Watch Sheldon Rampton's home page Appearances on C-SPAN

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sheldon Rampton

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sheldon Rampton claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sheldon Rampton before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sheldon Rampton ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sheldon Rampton

In research: Sheldon Rampton appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sheldon Rampton in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sheldon Rampton is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1957 births, 20th-century Mormon missionaries, American Mormon missionaries in Japan, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sheldon Rampton outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sheldon Rampton in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sheldon Rampton means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sheldon Rampton out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sheldon Rampton in simple terms?

Sheldon Rampton is an American editor and author. He was editor of PR Watch and co-authored with John Stauber several books that strongly criticize the public relations industry.

Why does Sheldon Rampton matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sheldon Rampton?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sheldon Rampton.