Hey, the new Are We Alone radio show is up, with Seth Shostak and me poking not-so-gentle fun at people who think NASA faked the Moon landings. The new angle this time is the Onion article which caused such hijinks lately.
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About Bad Astronomy
Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He's written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic and fights the abuse of science, but his true love is praising the wonders of real science.
The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking, movie reviews, and all that) can be found here.
Contact me: The Bad Astronomer "at" gmail "dot" com
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September 22nd, 2009 at 6:34 pm
I really dig that podcast and it was a pleasant surprise to hear you on this week’s episode. Hooray! For that article, I can’t recall the number of times I’ve read real news articles and thought “C’mon.. this has to be theonion.” I never thought it could actually happen though, haha.
September 22nd, 2009 at 6:42 pm
The only reason I have any interest in this topic at all is the off chance that Buzz Aldrin will punch out another conspiracy nut (preferably on film with a soundtrack).
September 22nd, 2009 at 8:01 pm
And if he does, we can all start another conspiracy theory that the video was obviously faked because:
a) the quality of the recording is so good, it couldn’t have been ‘live’ but staged
b) no one as well educated as Buzz would hit someone in front of witnesses regardless of the provocation
c) the quality of the recording is so poor, it could have been anyone wearing a Buzz Aldrin mask
d) there is no record of a Buzz Aldrin in NASA; show me his birth certificate!
e) it’s a Michael Moore documentary film
f)it’s an Onion video! You twit!
September 22nd, 2009 at 8:12 pm
I’m still pretty sure everythings a figment of my imagination, which would include all of you
September 22nd, 2009 at 8:58 pm
I love AWA. It’s a show packed with great information and perspectives. I don’t even mind the corny segues- they give the show character.
Speaking of conspiracy theories I actually saw ads for IHC (2012 movie) nonsense plastered against a wall at the mall, but at least these looked like ads because of the fake graffiti with panicked messages scrawled across the IHC “ad”.
September 23rd, 2009 at 7:44 am
Ooh I can’t wait to hear it, I love that podcast!
September 23rd, 2009 at 9:28 am
Darn you! I loaded iTunes and went to “Are We Alone”, and subscribed. Which recommended that I also try your Q&BA. So I subscribed (even though it’s on hiatus.) And you recommended Astronomycast, which in turn took me to The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe, which….
I better stop, before it’s too late! You’re in on the conspiracy to keep us too busy with podcasts for us to notice what’s really going on, aren’t you? Don’t deny it, that would just prove you’re one of them!
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:18 pm
@Ken B:
You forgot Geologic Podcast, Hunting Humbug 101, Point of Inquiry, QuackCast, Richard Wiseman’s new podcast, Scientific American Podcast (along with 60 Second Science), Skepticallity, Skeptoid, and The Skeptics Guide 5×5 to name a few.
I won’t even get into the youtube channels. Oh, and I hear there a few good books out there too.
Enjoy!
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Ken,
AWA is the best (and best produced) of those. To be honest, I haven’t hear the BA’s, but AWA is really good. And far less … Iono … than SGU. I listen to SGU, but they can really be annoying.
But that’s prolly just me – I know all about being annoying.
September 23rd, 2009 at 6:19 pm
I’m proud of you Phil! An entire post about the lunies who think the Moon landings were hoaxed, and not ONCE did you un-subtly sneak in a stab at 9/11 truthers and other statesmen who take time out of their lives and away from their families to inform the public about the staggering laundry-list of anomalies and unanswered questions regarding the “official” 9/11 story.
Gold Star!
September 23rd, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Well, Damon, the episode wasn’t about other crackpots, just those particular crackpots.
September 24th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
If this is a conspricy theory its the worst one since Watergate you havent manufactured phony evidence or claimed the sciencetific comunity is persicuteing you and you have to write a book about it that becomes a bestseller and you havent appered on the history chanel so try again