As part of "Anniversary Adventure Week" (we celebrated our
29th on the 18th) Mrs. R.A.F. and I decided to attended the BA's "Mars talk" that he gave at Mt. Tamalpais just north of San Francisco.
We had a
great time!! We met Phil before the "show", and talked for about 15 minutes about
woowoos and the BABB. (Stuff that I can't really mention here) But we did get some
insight into "The Man" and basically why he does what he does. It was very interesting. I even got my picture taken with him...yes, it was
cold.
One of the things that surprised us was the fact that there were about
60 people attending, we expected fewer, because to get to Mt. Tamalpais one must travel up a long, narrow, winding road...those that attended
really wanted to be there! There were also quite a few kids in attendence which we thought was great!
The title of the BA's presentation was
Mars Attacks. It basically covered all of the "Hoagland stuff" that is on the main site (the "face", the "glass worm" etc.)...just in a bit more detail. I was most impressed with the "angles" arguments...the BA shot down Hoagland's reasoning that there is some "special significance" to the angles between the Cydonian features...and he did it
most convincingly. (But don't take my word on it...read the main site.
) The funniest part of the whole evening was the
numerous bad puns liberally sprinkled throughout the presentation...the BA certainly knows
how to connect with an audience...he had everyone laughing.
Unfortunately, the "Star party" that was to follow the presentation had to be cancelled due to clouds and fog. (Picture a combination of the movies
The Crawling Eye and
The Fog and you'll get the idea.) But, like I said, we had a great time.
THANKS PHIL, we're looking forward to "doing it" again.
Off topic...Just so you all don't get the impression that
everything about our trip was "wonderful"...the drive down Mt. Tam was
really scary. Visibility was practically zero down a long, narrow,
winding road. Getting in and out of the San Francisco area was no "picnic" either. We got "lost" twice, (stupid road signs
) were stuck in no fewer than
5 traffic jams, (one at 11:30 PM) and we had to
pay to leave the San Francisco area...at midnight on a
Saturday night!