I was quite chagrined to find out that a couple of student groups here at Sonoma State University (where I work) have invited a UFO True Believer here to give a talk. The guy's name is Robert Hastings. A web search on his name yielded lots of info, including specific references to the talk he usually gives at colleges, called "UFOs: The Hidden History" or some such. He is being paid $1700 to speak here.

I decided to write a letter to the school newspaper about it. The beauty of this is that my letter will come out two days before he gives his talk. It'll be interestign to sit in on the talk and find out what people say.

Below is what I wrote to the newspaper:

This Thursday, February 21, a man named Robert Hastings will be here at SSU giving an invited talk called “UFOs: The Hidden History”. According to his claims, the United States government has been involved in a massive conspiracy, covering up huge amounts of information about the reality of alien spaceships buzzing our nuclear missile silos and military bases.

Right.

He has been making this claim for years, it turns out. He gives this lecture quite often at college campuses (reportedly making between $1700 and $2000 a pop), which is basically him lecturing to a slide presentation. The slides show one government document after another, indicating, in his opinion, that politicians know that space aliens are very interested in our nuclear capabilities.

I’m sure his talk will be well attended, as well as at least marginally interesting. I also suspect it won’t even have a glancing blow at reality.

Let’s face it: our government couldn’t conspire to keep Monica Lewinsky a secret for a year, and only four people on the planet knew about Bill Clinton’s White House shenanigans. How could they hope to have thousands of politicians keep their mouths shut about aliens?

In previous lectures, Hastings has claimed he has uncovered over 10,000 pages of documents with information about UFOs. That sure sounds like a lot! However, I’ll note that a typical aircraft accident investigation report can run for 200 pages or more (I found one that reported about a plane that overran its runway at landing; the report was 230 pages long). Suddenly, 10,00 pages about an alien invasion force doesn’t sound like so much.

And why would aliens care about our nuclear weapons? Certainly an interstellar traveler would consider our most powerful bombs nothing more than quaint firecrackers. Mind you, the amount of energy it would take to cross galactic distances dwarfs our planet’s entire nuclear arsenal. Also, a spaceship that can move that fast would have no problems dropping rocks on enemy worlds; even a modest asteroid a few hundred meters across could wipe out all life on this planet if it impacted at, say, a thousand kilometers per second. Even that is a snail’s pace compared to a spaceship at full throttle. A nuclear weapon really is just a firecracker compared to that.

When listening to people talk about UFOs, it’s worth a moment of your time to question what they are saying. Is there another interpretation? What are the speaker’s references? Has he given you the whole story, or at least enough to make an informed decision about what’s happening? Does he have real evidence, or could it be faked?

If you attend Mr. Hasting’s talk on Thursday — and I encourage you to — don’t just sit there and absorb what he’s saying. Think about it, use some critical reasoning. Question everything he says. In the end ask yourself this: is it more likely that thousands of government officials from many different nations have, for the past 60 years, successfully covered up their knowledge of aliens flitting about our missile silos, or is it just possible that Mr. Hastings may be sincere, but mistaken?

*******************
Dr. Philip Plait is a staff member of the Physics and Astronomy Department at SSU. He also runs a website called “Bad Astronomy” (http://www.badastronomy.com) where he debunks misconceptions about astronomy.


_________________
Phil Plait
The Bad Astronomer
http://www.badastronomy.com
badastro@badastronomy.com

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: The Bad Astronomer on 2002-02-14 11:24 ]</font>

You Go BA!!

__________________
Any day you wake up on "the right side of the dirt" is a good day.

T. Anderson

Love it! Of course, *true believers* will never be dissuaded. Keep it up. Perhaps a few people will begin to think rationally (which is a few more than would have been there otherwise).

Will March (when your new book is promised to reach me by AMAZON.COM) ever, ever come fast enough???

ljbrs [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img] [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ljbrs on 2002-02-13 20:05 ]</font>

Good luck! Maybe a bunch of students could be recruited to pass out copies of Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit at the door?

After sending a UFO-debunking letter to my local paper I was accused by another letter-writer of spreading disinformation for the ever-shadowy authorities...I got teased a bit at work about all the money I must be making from my "CIA work!"

Don Stahl

Good shot across the bow BA.

Even a dumb monkey like me knows that if the aliens were amongst us, we'd most likely never know it.

<a name="20020214.6:19"> page 20020214.6:19 aka Name Drop's
On 2002-02-13 18:56, Kaptain K wrote: To: 6 CABAN 15 PAX
Boo..
this message will be updated later
8:00 A.M. Yeah its "_LATER_"
<a name="_LATER_"> line name _LATER_

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: HUb' on 2002-02-14 09:32 ]</font>

<a name="20020214.6:23"> page 20020214.6:23 aka Police State U
On 2002-02-13 20:04, ljbrs wrote: To: February 14, 2002
Boo2 .. This 2 may also be updated..
OK lemme thin
Sonoma State University
http://www.sonoma.edu/pubs/newsbytes/
http://www.sonoma.edu/UAffairs/buzz/
http://www.sonoma.edu/UAffairs/cal/
Thin'N , again 8:06 A.M.
http://www.pp.pdx.edu/AUX/CSO/calendars.html
I did not X.pect the UFO to appear on day 1 myself

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: HUb' on 2002-03-06 10:46 ]</font>

<a name="20020214.6:30"> page 20020214.6:30 aka PST
On 2002-02-14 01:14, DStahl wrote: To: 6:30 A.M. PST
8:07 A.M. it may be that Cressmans already been
eliminated? I do NOT know ? his links not working
http://www.dailyemerald.com/ this take you to Daily's
http://www.dailyemerald.com/pages/archive/
and that to the archives once there finding NEWMANS up2U
um the one in Oregon, Naturally, are you following?
http://www.uoregon.edu/~anthro/faculty/CMAcv.html ? missing?
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/ once there find Daily Emerald (link Later) see lines above ?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: HUb' on 2002-02-14 09:41 ]</font>

Hey Phil:

I'm outraged! When are they going to pay you $1700 to put on a talk about the real stuff? Or at least a rebuttal! If you would like me to raise a stink on your behalf lemee know. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

__________________
It's just one of those damn things of which there are many few. -- Dan Blocker

<a name="20020214.8:11"> page 20020214.8:11 aka wheres EndRun now
On 2002-02-14 09:21, Russ wrote:
Hey Phil:
<a name="20020306.9:01"> _line 20020306.9:01 aka U 2 F O
I'm outraged! When are they going to pay you $1700 to put on a talk about the real stuff? Or at least a rebuttal! If you would like me to raise a stink on your behalf lemee know. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
really I was not expecting ... any UFO visiter the first day 9:03 A.M.2-3-06HUb'
[/quote]
Ok NBC national news ? I guess its the HOUSE
hearings from the Dallas chearleaders about
big E? or could it be..{ no not ...} {oh my}

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: HUb' on 2002-03-06 10:10 ]</font>

Yeah. Good idea. The BA v. Robert Hastings debate. Now that would be worth $1700.

"Let's get ready to RUMBLE"

I was appalled at the amount he charges for this. But "what the market will bear" and all that. If colleges want to pay that, then they will.

I'll be interested to see what happens at his talk, two days after my OpEd comes out. I have been corresponding with noted UFO debunker James Oberg, and he's been a big help. I have lots of ammo to use next Thursday. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Incidentally, my local town newspaper ran a short piece about the talk, and said that Hasting's document show "beyond a shadow of a doubt" that UFOs exist. There was no by-line on the article, so I don't know who wrote it. I suspect they cut-and-pasted somethign from a Hastings press release. Either way, I'll be writing that paper tonight too.

Bravo, B.A.! [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

All the best Phil!

I think I found one of Hastings' government suppressed photos of a secret UFO base. (Though I have a suspicion that his pictures are not as focused as this one.) [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

(It's good to have a sense of humor about these guys, but $1700.00! What does a real science lecturer get?)

Anyway, your letter is great, and wonderfully timed! [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Well, some get that much, and more. I don't ask for that much (yet, heh) but if a talk includes travel, hotel and food it can easily top that much.

Now The BA and this guy going at it,, THAT I would pay money to see!

I paid a lecturer over $6000 to discuss his ascent of Mt. Everest.

The funny thing is that even though he addressed a room full of information technology professionals, he caught their attention. That normal squeaking of chairs, coughing, rustling of agendas, etc. that you hear during every silent moment of a speech or lecture -- it just wasn't there. I looked around, they were all completely transfixed. Absolutel silence!

Oh, and of course, there was a message in there for them too. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Perhaps Mr. Hastings does just such a thing as well. So at $1700, he's a bargain.

DJ

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: DJ on 2002-02-14 15:41 ]</font>

I just sent in a letter-to-the-editor, and was told it'll run next week. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Given the number of times I've seen one listed as a speaker, I bet it's about $3.95 [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img] I've heard Sagan used to get as much as five hundred on Johnny Carson. I'll count on Phil to break the Kilobuck barrier. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

__________________
It's just one of those damn things of which there are many few. -- Dan Blocker

Talk shows have a stipend they pay guests, and it usually isn't much. Sagan commanded many thousands when he gave invited lectures. I did an interview for a show on Pax TV (more on that next month, heh) and they gave me a nominal fee for my time. Enough for a nice dinner out, but that's about it.

Most famous people know that the real money is on the lecture circuit. Newscasters, for example, can get tens of thousands of dollars to give a single speech at an event. A lot of newscasters do that for groups that actually get reported about in the news, so conflict of interest issue come up quite a bit!

When I was in college Sagan & Kip Thorne were both speakers in a series called the "C. P. Snow Lectures". It was my impression that they were not paid all that much. Of course this was 30 years ago and they were just across the valley at Cornell at the time.

Sagan was very down-to-earth and asked to be called Carl. He went to the campus pub for a beer & chat after the lecture. VERY interesting conversation.

Thorne was much the same, right down to the trip to the pub and VERY interesting conversation. The prime difference was that Kip seemed to be lost in thought about other things the whole time. During his lecture and even when answering questions or talking about his work, he seem to be applying only about 10% of his thought capacity to the conversation. Given the quality of the lecture and conversation, it says alot about Kip's brain capacity. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

__________________
It's just one of those damn things of which there are many few. -- Dan Blocker

<a name="20020215.9:30"> page 20020215.9:30 aka no ~ant
On 2002-02-15 10:55, Russ wrote: To: 7 ETZNAB 16 PAX

On 2002-02-14 18:03, The Bad Astronomer wrote: too

its true enought, i cannot keep up and
MUST `Seed. however it occurs to me THAT
If there was a "READ" from date
or a read "NEW"
maybe it could speed reading up
by skipping over what happened
yesterday.. or something
9:34 A.M. no plan to update this 1

Will some one who is more proficient at HUb'ese please translate this for me? HUb' is one of my favorite posters here but he lost me this time.

__________________
It's just one of those damn things of which there are many few. -- Dan Blocker