Not longer after purchasing a handheld world band radioa few weeks ago, I discovered Coast to Coast AM (finally).

Well, since I've listened to bits of the program, it, well, really grinds my gears (thank you Mr McFarlene).

There appears to be a lot of woo^2 related subjects going on lately.
I've heard of things with ghosts, UFOs, pychic phenomenon, ect.

And just now, I listened to the host announce that old Richard Hoagland will appear with a talk on anti-gravity.
As part of a conversation with a caller, he said that he saw a dot of light travel across the face of the moon in his 'scope. He asked the host of the show if we had any sattilites orbiting the moon at this time. The response was "No, but I'll ask Hoagland when he appears." (something to that effect anyway).

This really irked me for two reasons; one, the caller should know that Earth orbiting sattilites would also appear in the manner he saw. A sattilite doesn't have to orbit the moon to appear to pass in front of it.
And two, I hope the Japanese didn't hear this, because if I were them, I'd be irked that the Selene probe is not well known (even if it's name has been changed).

My real issue is this; is this typical of Coast to Coast AM?
Did not Phil Plait also appear on this show?

It seems to me that more people like Dr. Plait, or Dr. Neil Tyson, or James Randi, or even Adam Savage ought to appear on this show, and induce some critical thinking.

Enough with the woo-woo, Coast to Coast Am. Give me, and the US, REAL science.

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I calculated the odds of this succeeding versus the odds I was doing something incredibly stupid...and I went ahead anyway. - Crow T. Robot

Godspeed, John Glenn. - Scott Carpenter

And these atomic bombs that science burst upon the world that night were strange even to the men that used them.
- H.G Wells, The World Set Free

To the conspiracy crowd, radiation is a big Boogey Man that inspires terror and death in all who encounter it. - JayUtah

Welcome to "woo central"! Yes, that is pretty much the way it is since founder Art Bell retired and George Noorey took over full time. Only on the rare occasions when Phil or Seth Shostok or some other real scientist is on, does some reality get on. Even then he will try to push his guest over the line into woo woo land! Otherwise, Noorey's business card should read "Professional believer". He seems to believe every tall tale, every blurry picture and every barely audible "ghost" recording his guests can come up with.

Oh, FWIW, Hoagland is not just a frequent guest on C2C, he is the science advisor to thr show!

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

T. Anderson

Explains it all!

Seth McFarlene would make a better science advisor.

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I calculated the odds of this succeeding versus the odds I was doing something incredibly stupid...and I went ahead anyway. - Crow T. Robot

Godspeed, John Glenn. - Scott Carpenter

And these atomic bombs that science burst upon the world that night were strange even to the men that used them.
- H.G Wells, The World Set Free

To the conspiracy crowd, radiation is a big Boogey Man that inspires terror and death in all who encounter it. - JayUtah

My kitten would make a better science advisor and she's only two months old!

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

T. Anderson

My condolences on finding C2C. That show is so laughable when it comes to "science". Apart from Phil Plait, Michuo Kaku, Seth Shostak, and a pitiful few other worthwhile guests, C2C is a repository of off-the-wall kooks. It seems to get on the show as a guest, one only has to have a theory that makes no sense other than to sensationalize some scientifically impossible event. The callers can make some of the most inane comments and implausible connections one wonders how they exist in the real world. Of course, the hosts make no attempt to have any common sense enter into any of the discussions.

Other than that, enjoy the show.

tbm

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Paddle faster!! I hear banjo music!!

C2C is the radio equivalent of GLP!

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

T. Anderson

I met someone last week who heard Richard Hoagland on Coast to Coast AM and insisted on telling me all about it. It seemed to me that she believed everything he said about Mars because he was on the radio and to her that meant he was credible.

HAHA! I was just telling Ken G that my kitten does science as well!

In defense of the show, however, and I listen to it whenever I can, is you've got to realize that it's just supposed to be fun. I wouldn't worry too much about it corrupting the youth of this planet.

I miss Art Bell. He definitely was more of a brainiac than George Noory, and did the real science interviews better I think. But George is cool too. Ian Punnett has had some good real life shows.

And who knows: maybe the Fermi Paradox is no paradox at all, and the C2C crew will get the last laugh. Then what will you all say?

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" -- Charles Darwin

That they never had any credible evidence.

If anyone ever finds convincing evidence of extraterrestrial life, I'd be willing to bet large sums it won't be those guys.

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"All your bias are belong to us." Ara Pacis
"A witty saying proves nothing." Voltaire

I would bet that the conditional probabilities are in your favor, for sure!

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" -- Charles Darwin

If extra-terrestrial life is finally found, odds are good it will in no way resemble anything ever described on Coast to Coast.

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"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky

Are you talking about bacteria, or humanoids?

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" -- Charles Darwin

Any ET bacteria we encounter will not be harmful to us, just like Oak Wilt, but even farther from us genetically!

Any ETs we meet will, in all probability, not be even close to humanoid for about the same reasons.

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

T. Anderson

The humanoid design is pretty good. We should expect the process of convergent evolution to produce similar designs.

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" -- Charles Darwin

Why?

We see very little of it on Earth.

Look at dragonflies. Four fixed wings.

The number of things that could be done better than the way the human body turned out would fill a medium sized library!

The number ways to build a "human equivalent" intelligent being would fill a sports arena on DVD ROM!

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

T. Anderson

Compare the the design of eyes for squids versus vertebrates. They are almost exactly the same, except for the fact that squid eyes have their retinas where they belong.

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" -- Charles Darwin

OK, maybe "humanoid" was a conceited term. I should have said "primate design". It's been very successful.

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" -- Charles Darwin

As opposed to what other designs?

How about "upright bipedal"?

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

T. Anderson