The Bad Astronomy Newsletter

Bad Astronomy Newsletter #23
Contents:

1. Pow! To the Moon!
2. Subscribe/Unsubscribe info

1) Pow! To the Moon!

By now, most of you reading this have heard the news: astronaut and second man to walk on the Moon Buzz Aldrin punched a guy in the face on Monday. Why? Because the other man, in this case, is none other than Bart Sibrel, Moon Hoax believer and purveyor of the mostly fictional film "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon". Mr. Sibrel has a long and not so proud history of harassing astronauts, ambushing them and asking them to swear on a Bible that they walked on the Moon. He told Edgar Mitchell he was from the Discovery Channel (and even with their recent slide into real garbage science-- they are part of the TV family which includes "Animal Planet", the channel that runs "Pet Psychic", as an example-- I bet they wouldn't touch Mr. Sibrel's "documentary" with a ten foot pole).

On Monday he jumped out at Buzz Aldrin. This is not the first time he has accosted Mr. Aldrin, but one suspects it might be the last. He called Mr. Aldrin a "thief" and a "liar", and physically got in Mr. Aldrin's way. That's when Buzz Aldrin, 72, 5'10" and 160 pounds, gave a good right hook to Mr. Sibrel, 37, 6'2" and 250 pounds. Mr. Aldrin had already asked Mr. Sibrel several times to back off, and when he didn't, Aldrin hit him.

Notice I didn't say "allegedly hit him". That's because it's on tape. You can watch it here. Surprise! Mr. Sibrel is talking about pressing charges. From what I hear, that would be a huge mistake; as I understand it, Mr. Sibrel is actually guilty of abusive behavior, and Mr. Aldrin was defending himself. But then, rational thinking may not be Mr. Sibrel's strongest personality trait. I've seen his video.

Anyway, the television network TechTV called me yesterday. They interviewed Mr. Sibrel and wanted someone to debunk his claims. I was happy to oblige. Traffic was horrific this morning heading into San Francisco, so they sent a cameraman to my office. If you have ever wondered what an astronomer's desk looks like when it is hastily cleaned and couple of props ostentatiously set up to make it look like I study the Moon constantly, now's your chance. The interview airs Friday, September 13 at 8:30 p.m. Eastern (US) time on the program "Tech Live". Mostly I just say how wrong Mr. Sibrel is, and how it's a bad idea to be abusive to a guy who wedged himself into a tin can for a week and traveled half a million miles in space. Someone who does that may be many things, but he isn't a coward.

I don't get TechTV anymore, but hopefully they'll stream the video on their website after a few days. If they do, I'll put up a link in the next newsletter, and on my site. I have several links to news articles about all this too right at the top of the main page. Read them. You'll find them amusing, I'd wager.

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