May 26 2005
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Buzzkill
As a lot of people reading this may know, probably my biggest claim to fame is, bizarrely, debunking people who think the Moon landings were faked. I use weapons most of these people are totally unprepared for, like logic, reason, evidence, truth, etc.
Not everyone takes the time to do it the way I do. Some people, arguably more famous, and more involved with Apollo, tend to take a shorter route. Like, say, Buzz Aldrin. Remember him? Second guy to walk on the Moon, did a voice on the Simpsons? Yeah, him.
So in September 2003, a Moon Hoax proponent of debatable character named Bart Sibrel jumped out at Buzz and asked him to swear on a bible that he (Buzz) walked on the Moon. Buzz refused. So, logically, Bart got in his face, calling him "a coward, a liar, and a thief".
Buzz used to dogfight MiGs in Korea. He also strapped his butt to a tin can and rode it to the Moon (and back). Calling someone like that a coward may not net you the best reward. In this case, it really didn’t. Buzz clocked Bart with a jab to the jaw.
As if that didn’t humiliate Sibrel enough (who is, after all, his own worst enemy), this moment has once again been immortalized, but this time as a cartoon.
The cartoon was drawn by Thrdgll. There are lots of other cartoons there too, many of which are really, really funny. But the first panel of that Buzz Aldrin strip made my day.
Poor Bart. But then, when you devote your life to spewing the kind of unadulterated crap that he does, perhaps a little bit of karma doesn’t hurt. Us, I mean. It hurt him, I’ll bet.
My thanks to Bad Astronomy Bulletin Board poster “Smackdown”, who alerted me to this.
Once when I worked in a book store, I struck up a conversation with some guy in the science section. We talked about Tesla for a little while. Then he changes the subject and says, “You seem like a reasonably intelligent guy, let me ask, do you really think we landed on the Moon?” He then spits out his theories and I spit back hard facts (thanks to you). He quickly changes the subject to commercial airliners getting shot down by the military, at which time I said, “I’ve got to get back to work.” Yikes.
That comic is great (and I love watching the video of Buzz nailing that dude).
Yay! Another Science Success Story (patent pending).
I admire Tesla, to the point where I think he might be among the 5 greatest scientist in history, but his legacy has been hijacked by people who’d believe things like NASA faking moon landings. I’ve seen him credited with causing the Tunguska Event, as well as a few others that seem impossible.
Back on topic, I think that some people accept far too easily that authority figures are trying to get them. It can demonstrate itself by a belief that your parents are trying to ruin your life, or a belief that the government is secretly controlling the world.
Of course, parents trying to ruin your life would be far more likely than a government running the world.
Well,
From the point of view of a non American, Isn’t it just what the American government is trying to do, to Run the world?
Phil, do you write much about cosmology, or do you mainly stick to astronomy?
Hey Philippec, Try removing your head from the dark spot between your legs. This site is for common sense and facts. Fact is if we wanted to run the world we would and there is no one to stop us. A more pertinent fact is, the rest of the world isn’t worth our time and effort to run it! Stick to the topic of this web page and keep your silly political ramblings to yourself.
I wish it were this easy
This is how I sometimes want to handle all the kooks and nitwits and frauds. It's just never that simple.
(via Bad Astronomy)
Always been a big Buzz fan, thanks for finding this great cartoon.
I’ve been watching the video over and over… and over… and over… and over…
Does that make me a bad person?
Actually, I would prefer we do avoid political stuff here, but I understand that’s not possible. However, I will ask that we DEFINITELY avoid attacking other commenters here.
And Josh, I do sometimes tackle cosmology, though not terribly often.
I knew about this incident, but I had never seen the video.
That’s a great right Buzz has there!
2002, just 2 years since i had landed in the US. Heard on the news channel that some one was pestering BuzzA and he punched him back. Well, that was the first time I heard about moon-hoax-anitscientists. I was surprised, as where i come from, which is half way around the globe, literally, Niel and Buzz are heroes to boys and girls in elementary schools.
I sincerely hope these publicity mongers dont influence the good school system here and spread this nonsense.
Very nice piece, BA.
Bud, I think Phillipec was joking, man. Lighten up. The rest of the world is a lovely place. I live here (not in all of it, just one bit). Admittedly, there are some parts of it you wouldn’t want to visit, but I guess the same is true of anywhere.
Anyway, it wouldn’t be too surprising, would it? From outside the US, the world looks different.
AJ Milne: it only makes you a bad person if you watch it more than about 20 times a day…
Dan the Mediocre, I also admire Nikola (sp?) Tesla; particularly since I heard about his demonstration of the “skin effect”. (To demonstrate the safety of AC as opposed to DC, he used to generate artificial lightning and stand in the middle of it. Because it was high-frequency current he was using, the current all flowed across the surface of his skin and did not harm him).
TO Bad astronovice: Don’t worry. Neil and Buzz are heros to kids (and adults) here in the US as well.
TO Nigel Depledge: Here’s a picture of me firing a Tesla coil (http://strangecharm.net/pictures/eric_tesla_coil.jpg). While I’ve never stood in the middle of it unprotected, I have “caught” the bolts with a grounded rod before. Quite fun.
One more Tesla accomplishment - he had a remote controlled submarine.
Eric: Nice pic! Thanks.
You know what? This could turn into the next ultimate geek superhero comic! Man, I wish I could just open up a keg of whoopass on every schmo who sees me observing with my telescopes and says “So, you’re into astrology, huh?”
Every time someone says that I feel that I’ve been taken down a notch by the great cosmic joke.
HA! I love that comic already. Go Buzz, for great justice.
Buzz has all your (moon) bases
Fantastic! Is that comic recent - odd since the incident happened years ago. I wonder who else could join Buzz in the fight against the idiodic?
Neil Tyson (who s a big guy!) could grab James McCanney in a headlock, and give him a noogie he would never forget! That welt looks like Cydonia from here, Mars Boy!
Richard Dawkins could could simply kick John Calvert of the Intelligent Design Network in the family jewels. Who designed that, ya sissy!
And lastly, Steven Hawking could just repeatedly run over Art Bell. Dr. Hawking’s chair must weigh a ton, and I know Art has back problems.
Behold, the Crusaders of Science!
Roy, do you mean “All your base are belong to Buzz”?
Yeah
Hahahha! I have watched that creep get punched in the face over 10 times in a row now. It’s wonderful! The best part is that he tried to sue Buzz after it happened and the courts laughed at him. Buzz had this to say about the alleged incident:
“I didn’t really hit the guy. Sure there are photos of me hitting him, film of me hitting him and even x-rays of where I hit him, but these are all fakes and were done in a sound studio in Los Angeles with Elliot Gould playing my part. Live long and prosper you little punk.�
That cartoon is gold, I’m still laughing!
Important safety note about the skin effect: Although real, it does not apply to humans because our resistivity is too high. At Tesla coil frequencies (the hundreds of kHz) the “skin depth” is several feet! So the current really does pass through your whole body. The reason you don’t feel it very much is that it is too high a frequency for your nerves to respond to.
That said, I certainly felt it when I took a streamer off my Tesla coil!
Because of this high frequency it is unlikely to immediately stop your heart (the nerves in your heart don’t respond to the frequency, same as the other nerves) but it can cause serious long-term damage to deep tissue by giving you “RF burns” which may not be noticed for several hours. So stay away from high-current electricity of any frequency!