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David Bates
David Bates

552 Followers

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We Need to Talk about Writers’ Conferences

The 2022 Willamette Writers Conference in Portland is on, guaranteeing post-conference highs but no way out of the rat race. — This month I will buy a new laptop, a device that, as a freelance writer, functions as my office. The Chromebook I’m using to write this “expired” a few weeks ago, meaning it no longer receives automatic updates. Google may be at the cutting edge of A.I., but they’re obviously…

Writing Life

7 min read

We Need to Talk about Writers’ Conferences
We Need to Talk about Writers’ Conferences
Writing Life

7 min read


Pinned

Is ‘Aliens!’ the only Objection UFO Skeptics Have, or is Something Deeper Going On?

Let’s revisit the Chicago O’Hare UFO, because there’s an important lesson here that offers insight into professional UFO and “alien” skepticism. It came to me as an epiphany of sorts, related to the debate Robert Schaeffer and I had last year about the O’Hare UFO. Once I understood it, it…

1 min read

Is ‘Aliens!’ the only Objection UFO Skeptics Have, or is Something Deeper Going On?
Is ‘Aliens!’ the only Objection UFO Skeptics Have, or is Something Deeper Going On?

1 min read


Published in ILLUMINATION-Curated

·Pinned

When the difference between an expert and a dilettante could cost you your life

Are you vaccine hesitant? That’s okay. But kitchen table ‘research’ is no substitute for listening to a genuine expert in virology — You’re expecting this story to have something to do with vaccinations, and it actually does, but first I want to tell you a little about William Shakespeare … My first encounter with Shakespeare’s plays was as a senior in high school when I was cast as Antipholus of Epheseus in…

Covid 19

7 min read

When the difference between an expert and a dilettante could cost you your life
When the difference between an expert and a dilettante could cost you your life
Covid 19

7 min read


Pinned

Remembering Roger Ebert

The famed Chicago film journalist represented the comfortable cohabitation of the Geek with the Intellectual — I’ve been thinking about Roger Ebert, the Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times who passed away in 2013. Settling into my still-early fifties inspires reflection on influences, and his go back to the late 1970s, when U.S. …

Film

5 min read

Remembering Roger Ebert
Remembering Roger Ebert
Film

5 min read


Published in Trail of the Saucers

·Pinned

Why ETs Won’t Land on the White House Lawn

It’s fun to imagine aliens making a dramatic Washington D.C. entrance. Asking why they don’t highlights a problem in the way we think about extraterrestrials. — On Sunday, The New York Times published a guest essay online by Dr. Adam Frank, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester who is active in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Declaring himself to be unimpressed by the UFO phenomenon, Dr. Frank asks rhetorically:

Aliens

7 min read

Why ETs Won’t Land on the White House Lawn
Why ETs Won’t Land on the White House Lawn
Aliens

7 min read


Published in Trail of the Saucers

·Feb 4

The Chinese ‘Spy’ Balloon Was Not the ‘Quintessential UFO’

The case of an unusual aerial object that is quickly identified offers a nice contrast with UFOs that remain unidentifed. — The most remarkable thing about the Chinese “spy” balloon that was made public this week was how quickly it became unremarkable. It was visible to the public mid-week. At 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, a Billings, Montana man sitting in his driveway shot video of a large, white sphere against the…

Ufos And Aliens

5 min read

The Chinese ‘Spy’ Balloon Was Not the ‘Quintessential UFO’
The Chinese ‘Spy’ Balloon Was Not the ‘Quintessential UFO’
Ufos And Aliens

5 min read


Published in Trail of the Saucers

·Nov 17, 2022

(Another) Open Letter to 60 Minutes

You were out in front of the UFO story … until you weren’t. What happened? Was it all nonsense? Get cold feet? Something else? — Hey 60 Minutes, while we wait for the new government report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena to be released, the time is ripe to check in on where you’re at right now with … well, where you were on UFOs. Flashback to May 2021: Your segment produced by Graham Messick and…

Ufos And Aliens

5 min read

(Another) Open Letter to 60 Minutes
(Another) Open Letter to 60 Minutes
Ufos And Aliens

5 min read


Published in Trail of the Saucers

·Oct 30, 2022

Why Did the New York Times Publish a News-free UFO Story … Now?

Ufologists and skeptics react to the latest UFO piece in the nation’s flagship newspaper that seeks to shut down debate. — The New York Times on Friday published an article by Washington-based national security reporter Julian E. Barnes that sought to shut down any notion that there might be an extraterrestrial explanation behind the UFOs that Pentagon analysts have been grappling with the last few years.

Ufos And Aliens

7 min read

Why Did the New York Times Publish a News-free UFO Story … Now?
Why Did the New York Times Publish a News-free UFO Story … Now?
Ufos And Aliens

7 min read


Published in Trail of the Saucers

·Oct 22, 2022

Eric Weinstein Speaks at a ‘UFO Disclosure’ Symposium in Europe

In the run-up to a government report on UAPs, a former UFO skeptic seems to have made UFO Disclosure his mission. — Yes, the U.S. Government is expected to release another public report on UFOs by Oct. 31; yes, James Fox’s new UFO documentary Moment of Contact is available to stream; yes, the UAP story was hot last week thanks to the “racetrack” UFOs spotted by commercial airline pilots, first reported by…

Ufos And Aliens

8 min read

Eric Weinstein Speaks at a ‘UFO Disclosure’ Symposium in Europe
Eric Weinstein Speaks at a ‘UFO Disclosure’ Symposium in Europe
Ufos And Aliens

8 min read


Published in Trail of the Saucers

·Aug 31, 2022

Are UFO Debunkers Setting Themselves Up for a Fall?

History gives us plenty of scientists who were first to solve a problem, make a discovery, or venture a hypothesis and were scorned by colleagues and even the press. Sound familiar? — With scientists like Dr. Garry Nolan, Avi Loeb and many others finally confronting the UFO phenomenon head-on — and catching crap for it flung by skeptical kibitzers in the peanut gallery — it seems like a good time to consider how what we call ufology may one day fit into…

Science

7 min read

Are UFO Debunkers Setting Themselves Up for a Fall?
Are UFO Debunkers Setting Themselves Up for a Fall?
Science

7 min read

David Bates

David Bates

552 Followers

Writer/Journalist

Following
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    Avi Loeb

  • Douglas Giles, PhD

    Douglas Giles, PhD

  • EP McKnight, MEd

    EP McKnight, MEd

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    Faisal Khan

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