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David Bates

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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

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?

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

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

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

Published in Trail of the Saucers

·May 18

The Pentagon is Still Stonewalling Congress on UFOs

Intelligence officer Scott Bray’s slippery answer to a question about a UFO over ICBM missile silos at Malmstrom AFB in 1967 makes it clear the Pentagon’s ‘transparency’ is empty rhetoric. — In an otherwise predictably lame congressional hearing on UAPs Tuesday, there came a brief exchange nearly an hour in illustrating that Pentagon officials are playing disingenuous word games so they can avoid talking meaningfully about UFOs — even when they’re talking to Congress and C-SPAN is streaming it live.

Nuclear Weapons

7 min read

The Pentagon is Still Stonewalling Congress on UFOs
The Pentagon is Still Stonewalling Congress on UFOs

Published in Trail of the Saucers

·May 17

Luis Elizondo is the Elephant in the Living Room

The former head of AATIP has never said it’s aliens, but he’s just saying: It’s aliens. Enough already. It’s time for Elizondo to testify. — Whether you love him or hate him, whether you think he was the mastermind of AATIP or an ex-spook investigating werewolves at Skinwalker Ranch, whether you think he’s actually on to something or that he’s full of crap, Luis Elizondo must testify under oath to Congress about Unidentified Flying Objects.

Uaps

5 min read

Luis Elizondo is the Elephant in the Living Room
Luis Elizondo is the Elephant in the Living Room

Published in Trail of the Saucers

·May 13

Now Comes Eric Weinstein: ‘Some folks are reaching out’ about UAPs

The Harvard-trained math physicist acknowledges on Twitter that he and podcaster Sam Harris were contacted about a mind-bending, paradigm-shifting UFO disclosure. — Mick West’s UFO “conspiracy spectrum” presumably includes the supposition, accusation, claim, etc., that the government knows more about UFOs than they’ve let on and have covertly engaged select members of the scientific community in their internal discussions and hand-wringing.

Ufos And Aliens

5 min read

Now Comes Eric Weinstein: ‘Some folks are reaching out’ about UAPs
Now Comes Eric Weinstein: ‘Some folks are reaching out’ about UAPs

Published in Trail of the Saucers

·Mar 3

‘Aliens!’ isn’t the Only Reason Skeptics Object to UFOs

Ufology demands healthy skepticism, but some take it so far they rebel against the fact that scientific anomalies can and do exist. — 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 Sheaffer and I had last year about the O’Hare UFO, and once I understood it…

Ufos And Aliens

8 min read

‘Aliens!’ isn’t the Only Reason Skeptics Object to UFOs
‘Aliens!’ isn’t the Only Reason Skeptics Object to UFOs

Published in Trail of the Saucers

·Feb 9

A Scientist Branded as a ‘Full-Fledged UFO Nut’ Responds to Skepticism

Microbiologist Garry Nolan is the latest scientist to face derision for taking the possibility of extraterrestrials seriously. — For several decades now, professional UFO skeptics have made it their highest priority to “debunk” UFO sightings. Sometimes they’re successful. With others, they declare a case “debunked” simply because they’ve satisfied themselves with a prosaic explanation, usually by using Occam’s Razor to slice away anything they don’t want to believe…

Ufos And Aliens

9 min read

A Scientist Branded as a ‘Full-Fledged UFO Nut’ Responds to Skepticism
A Scientist Branded as a ‘Full-Fledged UFO Nut’ Responds to Skepticism
David Bates

David Bates

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