Livestreaming Astronomy / Golf & Ghosts

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Hosted byConnie Willis

Calling in on the heels of the MUFON International Symposium where he had given a talk, photo and video analyst Marc Dantonio discussed his work examining claims of unusual activity with Connie Willis (info) in the first half. One unpleasant aspect of analyzing documentary evidence, he related, is telling people that their photos and videos aren't what they believe them to be. Often it's a case of being mistaken about what's depicted in the images, he continued, but his training and experience in detecting signs of faked "evidence" does lead him to identify fraudulent material as well.

Dantonio also described SkyTour LiveStream, a streaming network of several observatories' video broadcasts he provides as a public education service. One of the project's accomplishments included the construction of an observatory in the middle of the desert, which needed to be safeguarded against the wildfires that occur in that environment. As an example of something he's particularly proud of, Dantonio cited a live streaming of a lunar eclipse that captured the moment a meteorite struck the surface of the moon.

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The guest in the second half was John Ashton , host of the Those Weekend Golf Guys podcast. He shared the story of how the restructuring of the radio business led to the end of his career as a DJ on the airwaves, and how he ultimately found success as a podcaster covering his other true passion: golf. Ashton and Connie reminisced about their time golfing together, and shared humorous insights about the game. They agreed that their least favorite varieties of golfers include those who disrupt others with their cell phone use on the course, impatient players who try to hurry those ahead of them, and the "helpful" types who always want to point out how their opponents could have made a better shot.

Ashton then switched to a more supernatural topic, citing his encounters with ghosts and haunted places. When his father broke the news that his grandmother had passed away, for example, Ashton replied that he already knew, because her spirit had appeared to him the night before to say goodbye. On another occasion, he said, he and his family moved into a home where his daughters claimed to have been welcomed by the ghost of a former resident they saw in a bathroom mirror. In the same house, both his daughter and his grandson reported being bothered by the ghost of a man inhabiting the upper floor.

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