Quantum Creep (Posted 9/2/08)
I need a quote from an astronomer for a thingie I’m writing on asteroids, and after doing a ProfNet search, I found a listing for a grade-A expert: Richard Berendzen, a Harvard- and MIT-educated physics professor with an expertise in astronomy. He is also the director of NASA’s Space Grand Consortium, winner of the Glenn T. Seabord Award for “Contributions to the American Public’s Interest in Science,” and author of three books and hundreds of articles on nerdy astrophysical stuff. Perfect. However, the email address ProfNet had listed for him wasn’t working, so I went on a Google hunt for his phone number. And though I couldn’t find his digits, I did discover he uses the phone to do most of his business, including making obsessive pedophilic phone calls to unsuspecting ladies. For the click-shy, here are the juicy bits:
According to law-enforcement authorities in Fairfax County, Va., a 33-year-old woman who had placed ads in a local newspaper offering to care for children complained that [Richard Berendzen] had responded with an obscene phone call. Police used a “trap” on the woman’s telephone to record other conversations. Ultimately the calls were traced to Berendzen’s private line at A.U.
The woman says that in 30 to 40 subsequent calls, the man not only discussed “in gross, graphic detail” having sex with children but also “offered children to me and my husband as sex slaves.” In the last conversation, an angry complaint replaced lewd proposals. The victim says the caller carped that “my whole life has just been destroyed, and you’re the one who did it.”
Still, I’m sorta bummed I couldn’t get him on the phone. I would have liked to hear his response (and how heavy his breathing would get) when I asked, “So, Doctor, how many black holes did the Big Bang create? Tell me slowly. And don’t skimp on any of the perturbation details.”
