Hole Lot of Trouble

"My advice: Stay away from black holes," says Dr. Phil Plait, aka the Bad Astronomer. While this may seem like a fairly sound piece of sci-fi wisdom that's more suited for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy than Earth, even Arthur Dent never experienced anything that sucked him hopelessly in, tore him to subatomic pieces, fried him with gamma and X-ray radiation or stretched his body apart like stringy taffy. "The talk is a little bit like a horror movie: You can enjoy being a little scared, but in the end you know you're safe," says Plait. "Finding out about black holes is scary but fun, because we know that there aren't any close enough to hurt us."

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More About

• Phil Plait
• Arthur Dent
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• Sciences
• Science and Technology

Tonight and tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. in the Fiske Planetarium and Science Center, Plait will present Seven Ways a Black Hole Can Kill You, an educational summary of all the awful and terrifying things these greediest of space giants can do to the frail human form.

The planetarium is located along Regent Drive on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder. Tickets are $6 for adults, $5 for students and $3.50 for seniors. For more information, go to http://fiske.colorado.edu or call 303-492-5002.
Thu., Feb. 28, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., Feb. 29, 7:30 p.m., 2008