Support the "Return of the Missing Participant" Campaign!

There's nothing that can disrupt your sense of belonging more than an official letter stating, "No one wants to talk to you." But I am not the kind of person to let a whole group of people not talk to me, especially when I was the first scientist to contribute to this observatory, and especially when this is a UCSB-affiliated observatory that is supposed to be a professional Science Observatory. In academic research, no respectable university-affiliated observatory can ever be allowed to act this way. I challenge UCSB to require that all UCSB scientists encourage the careers of everyone else, rather than allowing the name of UCSB to be associated with unprofessional behavior.

I am announcing my new campaign, "The Return of the Missing Participant," as the name of my campaign for participation. I am campaigning to the science community to require support for standards of encouraging involvement. Scientists must demand that scientists always be willing to work together. Scientists must welcome and never block other scientists from making every contribution they can towards finishing and presenting their research together.

I will start with the "Showdown at the Planets Conference", where I am seeking to have Documentary Filmmakers attend as media to film me facing off eye-to-eye with the scientists made by their bosses to keep me from participating in the science I started. I am taking out newspaper announcements to attract filmmakers. I hope to document my campaign to return to science by filming my years-long struggle to get back into astronomy after having been expelled before my appointment expired. I want the public to see me talking face to face with the scientists who have kept me out, and who have not let me finish my work with the rest of the group. I demand credit where credit is due. I demand participation in the projects where my participation is due, so I can have the chance to have credit due me just like all the other UCSB scientists at the observatory.  All the other UCSB astronomers came to the observatory after me, but all have been made by the Directors to finish our work without letting me be involved. Instead, I've been officially told to stay away and not even apply for observing time. I will not stand for this, but need your help showing me protest this obstruction.

In addition to seeking filmmakers, I ask help to give a public talks in and around Mountain View, California prior to the conference, to seek long-term support for my "Return of the Missing Participant" Campaign to take back my career in science. After six years of unemployment caused by the UCSB Observatory not only reneging early on my appointment but also blocking me from having any reasonable record upon which to job search, I am reaching out to the public for support for me to continue my research into how scattered giant planets are sent down to their destruction into the star.

I have prepared for giving this talk through comedy and storytelling, because it really is a funny story how my billionaire boss bungled my appointment. You can follow me on YouTube, where my latest comedy is a humorous presentation of my NASA proposal, at http://youtu.be/NV_5ZKACEmM and my latest storytelling is at http://youtu.be/w-XBs3P5H4g.

I don't have the support of anyone other than my own dwindling life savings to attend the Kepler Science Conference November 3-8, in Mountain View, California. I seek support to go to the conference, and also support to speak in California the week beforehand (Oct 29 to Nov 1). If you can help with support or filming, please contact me through this blog.