"Real Facts" and "Good Facts"

[Ken Hirsch]

Eric Cordian writes:
> In another teletext moment on CNN, the shuttle was described as traveling
> at "Mock 18."

There was an interesting article in the New York Times (http://tinyurl.com/5b4x)
back in Nov 2001 about stenographers working on 9/11--that was an angle I didn't see
anywhere else.  When these special reports come on--and then go on and on and
on--the captioners don't get a break.   There are no commercials and they have to
keep typing even though the talking heads get to take turns.  On 9/11 it was even
worse because communications in NY were so screwed up.

Y'all are making a big deal about the "dangerous debris".  As you may have noticed,
there were very few real facts to report so they kept repeating the few tidbits they
had, whether they made sense or not.  The danger may well be overblown, but it is
just prudent of NASA to say not to touch it. There were some pretty big pieces that
fell and it is plausible they are still dangerous:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030203/170/36q9q.html
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030203/168/36jm1.html

Good article from 1980 on the boondoggle that is the space shuttle:
http://washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/8004.easterbrook-fulltext.html