Apple changes homepage....

[aishafenton]

So sad :-(
Feel very bad for their families.

But I feel sad for any lose of life, and if it is in our hands to prevent it and we don't then it's doubly sad.
Fryke's simple words "Let's hope for peace instead of war." sums it up for me.

 

[mightyjlr]

toast -

1) this statement may be true for Palestinian terrorists in the gaza strip, but I assure you there are Palestinian terrorists in the USA, and I assure you they do know of the space shuttle Columbia and the first Israeli astronaut. They are looking for ways to target the USA and Israel, this shuttle mission targets both.

2+5) as the facts came out we realized that terrorism wasn't a factor. We did not know the speed and altitude of the shuttle when it broke up originally, and thus did not know that a shoulder fired missle would not have been able to go that fast, or that high. NASA has been conerned with security, especially the threat of heat seeking shoulder mounted missles shooting down the shuttle at launch or at re-entry. Obviously no engines are being fired on re-entry, but the shuttle is still more than hot enough for a shoulder mounted missle to target it (once it is in range of course).

3) obviously more informed people know that re-entry is a very difficult maneuver. However, NASA has never lost a vehicle on re-entry, and the way that shuttle missions have become routine in the eye of the public, would have made it seem very unlikely that a shuttle would explode on re-entry (in the eye of the uninformed public).

4) the American public, especially after September 11th, almost autmatically assumes at first that a large disaster is a terrorist attack. I can't really blame them. Not one news channel, station, organization proclaimed that Columbia was downed by an act of terrorism. They merely suggested it as a possibility. That is the job of the news media, to cover a story from all possible angles.

I gaurantee you that people may assume that every plane crash, every explosion, every disaster from now on may be an act of terrorism. That is thanks to Sept. 11th. They are not confusing a space accident for terrorism... they may have jumped to conclusions, but no one, not even people in the control room of NASA, knew what happened at first. That isn't idiotic, limited, mentally restrained, or any of the adjectives you used to describe it. It is simply human nature, during a war on terrorism.

 

[Sogni]

Originally posted by fryke

2) I watch TV. For hours. And start to notice that for hours and hours people repeat the same things over and over again without adding anything new. Three hours after the incident, CNN was still repeating the six seconds of video they had.

Yeah I got sick of it after a while, but I think mostly they do it for people who "just tuned in"... when I turned the TV on I saw fireballs soaring to earth with "Breaking News" along with the video and thought "The war started or someone's being bombed!".

But it gets tiring when ALL the local channels still are "live" with it hours later - when all I want to do is watch something else for a while.

I'm just sad for the Astronauts, their friends and family and the space program...
Watching people die, being seen by millions is a sad thing (when innocent are involved). Altho they did know the dangers and had life insurance and whatnot - it's still messed up.

 

[ScottW]

Damn... Where is my fryer?


Therefore, I am closing this thread, it is off topic, and beyond the scope of it's original discussion.

 

[fryke]

Thread reopened and moved to Café... It seems it's better suited here...

 

[chevy]

They are many ideas here, often mixed up.
Terrorists = Palestinians ?
Plane crash = Terrorists ?

Try to think different... you'll find solutions.

 

[toast]

mightyjlr, your last post makes many interesting points, but I think we still diverge about the Ame. people way of thinking of about the role of the media.

the American public, especially after September 11th, almost autmatically assumes at first that a large disaster is a terrorist attack. I can't really blame them.

I don't either. I'm just stating this behavior is idiotic. Automic assuming is stupid anyway IMHO. I know many Americans who found the terrorist theory completely absurd. This automatic assuming is paranoid, which is to me one of the most stupid behaviors one can have.

That is the job of the news media, to cover a story from all possible angles.

No. News media have a quality chart (for most of them). The info they provide must obey strict criterii which mix realism, evidence, witnessings and facts. Media don't tell fairy tales, they cover reality.

I gaurantee you that people may assume that every plane crash, every explosion, every disaster from now on may be an act of terrorism. That is thanks to Sept. 11th.

That is true. Even though you use use the word 'thanks' where I would use the word 'because of', as those assumptions look to me as a nefast effect of 11/9.

I'd like to conclude on a point I already made.
When you write that "we did not know the speed and altitude of the shuttle when [the shuttle] broke up originally", you are wrong and I stress the word 'wrong'.

The Associated Press declaration was the following one:

Elle se trouvait à 62 kilomètres d'altitude (200 000 pieds) et volait à Mach 18, soit 18 fois la vitesse du son, quand le contact a été perdu. (English: [The shuttle] was 62 km high, 200.000 ft, and was flying at MACH 18, ie 18 times soundspeed, when contact was lost.)

This declaration was published yesterday, 01.02.2003, 3:51 PM EST (9:51AM), by Associated Press, Associated French Press and Reuters. The crash had occured exactly 36 minutes before. This declaration was the very first one to be made to the press. CNN and The Washington Post (my two US sources) based their articles on this declaration.

They (CNN and WP journalists) made up the terrorist theory: they added the bit about a terrorist attack, there is no trace at all of this dumb supposition in the AP breaking news !

 

[Cheryl]

Originally posted by toast
Eventually, don't miss my word: I don't blame the few Americans who thought it could be a terrorist attack. I just find it a stupid, paranoid feeling. I don't say they don't have the right to feel like that or anything of this kind. I am not willing to offend anyone.
I'm just finding it idiotic, limited, mentally restrained, excentric, irrealistically confused, psychologically weak and on the top of that dangerously psychotic, aggressive and paranoid to associate a space accident with terrorism. As far as I know, one is 18 km over the other one.

The human is weak. When a person is in a car accident, he/she is paranoid in fear that it will happen again. September 11 shocked all Americans. Many questions arised from it. We now question all kinds of 'accidents'. You can not blame us. Once the question of terrorists attack was answered, many sighed relief. We can not under estimate the terrorists capability.

This was the 113th mission. Since 1986, there has not been an accident of this magnitude. We were comfortable with the fact that the astronauts will come home safely. This is why we are devastated. Maybe NASA got too comfortable.

Whether it is 7 people, 158 people or thousands, it is still a tragedy. Do we morn the loss of lives in other countries? You bet! Any life loss because of any reason is a tragedy.

While our crying may look stupid to some people, do not tell us we are psychologically weak. Give us a shoulder to cry on and help us move on. We are only human.

 

[ScottW]

When I shut I thread, I shut a thread.

This thread is closed.