[FPSPACE] Six degrees of idiocy

[Keith Gottschalk]

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>>>> DwayneDay <zirconic1 at earthlink.net> 6/21/2005 2:05:41 PM >>>

> they often go quote-shopping 

     This puts it pithily & with wit!

>My first reaction is usually to assume that the person has poor
research skills rather than bias, because I see poor research skills a
lot.

   Very true. I doubt if more than 1% or 2% of today's reporters have,
say, a B.A. Honours in History (= US system 4 yr BA)
For bias, at least those doing their phone sound bites with me are
typically asking about rival party politics, so they have some excuse
for emotion. But there's less excuse for that in S&T!

 >Back to the trillion dollar Mars estimate--I think that this one is
essentially ingrained in the culture.  It's a modern legend that no
amount of factual evidence will ever suppress.  

I vaguely remember your emails argued that one trillion dollars would
cover the entire capital, operational, & resupply costs, of a permanent
Mars base for a decade or 16 yrs, not as an annual budget.
Maybe if instead of liquid H2 fuel we use liquid deuterium for more
oomph? Or we sneak in the costs of the GSO-centred space elevator? 

    PA / marketing /  professionals could seize this an an opportunity
for a positive spin, eg: 

   "contrasted with the widely publicised $1 trillion price-tag, the
newest proposal from NASA / Boeing / Lockmart / Burt Rutan costs a mere
$400bn. And by contracting Wal-Mart to buy all the components from
China, a teensy-weensy $200bn..."        :)         :)

>I guess we'll just have to 
>go to Mars to prove them wrong...

fully supported, alongside back to the Moon  :)    :)