OK, that settles it

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Mon Feb 10, 2003 7:34 pm

NASA is expected to announce this week that it has proved the existence of "dark energy," a cosmic force that counteracts gravity and will keep the universe expanding forever.
The announcement will effectively demolish the theory that life will be wiped out in a "Big Crunch" when the universe collapses and should end decades of academic dispute over the forces at work on the universe. (Daily Telegraph [London])***Entirely unsourced. We'll see.***

Wayne Countryman · **Posted:** Mon Feb 10, 2003 8:40 pm

1. NASA?
2. Demolish the theory? End an academic dispute?Yeah, the follow-ups on this should be fun to read. <blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
NASA is expected to announce this week that it has proved the existence of "dark energy," a cosmic force that counteracts gravity and will keep the universe expanding forever.
The announcement will effectively demolish the theory that life will be wiped out in a "Big Crunch" when the universe collapses and should end decades of academic dispute over the forces at work on the universe. (Daily Telegraph [London])***Entirely unsourced. We'll see.***<hr></blockquote>

ADKbrown · **Posted:** Tue Feb 11, 2003 9:57 pm

Anyway, wouldn't life be wiped out a long, long time before the Big Crunch?

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Tue Feb 11, 2003 10:22 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by ADKbrown:
Anyway, wouldn't life be wiped out a long, long time before the Big Crunch?<hr></blockquote>As we know it, perhaps.

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Tue Feb 11, 2003 10:39 pm

As suspected, the Telegraph went a bit too far.http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_mm.html

pzicari · **Posted:** Wed Feb 12, 2003 12:31 am

You guys missed all the Times stories that assured us the universe isflat.[ February 12, 2003: Message edited by: Pete Zicari ]

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Wed Feb 12, 2003 1:06 am

The image, created from a year's worth of data collected by a NASA probe 1 million miles from Earth, has solved long-standing puzzles, such as what the universe looked like right after it was forged in the violent inferno of the big bang, when the first stars blinked on in the coalescing heavens and what kind of matter makes up the expanding universe that exists today. (Washington Post)***If that paragraph is true--and for all I know it is--the story should have been emblazoned across six columns with a 120-point headline.***

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Thu Feb 13, 2003 2:55 pm

(Washington Post)With this story ran the Ubergraphic, the graphic that makes all subsequent graphics redundant. It was pointed out to me, however, that the Big Bang looks like the "Sunny" symbol on a weather page.

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Thu Feb 13, 2003 5:36 pm

Three stories, competing for attention:
1. The fear of attacks and impending war in Iraq.
2. The space-shuttle accident.
3. The determination that the universe will expand forever and is 13.7 billion years ago, among other matters that have occupied the thoughts of mankind for millennia. Does No. 3 make the other two essentially meaningless? Is this the End of Journalism?

JonScribe · **Posted:** Thu Feb 13, 2003 6:05 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
-the story should have been emblazoned across six columns with a 120-point headline.***<hr></blockquote>Which leaves room for Nothing matters now.

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Thu Feb 13, 2003 8:29 pm

Plagiarism, I say. I saw that graphic, in full color, at a Grateful Dead concert at the Fillmore in 1970.I'd know it anywhere.

ADKbrown · **Posted:** Thu Feb 13, 2003 8:36 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
Three stories, competing for attention:
1. The fear of attacks and impending war in Iraq.
2. The space-shuttle accident.
3. The determination that the universe will expand forever and is 13.7 billion years ago, among other matters that have occupied the thoughts of mankind for millennia. Does No. 3 make the other two essentially meaningless? Is this the End of Journalism?<hr></blockquote>I don't believe any of it. All science is wrong eventually. I find that comforting, for some reason.

Hawkeye · **Posted:** Fri Feb 14, 2003 12:40 am

I vote for number three. The war will be here tomorrow. ... Oh, yeah, but so will the universe.

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Fri Feb 14, 2003 1:10 am

I can see how I might be misunderstood. Please know that I'm really not joking in this thread.

Hawkeye · **Posted:** Sat Feb 15, 2003 12:23 am

OK, so why would this news mark the end of journalism?

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Sat Feb 15, 2003 12:33 am

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Hawkeye:
OK, so why would this news mark the end of journalism?<hr></blockquote>If the discovery has answered man's most profound questions about the origins of the universe (which, a few days later, I can say it didn't), then what would be the point of continuing?

Hawkeye · **Posted:** Sat Feb 15, 2003 12:36 am

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
 then what would be the point of continuing?<hr></blockquote>I see your point, and I say with a smile: County Council. :-)

Testy Copy Editors

OK, that settles it

Who is online

What They're Saying

Useful Links