Two days ago I was riding with a friend and, for lack of anything better to do, picked up his copy of Monday's USA Today. As I glanced through the stale assortment of canned political "analysis," irrelevant stories, bad reporting and worse entertainment, a list of "facts" about a monster black hole known as Saggitarius A* caught my eye. Apparently this weighty object has been the focus of recent "studies" by astronomers. Impressed by the specific nature of the information given (which included Saggitarius A*'s mass, distance from earth, age, etc., all expressed in numbers far beyond the comprehension of the writer), and curious how a few paltry tax dollars in the hands of professional students could have yielded such astounding results, I turned to the beginning of the article to learn more about this discovery.
The author began with a brief treatment of black holes in general, as well as the various theories regarding their formation and the part they play in the universe. He admitted that scientists know relatively little about black holes, and he drew heavily on science fiction to hold the attention of the reader. It would seem this information regarding Saggitarius A* must have been quite a breakthrough! I read on, anxious to hear how this impressive detail was achieved.
Halfway through the article, the author informed me that "Saggitarius A* is thought to exist near the center of a galaxy by the same name." ... Wait just a minute ... "thought to exist" ... ? You just finished telling me that its mass is equivalent to 350 million suns, that it is 10 billion years old and 25 million light years away. Now you tell me you don't quite know if it exists or not?
Your tax dollars at work, folks.
While we're on the subject of humorous news reporting: a few days ago NPR reported that "some lawmakers worry that the escalating violence in Iraq could plunge the country into civil war." Oh my, what an awful idea! I never thought of that before!
All I can say is that homeschooling looks better every day.
I read a great essay by George Orwell on Politics and the English Language. I highly recommend it to all of you who prefer to know when you are being brainwashed. Copy this link into your browser's address bar: http://www.resort.com/~prime8/Orwell/
