lobsterchick's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Conspiracy Theory Well, I have writer's block, and as far as I can tell, the best way to cure it is to make fun of someone. I have Deadsoon on IM right now, explaining to me his reasons for his craaaaaazy theory; I think he thinks this is his big shot at changing the minds of millions of Americans. Let the madness begin... Deadsoon doesn't believe that the moon landing ever happened. His reasons for this are deceptively simple, the same as any conspiracy theorist. "A top rocket design scientist said in 1967 that we were 30 years away." Ah yes, that famous anonymous rocket scientist naysayer. He spoils everyone's party by bringing "common sense" to the table. "Why have no others countries gone? People didn't stop climbing Mt. Everest just because someone else did it first." I would almost say D.S. has a point here, except that the people who climb Mt. Everest do so relatively cheaply, whereas countries are loathe to spend billions of dollars on expeditions that have not only been done, but have proved to be pretty much pointless. I mean, seriously, is the Russian space program going to shell out hella rubles just to put their footprints alongside Neil Armstrong's? No. "Moon is made of rock, not cheese," they say, and close the door on the discussion. Also, science tends to move forward, whereas wacky mountain climbers do just keep climbing the same mountains over and over. People don't keep discovering the cure for polio. I asked him how he thought NASA manufactured photographic and video evidence of the moon landing, and this was his reply: "I don't like talking about the 'photographic' evidence because photographs are always confusing." Well, can you blame him? After viewing my own gallery, I must admit that I, too, find some photgraphs confusing, but you can't even see Neil's hair in the videos, so I don't know what D.S. is talking about. "I just think it's the only time in scientific history where we went backwards after making a great leap forward. What we've done since the moon landing has been relatively easy compared to it." Here, he cites the space shuttle as a step backward in space exploration, which I refute wholeheartedly. The space shuttle is reusable. It allows manned space flights to take place, and the vehicle lands ON LAND, allowing the shuttle to be reused, saving NASA at least trillions of dollars in construction costs. Yes, clearly that is a step "backwards." To which D.S. replies, "Big whoop!" Then, he gives me this. I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time writing because I'm laughing so hard. The tears make keystrokes difficult. "Surrounding the earth, beginning at an altitude of 1,000 miles and extending an additional 25,000 miles, lie lethal bands of radiation called the Van Allen Radiation Belts. Every manned space mission in history (including Mercury, Gemini, Soyuz, Skylab and the Space Shuttle) has been well below this deadly radiation field... all except Apollo." First of all, he clearly copied this from somewhere, so don't go thinking he's all concise and shit. Second of all, space is cold, too. That doesn't mean that everyone who ventures outside of our atmosphere in a spacecraft is going to die. It means that they make the spacecrafts out of materials (like lead) specifically chosen to withstand environmental stresses in space. We've sent other, unmanned, missions beyond the Van Allen Radiation Belts, and they didn't curl up and die. The astronauts inside the Apollo spacecraft were protected from radiation by the body of the capsule. Honestly, part of me wonders if maybe he doesn't have a point. It's not like the government hasn't been known to keep secrets from the general public. Then, another part of me falls down laughing and gets up, wipes its eyes, and then falls down laughing some more. Take the survey to the left, and let me know what you think; I'm dying to know. 10:19 AM - 10 August 2003 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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