HIGGINS@FNALCDF.BITNET (11/12/86)
Look in the back of *Pioneering the Space Frontier*, in the Acknowledgements section, where the National Commisssion on Space lists in tiny tiny print the many people who contributed to their effort. There's a list called "Letters and Computer Responses." Among the hundreds of people listed there are an extrordinary number from around here, especially Naperville, Illinois, which is down the road. When I think of Naperville, I think of Bell Labs, which makes me think of UUCP. Does anybody in this newsgroup know where all those Naperville responses came from? If there's somebody in my neighborhood generating this much activity on space travel, I'd like to know about it. Did somebody collect opinions over the networks and forward them to the Commission? The text of the report mentions Compuserve, Astronet (the Young Astronauts' BBS system), something called Terra Nova Communications, and something called the Boulder Center for Science and Policy. No mention is made of Usenet or Arpanet. It has been suggested to me that a local teacher or two might have organized a letter-writing project, and certainly that would skew the distribution of responses toward a particular locality. This theory is supported by the presence of a lot of Jennifers, Jessicas, and Ryans in the list, who could well be the children of Eighties parents. Even if this is the explanation, I'd like to know who the teachers are. Any light that readers can shed on this question will be appreciated. Bill Higgins Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory HIGGINS@FNALCDF
spock@hope.UUCP (Chris Ambler) (11/13/86)
> This theory is supported by the > presence of a lot of Jennifers, Jessicas, and Ryans... Pardon my ignorance, but what does THIS mean? I am sincerely baffled on this point, && I don't think the fact that my first gorl's name will be Jessica has any relivance, either! :-) -- -Spock! (Christopher J. Ambler, University of California, Riverside) ( ...ucbvax!ucdavis!ucrmath!hope!spock ) (Snail: 740 S. Western #59 Santa Maria, Ca 93459 USA ) -"Captain, I see no reason to bother Starfleet..."