rcj@burl.UUCP (Curtis Jackson) (01/31/86)
I vote against net.challenger for 2 reasons: 1) If you think the sentimental name net.columbia is confusing, imagine the people looking at net.challenger and thinking that this is a group that was created to siphon off traffic regarding the Challenger accident. They won't even think for a moment that this group is also for general space shuttle traffic. 2) It is negative thinking (this has been pointed out previously). The name net.columbia was chosen to honor the first flagship of a new triumph of the space age. I can somewhat see the sentimental nature of wanting to rename to net.challenger, but consider it from this light: Why are the people who died in the Challenger any more heroes than the crew who successfully repaired the wounded satellite last year? Why do you have to die to become a hero (particularly in the U.S.)? The other 24 crews have taken the same risks as the folks on the Challenger. I don't know about you guys, but I would think (as I think the crew of Challenger would) that I would want the space program and public thinking to be influenced with as little negatives as possible as a result of the accident. Memorials to triumphs are great positive things; memorials to tragedies (regardless of their cause) are reminders of death and/or failure. As someone pointed out earlier, we didn't rename net.aviation to be net.tenerife and, given another Titanic, we certainly wouldn't rename net.rec.boats to be net.titanic. How about net.politics to net.ml_king or net.kennedy? 'Nuf said, send flames directly to me, -- The MAD Programmer -- 919-228-3313 (Cornet 291) alias: Curtis Jackson ...![ ihnp4 ulysses cbosgd mgnetp ]!burl!rcj ...![ ihnp4 cbosgd akgua masscomp ]!clyde!rcj
gam@amdahl.UUCP (G A Moffett) (02/02/86)
I agree with Curtis and I am glad he had the guts to stand up
and say what he did.
I don't think anyone questions the scope of tragedy in the
lost of the Challenger, and, yes, it is fitting to show
our respect and commemorate its crew and engineers who
created it, but, in addition to Curtis' objections,
renaming net.columbia is a token thing. The name net.columbia
was intended as a respectful commemoration of the (non-tragic)
Columbia, the first shuttle -- the `pioneer' shuttle! Let
us not dispose of *that* memory!
To commemorate Challenger, let us all do something unquestionably
beneficial and constructive: give your time, money, effort --
whatever -- to support NASA, the space program, and the
survivors of the tragedy.
If you don't remember Challenger five years from now its your fault
not Usenet's.
--
Gordon A. Moffett ...!{ihnp4,cbosgd,seismo,hplabs}!amdahl!gam
"Life's a bitch and then you die."ralphw@ius2.cs.cmu.edu (Ralph Hyre) (02/03/86)
I'd vote for renaming net.columbia -> net.space.{ship,shuttle} for discussion
of space transportation systems (shuttles (US. & Soviet), unmanned rockets,
and TAV's (pseudo-shuttles which take off and land on regular runways but
don't generally do more than a couple of orbits - just long enough to blast
an offending Soviet sattelite or two :-))) Most people seem to use this group
for asking about NASA launch schedules and space ship-related things anyway.
Net.space.{ship,shuttle}.challenger should be created for Challenger-specific
discussion. I think it would be most fitting to give to groups logical
names, so that people could find out where the discussions were.
--
- Ralph W. Hyre, Jr.
Internet: ralphw@c.cs.cmu.edu (cmu-cs-c.arpa) Usenet: ralphw@mit-eddie.uucp
Fido: Ralph Hyre at Net 129, Node 0 (Pitt-Bull) Phone: (412)CMU-BUGScarl@bdaemon.UUCP (carl) (02/03/86)
> I agree with Curtis and I am glad he had the guts to stand up > and say what he did. > > I don't think anyone questions the scope of tragedy in the > lost of the Challenger, and, yes, it is fitting to show > our respect and commemorate its crew and engineers who > created it, but, in addition to Curtis' objections, > renaming net.columbia is a token thing. The name net.columbia > was intended as a respectful commemoration of the (non-tragic) > Columbia, the first shuttle -- the `pioneer' shuttle! Let > us not dispose of *that* memory! > Thank heavens there are a few sensible people left in the world. The rush to change net.columbia to net.challenger strikes me as being the result of an emotional and immature response to something few if any of us understand. Past experience has shown that decisions made under such circumstances have almost always been regretted after reason once again replaced emotion.
tombre@crin.UUCP (02/04/86)
In article <981@burl.UUCP> rcj@burl.UUCP (Curtis Jackson) writes: >to net.challenger, but consider it from this light: Why are the people who >died in the Challenger any more heroes than the crew who successfully repaired >the wounded satellite last year? Why do you have to die to become a hero >(particularly in the U.S.)? At last of voice of reason in the american choir! OK, the space shuttle disaster was a sad thing. And 6 of those who died were professionals, knowing what the risk was with this kind of work. All these astronauts are doing a beautiful work, also when the flight succeeds. And now how about all those who die in other accidents? Take car accidents. When you step into your car to drive to the next town, and a drunken car-driver crashes with you, and you die, this is more sad! In fact, the loss of a life is always very sad. But why should you become a hero because of a particular type of death? This is perhaps a very strong sentiment in the USA, but we find it here too. For example, a living policeman, however successful in his work against crime, is not known or particularly appreciated. But if he is shot by a gangster, he becomes a national hero almost... And US and french troops sent to Beirut were not so popular, until a car bomb killed them. Then you hear that they gave their life for their country. Did they? Perhaps, but not more than all those who remain alive... -- --- Karl Tombre @ CRIN (Centre de Recherche en Informatique de Nancy) UUCP: ...!vmucnam!crin!tombre or ...!inria!crin!tombre COSAC: crin/tombre POST: Karl Tombre, CRIN, B.P. 239, 54506 VANDOEUVRE CEDEX, France Les plus desesperes sont les chants les plus beaux, Et j'en sais d'immortels qui sont de purs sanglots. Alfred de Musset.