Chuck Hards wrote:
I was contacted by both reporters the same day, (though only quoted by one-Patrick, what's your secret?)
Secret? Curse? Not sure which it is.
I think what gave this idea "legs", in addition to the magic words "Salt Flats", "bowling ball", and "aircraft", was that in neither story was it made completely clear that at this stage, this was just brainstorming and no serious schedule to CARRY OUT such an experiment was ever really discussed IMHO... You are correct. There was lots of talk (and not even a lot of the last week) but no action. Then on the 28th of last month I emailed a friend who is good at physics and asked how long it would take a bowling ball to reach terminal.
I received an answer on the 2nd of this month and posted the reply here. And the thread developed from there.
to my knowledge, although the statement in the Trib story that "We have an aircraft lined up..." Shortly after that post I exchanged emails with Brent and that's when he confirmed he'd like to use his plane.
At that point (as far as I know) no one had talked to the media except when Joe called me and asked about doing a story and I asked he hold off until we knew what we were going to do. A day or so later the Tribune called me. I again tried the "let's hold off angle" but he said he just wanted to do a fun story about what was being considered. I really liked the Trib's story, BTW. Very funny. Especially the reference to Roadrunner physics. And, I might add, the story got back to the folks at JPL and one of them emailed me to say she and her staff loved it. (legal disclaimer: the JPL emailer was not speaking officially for JPL.)
Finally, knowing both newspaper writers personally, I hope that this little "adventure" doesn't bring any ill will. Both are avid amateur astronomers, I enjoy the company of both, and I plan on seeing both again under the stars many times in the future! Agreed. It's great to have such science minded folks in the local media. Keep it coming guys!
Patrick