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On 2002.07.31 19:01 Pilch wrote: > Can I just say - THANKS - to everyone for their flurry of ideas. I've > now > got a whole host of ideas to follow up and no doubt I'll be contacting > many of you off list (to the point where you wish you never got > involved!). > > This has been interesting as producers from the very different worlds of > science and light entertainment don't quite 'get it' - leaving me with > two > possibilities. That what I have written is hopelessly 'not funny', or > that people are quite set in their ways as to what comedy can be about, > and > what constitutes a science show. The asteroid scare story from last week was a good example of science being used as the vehicle for a particularly British form of fatalist humour. Many people didn't get the joke and got angry about the lack of rigourous science in the stories. Regardless of the probability of collision the crucial factor that triggered the reporters was the nearness in time (2019) of the event - within most of our lifetimes and perhaps too close to prevent through technology. This allowed reporters to indulge in light-hearted (and salacious) doomsday scenarios and bar-room eschatology on what was probably a quiet news day. I think it was a (rare) example of science being used as the medium rather than the message by the popular press. -Andrew ********************************************************************** 1. To suspend yourself from the list, whilst on leave, for example, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the following message: set psci-com nomail 2. To resume email from the list, send the following message: set psci-com mail 3. To leave psci-com, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the message: leave psci-com 4. Further information about the psci-com discussion list, including list archive, can be found at the list web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/psci-com.html 5. The psci-com gateway to internet resources on science communication and science and society can be found at http://psci-com.org.uk **********************************************************************