Oy, vey!

[alexpgp]

I'm eavesdropping on a show Galina is watching in the next room, something broadcast under the "20/20" imprimatur, on various threats to life on earth. So far, they've covered gamma ray bursts and now they're nattering on about black holes.

Apparently, the people putting together the program were not interested at all in a report published online by Nature, which was reported by Space Daily as follows:

Astronomers reported Wednesday that gamma-ray bursts – gigantic explosions of energy that could threaten life on a galactic scale – pose nearly no threat in the Milky Way because the conditions necessary for their instigation do not exist here.

And what they're saying right now about black holes should make the scientific talking heads participating in this broadcast blush with shame. (I have in mind the descriptions of what would happen to you, physically, as you approach a black hole, e.g., "your arms and legs would be torn off.")

You gotta love broadcast journalism entertainment.

Cheers...