When I woke up this morning I popped open my laptop to check the weather and the latest news before having my breakfast. The top story was the supposedly successful launch of Space Shuttle Discovery. The one thing I thought was notably different this time around was the lack of a huge buildup of media-fueled hype up to two weeks before the launch.

So, here is my new theory as to why the little sensor broke on the Space Shuttle Discovery a week or two ago when they tried, unsuccessfully to launch it. The insane amount of media-fueled hype (the three minute MSNBC commercial comes to mind) probably scared the engineers stiff and took some key people off of doing actual work to go and do live interviews with Paula Zahn and Brit Hume.

I could be wrong, but it makes sense to some degree. I have never actually worked on a project which was covered quite as much as the Space Shuttle launch. However, whenever I am working or doing things under pressure, more mistakes seem to happen than when I am left alone.

Though, regardless of whether the media did or did not mess up the shuttle launch for NASA, it really does show what the American media thinks of people. Rather than covering stories that have potential to affect us, they are off covering the thing they think will give them the highest ratings. Then, they spend hour after hour covering the story. I guess that is why I watch the BBC.