Re: Two Questions

KevinM Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ron Keagle Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > One witness interviewed for the article said
> that
> > the fire started with a “poof” and took off
> in
> > less than one second after the locomotive
> passed
> > the fire origin.
>
> I don't disagree that grass fires can spread
> quickly, but one started by a single cinder would
> not likely "explode" from nothing in less than one
> second. That quote is clearly an exaggeration.
>
> My take is that this "witness report" is about as
> reliable as most witness reports of aircraft
> accidents......which is to say, not very reliable
> at all. Human beings are just not good witnesses
> of complex events. Unfortunately, reporters
> typically collar the first person who comes along
> who claims they saw the event, because they have a
> deadline to meet and they're expected to have a
> story to present. "GPS accuracy" isn't really
> that important to them.
>
> /Kevin Madore

The same down here in Australia, they seem to find the person who has the most spectacular version of the story.
We mock our journalists who search for a witness to an accident and they always seem to find what we call 'bogans', generally the misfits of the area.
Hard to take an account seriously when they are puffing on a fag, while holding a screaming baby, with no teeth - the person that is, not the baby! LOL

Wayne from Oz