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This will be an unpopular opinion, but I strongly suspect you’re misremembering what became a common joke after the fact, just like the original article. I was

This will be an unpopular opinion, but I strongly suspect you’re misremembering what became a common joke after the fact, just like the original article. I was also in 5th grade when the Challenger exploded. There was a slew of challenger “jokes” that came out afterwards, and I distinctly remember this one. It’s probably the cleverest of the ones I’ve heard. So I find it highly improbable a fifth grader came up with that comment within seconds of the explosion. I think you’re probably misremembering the class clown telling the joke a few days after the fact, just like the original article. Btw, in my school we didn’t watch live. The principal came on the PA to tell us it exploded. Happened just before our daily 15 minutes of “journal time”. So I drew a picture of the challenger and some story about it. And dammit, years later I’ve looked for that notebook top and bottom in my house, but seems it’s gone.

dahart 9y ago
Well, everyone's entitled to their opinion of events they didn't witness, I suppose. There's exactly zero chance I put this together later, I know the student's name, he got in trouble for saying it, it's a big part of the reason our teacher freaked out, and there were many witnesses. I find it fairly strange you would decide you know what happened based on your logic alone.
- jeffwass 9y ago
  I had a long reply, but now deleting it all except this bit, which goes back to the theme of the actual article : If there’s ever been one thread on Hacker News where a user could reasonably claim to doubt another’s memory of an event that possibly didn’t occur : this is that thread.
  - dahart 9y ago
    Good point, I do buy that the article’s proximity and power of suggestion has (mis) led you to think you know something you don’t. The Bud Light joke had been seen by hundreds of millions of people, with dozens examples of the joke in those ads. Kids in my school had been practicing that joke in various situations. I am certain you’ve drastically mis-calculated the probability of someone repeating the joke. I’d be surprised if tens of thousands of people hadn’t thought the same joke independently. In case you hadn’t followed the immediate thread, people who believed the shuttle disaster couldn’t have been seen live were (like you) wrong.
    - jeffwass 9y ago
      Fair enough.

dahart 9y ago

Well, everyone's entitled to their opinion of events they didn't witness, I suppose. There's exactly zero chance I put this together later, I know the student's name, he got in trouble for saying it, it's a big part of the reason our teacher freaked out, and there were many witnesses. I find it fairly strange you would decide you know what happened based on your logic alone.

jeffwass 9y ago
I had a long reply, but now deleting it all except this bit, which goes back to the theme of the actual article : If there’s ever been one thread on Hacker News where a user could reasonably claim to doubt another’s memory of an event that possibly didn’t occur : this is that thread.
- dahart 9y ago
  Good point, I do buy that the article’s proximity and power of suggestion has (mis) led you to think you know something you don’t. The Bud Light joke had been seen by hundreds of millions of people, with dozens examples of the joke in those ads. Kids in my school had been practicing that joke in various situations. I am certain you’ve drastically mis-calculated the probability of someone repeating the joke. I’d be surprised if tens of thousands of people hadn’t thought the same joke independently. In case you hadn’t followed the immediate thread, people who believed the shuttle disaster couldn’t have been seen live were (like you) wrong.
  - jeffwass 9y ago
    Fair enough.