Monthly Archives: March 2010
This Week In Space – March 26, 2010
The latest edition of “This Week In Space” is available now – check us out! [youtubevid id="gDG49crx24s"] Space for the rest of us is got just a little closer this past week. Over the high desert of California – in … Continue reading
This Week in Space – March 19, 2010
The latest edition of “This Week in Space” is now available! Check us out!! And many thanks to our sponsors, Binary Space and Space Careers! [youtubevid id="yR7Gcio4r3g"] Two million parts – all of them form the low bidder – as … Continue reading
Tagged Charles Foster Kane, European Space Agency, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA, Space, Technology, Wally Schirra, Wide-field Infrared Survey ExplorerNew 'This Week in Space' – March 12, 2010
The latest edition of “This Week in Space” is now available. Check us out! [youtubevid id="hqycNoARYv4"] Hello and welcome – President Obama will finally say something about his plan for NASA – but there are still mixed messages coming out … Continue reading
Tagged Air and Space Museum, Film, International Space Station, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lori Garver, Low Earth orbit, Lyman Spitzer, NASA, Space, Space Shuttle program, SpaceX, STS-125New 'This Week In Space' – March 6, 2010
The latest edition of “This Week In Space” – hosted by Yours Truly, is out! Watch here! [youtubevid id="S5icnMDAGsI"] I gotta admit, I am getting a little tired of launching the program with the latest skirmish in the war over … Continue reading
Tagged Buzz Aldrin, International Space Station, Kay Bailey Hutchison, NASA, Space, Stanley Cup, Technology, United StatesO'Brien BLOG »
Science for Sale »
posted March 13, 2013 by Miles O'Brien
HINKLEY, Calif. – We all love a neat, tidy Hollywood ending to a David and Goliath story. Sadly, in the real world, they are hard to come by. More often than not, the little guy might win a battle, but Goliath prevails over the long haul — winning the war.
Before I went to Hinkley, I did, of course, watch the movie once again. As it turns out Erin Brockovich is accurate in many respects.
You might remember the woman who gets a big check at the end of the movie after the down-on-her-luck, crusading legal assistant has brought a giant utility to its knees for polluting the groundwater beneath the tiny desert town half way between L.A. and Las Vegas.
In the movie, she was known as Donna Jensen (and played by Marg Helgenberger). There is no real-life Donna Jensen — the details of her story are a composite of several real-life travails.
But Roberta Walker was the main inspiration. Naturally, it was not long after I met her that I asked her what she thought of the movie.
Read the rest of the post and see the video story here.
About Miles
Miles O’Brien is a veteran freelance broadcast and web journalist who focuses on science, technology & aerospace.
He is the Science Correspondent for PBS NewsHour, and a regular correspondent for the PBS documentary series FRONTLINE and the National Science Foundation Science Nation series.
For nearly seventeen of his thirty years in the news business, he worked for CNN as the Science and Space Correspondent and the anchor of various programs, including American Morning.
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