Originally posted by Hellsbellboy
way to early to speculate on what happened.
Speculation is human nature. And, I was only echoing the conversation carried on in the aforementioned article.

What I believe is to early is for the press to publically speculate. It's like what happened when the press reported Gore as the 2000 electee, before the tally was complete. Did you notice that, although NASA was not confirming the loss of shuttle until there was enough evidence (and, wisely, so did Aria when starting this thread) -- the news went head-first into it and declared the shuttle as lost. So what if they were right this time -- the press should be reporting facts, not speculation.

The difference is that in general conversation, speculation is used to generate ideas. Coming from the press, speculation is erroneously interpreted as fact not supposition. One is healthy, the other damaging.