An interesting memory

As I am listening to book-TV this morning, enjoying the brillance of Barac Obama, the humor of Amy ... well ... Amy whatshername... and Lynn Scherer recounting a shuttle launch, I was reminded of this story.

The wonderful Linda Ellerby started her career by working for CBS, I think. She was covering one of the earlier shuttle launches. The anchor in New York was probably Walter Cronkite.

The rumor is that the acoustic noise of a launch will actually kill birds flying nearby. So, Walter asked Linda, "Did the ground shake when it went off?"

She replied, "Yes, it did." And then, just to add emphasis to the spectacular photos she innocently added:

"And it rattled my diaphragm too."

Fifty million TV viewers keeled over laughing.