April 28, 2004

Solar energy's how old?

A headline caught my eye today. It's a good example of a poorly-constructed headline.

Solar Energy Celebrates 50th Anniversary

The Associated Press story focuses on the anniversary of turning sunlight into electricity. But it seems to me that solar energy (the subject of the headline) has been around for...oh...about 8,000 years. Granted, solar-powered electricity may have been around only 50 years, but the sun's a little older.

Usually, the media adds too many years to the age of the universe. This time, they came up short. Big time.

Posted by JRC at April 28, 2004 10:44 PM | TrackBack