That's another interesting one. The "Deadly Van Halen Radiation Belts" the HB'er's keep rolling out. How did this one get so far and rise so high in their curdled milk?

I mean, we are talking about a non-terrestrial phenom that has no obvious impact on most of our daily lives. It isn't like a shadow, or a starry night, that is present and obvious in the world of the Burger King and the pawn shop. This is something you actually have to find out about through science books or programs.

So one assumes that someone who had once opened a book came up with this dis-lunacy that the radiation was an unsurmountable flaw to Apollo. And this one claim is paroted loudly by HB'ers because, er, because radiation is already feared and misunderstood. Because "deadly radiation!" makes a great bogeyman for people with little grounding in science.

And perhaps because the idea of a deadly invisible No-Fly zone around God's Green Earth is as tangible as the wall around the Garden of Eden (God says; "Keep out!") and as comforting in its odd way as the mountain ranges around the edge of the world in the old Mappamundi.

So is it just the ease of waving the radiation flag (and the difficulty of education faced by debunkers)? Or is there something more satisfying to the HB'ers in something that so clearly sets a limit to what Science is allowed to accomplish -- and puts a wall, too, around the threatening Unknown.