This morning I woke up and turned on the news. I saw what everybody in America saw. My thoughts are no different than those of most others: I'm saddened. And disappointed.

I may get a little gross here.

We had a good discussion about this at work: How could human remains have made it to the ground? My thinking was that anything organic coming from that high up would have been burned up in the atmosphere, and that's only the material that wasn't destroyed in any explosions that occurred with the breakup of the shuttle. Wasn't the Columbia at the apex of the heat and stress it would have reached when it broke up? That may not be right, but I think I heard that. Seems the heat and speed (12,500 mph) would have torn apart any organic material.

But CNN is reporting that organic materials have been found.

Okay. You probably want to stop reading. Just scroll down and don't read this next italicized part.

Would the remains be cooked? It's intense heat. Would it be cooked, even to the point of being burnt to a crisp? Or would it have been protected enough to be juicy when it landed? I'm not convinced that they are human remains.

I'm sorry.

One last thing. It's free association, only. Nacogdoches, Texas, a city in the middle of the Columbia debris field, is the home of one of my favorite writers, Joe R. Lansdale.