On 7 Mar 2005 08:22:38 -0800, in a place far, far away, "Jon S.
Berndt" made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such
a way as to indicate that:

Again: which one is safer, a single STS
SRB as a first stage, or a Delta IV or Atlas Medium with several
strap-on SRBs?

Probably the former, though they're both terrible launchers for
putting people into orbit.