From: Greg_Goss@mindlink.bc.ca (Greg Goss)
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors
Subject: Abusive, don't listen, "scientists"
Date: 11 Sep 92 16:08:13 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada


In article <1992Sep4.184948.12819@ryn.mro4.dec.com> randolph@est.enet.dec.com
(Tom Randolph) writes:
>
>Look, dude, I've seen dozens of photos of meteors. I have yet to see one with
>a
>curved path. How many have you seen? How many real meteors have you seen? I've
>probably seen more than you and Winston put together. I'm speaking from what
>I've seen with my own eyes over 20 years of watching the sky, not from
>something I got by rubbing a crystal.
>
>If you can honestly tell me that something moving many miles per second, in an
>orbit that's as close to straight as it gets except over millions of miles,
>looks to you like it's curving, then I say wake up, you're dreaming. Man-made
>satellites look and photograph, from the ground, like they're moving in dead
>straight lines, and these orbits are much more curved than any meteor is ever
>going to be.

 and

> Ithlial the Archer writes:
> 
> [hysterics deleted] you  obviously don't know [hysterics]
> about physics.  You are saying that even though a force is acting on the
> meteor it doesn't react to it?  Christ how stupid can you be?  People went
> for hundreds of years thinking that the Earth was flat based on their limited
> observations.  Using your kindergarten logic the sun revolves around the
> earth and the moon is a flat disc in the sky.
> 
> [various hysterical ravings deleted]
> 
> (I wonder if the fact that I am an astronomer qualifies me to speak on this
> topic? Or is it the fact that I have been watching the sky for years and seen
> meteors with curved trajectories?)
> 


Hmmmm.  People often judge intellectual questions on who seems to have a better
grasp of the issues involved.  Those of us who live in lit cieies and can see
maybe one meteor every four years have to judge this issue by listening to the
experts.  And the screamers don't count at all here.  While it might not be
"kindergarten" stuff, let's apply my grade ten training to this question.  We
have an object travelling at high speed.  Let's assume that it's travelling at
ten miles per second.  I expect that this is EXTREMELY slow for meteors, but it
should illustrate the point.  A large meteor is seen for what, six seconds?  To
maximize the curvature, I'll calculate the effects with the meteor travelling
normal to the gravitational field.

first second:   Meteor travels 10 miles horizontally and 16 feet vertically.

Second second:  Meteor travels another 10 miles horizontally and 48 feet
vertically.

Third second:   Meteor travels 10 miles horizontally and 80 feet vertically.

Fourth second:  Meteor travels 10 miles horizontally and 112 feet vertically.

Fifth second:   Meteor travels 10 miles horizontally and 144 feet vertically.

Sixth second:   Meteor travels 10 miles horizontally and 176 feet vertically.


Wow!  big forces.  Ilthlial, if you're going to invoke the great god "physics"
to make a point, you must make the correct offerings.  Our god demands NUMBERS
be crunched else his name is used in vain.  He demands that people be shot down
with FACTS, and never with hormonal ravings like "piece of shit", "dickwad" or
"rubbing your dick".  You have befouled the name of physics in both ways.  You
have screwed up (royally) the numbers, and you've used both adolescent raving
and bad numbers in an argument where you also invoked the name of physics.  You
have brought the name of scientists into vast disrepute.  It's too bad that we
don't believe in Inquisitions.

Final path?  196 feet vertically and sixty miles horizontally.  I neglected air
friction, but I also chose a ludicrously low value for the meteor's initial
speed.  I know that *MY* eyes couldn't percieve a curvature of one part in
sixteen hundred.


> Ithlial the Archer writes:
> 
> This has nothing to do with rubbing crystals.  If you had bothered to educate
> yourself to a highschool level instead of rubbing your dick you might not
> look like such an idiot now.
> 


Ilthlial, I was teenaged once.  I remember the strength of the dominance
hormones that you're suffering from.  I disagree with this bit too.  Perhaps if
you rubbed your dick a bit more you could keep your testosterone under control.

> Ithlial the Archer writes:
> 
> (I wonder if the fact that I am an astronomer qualifies me to speak on this
> topic?
> 


God!  I sure hope not.

.../greg

--
"say NO to four-line sigs"     greg_goss@mindlink.bc.ca
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors