Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/SPACEDIG/V16_3/V16NO320.TXT

Internet Message Format | 1993-07-13 | 33KB

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 93 05:48:33
From: Space Digest maintainer <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Space Digest V16 #320
To: Space Digest Readers
Precedence: bulk


Space Digest                Tue, 16 Mar 93       Volume 16 : Issue 320

Today's Topics:
              Cancel wars and academic freedom (2 msgs)
                       Charon: Planet or moon?
                 Delta Clipper X Status as of 26-Feb
                  E-mail to NoDomain? (was Re: DC-X)
                      Magellan Update - 03/12/93
              Mars - Unusual Surface Features lat/long?
                          mystery satellite?
                       Nasa and the free market
                               Planet X
              REVIEW article on crystal growth in space
                  SAR processing software/Hardware.
              search for space-oriented poetry (2 msgs)
                        Space Digest V16 #313
                      Threat of mass cancellings
    Threat of mass cancellings was Re: Anonymity is NOT the issue
                            Without a Plan

    Welcome to the Space Digest!!  Please send your messages to
    "[e-mail]", and (un)subscription requests of the form
    "Subscribe Space <your name>" to one of these addresses: listserv@uga
    (BITNET), rice::boyle (SPAN/NSInet), utadnx::utspan::rice::boyle
    (THENET), or [e-mail] (Internet).
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1993 02:12:46 GMT
From: Mike Gore <[e-mail]>
Subject: Cancel wars and academic freedom
Newsgroups: alt.privacy,sci.space,sci.astro,comp.org.eff.talk,news.admin.policy

In article <1o2k7i$[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>
>**Warning - strong opinions ahead **
>
>The choice of anonymity or full disclosure of identity is a personal choice.
>How you respond to an anonymous posting is also a personal choice.
>
>However, cancelling someone else's postings, anonymous or otherwise,
>smacks not only of censorship and violation of freedom of speech, but
>also of mail tampering and fraud (since this is done by forging a cancel
>message supposedly by the original poster).
>
>There may not be any laws prohibiting this type of tampering, but there
>should be.  If you do not like what someone posts, or how they say it,
>ignore them or flame them.  If you feel they are deliberately being
>disruptive, notify their administrator.  If an anon poster is apparently
>being deliberately disruptive, make your case to the anon administrator,
>but don't expect you will always have it your way (this also applies to
>notifying the sysadmin of a non-anon nuisance - McElwaine is still around
>after all).
>
>I am disgusted at what some people will do in the name of moral outrage.
>
>--
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>All opinions are MINE MINE MINE, and not necessarily anyone else's.
>[e-mail]   |  "Laddie, you'll be needin' something to wash
>                           |  that doon with."

------------------------------

Date: 16 Mar 93 03:26:33 GMT
From: Todd Blakaitis <[e-mail]>
Subject: Cancel wars and academic freedom
Newsgroups: alt.privacy,sci.space,sci.astro,comp.org.eff.talk,news.admin.policy

one more vote FOR anonymous postings.  <=- mine.

everyone has the right to choose to post AND read anonymously.
if you don't like anon.penet.fi posts....don't read 'em.

Welcome to America....(I know, "world-wide," even more reason not to censor!)

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 93 07:38:38 GMT
From: Mark Brader <[e-mail]>
Subject: Charon: Planet or moon?
Newsgroups: sci.space

> >   Is Charon a moon or a coplanet of Pluto?
>
> I'd think a reasonable criterion would be whether the barycenter
> lies inside the alleged primary or not.

We had this topic not so long ago, but maybe it was on sci.astro,
where I think it belongs.  That criterion is not so reasonable --
it depends on the distance between the bodies.  Suppose Charon was
at 1/3 its actual distance from Pluto -- then the barycenter would
be inside Pluto.  (Assuming the other postings in this thread are
right.)  Does it make sense to change the designation just because
you changed the distance?

I don't see that this is something we need an exact definition for,
but if you really want one, then I think you should base it on the
ratio of the masses.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto        "... 'reasonable system' is course defined as
utzoo!sq!msb, [e-mail]     'any one *I've* ever used'..." -- Steve Summit

This article is in the public domain.

------------------------------

Date: 16 Mar 93 02:18:06 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Delta Clipper X Status as of 26-Feb
Newsgroups: sci.space

As of today, March 15, the "rollout" of DC-X from the MacDac hangar in
Huntington Beach is scheduled for April 2. Thus, shipment to White Sands in
late March is rather doubtful.

--- Maximus 2.01wb

------------------------------

Date: 15 Mar 93 20:03:32 -0600
From: Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey <[e-mail]>
Subject: E-mail to NoDomain? (was Re: DC-X)
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Matthew R. Feulner) writes:
>
> I haven't been keeping up to date, so could someone give me a reference
> where I can read about DC-X?

Not if your "From:" line reads [e-mail]
and you fail to give your address in your signature.  Try again.

Moira Higgins on astronomy:          Bill Higgins
"I can always find Orion.            Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Besides that the Moon                Internet: [e-mail]
is my only other specialty."         Bitnet:   [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 16 Mar 1993 01:45 UT
From: Ron Baalke <[e-mail]>
Subject: Magellan Update - 03/12/93
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary

Forwarded from Doug Griffith, Magellan Project Manager

                         MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT
                             March 12, 1993

1.  The Magellan spacecraft is operating normally, as it approaches its
7000th orbit of Venus next Tuesday.  (For those of you who have access
to orbit numbers and are confused by the difference between the
current orbit number and this count, remember that the first orbit
after Venus Orbit insertion was 100 and an adjustment during the
in-orbit-check-out added another 11.)

2.  The swath one starcals (star calibrations) continue to produce
attitude updates which average 0.1 degree.  This is higher than the
normal setting of the innovation bound.  The swath two starcals (which
scan the same two stars in the opposite direction) result in updates which
average only 0.01 degree.  The limit is presently widened to 0.2 deg.

3.  Yesterday spacecraft controllers uplinked the G3071 command
sequence which will control the spacecraft for the next four weeks.
It went active at 9:33 AM PST today and is very similar to the last
several command sequences.

4.  The spacecraft performs a reaction wheel desaturation on every
orbit, a starcal on every other orbit.  The High Gain Antenna is kept
pointed toward Earth (except during the starcal) in order to acquire
gravity data, especially around periapsis.  Engineering telemetry is
being received at 1200 bps.

5.  The Magellan Project continues to implement the plan with the MESUR
(Mars Enviromental Survey) Pre-project to collocate 50 MESUR members on
the second floor of Bldg. 230, with minimal impact to MGN preparations for
TEX (Transition Experiment) and LMGT (Lean Mean Gravity Team) .  Several MGN
team members have moved this week, and the remaining moves will be complete
by March 31st.

6.  Magellan has completed 6966 orbits of Venus since August 10, 1990.
Magellan is 74 days from the end of Cycle-4.
     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Don't ever take a fence
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | down until you know the
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | reason it was put up.

------------------------------

Date: 15 Mar 93 17:30:29 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Mars - Unusual Surface Features lat/long?
Newsgroups: sci.space

Anybody out there have the Martian latitude/longitude coordinates of
the so-called "Pyramids Of Elysium" depicted in the Mariner 9 image
in Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" (chapter 5)?

Also, if someone could confirm that the "Face" rock in Cydonia is at
40.89 N  9.52 W.  (I believe the source for this was "Unusual Martian
Surface Features" by DiPetro & Molenar (sp?))

There's also supposed to be a feature termed the 'White Rock' that's
located inside a 58 mi. diameter crater near the equator.  This
albedo feature is supposed to be approximately 8.5 x 11 miles.
I'd appreciate the lat/long on this, if available.

Thanks in advance,
--
*.x,*dna**************************************************************
*(==) Ken Barnes, LifeSci Bldg.      * Conservative libertarians     *
* \'  [e-mail]    *      for Pro-Balance!         *
*(-)**Memphis,TN********[e-mail]**********************
"An idea isn't responsible for the kind of people who believe in it."
                                                         --Don Marquis

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 15 Mar 93 19:57:35 CST
From: Jim Jaworski <[e-mail]>
Subject: mystery satellite?
Newsgroups: sci.space

[e-mail] (Paul Salanitri) writes:

> : [e-mail] (Matt Bartley) writes:
> :
> : >
> : > Last night (7 Mar. UTC) I was visually observing the Hubble Space
> : > Telescope.  I tracked it starting around 3:10 UTC and kept it in sight
> : > until it eclipsed around 3:15 UTC.
> : >
> : > While I was tracking it though, around 3:14 UTC I saw another bright
> : > satellite enter the field of view of my binoculars.  This was at about
> : > 35 degrees elevation and 150 degrees azimuth.  It headed toward the
> : > southeast sky and eclipsed about a minute later.
> : >
> : > My location is 33d 49' 1'' N
> : >               117d 48' 11'' W
> : >     (Orange, CA - not the location of this news site)
> : >
> : > Whatever it was, it isn't on any of the databases distributed on
> : > archive.afit.af.mil.  This is the 3rd time I've unexpectedly seen
> : > satellites when I've been looking for other ones.  Is there any way to
> : > determine what they are?  What kind of observation is needed to
> : > establish their orbit?
jim@[e-mail] (jim jaworski) writes:
> :
> : Are you using a satellite tracking program to confirm when HST (Hubble)
> : will pass over your location?  There is an excellent program that uses
> : Keplarian Data that is updated weekly on rec.radio.amateur.misc if you
> : have access to it.  The program is called PC-Track 2.14 and is available
> : on the Simtel 2.0 CD-ROM.
> :
> : Recently while walking to the grocery store, I saw a bright star like
> : object in the night sky.  When I was on the way TO the store this
> : star-sized light was in the western sky, about 14 deg. elev.  A few hours
> : later, about 6 hours, I saw the same thing, only this time it was in the
> : eastern side of the sky.  Do you know what this could be?  Is it Hubble?
> : It's easy to describe because its the brightest star/satellite out there.
> :
>
> I hate to be a spoil sport but what you saw was VENUS just after sunset
> and JUPITER 6 hours later !!!!!!!  Satellites such as hubble move across
> the whole sky within about 10 minutes.
> --

Even if both object are of the SAME intensity, and color (white)?

Jim

------------------------------

Date: 15 Mar 93  11:10:30
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Nasa and the free market
Newsgroups: sci.space

In a message of <Mar 06 15:08>, Tom (1:103/208) writes:
 >C'mon NASA people, talk to me.  Do you feel your skills or the skills of
 >your co-workers are allowed the freedom for their best expression?
 >Could you do better without the restrictions that linking NASA to
 >Congress creates?  I'm talking operations here.

I'm not a NASA person.  I've never worked for the government.  However, I have
never worked for a company that, in my opinion, allowed me the freedom for my
best expression.  There were always restrictions that I felt that I could have
done better without.  I'm talking about operations, R&D, support, etc.

Am I angry about that?  Sometimes.  That's the reason for few of my job
changes.  In other cases I knew that there would be restrictions because my
boss and my boss's boss and so on up decided that the company, division,
group,  activity, department, section, and/or me should go in one direction
while I believed, based on my experience, that we should go in a different
direction.

I have worked in atmospheres of *relative* freedom where I could do most
anything I wanted, but there were still limits.  I have also worked in
environments of great restraint where I was told to do a certain job or leave.
Sometimes I've done poorly in a free environment and sometimes I've done well
under immense pressure.

What's my point?  My point is that you haven't got a point with what you said.
 It is not demonstrable that the job NASA does could be done better by private
industry.  Some of the tasks involved could be effectively privatized but
there are other jobs which really aren't and shouldn't be profit motive
driven.  Those are poor candidates for privatization.

--- Mark Perew  [e-mail]


--- Squish v1.00

------------------------------

Date: 16 Mar 1993 06:56 UT
From: Ron Baalke <[e-mail]>
Subject: Planet X
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Henry Spencer) writes...
>The problem is that the best evaluation of the orbits of Uranus and Neptune,
>based on the best observations (the 20th-century ones), says that there is
>*no* unexplained error in their positions.

It is interesting to note that before Neptune was discovered, and perturbations
were noted in Uranus' orbit, some people discounted the perturbations
as being inaccuracies in the observations.  This strikes me as being very
similar to the situation today, in that the pre-1910 observations are
being discounted as being unreliable.

>Any proposal for a tenth planet also has to explain some other major
>bits of negative evidence.  There is no unexplained perturbation in the
>trajectories of Pioneers 10 and 11 and the Voyagers, and their positions
>can be measured far more accurately than those of the planets.

John Anderson at JPL who studied the Pioneer trajectories, is convinced
that there is a 10th planet, but that it is in a highly elliptical orbit.
If so, then the planet may be in an orbit with a period of 700 to 1000
years, and its gravitational effect won't be detected again until around
the year 2600.

>Tombaugh's
>sky search, which was good enough to find an insignificant little speck
>like Pluto, should have spotted any major planet unless it was a long
>way out or far away from the ecliptic.

Tombaugh discovered Pluto by accident.  He was looking for a much
larger planet to explain pertubations in the orbits of Uranus and Netune.
Unfortunately, he never found it.

>IRAS didn't find anything either,
>looking in wavelengths where a gas giant ought to be much more prominent
>than in visible light.

IRAS recorded 600,000 objects.  No one has done a thorough check of
the *entire* IRAS database for a 10th planet.  The search for the 10th planet
with the IRAS data is still in progress.

>None of these things rules out a tenth planet, but it's difficult to make
>it consistent with all the evidence unless it's in a really strange orbit,
>which would itself require considerable explaining.

True, but it wouldn't be the first time that theories had to be modified
when a new discovery is made.
     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Don't ever take a fence
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | down until you know the
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | reason it was put up.

------------------------------

Date: 15 Mar 1993 22:10 CST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: REVIEW article on crystal growth in space
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (CLAUDIO OLIVEIRA EGALON) writes...
>I am having a hard time to find a REVIEW article on crystal growth in
>microgravity. I have contacted a guy here at NASA that works on that and he told
>me that there are none. There anyone in the NET knkows of any review article on
>that???
>
You might call the Public Affairs Officer at the Marshall Space Flight Center
in Huntsvill Al. I don't have the number but it is in the book. MSFC has
been heavily involved in crystal growth experiments for many years.  Also the
University of Alabama in Huntsville Consortium for Materials Development in
Space is active in that field. You can call their number as well.

Dennis, University of Alabama in Huntsville

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1993 01:49:23 GMT
From: Tamas Keresztes <[e-mail]>
Subject: SAR processing software/Hardware.
Newsgroups: news.admin.policy,news.admin,comp.org.eff.talk,sci.space,alt.privacy

I have been asked to post the following article on the net for a friend working
at the Australian Centre of Remote Sensing seeking information on SAR
processors (hardware) or processing software.  He can be reached on the OMNET
address above or by replying to me directly and I shall forward any messages.

Hello fellow sar developers;

I am seeking information on hardware and software related to SAR processors.
Currently at ACRES (Australian Centre for REmote Sensing) we are using a custom

built processor built by British Aerospace of Australia.  If any body on the
net can supply me with information on the following software please contact me
on the above OMNET or INTERNET address.

EarthVeiw :- developed in Canada by Atlantis Scientific Systems Group. or the
software supplied by MATRA MARCONI SPACE UK LTD.  The questions that I am
interested in are :

1. the quality of code and is the source code available?
   a. modularity.

   b. ease of modification.

   c. readability :- documentation within and supplied with the code.

   d. machine independence. On which hardware platforms will the code run
      and can it be easily ported.

   e. run time to process a standard scene 100Km x 100Km on a particular
      hardware platform.

   f. which language(s) is it written in, and what operating system(s) will
       it run under.

   g. Which file formats are supported eg CEOS, DTED.

2. user support.
   a. are there user groups and an approximate number of users.

   b. is the code supported with software upgrades and documentation.

   c. what products are supported eg radiometric and geometric correction

   d. Which satellites data will it process.

       SEASAT
       JERS - 1
       ERS  - 1
       RADARSAT
       Airborne data

3. Under what conditions is the source code made available.

4. Cost

I am particularly interested in source code software which can be brought to be
modified for our own system. In particular for SLC (Single Look Complex), PRI
(Precision Image) and DEM (Digital Elevation Models). I would also be
interested in making contact with any consortium which is working on the above
with the view of joint development sharing resources and expertise.


I look forward to hearing from you,


Regards


Peter Radonyi

Email address: /PN=ERIK.ELMAR/O=OMNET/ADMD=TELEMAIL/C=US/@sprint.com

------------------------------

Date: 16 Mar 93 08:30:24 GMT
From: "Simon E. Booth" <[e-mail]>
Subject: search for space-oriented poetry
Newsgroups: sci.space

the title says it all- I'm preparing for a poetry reading presentation
for my communications class in a couple of weeks, and I'm looking for
possible sources of aviation or space-related poetry.

i know this is a bit strange and off-topic but i wasn't sure where else to
post this.

btw- i already have a copy of 'High Flight', and I'm looking for something to
add to it.

pardon the typos and disorganized nature of this message, typing is a bit
difficult for me right now, short messages like this taking several minutes to
type.  really slow!

fingers not working right at this time!  anyway, any help would be greatly
appreciatated.
thanks,

Simon

:-)

Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: search for space-related poetry
Summary:
Followup-To:
Distribution: world
Organization: University of Texas at San Antonio
Keywords:

Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: search for space-oriented poetry
Summary:
Followup-To:
Distribution: world
Organization: University of Texas at San Antonio
Keywords:


the title says it all- I'm preparing for a poetry reading presentation
for my communications class in a couple of weeks, and I'm looking for
possible sources of aviation or space-related poetry.

i know this is a bit strange and off-topic but i wasn't sure where else to
post this.

btw- i already have a copy of 'High Flight', and I'm looking for something to
add to it.

pardon the typos and disorganized nature of this message, typing is a bit
difficult for me right now, short messages like this taking several minutes to
type.  really slow!

fingers not working right at this time!  anyway, any help would be greatly
appreciatated.
thanks,

Simon

:-)

Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: search for psa space related poetry
Summary:
Followup-To:
Distribution: world
Organization: University of Texas at San Antonio
Keywords:

Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: search for space-oriented poetry
Summary:
Followup-To:
Distribution: world
Organization: University of Texas at San Antonio
Keywords:


the title says it all- I'm preparing for a poetry reading presentation
for my communications class in a couple of weeks, and I'm looking for
possible sources of aviation or space-related poetry.

i know this is a bit strange and off-topic but i wasn't sure where else to
post this.

btw- i already have a copy of 'High Flight', and I'm looking for something to
add to it.

pardon the typos and disorganized nature of this message, typing is a bit
difficult for me right now, short messages like this taking several minutes to
type.  really slow!

fingers not working right at this time!  anyway, any help would be greatly
appreciatated.
thanks,

Simon

:-)

Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: search for space-related poetry
Summary:
Followup-To:
Distribution: world
Organization: University of Texas at San Antonio
Keywords:

Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: search for space-oriented poetry
Summary:
Followup-To:
Distribution: world
Organization: University of Texas at San Antonio
Keywords:


the title says it all- I'm preparing for a poetry reading presentation
for my communications class in a couple of weeks, and I'm looking for
possible sources of aviation or space-related poetry.

i know this is a bit strange and off-topic but i wasn't sure where else to
post thi
fingers not working right!! and the editor doesn't seem to cooperate.

any help would be greatly appreciated!!

thanks,

Simon
:-)

------------------------------

Date: 16 Mar 93 08:38:36 GMT
From: "Simon E. Booth" <[e-mail]>
Subject: search for space-oriented poetry
Newsgroups: sci.space

ack!! sorry about that last message!!  i really can't work my keyboard right
now, and i wasn't able to stop the muliple copies of the same message from
going out one posting.   the system here kept trashing the message when i
tried to post it.  i didn't realize it was saving a copy each time it got
trashed.  my apologies for the wasted bandwidth.

simon
:-)

(hope my typing ability comes back soon!)

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1993 04:00:35 GMT
From: Mary Shafer <[e-mail]>
Subject: Space Digest V16 #313
Newsgroups: sci.space

On 15 Mar 93 22:10:31 GMT, [e-mail] (Tom) said:

Tom> From: [e-mail]
>yes, the nasa culture is sick.
>but not as sick as the entire aerospace industry!

Tom> Can you make such a distinction?  How much of the aerospace
Tom> industry exists soley because of NASA?  How many of it's problems
Tom> can be traced to their biggest customer, NASA?  Seems like a lot
Tom> of it.

NASA is not the biggest customer of the aerospace industry--the
Department of Defense is.  NASA's total budget is at least an order of
magnitude smaller than DoD.

How many KH-11 mirrors did Elmer-Perkins build?  They only built one
mirror for Hubble.  DoD buys recce satellites by the dozen; NASA buys
research satellites by the one each.

For a Dryden example, the US Navy buys F-18s new from McAir by the
squadron.  NASA gets the Navy's cast-offs.  No profit for McAir from
us, even though we have 7 F-18s.  (Well, there is a small support
contract, but they make more on a single F-18 than they do on a year
of that.)

The real money's in defense, not NASA.


--
Mary Shafer  DoD #0362 KotFR NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA
[e-mail]                    Of course I don't speak for NASA
 "A MiG at your six is better than no MiG at all."  Unknown US fighter pilot

------------------------------

Date: 15 Mar 93 17:29:40 GMT
From: Army of Elmos <[e-mail]>
Subject: Threat of mass cancellings
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk,sci.space,alt.privacy,news.admin.policy

[e-mail] (Ed McGuire) writes:
> The First Amendment protects USA citizens from its government.  Th[e
> cancel war]
> appears to be the action of a private citizen, so the First Amendment
> doesn't apply.

    It does if, for example, he's at a state university or a federal
facility or potentially even a commercial site that receives money from the
government.  Note, for example, that the University of Wisconsin's
anti-hate-speech rule was invalidated by the courts for violating the First
Amendment.  "US Government" has a broad definition.
--
"It's like a new pair of underwear.  You know, at first it's constrictive, but
after a while it becomes a part of you."--Garth, Wayne's World

elmo ([e-mail],[e-mail])

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1993 04:39:06 GMT
From: Karl Krueger <[e-mail]>
Subject: Threat of mass cancellings was Re: Anonymity is NOT the issue
Newsgroups: news.admin.policy,news.admin,comp.org.eff.talk,sci.space,alt.privacy

[e-mail] (Francisco X DeJesus) writes:

>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>[...]
>It should be attributed to [e-mail], [e-mail]
>(Richard E. Depew).
>[...]
>>>>     I am testing a shell script to carry out "Automated Retroactive
>>>>Minimal Moderation" in response to Julf's (and your) suggestion that
>>>>the only way to control anonymous posting to groups that don't want it
>>>>is through moderation.  It cancels articles posted from anon.penet.fi.
>>>>I've tested it on recycled postings with a "local" distribution and
>>>>it works nicely.  I propose to arm "ARMM" with an unrestricted
>>>>distribution for the "sci" hierarchy this weekend if Julf doesn't
>>>>accept the proposed compromise or a reasonable alternative by then.
>>

Fascinating idea, both in programming and in application of ethical
values.  So this shellscript will, in essence, not only affect your own
users but also users netwide?  And you make a threat to Julf as well?
This sounds a lot like terrorism:  "I'm going to blow up your citizens
(read: users) if you do not agree to my demands!"  "Minimal Moderation" in
the sense of ARMM is like calling a missile "Peacekeeper".

>>How very nice of you.
>>
>>Have you considered that your actions may cause many news admins to cancel
>>all control messages coming from your site?

Good idea!  Thus we have a massive war of control messages back and forth,
ARMMs and anti-ARMMs and anti-anti-ARMMs to cancel the control messages
than cancel the control messages...  Isn't war beuatiful?  The elegant
cascading of missiles, the beauty of exploding warheads, the scream of the
rights of the citizens trapped between, dying...  Lovely.  (NOT!)

>In my case, it prompts me to ask exactly how to do this. I do not wish
>to disregard all control/cancel messages period... that would be a bad
>idea. There have been many times when I ask a question, get a response
>in less than an hour, so then proceed to cancel my posting. I'm sure
>lots of people (news admins and regular readers alike) who have done this
>and count on this feature.

[a paragraph or two deleted]

>BTW... thanks to Ray Lapman ([e-mail]) for posting about
>this in "general" and bringing it to my attention. I had grown quite
>tired about this whole anonymity thread, and had modified my KILL file
>so it wouldn't bother me with these messages. I suggest people like
>Mr Depew learn to use KILL files to filter things that annoy them, instead
>of annoying everyone else with their censorship crap. As it stands, I
>haven't had a problem with postings from anon.penet.fi, but if I ever do,
>I'll just put that (or the specific authors) into my KILL file too. Funny
>how the obvious solution is often too simple for some people to grasp...

Excellent suggestion, Mr. DeJesus.  Censorship is not the way to go about
things, neither is the "ARMMing" of cybernetic missiles.  It is a
difficult problem, the only solution to which is to rely on the precedent:
 freedom.

Simple.

-Karl

------------------------------

Date: 15 Mar 93  13:04:28
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Without a Plan
Newsgroups: sci.space

In a message of <Mar 07 12:21>, Pat (1:103/208) writes:
 >I am a sport diver.  i don't do it for pay, i do it for fun,
 >just as i used to fly for fun.  I do it because it's affordable, on a
 >upper middle class income.

And how many of today's sport divers grew up watching "Sea Hunt" or "Voyage to
the Bottom of the Sea"?  You don't think that promoted dreams of "glory" in
those young impressionable minds?

And, yes, I'm an Openwater I diver.

--- Mark Perew  [e-mail]
--- Mark's Information Repository and Funtime Emporium (1:103/208.201)


--- Squish v1.00

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From: Dave Tholen <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Charon: Planet or moon?
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Bill Higgins writes:

> Grabbing a handy table, I see that Pluto's radius is 1151 +/- 6 km,
> Charon's radius is 593 +/- 13 km, and the distance between them is
> 19,640 +/- 320 km.  The mean density of the system is 2.029 +/- .032
> grams/cm^3; nobody knows whether Pluto and Charon have different mean
> densities.  Let's assume they are identical.

George Null of JPL thinks he knows.  They used HST to measure the barycentric
wobble, and came up with a mass ratio of about 12 to 1, indicating a lower
density for Charon than Pluto.  The barycenter is still exterior to Pluto,
however.

By the way, those +/- figures for the Pluto and Charon radii don't include
the uncertainty in the yardstick for the system, namely the 19,640 +/- 320.
Include that uncertainty, and both radii come up with +/- about 20 km.  HST
has provided a better value for the yardstick, but I'd like to wait and see
how well it agrees with some additional ground-based results we've been
working on.

------------------------------

End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 320
------------------------------