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Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #468

SPACE Digest                                      Volume 9 : Issue 468

Today's Topics:
        Re: Meteorite impact in Soviet Union in 1947.
            Re: How Hubble will get there
             Re: Teach your children well
             nasa bulletin board
   Re: Amazon Forest Destruction (was Re: Asteroids and Dinosaurs)
   Re: Amazon Forest Destruction (was Re: Asteroids and Dinosaurs)
            Re: How Hubble will get there
     Re: Memes: can memetic theory explain this episode?
            Re: How Hubble will get there
        Re: Meteorite impact in Soviet Union in 1947.
           Venus & the Greenhouse effect..
           Re: Extinctions: Asteroids and Dinosaurs
                 Mis-posting
         Re: Sun's invisible partner NEMESIS
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 27 May 89 19:54:50 GMT
From: prism![e-mail]  (Matthew DeLuca)
Subject: Re: Meteorite impact in Soviet Union in 1947.

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Jonathan T Drummey) writes:
>
>I believe you're referring to the Tunguska Event which occured in
>Siberia in 1906.

We almost have it...the Tunguska event actually happened in 1908.  An
interesting fact is that had the strike happened just four or five hours
later, it would have hit Moscow; the city is at the same latitude as
the strike.

-Matthew DeLuca                      :
Georgia Institute of Technology     :          [This space for rent]
ARPA: [e-mail]      :

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

Date: 27 May 89 13:43:06 GMT
From: [e-mail]  (RAMontante)
Subject: Re: How Hubble will get there

-by [e-mail] (Greg Hennessy):
-> Actually it will go in a C5A transport plane. It was going to go by
-> boar, but recently it was determined that the place could carry the load.
-  ^^^^

[e-mail] (Andy Clews) <[e-mail]> :
-
-Hmm, going back to using animal power are they? I know we're getting
-more green-conscious, but this is going too far. I've heard about
-horse-power, but pig-power takes a bit of thinking about.

Virginia hams are justly famous.  And big, too...  If *these* pigs had
wings, they'd be C5A's.  Or maybe Boaring 747's.

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

Date: 26 May 89 16:51:50 GMT
From: portal!cup.portal.com![e-mail]  (Mark Robert Thorson)
Subject: Re: Teach your children well

The following is quoted from an article by Edwin Roedder in BOOKWATCH REVIEWS,
a newsletter which reviews school text books:

"These are straightforward errors of statement, not simple typographical
mistakes.  The student must 'unlearn' these erroneous 'facts' later, and,
just as in erroneous news stories in the mass media, the corrections
frequently do no catch up with the errors.  As a case in point, chosen
from many, the following is from the teacher's notes for the 5th grade
text:  'Some students may refer to full, half, and quarter moons.  Explain
that the full moon is still there but a shadow formed by Earth blocks some
of the sunlight reaching the moon.'  Many adults have this same misconception,
and I suspect that they were so taught in their elementary school.  This is
an excellent example of the novel and very appropriate concept:  the
Information Virus.  An author's error in a textbook acts like a 'living'
virus in that it reproduces itself and spreads by 'infecting' generations
of students, some of whom become teachers.  A few authors may also spread
the virus by copying previous textbooks, thereby perpetuating the error
even further."

You can help stop brain damage in the public schools by joining the National
Center for Science Education.  A subscription to their newsletter is only
$15/year.  Write to:

NCSE
P.O. Box 9477
Berkeley, CA
94709

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

Date: 28 May 89 19:14:33 GMT
From: jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!me!ecf![e-mail]  (Hema Sandhyarani Murty)
Subject: nasa bulletin board


I would like to know how to access the NASA Bulletin Board.  If anyone
knows the phone number,please let me know

Hema Murty
Institute for Aerospace Studies, University of Toronto,
4925 Dufferin St., Downsview, Ontario, M2M 3V8, Canada

edu%"[e-mail]"

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

Date: 28 May 89 11:07:11 GMT
From: jumbo![e-mail]  (Jorge Stolfi)
Subject: Re: Amazon Forest Destruction (was Re: Asteroids and Dinosaurs)

The Daimyo wrote:
>
>   The destruction of the Amazon to make farm land is by far one
>   of the fastest destruction of both animal and plant species in
>   the world.  ...  In fact in a recent shuttle picture, the
>   Amazon area was nothing but smoke as the forest is being burned
>   down.

Steve Hosgood wrote:
>
>   Does anyone reckon that an 'educate the Brazilians' campaign
>   based on these shuttle photos would do any good?  I'd like to
>   think so, but I don't really believe anything short of direct
>   action would solve the problem.

......  seven million and eight, seven million and nine, seven million
and ten.  Well, I guess I am now cool enough to post a reply.

I could write a long flame about what is behind this sudden interest in
the Amazon, and who is polluting whose air, and who needs to be
educated about what, and so on.  But this is sci.space, not soc.bigotry
talk.propaganda sci.misleading alt.scapegoat or rec.bully, so let me
just ask one technical question---in those famous Shuttle pictures, how
do you tell smoke from ordinary clouds?

  ( Now, don't get me wrong---I fully agree that the steady destruction
  of the Amazon IS a a great disaster, and a great shame for my
  country.  Like most Brazilians, I can't find anything nice to
  say about our current government.

  However, it is very hard for us third-worlders to keep these things
  straight in our minds, when we are bombarded with such incredible
  arrogance, hypocrisy, and prejudice as displayed in this posting and
  throughout the recent media campaign to "save the rainforest".

  Gratuitous exaggerations like "the Amazon area was nothing but smoke"
  or "60,000 species extinctions per year" only serve to hurt the
  credibility of the precious few environmentalists among us, to make
  them look like traitors and instruments of foreign greed, and to make
  heroes out of those who are doing all the damage.  (And indeed, this
  campaign actually managed to *increase* our president's popularity,
  which had been scraping the bottom mud for most of his term.)

  >   Apart from the political repercussions, bombing the
  >   Trans-Amazonian highway every fortnight is possibly the most
  >   likely saviour of the forest.

  Just to be on the safe side, you should also block all the waterways,
  by dropping a few thousand nukes in the right places.  Also, you'd
  better get rid of all cities, farms and settlements by generously
  dousing them with napalm.  Hunting and fishing of endangered species
  can be discouraged by poisoning all wildlife with nerve gas.
  Acid rain (from SO2) and ozone depletion (from CFC's) will provide
  additional long-term protection.  Don't forget to spray Agent Orange
  over anything that's left of the forest, so that gold diggers can't
  hide under the foliage.  To finish off, you might want to dump a
  generous dose of CO2 into the atmosphere, which will stop soil
  erosion by getting rid of the rain...


  Oh, but of course you will begin your `direct action' at home, right?
  Like, by bombing the Trans-Alaskan pipeline?  And shooting those
  lumberjacks who are cutting down the Northwest forests?  And blasting
  all those jillions of cars and power plants, which produce far more
  CO2 than all the forest-burning in the world?

  >   I wish I could put a smiley on that last paragraph, but I can't.

  Neither can I. )

                Jorge Stolfi

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

Date: 29 May 89 00:18:21 GMT
From: att!shuxd!devildog!hiker![e-mail]  (Michael Starr)
Subject: Re: Amazon Forest Destruction (was Re: Asteroids and Dinosaurs)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Steve Hosgood) writes:
>Does anyone reckon that an 'educate the Brazilians' campaign based on these
>shuttle photos would do any good? I'd like to think so, but I don't really
>believe anything short of direct action would solve the problem.

Has space photos of the depleted ozone layer over Antartica stopped
the "civilized" population of the planet from recharging their
car air conditioners with Freon?  How about the styrafoam (sp?) cup
you drank your coffee out of?  What about the acid rain our factories
are causing in other countries (as well as on ourselves)?

If we want to stop the destruction in a country which probably
suffers from the worse economy on earth we have to do it by
giving the Brazilians an economic alternative.  In other words,
the price will have to come out of all of our pockets if we
want to maintain a resource which affects the whole planet.

----
 __/\__  ********************  __/\__   |       [e-mail]
 \    /  * Michael L. Starr *  \    /   |       att!shuxd!starr
  |/\|   ********************   |/\|    |       attmail!starr

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

Date: Sun, 28 May 89 14:51:31 PDT
From: Peter Scott <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: How Hubble will get there

uflorida!haven!uvaarpa!hudson!astsun5.astro.Virginia.EDU![e-mail]
 (Greg Hennessy) writes:

>Actually it will go in a C5A transport plane. It was going to go by
>boar, but recently it was determined that the place could carry the
>load.

This changes everything... how come no-one thought of using pigs for
transportation before?  Maybe NASA could ferry the shuttle from Edwards
to KSC with camels?  Obviously this is a consequence of budgetary
constraints, since animals are non-union.

Okay, pigs are not the same as boars... tusk, tusk...

Peter Scott ([e-mail])

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

Date: 27 May 89 17:18:15 GMT
From: portal!cup.portal.com![e-mail]  (Mark Robert Thorson)
Subject: Re: Memes: can memetic theory explain this episode?

> Wow I haven't seen the story of THE MOVIE! posted in quite a while.
> Is it always MacLeod who posts it or does the, er, meme get around?
> --
> Tom Neff                UUCP:     ...!uunet!bfmny0!tneff

Sounds like a very dangerous videotape.  Probably packed with highly
infectious memes.  If it's not destroyed, it should be kept in a
glovebox at Fort Detrick, surrounded by armed guards with shoot-to-kill
orders.

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

Date: 28 May 89 07:37:57 GMT
From: silver![e-mail]  (Lucius Chiaraviglio)
Subject: Re: How Hubble will get there

In article <[e-mail]>
[e-mail] (Greg Hennessy) writes:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ what a linefull!  :-)
>[. . .]
>Actually it will go in a C5A transport plane. It was going to go by
>boar, [. . .]
 ^^^^

    Having just a few hours come back from a pig roast, it occurred
to me that such methods of transport are rather risky.  Someone wanting
food for a festival might mistakenly interrupt operations.  8-)

|   Lucius Chiaraviglio    |    Internet:  [e-mail]
BITNET:  [e-mail] (IUBACS hoses From: fields; INCLUDE RET ADDR)
Internet-gatewayed BITNET:      [e-mail]
Alt Internet-gatewayed BITNET:  [e-mail]

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

Date: 29 May 89 18:44:06 GMT
From: tekbspa!optilink![e-mail]  (Clayton Cramer)
Subject: Re: Meteorite impact in Soviet Union in 1947.

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Ivan Batinic) writes:
>
>     If memory serves me, this was known as the "Tingustu Event"
> (or something close to that).  Witnessed by many from afar, there
> were reports of extremely high-intensity light from the horizon.
> An enormous circular section of forest was flattened and flash-
> burned.  However, NO CRATER nor evidence of any crater exsists.

We spell it "Tunguska" in English, and you are confusing the 1908
Tunguska explosion with a multi-meteor arrival in 1947, also in
Siberia.  (Siberia is a BIG place -- not surprising it gets a lot of
collision).

>     Ivan

From the name, one might surmise that you are Russian.  My Russian
is very, very rusty.  How is Tunguska spelled in Russian?
--
Clayton E. Cramer {pyramid,pixar,tekbspa}!optilink!cramer  "This is drugs.
This is your brain on drugs.  Any questions?"  "Can I have a Brain McMuffin?"

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

Reply-To: mordor!rutgers!pro-hysteria.cts.com![e-mail]
Date: Thu, 18 May 89 20:29:24 CST
From: mordor!rutgers!pro-hysteria.cts.com![e-mail] (System Administrator)
Subject: Venus & the Greenhouse effect..


  I heard that Venus used to be a flourishing planet, and could have been much
like Earth, until the Greenhouse took into effect there. Does anyone know if
this is true, and if so, can you fill in a few details?  Thanks..

ProLine: dwelliver@pro-hysteria       UUCP: crash!pnet01!pro-hysteria!dwelliver
INET: [e-mail]  BBS: Hysteria (612)/557-2811 1200/2400
ARPA: crash!pnet01!pro-hysteria![e-mail]

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

Date: 29 May 89 18:09:28 GMT
From: usc!csun!solaria![e-mail]  (Stephen Walton)
Subject: Re: Extinctions: Asteroids and Dinosaurs

In article <[e-mail]>, timothym@tekigm2 (Timothy D Margeson) writes:

>The current issue of Scientific American has an excellant article on the
>extintion matter.

Which I admit that I've not read yet.  However:

>The article also points out that the 26 million year periodicity meets
>roughly with the rate at which the solar system moves through the arm of our
>galaxy and some correlation is plausible.

As the social scientists say, "Correlation is not cause and effect."
It is difficult to think of anything which would happen *every* time
the solar system went through a spiral arm which could cause
extinctions on Earth.  Contrary to popular belief, the steller density
(stars per cubic parsec) in spiral arms is the same as between the
arms; it is just that most of the new, hot, and therefore bright stars
are in the arms, causing them to stand out.  Yes, they have a higher
concentration of dust and gas too, but it is more like 1 atom/cc
instead of 0.1 atom/cc in the solar neighborhood.  Not enough to make
a difference.  A dense molecular cloud *might* cause enough absorption
to make the earth colder for a long period, but such clouds fill a
small proportion of the volume of even a spiral arm.
--
Stephen Walton, Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, Cal State Univ. Northridge
[e-mail]       [e-mail]
[e-mail]    ...!csun!afws.csun.edu!ecphssrw

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

Date: Mon, 29 May 89 08:25:06 PST
From: Peter Scott <[e-mail]>
Subject: Mis-posting
X-Vms-Mail-To: EXOS%"[e-mail]"

It seems we have a mailer with a sense of humor... apologies for
wasting bandwidth with the wrong file recently... we now return you
to your regularly-scheduled newsgroup...

Peter Scott ([e-mail])

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

Date: 19 May 89 15:23:07 GMT
From: ccncsu!grieg.CS.ColoState.Edu![e-mail]  (the root)
Subject: Re: Sun's invisible partner NEMESIS

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Blake Philip Wood)
writes:
>Prof. Richard A. Muller, here at Berkeley, is the originator of this idea.
>About a year ago he wrote a book on the subject: "Nemesis".

I checked our libary listings and found
    Raup, David M. _The nemesis affair : a story of the death of
    dinosaurs and the ways of science_ -- New York : Norton, 1986.
    QB631.R38 (no ISBN shown)
There is no listing for Miller. Can anyone help?

    Randolph Bentson
    Computer Science Department
    Colorado State University
    Ft. Collins, CO 80523
    303/491-7016
    [e-mail]

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

End of SPACE Digest V9 #468
*******************