Path: mit-eddie!bu.edu!lll-winken!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!shelby!lindy!news From: GE.LJB@forsythe.stanford.edu (Louis J Bookbinder) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: re: Mission of Gravity Message-ID: <8089@lindy.Stanford.EDU> Date: 16 Feb 90 18:43:45 GMT Sender: news@lindy.Stanford.EDU (News Service) Lines: 52 CLANK Nick Chopper stumbles out of the back room with a long pole, catches it on a rafter (bumping it on a nearby chair), pulls it down, and promptly trips over it, crashing into another patron making a toast. Ale flies, Curses are said, Apologies are made, the pole, having fallen into the fire, ignites and Nick grabs it, runs out of the room (to shrieks and more curses) into the rain pouring down outside. (Strange how it is snowing outside the front door (in New York or Massachusetts) while it rains (finally) outside the back door (in California). ANYTHING can happen in Callahan's!) Nick wanders back in with his steaming pole. "All, right, bub! You gave us all a laugh, and broke up some pretty swinging jams, now what gives with the pole?" Mike is really, really patient, but sometimes..... "Uh, still can't find the ax. Thought a quarterstaff might fill the need, except it gets in the way and can't chop wood!" "So, what gave you the idea of a quarterstaff?" "Well, out here at Stanford, we are running a $22 million budget deficit. So the administration is scrambling and it looks like personnel cuts. I figured if it got really bad, staff would be cut down to a quarter of its previous levels, at least in some areas, and it occurred to me........" *GROAN* "Gets in the way and can't chop wood - right!" Mumbles Doc, looking up from a medical journal. "By the way," continues Nick, "Mission of Gravity's author is the celebrated Hal Clement (psuedonym), who is still writing, not the late, lamented Clifford Simak. Gravitational attraction is the sum of all particle attraction vectors. On a rotationally oblate spheroid, the resultant vector is toward the "center of gravity" only at the exact poles and at the equator. But, given a reasonably fluid surface (which tends toward minimum gravitational potential), the vector is ALWAYS perpendicular to the surface. This is helpful - keeps objects from sliding down to the equator! But the magnitude is a very complicated function of mass distribution, radius from center, and rotation. Accept it that the described situation - 3g at the equator and 700g at the pole - is quite consistent with the laws of physics. "It must be fun to live on a world where the sun literally jumps out of the horizon and races across the sky." Nick looks a little dazed as he says this. He blinks a few times, shrugs, clanks back out. Nick Chopper - my opinion? dont ax! LB>- GE.LJB@Forsythe.stanford.edu Path: mit-eddie!mintaka!yale!think!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!jefyoung From: jefyoung@pawl.rpi.edu (Jeffrey Young) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Passion and Life Message-ID: <{|!#J4+@rpi.edu> Date: 16 Feb 90 20:37:21 GMT References: <9060024@hpfcso.HP.COM> Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY Lines: 98 Taldin considers the Cynic's words on passion. He stands, and on his way past Jilara, tries unsuccessfully to talk to her. "Grrr.. now even *I* can't reach Jilara! This is getting REAL silly.." He frowns, and sees if he can't pass the buck on to Chris Phoenix. He gets a drink from the bar, and addresses the Cynic. "Passion. Hrm. Tired as I am, I just couldn't let this one get by without a comment or 72." He smiles wearily, the week ended. "You say Passion consists solely of anger and aggression, or of the exuberance of youth. I disagree. Passion can be defined (at least this is the way I define it up in my built in dictionary they call Modified Memory--deletes words selectively) as the 'will to do.' Whether you are a simple farmer, or a citizen in a fast-paced metropolis, one and all are capable of actions committed out of passion. It is a want of something, powered by desire, be it to live dangerously, to succeed and excel, to conquer and destroy (those last two based on anger and aggression), it all goes back to one's motivations to do such. Where does it come from? Not from the heart, but the spirit. It is the fire that burns within all who live that fuels whatever passions you choose to pursue-- whether this passion is a one that consumes others is irrevelant. Many people who go into the medical field have a passion to heal, to help-- people who spend years of their lives in medical school in order to keep others from losing their lives as well as theit respective passions. Everyone has some sort of desire, some goal in life, at one time or another; thus everyone is capable of passion." "Passion with respect to love: Well, seen from an outsider's point of view, a passionate love affair is a dangerous game: well, so to speak, you are playing with fire. While some things, such as fine pottery, or quality swords, are made better by tempering by fire, often the fire burns too quickly, and spirits are ruined. I have seen too many friends hurt by fast-kindled relationships which die out suddenly to ignore the fact that this kind of passion does not exist. I have my honor; I have morals. I do not intend to start a relationship which will not last a long time-- it would hurt me more than it does her-- for to end this kind of relationship can easily burn out two souls rather than one." "Passion with respect to anger: It is a feeling of intense loathing, or hatred of someone or something-- it is a baser instinct that I cannot bear. It is fire which gives off smoke, which blinds, and burns the target should the target of the anger try to make whatever amends possible. Anger built on passion is that of a closed-minded person. Not the thing an empath like myself enjoys dealing with, nor ever wants to be." "Passion with respect to time: You say that passion dwindles with time. In many cases, this is true, because of the limitations life has set on us. The 'will to do' (take it any way you want, folks, I present the pure form of savoir faire..) does fade for many, because of the idea of todays society that the aging cannot be expected to 'do as the young'ns do.' Not so.. but too many people believe when they are 'over the hill' they should be slowing down, they should be less of a activr member of the society. Well if a guy well over the age of 65 can be the President of a country of 'young'ns', then that shows there's no need to fade out. A quote from a bumper sticker--" 'Death is Nature's way of telling you to slow down.' "Indeed, there are a lot of things one can keep doing up until the day one dies..there's no reason to ever bank that inner fire. I don't plan to-- there's always something to do in life, and it makes any rest I get even more pleasant, because I know I've done a job well." Taldin finishes his drink, and walks slowly up to the fire.. "Don't misunderstand passion, folks. It, like the fire it is portrayed as, has many forms...many shapes, and can burn bright as the stars above." A spinning pirouette, and a overhand slam into the fireplace with the mug... >>>>CRASH<<<< "To Passion, may it's fires burn bright and true for years to come!" -Taldin The Blue Unicorn Defender Of Light Furry At Large ..Across The Bounds Of Time.. "Blue is also the color of the purest, hottest, flame..." -Alaric -- "You are blue, Unicorn.. the Blue of clear, cloudless days where everything seems like it's going right and nothing could go wrong.. and the Blue of despair and lonliness." jefyoung@pawl.rpi.edu Path: mit-eddie!mit-amt!snorkelwacker!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!jefyoung From: jefyoung@pawl.rpi.edu (Jeffrey Young) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Love, and Lifelong Soulmates Message-ID: <|-!#5^|@rpi.edu> Date: 16 Feb 90 21:22:30 GMT References: <9060024@hpfcso.HP.COM> Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY Lines: 63 Taldin turns next to whoever it was disbelieving in soulmates. "Oh, don't worry, the subject of Soulmates will come up again and again, ..perhaps I should go back in all the archives I've made of Callahan's and make a compendium to post whenever the subject reappears, so that way a newcomer can see what has gone Before." He turns back to the room in general. "Fred Webb, just in case I forgot before, thanks again for the back articles I missed..." "Anyhow, back to the subject. Soulmates DO exist, because there aren't an infinite amount of major variations on a theme of souls. Somewhere out there is someone just like you, not with your name on them, but should you get together with that person then the love that you share will be great indeed, for it will be true. There is a problem with soulmates, and the way people who believe view their not having one" (Taldin pauses to hug Gilly... 'say, any luck yet, my friend?' he whispers.) "..treat that fact. To believe too strongly that you are destined to meet your soulmate in the near future can easily get you hurt. To actively pursue one who may be your Soulmate means you would have less inhibitions on yourself to hold back something, just in case he or she ISN'T your match. Someone I know got hurt really bad because he saw too much in a 'girlfriend' and she ended up using him.. charging blindly at the first possibility is not a good thing. If the person is meant for you, he or she isn't going anywhere...friends is always a good way to start. Trying TOO hard isn't a good thing. Know what you want; be willing to wait for the love that is true. And be sure of the authenticty of your view before you decide that person is your soulmate. Then there's the cynical (sorry, Doug) point of view, where the person only half-heartedly believes that only his or her soulmate can come to love them. They hide, or fade into the background, and don't even try to stick their head out of the shell, effectively turning themselves invisible-- how will you expect your perfect love to find you if you don't make yourself visible? Nope, the best method for those of us who believe is to watch, do a lot of waiting, watch some more, and then decide with your heart and soul. There's a match out there for all of us, or at the very least a near match. I trust my heart, and refuse to try too hard for something I am unsure of." "Now, for those of you who DON'T believe in soulmates at all-- do you believe in souls? Good. Because where there's an inner self, defining your hopes and dreams and ideals, there's someone out there with hopes and dreams and ideas that complement yours. THAT is a soulmate, a person who you can enjoy being with, never get bored of, who can make you laugh or smile no matter how depressed you are, and most importantly, who you can Love." -Taldin The Blue Unicorn -- "You are blue, Unicorn.. the Blue of clear, cloudless days where everything seems like it's going right and nothing could go wrong.. and the Blue of despair and lonliness." jefyoung@pawl.rpi.edu Path: mit-eddie!snorkelwacker!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!haste+ From: haste+@andrew.cmu.edu (Dani Zweig) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Gravity Message-ID: Date: 17 Feb 90 00:50:15 GMT Organization: Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 18 Oops. Did I say Simak? Clement, of course. Yes, centrifugal force helps (though not at the poles!), but not that much. I don't have a calculator here, but a back-of-th-envelope computation.... r=90,000 miles, or about 150,000,000 meters. w=1 rev per 18 minutes, or about 1/200 radians per second. So 150E6/(200*200)=3750 newtons, or about 375 G. Meaning that the 'natural' equatorial gravity would be about 325 G in the absence of spin, vs. 700 at the poles. But *should* the gravity be greater at the poles? I'm not convinced, and my envelope's back doesn't suffice. Dani Zweig haste@andrew.cmu.edu I see and I hear and I speak no evil/I carry no malice within my breast; But quite without wishing a man to the devil/One may be permitted to hope for the best. -- Piet Hein (Grooks) Path: mit-eddie!mintaka!yale!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!psuvm!jls139 From: JLS139@psuvm.psu.edu (Abaddon) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Some Canasta, Some Physics, No Pizza, Less Music Message-ID: <90047.184158JLS139@psuvm.psu.edu> Date: 16 Feb 90 23:41:58 GMT References: <506@sixhub.UUCP> Organization: Penn State University Lines: 34 In article <506@sixhub.UUCP>, davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (Wm E. Davidsen Jr) says: > > I know that feeling... when my friend was playing pinochle he used to >get hands that had no count and no trump. "A handful of blue nines" he >called them. > Yep, I know the feeling too, being a semi-avid pinochle player myself. It's either bust or a mega hand. Hey, if we can have virtual canasta, why not virtual pinochle? > > Second help: it wasn't just the distance, the planet was spinning very >fast and centrifugal force was what made the weight (not the gravity) >less at the poles. > Whoa, hold on there, centrifugal force is a pseudo force. It only appears to be a force to the person on the surface of the planet. It's the result of the rotation of the body. To balance the effect of this rotation, there needs to be a centripetal acceleration (gravity in this case) exerted on that person in order to keep him/her on the surface of the planet. Now, if the person were standing at the one of the poles, then there would be no rotational effect (i.e. centrifugal force) and all force is directed along the gravitational vector. But, if the person stood at the equater, then not only would they be further away from the center of mass but also there would be a greater centrifugal acceleration counteracting the forces of gravity. Thus, all things being equal, you would expect a person to weigh more at the poles. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...jeff stine...jls139@psuvm.psu.edu...Abaddon... "fiery the angels fell..." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Path: mit-eddie!mit-amt!snorkelwacker!think!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!haste+ From: haste+@andrew.cmu.edu (Dani Zweig) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Once again, Love Message-ID: Date: 17 Feb 90 00:56:36 GMT Organization: Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 20 Sir Bruce Sterling: >[Am] I reading too much into her actions? I would suggest operating on the twin assumptions that a) she is not being dishonest and b) she is not trying to 'tell you something'. What does that suggest? >Do I really Love her, or just think I do... You're not sure. What makes you think that she is any more sure of her own feelings? ----- Dani Zweig haste+@andrew.cmu.edu Roses red and violets blew and all the sweetest flowres that in the forrest grew -- Edmund Spenser Path: mit-eddie!mintaka!yale!think!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!haste+ From: haste+@andrew.cmu.edu (Dani Zweig) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Love and War and Human Nature Message-ID: Date: 17 Feb 90 06:35:00 GMT Organization: Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 33 daq@hpfcso.HP.COM (Doug Quarnstrom): > I have never read Ayn Rand, but a friend whose literary opinion > I respect very much tells me she is quite tedious. davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (bill davidsen): > Second-hand opinions are worth what you pay for them. I admit that I > rarely reread anything other than _Atlas Shrugged_, but I have just > started my third paperback copy (last year), after reading the first > two to death over the course of a few decades. I've reread "Atlas Shrugged" a few times too. It's a very powerful book. The philosophy for which it is a vehicle appeals directly to the emotions: Rand's philosophy is espoused by noble and heroic characters. Opposing beliefs (or caricatures thereof) are the province of despicable villains. It's easy to overlook the vicious side of Ayn Rand's philosophy -- its reassurances that if people suffer, go hungry, go homeless, it is *their own fault*. (Rand's heroes suffer too, but on a much more exalted plane.) One of the turning points of "Atlas Shrugged" is a terrible train disaster: Hundreds of men and women and children die. But it's okay: Rand explains in considerable detail that there wasn't a single person aboard that train who didn't deserve it, who wasn't guilty at least of complicity with the attitudes that led to the disaster. Ayn Rand's books are like Robert Heinlein's in that they seem to make the deepest and most lasting impression on those who first read them in their teens. --Dani Zweig Path: mit-eddie!snorkelwacker!usc!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!psuvm!emd101 From: EMD101@psuvm.psu.edu Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Gravity and Canasta Message-ID: <90048.002311EMD101@psuvm.psu.edu> Date: 17 Feb 90 05:23:11 GMT References: Organization: Penn State University Lines: 21 Oktave sighs, gathers and shuffles the cards (bet you never saw anyone sigh the cards before). "Okay, let's try this again." She deals. "I was surprised to hear you say Simak, all right. He never wrote anything I read that didn't take place in Middle America near a large stand of forest. Him, design a planet? Hey, I didn't know he was dead.." She picks up her cards and sighs them again (maybe the first try was ineffective). "One book I thought was really neat was _Inverted World_ by Christopher Priest. It was a real sleeper, i.e., just a second hand book in the used book store -- no flamboyant artwork or hype. Any red threes?" she asks, ready to turn up the first card. "In _Inverted World_ the planet is hyperbolic -- nearly infinitely wide at the equator and sharpening to a point at the very far away poles. Gravity and time do weird things as one heads away from the 'optimum' (45 degrees latitude). I recommend the book if you can find it. It's a story about people; it's a good story." She arranges the cards in her hand again. No use. They're there to stay. Path: mit-eddie!snorkelwacker!think!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!ucsd!ucsdhub!hp-sdd!hplabs!hplred!egly From: egly@hplred.HP.COM (Diana Egly) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Colorado Callahans Get Together Message-ID: <20940039@hplred.HP.COM> Date: 16 Feb 90 17:43:09 GMT References: <9060026@hpfcso.HP.COM> Organization: Hewlett Packard Labs, Palo Alto CA Lines: 1 Jazz is a Colorado Callahans poster. Was he invited to your little soiree? Path: mit-eddie!mintaka!think!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!uwvax!sabertooth.cs.wisc.edu!lewandow From: lewandow@sabertooth.cs.wisc.edu (Gary Lewandowski (TA of Doom)) Newsgroups: alt.callahans Subject: Re: Love, Friends, and Idealism Message-ID: <9766@spool.cs.wisc.edu> Date: 17 Feb 90 21:53:44 GMT References: <9002141730.AA07254@fsdcupt.csd.mot.COM> Sender: news@spool.cs.wisc.edu Organization: University of Wisconsin, Madison -- Computer Sciences Department Lines: 29 Welcome back Jilara; hope your system is working again. In article <9002141730.AA07254@fsdcupt.csd.mot.COM> jane@fsdcupt.csd.mot.COM (Jane Beckman x4030) writes: >"The problem with our society is that the definitions are so blastedly >limited. There are not enough words to define "friend" or "love" either. Definitely! > You see, when people get >together, they really ought to compare definitions, but very few ever do. Yes. Many of my favorite discussions have come from my asking people what they mean by love. I tell them that either I've loved nearly everybody I've ever met (at least anyone who is my 'friend'), or I've never loved anyone. The discussions usually reveal a great deal about how people view friendships, but usually tell me little of what they actually think love is. One married person has told me that he doesn't think he and his wife were ever in love by any typical definition. They're happily married anyway. So I think I'll operate without a definition and see what happens. Maybe I have an idea of it, and just don't know. (Well, we learn something new everyday, so maybe one day that'll be what I learn. :-)) -- gary lewandow@cs.wisc.edu "Knowledge is a fractal." -- Samuel Bates