"namekuseijin" wrote in message
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On May 29, 1:49 am, "Mark Earnest" wrote:
"namekuseijin" wrote in message

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On May 28, 11:13 pm, "Mark Earnest" wrote:

"G=EMC^2 Glazier" wrote in message

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Mark Its Einstein thinking. I wish it was all mine. I can only add to
the great theories of Einstein. He is very clever TreBert

OK, Bert, if it was what Einstein says, then I am sure his mathematical
brilliance was just running away with him.

Either the line is straight or it isn't.

What could be simpler than that?

Nothing is simple except in math. All straight lines you'll ever
cross in this universe are really just tangential approximations of
curves.

You never run on a straight-line here on Earth -- it's curved after
all and at all points point to the center, thus warping surfaces even
though very slightly and not noticeable for small enough *tangents*.
Let alone out there, where you're always in orbit around some gravity
well...

Ever grab ordinary string by two ends and pull it tight?
That is a pretty good representation of a straight line: the shortest
distance between two points.

Exactly like I said, it's just a tangential approximation to a curve:
no matter how much it looks straight, you know gravity is pulling it
and making it a parable. It's never, never going to be a pure math
straight line.

**I'm sure a sufficiently taught segment of string cancels out the effect of
gravity.


The shortest path between two points in this universe is always a
curve,

**Then you defy the very definition of a line.


even though in small enough scales it may look like a mathbook
straight-line.

**There is no mathbook straight-line.
There are just lines, and they exist all over nature.
The axis of a planet and a beam of light from a star, for two examples.