Storm - stretches around the entire planet and can be seen throughbackyard telescopes

NASA Science News for May 19, 2011

A storm of rare power has formed in Saturn's northern hemisphere.
Wreaking havoc for months, it now stretches around the entire planet and
can be seen through backyard telescopes.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news...y_saturnstorm/

Sam Wormley:
NASA Science News for May 19, 2011

A storm of rare power has formed in Saturn's northern hemisphere.
Wreaking havoc for months....

Havoc? Really? "Devastation, destruction, damage, desolation,
ruination, ruin; disaster, catastrophe?" How many dead or homeless from
this storm (compared, say, to the recent havoc in Japan and across the
American South?

Davoud

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On May 19, 8:28*pm, Davoud wrote:

Havoc? Really? "Devastation, destruction, damage, desolation,
ruination, ruin; disaster, catastrophe?" How many dead or homeless from
this storm (compared, say, to the recent havoc in Japan and across the
American South?

Well, it is expending energy and moving gases around. It _would_ cause
havoc, if there was anyone _there_ on Saturn to be disturbed by it.

It is a manifestation of great energy, in the middle of which one
would not wish to be caught. An attempt was made to express the
impressive magnitude of the event... but there was no intention to
minimize the human tragedies recently experienced on Earth.

John Savard

Quadibloc wrote:

On May 19, 8:28 pm, Davoud wrote:

Havoc? Really? "Devastation, destruction, damage, desolation,
ruination, ruin; disaster, catastrophe?" How many dead or homeless from
this storm (compared, say, to the recent havoc in Japan and across the
American South?

Well, it is expending energy and moving gases around. It _would_ cause
havoc, if there was anyone _there_ on Saturn to be disturbed by it.

It is a manifestation of great energy, in the middle of which one
would not wish to be caught. An attempt was made to express the
impressive magnitude of the event... but there was no intention to
minimize the human tragedies recently experienced on Earth.

John Savard

amazing how some can 'mind meld', with cheese and the maldum fornax.

NASA Science News for May 19, 2011, as quoted by S. Wormley:
A storm of rare power has formed in Saturn's northern hemisphere.
Wreaking havoc for months....

Davoud:
Havoc? Really? "Devastation, destruction, damage, desolation,
ruination, ruin; disaster, catastrophe?" How many dead or homeless from
this storm (compared, say, to the recent havoc in Japan and across the
American South?

Quadibloc:
Well, it is expending energy and moving gases around. It _would_ cause
havoc, if there was anyone _there_ on Saturn to be disturbed by it.

It is a manifestation of great energy, in the middle of which one
would not wish to be caught. An attempt was made to express the
impressive magnitude of the event... but there was no intention to
minimize the human tragedies recently experienced on Earth.

No, I'm not suggesting that there was such intent.

I am suggesting that NASA's attempts communicate the excitement of
important astronomical discoveries with the public are failing. I live
within a triangle of not-so-many sq. km. that is delineated by NASA
Goddard, the STScI, and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
Also within that triangle are many other public and private sector
research facilities, including the NSA--largest user of computers on
earth and possibly home to more PhD's per sq. meter than any other
facility. Lotta smart, well informed, well educated people livin' in
that triangle, In an e-mail poll of 20 of my educated friends who live
within this triangle and who are not involved in astronomy, I found
that /not/ /one/ was aware that there are has been a major storm on
Saturn for some months.

I would suggest that NASA hire some real stickler-type English majors
over the age of 50 or so (to avoid "Like, Saturn is this planet with
these ringz, you know, and like, we sent a rocket there, so now there
are these stormz on Saturn, and we at NASA are, like, wow, this is,
like, totally awesome!") and also a PR firm to get its message of
discovery out to the public.

That's, like, all I'm sayin', ya know, dude?

Davoud

³This was an event that in my mind was so significant that it should
have been celebrated with ticker-tape parades in every major city
across the US and Europe.² -- Carolyn Porco, leader of the Cassini
imaging team, speaking of the landing of the Huygens probe on Titan.

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On May 20, 7:58*am, Davoud wrote:

I would suggest that NASA hire some real stickler-type English majors
over the age of 50 or so (to avoid "Like, Saturn is this planet with
these ringz, you know, and like, we sent a rocket there, so now there
are these stormz on Saturn, and we at NASA are, like, wow, this is,
like, totally awesome!") and also a PR firm to get its message of
discovery out to the public.

That's, like, all I'm sayin', ya know, dude?

My point, though, was that "havoc" has been used to refer to even the
most minor sorts of tumult - anything which causes mess, disorder, or
confusion... as caused by characters portrayed by such actresses as
Katharine Hepburn or Lucille Ball... and thus your criticism of the
NASA news release was unjustified.

The Universe is a big place, with many energetic phenomena in it. It
is indifferent to the welfare of the intelligent life that has arisen
within it; and, in most places, it can _afford_ to be so.

John Savard

Quadibloc:
My point, though, was that "havoc" has been used to refer to even the
most minor sorts of tumult - anything which causes mess, disorder, or
confusion... as caused by characters portrayed by such actresses as
Katharine Hepburn or Lucille Ball... and thus your criticism of the
NASA news release was unjustified.

Perhaps I should simply extend my criticism to others who misuse te
word "havoc." Or, to keep it simple, kindly refer to my sig.

The Universe is a big place, with many energetic phenomena in it. It
is indifferent to the welfare of the intelligent life that has arisen
within it; and, in most places, it can _afford_ to be so.

Since I seem to be in a nitpicking mood, I would say that

a) You have stated the obvious in noting that nature is indifferent to
us.

b) I'm not fond of the anthropomorphism of nature as exhibited in
"...it can afford..." I don't think that nature can afford or not
afford anything. I, however, cannot afford the Aston Martin that I
want.

c) Accepting that nature can afford certain things and not others, I
believe that it can /always/ afford to be indifferent to us. That could
be wrong, as our place in the Universe is not well understood, and we
do not know if humanity is destined to do Big Things that will have a
universal impact. If that is our destiny, then nature should nurture us
so that we are around when the time comes to do those Big Things.

Davoud

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On 20/05/2011 14:58, Davoud wrote:

I would suggest that NASA hire some real stickler-type English majors
over the age of 50 or so (to avoid "Like, Saturn is this planet with
these ringz, you know, and like, we sent a rocket there, so now there
are these stormz on Saturn, and we at NASA are, like, wow, this is,
like, totally awesome!") and also a PR firm to get its message of
discovery out to the public.


Yes, that would work!

Davoud wrote:
I would suggest that NASA hire some real stickler-type English majors
over the age of 50 or so (to avoid "Like, Saturn is this planet with
these ringz, you know, and like, we sent a rocket there, so now there
are these stormz on Saturn, and we at NASA are, like, wow, this is,
like, totally awesome!") and also a PR firm to get its message of
discovery out to the public.

That's, like, all I'm sayin', ya know, dude?

You misspelled "ZOMG."

More seriously (wait, is that even possible?), I saw some kind
of survey--I know, that's practically making it up--in which the
respondents significantly overstated NASA's budget, expressed
as a fraction of the federal budget. By about two orders of
magnitude, if I recall correctly. Some folks apparently thought
it was about a third of the federal budget.

--
Brian Tung (posting from Google Groups)
The Astronomy Corner at http://www.astronomycorner.net/
Unofficial C5+ Page at http://www.astronomycorner.net/c5plus/
My PleiadAtlas Page at http://www.astronomycorner.net/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ at http://www.astronomycorner.net/reference/faq.html

On 5/19/11 4:38 PM, Sam Wormley wrote:
NASA Science News for May 19, 2011

A storm of rare power has formed in Saturn's northern hemisphere.
Wreaking havoc for months, it now stretches around the entire planet and
can be seen through backyard telescopes.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news...y_saturnstorm/


Interesting reactions for folks with back yard telescopes.