NYT Hocus-Pocus

The New York Times reports "Prehistoric pleiosaurs looked something
like the Loch Ness Monster. Scientists say their swimming technique..."

Cognitive dissonance alert! The Loch Ness Monster does not exist.* How
could anything have looked like a non-existent thing!? "Hey, that guy
over there looks just like The Invisible Man!"

*OK, it does exist, but it's in Kelleher's bathtub, not Loch Ness.

--
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 Wed, 30 Aug 2017 19:27:55 -0400, Davoud wrote:

The New York Times reports "Prehistoric pleiosaurs looked something
like the Loch Ness Monster. Scientists say their swimming technique..."

Cognitive dissonance alert! The Loch Ness Monster does not exist.* How
could anything have looked like a non-existent thing!?

I guess it just means that more people know what the Loch Ness Monster
looks like (from all the bad photos and artistic "reconstructions")
than know what a plesiosaur looks like. Something can look like a
non-existent thing if that non-existent thing has looks which have
been defined. Like the way that narwhal tusks are compared with
unicorn horns.

On Thursday, August 31, 2017 at 12:27:58 AM UTC+1, Davoud wrote:
The New York Times reports "Prehistoric pleiosaurs looked something
like the Loch Ness Monster. Scientists say their swimming technique..."

Cognitive dissonance alert!


To be fair, the wonderful upper middle class celestial magnification and identification exercise would normally be fine even if it is limited, however, because you guys link up with experimental theorists then things really go sideways and it has been that way for centuries. I actually got a kick out of the eclipse imaging presented by individuals here but not so much the supernatural or special effects imaging with multiple pictures of the Sun and moon in the same frame yet that is a small complaint.

I imagine that asking you to drop your notion of a celestial sphere universe is much harder than asking you to give away your wealth in that your wealth allows you to practice your hobby and probably impresses the neighbors in the process. The more expansive realm of astronomy is quite different, not the theoretical voodoo merchants and bluffers peddling junk but rather a more intimate feel for life within the motions of the Earth and a great star. Observers on the eclipse were looking at the center of the solar system rather than just the moon crossing the face of the Sun and that is the difference between a limited view( like the link below) and a more expansive one -

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a01000...er_Panels3.jpg

On Thursday, August 31, 2017 at 12:27:58 AM UTC+1, Davoud wrote:


*OK, it does exist, but it's in Kelleher's bathtub, not Loch Ness.

--
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


The symbiotic relationship between theorists and the celestial sphere enthusiasts is a remarkable one by any measure. The theorists have no interest in astronomy apart from using space as a dumping ground for exotic notions while the magnification/identification guys are terrified of being original and I suspect a large number cleared out of this forum on that account.

Raising the standard of astronomy therefore becomes an individual enterprise so over the years I have watched explanations slowly morph towards more productive ones such as direct/retrograde motions, the seasons, rotation/plate tectonics and other topics. Far from sulking, I enjoy watching people try to adjust and make something of cause and effect because RA/Dec observing has none and never did.

The bathtub reference is unintentionally funny for its reminds me of Diogenes whether real or imagined -

"One day, while he was sitting beside his barrel(bathtub) enjoying the sun, he was visited by Alexander the Great. The emperor stood before him and asked if there was anything he could do for him. Was there anything he desired?� “Yes,� Diogenes replied. “Stand to one side. You’re blocking the sun.� Thus Diogenes showed he was no less happy and rich than the great man before him. He had everything he desired.�

On Thursday, August 31, 2017 at 7:20:48 AM UTC+1, Gerald Kelleher wrote:
I actually got a kick out of the eclipse imaging presented by individuals here but not so much the supernatural or special effects imaging with multiple pictures of the Sun and moon in the same frame yet that is a small complaint.

My poor irony meter.

This is from a guy who has posted a montage of images of Venus taken at irregular intervals pasted around a fake central Sun over and over again for years on end as if it proved something about motion in relation to the background stars (not included in the image).