Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson Received: from holmes.andrew.cmu.edu via trymail for +dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr1/ota/space/space.dl@andrew.cmu.edu (->+dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr1/ota/space/space.dl) (->ota+space.digests) ID ; Thu, 30 Mar 89 05:16:39 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Thu, 30 Mar 89 05:16:31 -0500 (EST) Subject: SPACE Digest V9 #324 SPACE Digest Volume 9 : Issue 324 Today's Topics: Discovery - UFO Close Encounter? Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications? Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications? Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications? Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications? Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications? space shuttle landing Re: Room Temperature Fusion Re: Room Temperature Fusion Moon Myths (was re:Astrology) Re: Success with cold fusion reported ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 27 Mar 89 20:23:37 GMT From: oliveb!amdahl!drivax!macleod@ames.arc.nasa.gov (MacLeod) Subject: Discovery - UFO Close Encounter? (This posting was downloaded from Paranet Alpha) #: 173737 S10/Paranormal Issues 19-Mar-89 21:29:00 Sb: DISCOVERY/UFO? Fm: Bert 71450,3504 To: ALL I just received a rather remarkable phone call from Bob Oechsler, MUFON investigator from Annapolis, MD, who also has his own nationally broadcast UFO radio talk show. Bob asked me to upload the following information. On Tuesday March 14, 1989 at 6:42 am the following message was received by a UFO investigator in Baltimore through WA3NAN (Goddard) amateur radio transission from the orbiter Discovery. "Houston, this is Discovery. We still have the alien space craft, uhh, under observance." The transmission was picked up on a Radio Shack scanner tuned to 147.45 mhz. According to Bob, he and his colleagues have found that the transmission matches up with NASA tapes except that there is a "blank space" in the tape where the above transmission occurred. (Possibly bleached out?) They are currently doing voice print analyis in an effort to match the specific voice with one of the astronauts. They will compare to voices of all of the astronauts recorded during the Today Show interview. They should know "for sure" in about a week. Bob would very much appreciate it if anyone who may be able to corroborate this transmission would call him at 301-798-1503. About 15 minutes prior to the transmission there was a broadcast about "a fire on board". There is speculation that this may have been a code to switch frequencies or to stop feed to the public domain. He would this also like to hear if anyone can corroborate anything about a "fire." ------------------------------ Date: 28 Mar 89 19:59:45 GMT From: steinmetz!sunspot!blackje@uunet.uu.net (Emmett Black) Subject: Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications? A colleague here at GE Research met the news with the typical "pooh-pooh; April fool" reaction -- until he found out who the two scientists involved were.... He said he has known those guys for 25 years; and they are "rock solid." I'm inclined to believe them, too. What REALLY upset me was that the local TV station covered it VERY briefly on Friday; in their "Your Money" segment! They moaned and groaned and complained that this might "put thousands of people out of work;" they were more concerned with maintaining the "status quo" than about freezing in the dark. ---- techno-illiterates! I guess I'll switch to PBS. --Emmett J.E.Black; GE Research/K1-3C26; Schenectady, NY 12345 blackje@crd.ge.com; ...!uunet!steinmetz!crd!blackje --Emmett blackje@crd.ge.com ...uunet!steinmetz!crd!blackje GE Research; K1-3C26 Schenectady, NY 12345 ------------------------------ Date: 28 Mar 89 17:35:57 GMT From: mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo!henry@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications? In article <24998@amdcad.AMD.COM> prem@crackle.amd.com (Prem Sobel) writes: >Unless I have slipped a decimal point. It is under 1.6*10^9 miles round >trip to/from the asetroid belt... >which if one went at 1g until half way then at 1g to slow down would take: > t=sqrt(5280*10^8) ~= 73*10^4 sec ~=200 hours ~= 9 days Accelerating at 1G (9.81 m/s/s, the Imperial units are useless garbage when it comes to calculations like this) for 200 hours is a total delta-V of about 7e6 m/s (7000 kps). If we assume a mass ratio of 10, which means the ship is mostly fuel but still manageable for a single stage, exhaust velocity is 7e6/ln(10), about 3000 kps. Assuming a 100-ton (metric) ship (fully fueled), we "burn" 0.125 kg/s. (We will ignore the change in thrust needed to maintain a constant 1G, and assume constant thrust for the moment.) Accelerating that mass flow to 3000 kps requires 0.5*0.125*(3e6*3e6) == 560e9 watts of power, assuming no losses. Building a half-terawatt power plant that weighs only a few tons is going to be, um, a challenge. I don't think we're going to see 1G missions to the asteroids right away. -- Welcome to Mars! Your | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology passport and visa, comrade? | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu ------------------------------ Date: 27 Mar 89 20:11:18 GMT From: mailrus!wasatch!uplherc!wicat!keithm@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Keith McQueen) Subject: Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications? Just a thought... What are the implications of this for terrorist activities? Will this make cheap available nuclear weapons possible? Shudder! I hope not! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | Keith McQueen, N7HMF Organization: Wicat Systems, Inc. | | 1116 Graff Circle Work (801)224-6605x422 | | Orem, Utah 84058 Packet: N7HMF @ NV7V | | Home (801)224-9460 Voice: 147.340 MHz or 449.675 MHz | | =====> My opinions are all mine... <===== | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ------------------------------ Date: 28 Mar 89 15:28:19 GMT From: steinmetz!davidsen@uunet.uu.net (Wm. E. Davidsen Jr) Subject: Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications? In article <296@v7fs1.UUCP> mvp@v7fs1.UUCP (Mike Van Pelt) writes: | We *really* need access to the asteriods, which have plenty of platinum- | group metals. I'm not disagreeing, but what's the source of that info. Some meteoriods have been found to contain pgroup metals in iron-nickel mixes, but has someone done a reasonable analysis somehow of what's in the belt? ================================================================ New mailing address: wedu@crd.ge.com We are no longer ge-crd.arpa and mail will stop working to that address in the *very* near future. Note: flames and hate mail may still use the old address ;-{ ================================================================ We now return you to our regularly scheduled signature... -- bill davidsen (wedu@crd.GE.COM) {uunet | philabs}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me ------------------------------ Date: 28 Mar 89 20:25:08 GMT From: vsi1!v7fs1!mvp@apple.com (Mike Van Pelt) Subject: Re: Room Temperature fusion - possible indications? In article <13467@steinmetz.ge.com> davidsen@crdos1.UUCP (bill davidsen) writes: >In article <296@v7fs1.UUCP> mvp@v7fs1.UUCP (Mike Van Pelt) writes: >| We *really* need access to the asteriods, which have plenty of platinum- >| group metals. > > I'm not disagreeing, but what's the source of that info. Some >meteoriods have been found to contain pgroup metals in iron-nickel >mixes, but has someone done a reasonable analysis somehow of what's in >the belt? Well, we haven't actually gone out there and assayed any asteroids, of course, but the nickel-iron meteorites found on Earth have all contained a significant percentage of Pt-group. The Sudbury deposit in Canada is the remains of an ancient asteroid strike, and it supplies Pt/Pd/Ir and such as a byproduct. And the iridium in the K-T boundary layer is considered pretty convincing evidence for the Alvarez theory that a major asteriod strike is responsible for the massive wave of extinctions at the end of the Cretaceous. So platinum group metals being available from asteroids seems a pretty good bet. If we can get out there. And especially, if we can find any that don't have Soviet claims already staked, which may be a considerable problem by the time Our Congress finally gets off their backsides. -- "Ain't nothin' in the middle Mike Van Pelt o' the road, 'cept a yellow Video 7 line and dead 'possums." ...ames!vsi1!v7fs1!mvp ------------------------------ Date: 28 Mar 89 19:42:49 GMT From: cs.utexas.edu!wasatch!ch-tkr@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Timothy K Reynolds) Subject: space shuttle landing When the space shuttle Atlantis lands at Edwards AFB, I would reeeeealy like to be there. I have read letters on the news-group telling me what to take along, but what do I have to get to watch. Do I have to get some kind of a pass to get on base? Please tell me what the deal is! And while I am asking who would I have to beg to get real close, if you know what I mean. Please help, I know that you guys out pthere must know someone. I am just a student who life dream is to watch the shuttle land from the front row. Thank You, Patrick R. Jones ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Mar 89 11:16:05 PST From: greer%utd201%utadnx%utspan.span@vlsi.jpl.nasa.gov Subject: Re: Room Temperature Fusion X-St-Vmsmail-To: JPLLSI::"SPACE@angband.s1.gov" I just heard an interview with Stanley Pons on 'The Osgood File', Charles Osgood, The CBS Radio Network. He says two eminent physicists looked at his work and said everything looked cool. He also said skeptics and beleivers alike should wait till May when the paper is published, and that he thought full scale applications ought to be delayed 20 years, so sufficient environmental impact studies could be made. ---- "Pave Paradise, | Dale M. Greer put up a parking lot." | Center for Space Sciences -- Joni Mitchell | University of Texas at Dallas | UTSPAN::UTADNX::UTD750::GREER The opinions are my own, and may or may not reflect those of my employer. ------------------------------ Date: 29 Mar 89 03:12:30 GMT From: m2c!wpi!regnery@husc6.harvard.edu (George Regnery) Subject: Re: Room Temperature Fusion In article <890328111605.2a52@VLSI.JPL.NASA.GOV>, greer%utd201%utadnx%utspan.span@VLSI.JPL.NASA.GOV writes: > > I just heard an interview with Stanley Pons on 'The Osgood File', > Charles Osgood, The CBS Radio Network. He says two eminent physicists > looked at his work and said everything looked cool. He also said skeptics ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Did he say everything looked cool? (As in room temperature?) ;) George M. Regnery ! Worcester ! Albedo 0.39 ! Going on means regnery@wpi.wpi.edu OR ! Polytechnic ! --Vangelis ! going far. Going regnery@wpi.bitnet ! Institute ! (a good album) ! far means returning. CompuServe: 73300,3655 ! (Worc, Mass.) ! *PREFER BITNET*! --Tao Te Ching ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Mar 89 09:20:32 PST From: hairston%utdssa%utadnx%utspan.span@vlsi.jpl.nasa.gov Subject: Moon Myths (was re:Astrology) X-St-Vmsmail-To: UTADNX::UTSPAN::JPLLSI::"space@angband.s1.gov" In an earlier issue John Roberts asks the right question: >>I mean, maybe the moon has some effect on noctournal animals, but if you're >>trying to defend the age-old astrologer's "the moon effects the tides, and >>they're water, and since the human body is 98% water, the moon must affect >>people" argument, then I would really love to see some data on that. to which Jim Merritt replies >Ask your wife or girl friend... >(hint: ask for PERIODic events with a CYCLE of appox a lunar month.) The idea that the human female menstrual cycle is somehow connected to the lunar cycle has been circulating for years (millenia?), but age doesn't make it any more correct. For starters the lunar cycle (full moon to full moon) is 29.53 days while the human menstrual cycle is (on average) 28, so the two AREN'T even the same period. And if you're female (or are male and have a wife or significant other you can ask about this) then you know that 28 days is a nice average, but rarely do you hit exactly 28 days (or 29.53 days for that matter). There is quite a range of lengths of menstrual cycles both between individuals and at different times within the life of an individual. The length of an individual's cycle is determined by environmental and biological factors (overall health, nutrition, exercise, stress, illness, age, medication, etc.) but not by the gravity of the moon. The gravitational pull of the moon on a human body is roughly equal to the gravitational pull of a couch you're sitting on. (If you calculate the tidal difference, the couch overwhelms the moon by a factor of a million or so...) What is happening is that people are confusing correlation with causation, the lunar cycle is a handy rule of thumb for timing menstrual cycles, but that doesn't mean that one is causing the other. (This fallacy shows up far too often in all sorts of arguments, such as "Lack of prayer in public schools has caused the downfall of the American education. Since prayer was been banned in the early 60's, the national average SAT scores have dropped by x points..." Both statements are true, prayer was banned and SAT scores have fallen, but that doesn't mean one is the cause of the other.) Another version of the argument runs something like "it's part of evolutional history of us. Our ancestors were amphibians/fish/whatever that had reproduc- tive cycles tied to the tides, much like the spawning of comtemporary grunions." This argument at least tries to give us a causative agent, but if it were true then most (if not all) descendents of those early amphibians or whatever would have fertility cycles tied to the lunar cycle. Instead, examining the cycle for various mammals shows that the lengths of their periods are all over the place ranging from mice and rats with a cycle of 5 days to 37 days for chimp- anzees. The only other mammal that matches the human cycle of 28 days is the opossum. Suppose for a minute that there WAS a causative agency between the lunar cycle and the menstrual cycle. That would mean somehow the phase of the moon is triggering the menstrual period of human females. That would mean that at some point in the cycle (say first quarter) ALL the women on Earth would begin having their period and the sanitary products on supermarket shelves would all disap- pear at once. Instead, what really happens is that the number of women having their period at any one time is uniformly spread throughout the lunar cycle, which is the same thing as saying there is no causative connection between the two. In fact, (taking this to its absurd extreme) if there REALLY was a tidal cause affecting the menstrual cycle, the 29.53 day lunar cycle is the wrong one to look at. Instead we should see women following the earthly tides and having two menstrual cycles per day! (I will refrain from making any sexist jokes in poor taste here.) Then Gabriel Velasco pointed out: >When my wife was pregnant, a doctor told her that sometimes they pre- >fer to think of a full term pregnancy as 10 lunar months. So what? Human pregnancies run for roughly 10 menstrual cycles for biological reasons that have nothing to do with any astronomical influences. They can just as easily think of the pregnancy lasting 280 solar days, three quarters of one orbit of the earth around the sun, one third of the time between oppositions with Mars, the length of time between the first and last appearance of Venus as either an evening or morning star [now THAT'S too much of a coincidence, there MUST be a connection! :^) ], one fifth of a presidential term of office, etc. If you want to dig further in these and other lunar cycle myths check out "Moon Madness" by George Abell in the book "Science and the Paranormal" edited by George Abell and Barry Singer (Scribner, 1981) or the article "The Moon Was Full, and Nothing Happened" in the Winter 85-86 issue of "Skeptical Inquirer". Marc Hairston--Center for Space Sciences--Univ of Texas at Dallas SPAN address UTSPAN::UTADNX::UTD750::HAIRSTON ______________________________________________ I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what the University of Texas System's opinion about menstrual cycles is, but I sure they must have one....somewhere.....and I'll bet we disagree.... ------------------------------ Date: 29 Mar 89 00:15:25 GMT From: meccts!meccsd!scj@umn-cs.cs.umn.edu (Scotian) Subject: Re: Success with cold fusion reported Miroslav Kocic writes: |The discussion in this newsgroup has so far been about the authenticity of the |Utah breakthrough, but I have two different concerns. First, what if fusion |turns out to create problems we don't foresee? We didn't foresee radioactive |waste or meltdowns back when fission was at this stage, How on earth do you come to this conclusion? |and, if history teaches |anything, it teaches that every benefit has a proportional price. Second, what |if cold fusion becomes the crack-cocaine of energy production? I can imagine |a thousand fanatics in 750 terrorist cells making an H-bomb in their kitchen. I'm sure you can... -- .............................................................................. Scott C. Jensen scj@mecc.MN.ORG ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V9 #324 *******************