Lesbian Bodies

Aidan Karley wrote:

> Ginevra M. Longbottom wrote:

>> The tenth planet in the solar system has a moon at least a tenth of its
>> size. The discovery allows astronomers to tell the mass of both objects.

>> The planet was nicknamed Xena after the television warrior princess, and
>> the moon has been dubbed Gabrielle, after the princess's companion...

> ObNiven : Borderlands of Sol ?

How does that fit?


> (I thought at first from the subject line that this was from the
> Anagram Troll, but on third thoughts ...)

Tee-hee!


Ginevra

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In article <fIxm7.2485$lk6.886293@orpheusnews>, Ginevra M. Longbottom wrote:
> >> The planet was nicknamed Xena after the television warrior princess, and
> >> the moon has been dubbed Gabrielle, after the princess's companion...
>
> > ObNiven : Borderlands of Sol ?
>
> How does that fit?
>
"Xena" is a planetesimal which is up to twice as far from the Sun as
Pluto gets and which was unknown in (say) 1969 (approximately when Niven
wrote BoS.

.
.
.
Spoiler space for anyone who hasn't read Borderlands of Sol
.
.
.


BoS had Carlos Wu, Elephant (?) and his ARM BadPenny travelling into
Earth and encountering ... interesting times ... on a planetesimal which is
up to a lot further from the Sun than Pluto gets and which was unknown until
a few years before the setting of the story (say, about 2600 on the present
calendar?).

--
Aidan Karley,
Aberdeen, Scotland,
Location: +57°10' , -02°09' (sub-tropical Aberdeen), 0.021233
Written at Sat, 08 Oct 2005 17:23 +0100
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Aidan Karley wrote:

> Ginevra M. Longbottom wrote:

>>>> The planet was nicknamed Xena after the television warrior princess,
>>>> and the moon has been dubbed Gabrielle, after the princess's
>>>> companion...

>>> ObNiven : Borderlands of Sol ?

>> How does that fit?

> "Xena" is a planetesimal

Many would argue that Xena is a planet, and Pluto isn't.


> which is up to twice as far from the Sun as Pluto gets and which was
> unknown in (say) 1969 (approximately when Niven wrote BoS.

..
..
..
> Spoiler space for anyone who hasn't read Borderlands of Sol
..
..
..


> BoS had Carlos Wu, Elephant (?) and his ARM BadPenny travelling into
> Earth and encountering ... interesting times ... on a planetesimal which
> is up to a lot further from the Sun than Pluto gets and which was
> unknown until a few years before the setting of the story (say, about
> 2600 on the present calendar?).

Oh dear - for some strange reason, when I read the title "Borderlands of
Sol" in your post, I was thinking of "Bordered in Black".


Ginevra

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In article <fIxm7.2485$lk6.886294@orpheusnews>, Ginevra M. Longbottom
wrote:
> > "Xena" is a planetesimal
>
> Many would argue that Xena is a planet, and Pluto isn't.
>
Define "planet".
Now define it again, differently.
Repeat the above four or five times and then go to a conference
of planetary scientists for a wider range of definitions. There is no
"definition" of "planet".
(People are trying to come up with a definition that is rooted
in intrinsic properties of the objects, observable from a distance,
which do not greatly clash with the "traditional" meaning of "planet".
But it's not an easy task. Personally, as a geologist, I'd not worry
over-much about what the grockles think and I'd go for a dividing line
of whether an object is massive enough to have compacted into a
more-or-less spherical shape under the influence of it's own gravity.
And I'd live with the fact that would give us about 8 or 10
"Karley-planets" orbiting inside the largest non-stellar object in the
Solar system. Different data requires changes of ideas. I suspect that
a more complex, historically biased definition is going to be chosen by
the IAU.)

--
Aidan Karley,
Aberdeen, Scotland,
Location: +57°10' , -02°09' (sub-tropical Aberdeen), 0.021233
Written at Mon, 17 Oct 2005 10:32 +0100
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Aidan Karley wrote:

> Ginevra M. Longbottom wrote:

>>> "Xena" is a planetesimal

>> Many would argue that Xena is a planet, and Pluto isn't.

> Define "planet".
> Now define it again, differently.
> Repeat the above four or five times and then go to a conference
> of planetary scientists for a wider range of definitions. There is no
> "definition" of "planet".

Yes, I know Aidan, hence my "many would argue" - it was reported in
certain quarters as 'Scientists Say No Such Thing As Planets'.


> (People are trying to come up with a definition that is rooted
> in intrinsic properties of the objects, observable from a distance,
> which do not greatly clash with the "traditional" meaning of "planet".
> But it's not an easy task. Personally, as a geologist, I'd not worry
> over-much about what the grockles

Ooh, you're from Devon, too! Is it very cold in Aberdeen?


> think and I'd go for a dividing line of whether an object is massive
> enough to have compacted into a more-or-less spherical shape under the
> influence of it's own gravity. And I'd live with the fact that would
> give us about 8 or 10 "Karley-planets" orbiting inside the largest
> non-stellar object in the Solar system. Different data requires changes
> of ideas. I suspect that a more complex, historically biased definition
> is going to be chosen by the IAU.)

Well said; in which case the 9 'Longbottom-planets' are Venus, Earth,
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Sedna, and Xena...


Ginevra (who didn't forget Mercury)

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In article <VA.000009ab.07d3a452 RemoveThis @validemailaddresstoa.news.group>,
Aidan Karley wrote:

> Aidan Karley,
> Aberdeen, Scotland,
> Location: +57°10' , -02°09'

You've corrected your co-ordinates!

Were you influenced by your GPS receiver?


Tennant

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Aidan Karley wrote:

> Ginevra M. Longbottom wrote:

>>> But it's not an easy task. Personally, as a geologist, I'd not worry
>>> over-much about what the grockles

>> Ooh, you're from Devon, too!

> I didn't know that were Devonian. My father's side is from
> Brighton & Cobh, so it's possible he picked it up from the South coast
> somewhere. We've always treated it as a family word for "brain-dead
> tourists who want paved footpaths and a McDonalds every 100 yards".

A grockle is actually a twisty little hillside road that tourists can't
drive there cars round the bends.


>> Is it very cold in Aberdeen?
> Didn't I have "sub-tropical" in my last signature?

I tuk that to be ironic.


> I've worked in the Arabian desert at 48deg C in the shade (there were no
> shade). Last Feb and March I was on a Tanzanian desert island at 40 deg
> C per day, every day. A week later I was visiting my fiancee (now wife)
> in Noyabrsk and the wind as I walked from the plane to the baggage
> collection hall was about -15deg C. It was a refreshing -27deg C that
> night.

Ooh.


> I have different interpretations of "very" in respect of
> temperature when compared to most people. <G>

>> Well said; in which case the 9 'Longbottom-planets' are Venus, Earth,
>> Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Sedna, and Xena...

>> Ginevra (who didn't forget Mercury)

> What are your reasons for excluding Mercury?

Too small, and to be controversial.


> Or, for that matter, Chiron?

Cant remeber if its biger or smaler than Mercury.


Ginevra

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In article <na.14ee4b4dbb.a806e0tennant RemoveThis @orpheusmail.co.uk>, Tennant
Stuart wrote:
> > Location: +57°10' , -02°09'
>
> You've corrected your co-ordinates!
>
Corrected? Well, I've degraded them and pointed them at a
*nearby* street. And I've just remembered to change the proper UNICODE
"degree" signs to the (hopefully comprehensible) ASCII "d" because one
of the mailing lists in this part of my message-base objects to the
non-ASCII in the signature. But they weren't ever particularly *wrong*.
Any version in the last several years would have got you to within +/-
0.5 times the implied precision. But that precision has declined, yes.

> Were you influenced by your GPS receiver?
>
That was in the pocket of the rucksack I've used for the last 20
years when the burglars used it to empty the flat. Plus the microscope
I did my degree work on, computers, radios, and all sorts of other
stuff. Been gone for a couple of years now.
GPS is "fun". But I don't have a professional need for it, and
map and compass are more reliable for my necessary degree of accuracy.
They do require knowledge and understanding to use, but that's as true
for GPS as for map and compass.
Plus, a couple of months after the burglars visited I went off
to work in Siberia where I discovered that there was currently a
westerner doing 5 years of hard time for illegal possession of a GPS
and a notebook in a military restricted zone. I'd been warned that I
had to be vetted for my work permit/ visa to enter the zone I was to
work in, but I hadn't been warned about GPS. I'll be more careful about
that in the future.

--
Aidan Karley,
Aberdeen, Scotland,
Location: +57d10' , -02d09' (sub-tropical Aberdeen), 0.021233
Written at Wed, 19 Oct 2005 10:01 +0100
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In article <VA.000009ca.07962252 DeleteThis @validemailaddresstoa.news.group>,
Aidan Karley wrote:

> In article <na.14ee4b4dbb.a806e0tennant DeleteThis @orpheusmail.co.uk>,
Tennant Stuart wrote:

>>> Location: +57°10' , -02°09'

>> You've corrected your co-ordinates!

> Corrected? Well, I've degraded them and pointed them at a
> *nearby* street. And I've just remembered to change the proper UNICODE
> "degree" signs to the (hopefully comprehensible) ASCII "d" because one
> of the mailing lists in this part of my message-base objects to the
> non-ASCII in the signature. But they weren't ever particularly *wrong*.
> Any version in the last several years would have got you to within +/-
> 0.5 times the implied precision. But that precision has declined, yes.

You seem to have forgotten my post a few years back, when I pointed out
that you had placed Aberdeen somewhere well out into the North Sea.


>> Were you influenced by your GPS receiver?

> That was in the pocket of the rucksack I've used for the last 20
> years when the burglars used it to empty the flat. Plus the microscope
> I did my degree work on, computers, radios, and all sorts of other
> stuff. Been gone for a couple of years now.

Ilg.


> GPS is "fun". But I don't have a professional need for it, and
> map and compass are more reliable for my necessary degree of accuracy.
> They do require knowledge and understanding to use, but that's as true
> for GPS as for map and compass.

Well yes, but you can have fun with your map analysing the GPS errors...


> Plus, a couple of months after the burglars visited I went off
> to work in Siberia where I discovered that there was currently a
> westerner doing 5 years of hard time for illegal possession of a GPS
> and a notebook in a military restricted zone. I'd been warned that I
> had to be vetted for my work permit/ visa to enter the zone I was to
> work in, but I hadn't been warned about GPS. I'll be more careful about
> that in the future.

Gosh. I suppose that was way back when Siberia used to be cold.


Tennant

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(_ _)( ___)( \( )( \( ) /__\ ( \( )(_ _) Greetings to family
)( )__) ) ( ) ( /(__)\ ) ( )( friends & neighbours
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Aidan Karley wrote:
> In article <fIxm7.2485$lk6.886294@orpheusnews>, Ginevra M. Longbottom
> wrote:
[...]Personally, as a geologist, I'd not worry
> over-much about what the grockles think and I'd go for a dividing line
> of whether an object is massive enough to have compacted into a
> more-or-less spherical shape under the influence of it's own gravity.
> And I'd live with the fact that would give us about 8 or 10
> "Karley-planets" orbiting inside the largest non-stellar object in the
> Solar system.

I'm puzzled by the reference to "largest non-stellar object in the
Solar system". Wouldn't that be Jupiter? I took your definition to
include any moon that is spherical, such as our own. Is that correct?

-Mark Bole
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In article <eLB5f.4575$tV6.3136@newssvr27.news.prodigy.net>, Mark Bole
wrote:
> > And I'd live with the fact that would give us about 8 or 10
> > "Karley-planets" orbiting inside the largest non-stellar object in the
> > Solar system.
>
> I'm puzzled by the reference to "largest non-stellar object in the
> Solar system". Wouldn't that be Jupiter?
>
Yes, that's Jupiter. Deuterium and lithium in the atmosphere of
Jupiter, so it's never had nuclear fusion going on inside it, so
"non-stellar".

> I took your definition to
> include any moon that is spherical, such as our own. Is that correct?
>
Luna (to avoid confusion if we take the discussion elsewhere, such
as Phobos) is large enough to have self-gravitated into a sphere, so by my
definition that makes it a planet, and Earth-Luna and Pluto-Charon the two
double-planet systems in the Solar system.
What was Ginevra saying about "roads too narrow for tourists to
drive along"? Doesn't stop them being roads though.

--
Aidan Karley,
Aberdeen, Scotland,
Location: +57d10' , -02d09' (sub-tropical Aberdeen), 0.021233
Written at Thu, 20 Oct 2005 10:55 +0100
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In article <na.40ede94dbc.a806e0tennant DeleteThis @orpheusmail.co.uk>, Tennant
Stuart wrote:
> >> Location: 61°02'05.6"N, 01°42'18.9"E (Brent Alpha)
> >> Location: 61°07'56.6"N, 01°44'10.1"E (Brent Delta)
>
> So you're responsible for global warming then?
>
Not guilty - I'm pretty frugal for a westerner. No offspring ;
no car ; small old home ; I keep the heating down to what's just warm
enough for comfort and if it's cold I put on a jersey or long-sleeve
shirt. I should really try to insulate the roof more, but I'd have to
rip up the floor boards in the man upstair's flat. Seek ye your guilty
minds over global warming in someone with 7 kids, a large new house, 2
big cars, and the heating and air conditioning running full blast to
provide air circulation in a nudist-friendly environment.
I just find the stuff. I come from a background that's known
that oil is far too good to burn for longer than Saudi Arabia has been
a political entity. I don't accept any responsibility for the
foolishness of other stealing from their descendants.

ObNiven - how would a Protector react to breeders (which it is
responsible for) harming their innumerable /potential/ descendents the
way that you humans are harming yours?

> >> Location: 54°09'01.2"N, 02°22'56.2"W (Gaping Gill)
>
> Spelunker!
>
Guilty. The next issue (or a couple further) of Cave and Karst
Science may have a paper in it which I contributed to. More work this
summer coming, it would seem too.

> > If I have internet access at work, I update the signature line
> > appropriately. But I sometimes make typos.
>
> Ah, that must be it then - you need to get the computer to do it.
>
GPS signals don't penetrate well through 4 floors of 6mm steel
plate to my cabin (or workshop). And in some countries, possession of
GPS is sufficient grounds for you to do months of hard time in the
prison system while you try to prove that you're NOT a spy. Plus it's
more weight in the baggage - every second flight to the rigs this year
the passengers are getting weighed along with their baggage with *lots*
of pressure to cut your baggage weights down.
How to do it? Hmmm, I'd need to get a serial port onto the
laptop somehow (several possibilities - which I was thinking about for
other reasons today) then read the simple NMEA (acronym anagram? been a
while since I read up on GPS) stream ; pass it to a script some how
that will break out the co-ords from each line of the appropriate
phrase of NMEA. Do-able without rocket science. Botherable-with? After
I wash the cat.

Ho hum. Midnight approaching and Lara Croft has fallen to her
death for the enough'th time tonight. I feel a snooze coming on.

--
Aidan Karley,
Aberdeen, Scotland,
Location: +57d10' , -02d09' (sub-tropical Aberdeen), 0.021233
Written at Tue, 25 Oct 2005 23:18 +0100
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In article <VA.000009d7.00c05263.RemoveThis@validemailaddresstoa.news.group>,
Aidan Karley wrote:

> In article <na.40ede94dbc.a806e0tennant.RemoveThis@orpheusmail.co.uk>,
> Tennant Stuart wrote:

>>>> Location: 61°02'05.6"N, 01°42'18.9"E (Brent Alpha)
>>>> Location: 61°07'56.6"N, 01°44'10.1"E (Brent Delta)

>> So you're responsible for global warming then?

> Not guilty - I'm pretty frugal for a westerner. No offspring ;
> no car ; small old home ; I keep the heating down to what's just warm
> enough for comfort and if it's cold I put on a jersey or long-sleeve
> shirt. I should really try to insulate the roof more, but I'd have to
> rip up the floor boards in the man upstair's flat. Seek ye your guilty
> minds over global warming in someone with 7 kids, a large new house, 2
> big cars, and the heating and air conditioning running full blast to
> provide air circulation in a nudist-friendly environment.

Okay.


> I just find the stuff. I come from a background that's known
> that oil is far too good to burn for longer than Saudi Arabia has been
> a political entity. I don't accept any responsibility for the
> foolishness of other stealing from their descendants.

Ah, I've always said that oil is far too good to burn as well.


> ObNiven - how would a Protector react to breeders (which it is
> responsible for) harming their innumerable /potential/ descendents the
> way that you humans are harming yours?

What if one set of breeders was the most powerful culture on the planet,
using technology to survive the damage it was doing to the environment,
whilst harming the potential descendants of rival sets of breeders?


>>>> Location: 54°09'01.2"N, 02°22'56.2"W (Gaping Gill)

>> Spelunker!

> Guilty. The next issue (or a couple further) of Cave and Karst
> Science may have a paper in it which I contributed to. More work this
> summer coming, it would seem too.

I only knew the word from playing Adventure, many moons ago.


>>> If I have internet access at work, I update the signature line
>>> appropriately. But I sometimes make typos.

>> Ah, that must be it then - you need to get the computer to do it.

> GPS signals don't penetrate well through 4 floors of 6mm steel
> plate to my cabin (or workshop). And in some countries, possession of
> GPS is sufficient grounds for you to do months of hard time in the
> prison system while you try to prove that you're NOT a spy. Plus it's
> more weight in the baggage - every second flight to the rigs this year
> the passengers are getting weighed along with their baggage with *lots*
> of pressure to cut your baggage weights down.

Aren't there now mobile phones where GPS is merely one more feature?


> How to do it? Hmmm, I'd need to get a serial port onto the
> laptop somehow (several possibilities - which I was thinking about for
> other reasons today) then read the simple NMEA (acronym anagram? been a
> while since I read up on GPS) stream ; pass it to a script some how
> that will break out the co-ords from each line of the appropriate
> phrase of NMEA. Do-able without rocket science.

Or just have a lookup table for the wi-fi hub currently in use.


> Botherable-with? After I wash the cat.

LOL


> Ho hum. Midnight approaching and Lara Croft has fallen to her
> death for the enough'th time tonight. I feel a snooze coming on.

Hold down both shifts while hitting the B & N keys for Lara to join you
in her Babydoll Nightie...


Tennant

--
____ ____ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ ____
(_ _)( ___)( \( )( \( ) /__\ ( \( )(_ _) Greetings to family
)( )__) ) ( ) ( /(__)\ ) ( )( friends & neighbours
(__) (____)(_)\_)(_)\_)(__)(__)(_)\_) (__) @orpheus.co.uk & MCR
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