Starship Asterisk*

by **Beyond** » Sun Aug 25, 2013 12:46 am

WHAT

No tar and feathers

That just takes all the fun out of a good riot

by **geckzilla** » Sun Aug 25, 2013 12:38 am

Quick, get the pitchforks and the torches. The editors made a mistake.

by **ScienceRules** » Sun Aug 25, 2013 12:11 am

Re: ... the Bermuda Triangle
Big mistake mentioning the Bermuda Triangle. There is no evidence that any such area exists (see Brian Dunning's epic take down at skeptoid.com/episodes/4337). It would be as ridiculous as a paleontology website putting up an image of a plesiosaur and saying "some people speculate that this is the explanation for the Loch Ness monster". To show how bad things have become, this image appeared in my Facebook newsfeed today (August 28 2013) from the SceinceAlert page!! They even reiterated the Bermuda Triangle comment!! What's the harm? By simply mentioning it's existence you've given credence to pseudoscience and their peddlers, the sworn enemy of real science (including astronomy). What next, a hat tip to the Chariot of the Gods?

by **emc** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:31 pm

Bermuda Triangle where things are said to go haywire. And you don't really want wire in your hay.

by **Beyond** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 7:33 pm

emc wrote:
Beyond wrote:But not the gecko
It’s beyond me... wait a minute... you’re Beyond... I’m confused... must the the BT effect!

BT effect

Now you've got me confused.

by **emc** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 7:29 pm

Beyond wrote:But not the gecko

It’s beyond me... wait a minute... you’re Beyond... I’m confused... must the the BT effect!

by **geckzilla** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 7:11 pm

Yes, it's the idea inferred by the APOD description that there is any kind of effect within the triangle is what truly doesn't exist. So that makes the triangle itself meaningless. It doesn't exist any more or less than a Cuban Triangle created by replacing the Bermuda point with Havana.

by **bystander** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 6:53 pm

The Bermuda Triangle exists. It's just a geographical area defined by Miami, FL, San Juan, PR, and the island of Bermuda. Regardless of the status of the myths and urban legends that flourish about the area, the area exists. If it ceased to exist, now, that would be a story.

by **Beyond** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 4:59 pm

But not the

gecko

by **emc** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 4:01 pm

just the kind of thing a person could get lost in

by **geckzilla** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 3:58 pm

That's not a triangle. It's a three section equidistant radial symmetry drawing. That's my explanation and I'm sticking to it.

by **emc** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 3:55 pm

your avatar (which i like) indicates otherwise

by **geckzilla** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 3:23 pm

I have no desire to do any such thing. I'm just claiming simple ignorance for the APOD and for myself on the whole Triangle thing.

by **emc** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 1:37 pm

neufer wrote:Perhaps an APOD might suggest a more physical explanation
as to how Elias Ashmole was able to converse with archangels.

synapse

by **neufer** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 1:20 pm

geckzilla wrote:
RedFishBlueFish wrote:
. . . however, too bad APOD could not present this without pandering to the endless demand for mysterious or supernatural hogwash.
Who doesn't like a good mystery, though? For as long as I've been following APOD, they've never tried to explain anything supernaturally. It's always either a statement about what we know or what we don't know. They do quite often ask questions and leave one to speculate, though. Anyway, I think you're being unfair here. Anyone can fall for an urban legend. Heck, I didn't know that the Bermuda Triangle had been formally dismissed yet. It always seemed really fishy but it's not totally impossible that some kind of natural local phenomenon could cause an increase in shipwrecks or plane crashes without resorting to paranormal or extraterrestrial explanations. It's good to know it was all just a fabrication, though.

The APOD seemed to imply that:

1) an excess of waterspouts in the Bermuda Triangle
- might be responsible for:
2) an excess of disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle.

When in fact there is little evidence for either.

Elias Ashmole claimed that he could converse with archangels using a Philosophers’ Stone.

Perhaps an APOD might suggest a more physical explanation
as to how Elias Ashmole was able to converse with archangels.

by **emc** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 12:49 pm

Beyond wrote:Gee, Art's getting more active in his older age. He buffaloed us in the ISON Comet thread, and now he's horsing around in the Waterspout thread. I wonder what and where will be the next bout of friskiness for us to appreciate

“Where now are the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the harp on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;
The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow.
Who shall gather the smoke of the deadwood burning,
Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning?”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

by **DavidLeodis** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 12:09 pm

The waterspout has a look like the python that is opening a door in this recent very brief video:- http://video.uk.msn.com/watch/video/gia ... /1j447yr8u

The video does look it is a set up, but nevertheless it is still funny (well it is to me!).

Apologies if there is an advert to watch before the video.

by **Beyond** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 12:06 pm

Gee, Art's getting more active in his older age. He buffaloed us in the ISON Comet thread, and now he's horsing around in the Waterspout thread. I wonder what and where will be the next bout of friskiness for us to appreciate

by **neufer** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 11:30 am

emc wrote:
geckzilla wrote:
Art has now loaded the horse's atoms into the particle accelerator
and blasted them all into the tiniest pieces.
Does Peter Higgs know about this?

A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

by **emc** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 11:25 am

Does Peter Higgs know about this?

by **geckzilla** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 4:10 am

Art has now loaded the horse's atoms into the particle accelerator and blasted them all into the tiniest pieces.

by **neufer** » Wed Jul 17, 2013 11:35 pm

geckzilla wrote:
Who doesn't like a good mystery, though?

Charles Dickens : "It is a great comfort, to my way of thinking, that so little is
known concerning the poet. The life of Shakespeare is a fine mystery and I
tremble every day lest something turn up."

by **geckzilla** » Wed Jul 17, 2013 10:13 pm

RedFishBlueFish wrote:. . . however, too bad APOD could not present this without pandering to the endless demand for mysterious or supernatural hogwash.

Who doesn't like a good mystery, though? For as long as I've been following APOD, they've never tried to explain anything supernaturally. It's always either a statement about what we know or what we don't know. They do quite often ask questions and leave one to speculate, though. Anyway, I think you're being unfair here. Anyone can fall for an urban legend. Heck, I didn't know that the Bermuda Triangle had been formally dismissed yet. It always seemed really fishy but it's not totally impossible that some kind of natural local phenomenon could cause an increase in shipwrecks or plane crashes without resorting to paranormal or extraterrestrial explanations. It's good to know it was all just a fabrication, though.

by **BMAONE23** » Wed Jul 17, 2013 9:07 pm

alzie wrote:Sharknado?!

Speaking of Sharknado
Or courtesy of WIKI
Only on SYFY (thankfully)

by **BMAONE23** » Wed Jul 17, 2013 9:03 pm

RedFishBlueFish wrote:The "Bermuda Triangle" does not, in any meaningful way, exist.

As Mr Kusche's research showed quite convincingly in his 1975 book the whole idea was invented by writers for men's adventure magazines in the 1960s. The triangle is no more real than new-age "energy" (what sort of energy is being posited?) vortices, the Loch Ness monster or the moon-landing-as-hoax conspiracy delusion.

That said: Quite a remarkable picture - thanks for sharing it; however, too bad APOD could not present this without pandering to the endless demand for mysterious or supernatural hogwash.

I DUNNO...Looks kinda like a type of vortex to me

Starship Asterisk*

APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

Post a reply

Expand view Topic review: APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

Re: APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

Re: APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

Re: APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

Re: APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

Re: Beyond the Triangle

Re: Beyond the Triangle

Re: APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

Re: APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

Re: APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

Re: APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

Re: APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

Re: APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

Re: APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

Re: ... the Bermuda Triangle

Re: ... the Bermuda Triangle

Re: APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

Re: APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

Re: APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

Re: APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

Re: APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

Re: APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

Re: ... the Bermuda Triangle

Re: ... the Bermuda Triangle

Re: APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

Re: ... the Bermuda Triangle