APOD: A Waterspout in Florida (2013 Jul 17)

[geckzilla]

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

[emc]

Does Peter Higgs know about this?

[neufer]

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!

[Beyond]

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

[DavidLeodis]

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.

[emc]

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

[neufer]

. . . 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.

[emc]

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

synapse

[geckzilla]

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.

[emc]

your avatar (which i like) indicates otherwise

[geckzilla]

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

[emc]

just the kind of thing a person could get lost in

[Beyond]

But not the gecko

[bystander]

---

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.

[geckzilla]

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.

[emc]

But not the gecko

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

[Beyond]

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.

[emc]

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

[ScienceRules]

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?

[geckzilla]

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

[Beyond]

WHAT No tar and feathers That just takes all the fun out of a good riot