French idiots

[kallend 2,182]

General relativity, the most complete description we have of the universe at astronomical scales, does not have any preferred center of the universe.

Hence any one place is as good as any other. The Sun, The Earth, Alpha Centauri, or the Moon are all equally good choices. And since all of those places are in some kind of orbit, the question of what rotates about what is pretty meaningless.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Scoop 0]

Who gives a shit what revolves around what? I wouldn't have known either.

Ask some people which way you turn a standard bolt to undo it and they wouldn't know either.

Doesn't make someone dumb if they don't know.

[airtwardo 7]

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Who gives a shit what revolves around what? I wouldn't have known either.

Ask some people which way you turn a standard bolt to undo it and they wouldn't know either.

Doesn't make someone dumb if they don't know.

Which begs the question...If yer dumb and don't know it, are you?

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[mikkey 0]

Ever watched "jaywalking" on Leno????

---------------------------------------------------------
When people look like ants - pull. When ants look like people - pray.

[dorbie 0]

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General relativity, the most complete description we have of the universe at astronomical scales, does not have any preferred center of the universe.

Hence any one place is as good as any other. The Sun, The Earth, Alpha Centauri, or the Moon are all equally good choices. And since all of those places are in some kind of orbit, the question of what rotates about what is pretty meaningless.

But then you're not arguing for the spinning Earth, merely the orbiting Earth.

General Relativity also tells us that the space time distortion which determines the local motion of the Earth and the Sun has its center located well within the Sun's volume at all times whether you're using the Earth or the Sun as your frame of reference.

You're basically advancing the same argument against the Earth orbiting the Sun as you did against the Moon orbiting the Earth. It's just more pedantic sophistry.

The moon rotates about the Earth, ths Sun does not and you need only examine the space-time distortion caused by their masses to determine this.

[rushmc 23]

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General relativity, the most complete description we have of the universe at astronomical scales, does not have any preferred center of the universe.

Hence any one place is as good as any other. The Sun, The Earth, Alpha Centauri, or the Moon are all equally good choices. And since all of those places are in some kind of orbit, the question of what rotates about what is pretty meaningless.

But then you're not arguing for the spinning Earth, merely the orbiting Earth.

General Relativity also tells us that the space time distortion which determines the local motion of the Earth and the Sun has its center located well within the Sun's volume at all times whether you're using the Earth or the Sun as your frame of reference.

You're basically advancing the same argument against the Earth orbiting the Sun as you did against the Moon orbiting the Earth. It's just more pedantic sophistry.

The moon rotates about the Earth, ths Sun does not and you need only examine the space-time distortion caused by their masses to determine this.

I don't understand why I am enjoying reading this thread so much. Cause for the most part I have not understood one thing that has be debated here Keep it up though, I am hoping to learn something

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[NCclimber 0]

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Sad to hear such pedantic contrivances from a physics professor.

Sad to hear such disregard for accuracy

Irony Scale - 10

[NCclimber 0]

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Highlighting the benefits of a good education.

http://www.break.com/index/56-percent-of-french-people-are-stupid.html

Depends on your frame of reference:

If you insist on being geocentric, then the Sun is a correct answer too.

If you don't insist, then both the Earth and the Moon both rotate about their common center of mass, and about the Sun, and about the center of the Galaxy, and...

All this from "What rotates around the Earth?"

Impressive.

[misskriss 0]

I've been following just to see how many times the word pedantic or a version thereof will be used. Six so far. Keep it up!!

edit.. woops . It might be just five.

[Amazon 7]

Some people do seem to like to resort to its use frequently here in SC as an interesting form of PA.

Pedantic

[dorbie 0]

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Some people do seem to like to resort to its use frequently here in SC as an interesting form of PA.

Pedantic

Bullshit. It is not a PA it is being used EXACTLY appropriately in this thread to characterize the claim made that a question about the Moon vs. the Sun circling the Earth is meaningless.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pedantic

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pe·dan·tic
–adjective 1. ostentatious in one's learning.
2. overly concerned with minute details or formalisms, esp. in teaching.

pe·dan·tic
adj. Characterized by a narrow, often ostentatious concern for book learning and formal rules: a pedantic attention to details.

[Amazon 7]

There are all kinds of definitions you can go look up there...


http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/anal%20retentive

[billvon 3,132]

Dorbie, stop calling people pedantic.

Amazon, stop calling people anal retentive.

Kallend, stop calling people dumb.

[dorbie 0]

No.

[billvon 3,132]

>No.

In that case, take some time off.

[SkyDekker 1,465]

Well, of course the french are idiots...they are surrounded by muslims and we are not bailing them out again....

oops, I am no longer on my cruise.....

[shropshire 0]

Take another stroll on the poop deck

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[NCclimber 0]

Don't know why...


but when I see the title of this thread, I can't help thinking about...




Steeempy!



YOU EE-DEE-YOT!!!

[kelpdiver 2]

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Indeed quite shameful (and comical in a sad way).
Although I wonder if most other countries would fare better. I think we tend to over estimate the cultural level of the average human being.

I think this thread (well, 3 people) have proven that we tend to overestimate the cultural importance of the knowledge that we individually hold. The stuff we don't know is trivial bullshit, of course.

[kallend 2,182]

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General relativity, the most complete description we have of the universe at astronomical scales, does not have any preferred center of the universe.

Hence any one place is as good as any other. The Sun, The Earth, Alpha Centauri, or the Moon are all equally good choices. And since all of those places are in some kind of orbit, the question of what rotates about what is pretty meaningless.

But then you're not arguing for the spinning Earth, merely the orbiting Earth.

Makes no difference to the argument, just to the perceived rotation rate.

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General Relativity also tells us that the space time distortion which determines the local motion of the Earth and the Sun has its center located well within the Sun's volume at all times whether you're using the Earth or the Sun as your frame of reference.

You're basically advancing the same argument against the Earth orbiting the Sun as you did against the Moon orbiting the Earth. It's just more pedantic sophistry.

The moon rotates about the Earth, ths Sun does not and you need only examine the space-time distortion caused by their masses to determine this.

I don't think Einstein was being pedantic in correcting the Copernican/Galilean view of the universe.

All known intelligent life in the universe uses Earth lat. 0.0 long. 0.0 as the origin.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[ryoder 1,590]

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Which begs the question...If yer dumb and don't know it, are you?

Here is a serious paper on that very topic:

http://www.apa.org/journals/features/psp7761121.pdf

The simple answer is "Yes", and that situation is probably the norm, rather than the exception.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[virgin-burner 1]

fucks sake, dont you guys know that the universe revolves around me!?

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[kallend 2,182]

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fucks sake, dont you guys know that the universe revolves around me!?

A perfectly acceptable position to take, according to Einstein.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[HeadCone 0]

Here are some thoughts I have since I was finally able to pose a question today to someone I know.

First is that my initial impression was that this question is extremely easy. I thought that most people would (even should) know the answer.

But then I asked someone who I know who is in his 60s, never took any astronomy classes in high school, never attended college, and never had any interest in astronomy. His answer was a guess at the moon. Got it right, but it was a guess. That actually surprised me.

Then I recall that I have watched a bunch of episodes of "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire" and remember that every once in a great while I don't know the answer to one of the "really easy" questions (the ones at or below the first guaranteed money level ($1000 in the U.S.)). These always seem to be some nursery rhyme or saying that never in my life I've heard before.

Now I realize that someone who was never taught nor never had any interest in astronomy just may not know the answer to this.

My next thought is that I wonder if most people in the room weren't reading or understanding the question correctly. Even though the question was asking about what goes around the earth, people were thinking it backwards and thinking about what does the earth go around. I think that might explain why practically no one voted for Mars or Venus. Perhaps that 56% mostly knows the structure of the solar system but got the question backwards.

--Head

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Turn off the internet! Join Citizens United Negating Technology For Life And People's Safety!

http://www.citizensunitednegatingtechnology.org/

[freethefly 6]

Well, the French did dump the "Le Car" on Americans and Americans bought it. They can't be all that dumb.
Side note; The designer of the Le Car died before it was revealed saving himself from facing the embarrasment of designing such a major piece of junk.
Top speed of the Le Car was near 50mph, downhill with a tail wind. Any head wind and it was going back up the hill backwards.
One must be very careful not to hit bugs on the freeway in a Le Car as a good size butterfly would most likely total the car. Butterflies seemed to fly away with but a bent wing.

"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young