Hunchback's major (mis)understanding of Apollo TV tech.

[ka9q]

Isn't doing much good...

It might be fun to collect a list of Hunchbacked's more amusing witticisms. Since his native language isn't English it's a bit unfair to criticize him on it, but his language is highly idiosyncratic and some of his word choices are persistently unusual. I once saw him on a different forum posting under a different name, and I asked if he was 'hunchbacked' on Youtube. He said 'Yes, how did you know??' To me, it was obvious.

Some of my favorite Hunchbacked terms

incoherence - a supposed inconsistency or contradiction in the record
disinformer - a badge I wear with pride
jeep - the LRV
tasty - frequent adjective for his 'incoherence' discoveries

[Allan F]

Regarding his lack of understanding of perspective - is it possible he is vision impared - perhaps blind on one eye?

[ka9q]

I've wondered the same thing. Or maybe "lazy eye"? I've asked him but he's always ignored the question.

Your brain maintains a model of the would around you. Two eyes certainly help, but you also do it with just one 'eye' for (non-3D) photos, TV and movies. You judge perspective with your intuitive understanding of geometry, by reference to familiar objects, and (for TV and movies) by how things change when the camera moves. This tells me that even people blind in one eye should still be able to judge visual perspective.

(The ease with which the human brain does this is really quite remarkable given how difficult the robotic vision problem has been. Otherwise autonomous cars wouldn't need radars or laser rangefinders, just a couple of cameras.)

The moon is certainly prone to optical illusions, mostly having to do with judging distances to distant objects because of the fractal nature of the lunar surface and the complete lack of familiar cues like atmospheric haze, roads, trees, houses, etc. The astronauts themselves often expressed frustration at not being able to judge distances; a rock might be small and close or huge and far away, and they wouldn't know until they tried to approach it.

Hunchbacked is prone to these same illusions, of course, but he also seems unable to interpret foreground scenes that most people find very easy to understand. It's a fascinating phenomenon, and we can't really know how much of it is just his burning desire to continually confirm his delusions. He never really explains what these perspective "incoherences" mean, only that something is wrong, ergo Apollo must have been faked.

[gillianren]

There's nothing wrong with not speaking English well if it isn't your first language.  There is something wrong with refusing to be corrected by native speakers.

[Noldi400]

I've wondered the same thing. Or maybe "lazy eye"? I've asked him but he's always ignored the question.

Your brain maintains a model of the would around you. Two eyes certainly help, but you also do it with just one 'eye' for (non-3D) photos, TV and movies. You judge perspective with your intuitive understanding of geometry, by reference to familiar objects, and (for TV and movies) by how things change when the camera moves. This tells me that even people blind in one eye should still be able to judge visual perspective.

We've discussed this a number of times.  It seems to me that there almost has to be something defective in his visual interpretation.  I (and others) had a long back-and-forth (I hate to use the term 'debate') about a shadow on one of the LM footpad joints that he insisted was a hole.  Sometimes it's very difficult for me to believe he's not joking, like when he takes measurements of a (rough) schematic diagram in a NASA manual, like this one:

and, based on his measurements, insists that the position of the line does not represent a possible orbit.

He just put a video up a few hours ago in which he rehashes some of the same old stuff, along with a few things that someone who has been "studying" the Apollo missions for as long as he has should know better than.*

He claims that there were no unmanned landings before Apollo - evidently the Surveyors never flew, nor Luna 9 or 13.

He claims that NASA took a huge risk in allowing AS-11 to land after there had been a fuel cell anomaly on AS-10, because a fuel cell failure on the LM during the descent could have "tragically ended" the mission.

And, of course, it was all because JFK was a master political manipulator - just ignore the fact that he didn't even live to see the first manned Gemini flight.

I don't know just what it is, but there's just something very odd there.  All just IMHO, of course.

Oh, and vocabulary? He uses "important" to mean 'more' or 'greater'; i.e. the CM had a more important velocity than the LM (was moving faster).

^{*I fully expect a visit from the bad grammar imps over that one.}

[Allan F]

"On the LM? Haven't he even looked at the specs?

I'm sure there wasn't a single functioning fuel cell on any of the LM's ever flown.

[smartcooky]

^{*I fully expect a visit from the bad grammar imps over that one.}

Yup. Never use a preposition to end a sentence with.   

[smartcooky]

"On the LM? Haven't he even looked at the specs?

I'm sure there wasn't a single functioning fuel cell on any of the LM's ever flown.

Which would indicate that he doesn't actually know what a fuel cell is!

He probably thinks its part of the fuel system rather than part of the electrical power system.

[Noldi400]

It gets better. When the LM was in its ascent and had gotten in sight of the CM, he complains that there's no lateral movement - it just stays in the same apparent place and gets closer.  Evidently he doesn't realize that two objects on an intercept course hold a steady bearing from each other.

We've all heard, I guess, how Armstrong and Aldrin found it too cold in the LM to sleep comfortably.  Hunchbacked, of course, finds this unbelievable (it should have been hot, he says)   despite the fact that it was heavily insulated and the crew had blocked off the windows to keep the light out.

He also makes another pass by the post-flight press conference, rehashing the "no stars" b.s., then complains that it was impossible to identify an astronaut's features through the EVA visors.

[twik]

It gets better. When the LM was in its ascent and had gotten in sight of the CM, he complains that there's no lateral movement - it just stays in the same apparent place and gets closer.  Evidently he doesn't realize that two objects on an intercept course hold a steady bearing from each other.

I presume he's thinking of steering a car, and how you constantly have to make corrections.

[Zach]

And he can be entertaining.His odd English vocabulary is another source of amusement. I wear the hunchbacked-awarded label of "disinformer" with considerable pride.

Hunchy does have pretty decent English for a non-native speaker. But have you noticed how it breaks down when he's cornered or flustered? He starts stringing together jibberish that's even less coherent than his usual ramblings. I'm not sure if it's intentional or involuntary, but it's a good "tell" when you've struck a nerve.

[Allan F]

Regarding his lack of understanding of perspective - is it possible he is vision impared - perhaps blind on one eye?

Hm - I asked him outright (politely, of course), and he didn't like that at all. Blocked me, and sent me a quite unfriendly message.

[Noldi400]

Regarding his lack of understanding of perspective - is it possible he is vision impared - perhaps blind on one eye?

Hm - I asked him outright (politely, of course), and he didn't like that at all. Blocked me, and sent me a quite unfriendly message.

I think he's been asked that a lot - I know I've asked him, and so has AWR.  He's probably come to regard it as a thinly-veiled insult.

[Daggerstab]

Isn't doing much good...

It might be fun to collect a list of Hunchbacked's more amusing witticisms. Since his native language isn't English it's a bit unfair to criticize him on it, but his language is highly idiosyncratic and some of his word choices are persistently unusual. I once saw him on a different forum posting under a different name, and I asked if he was 'hunchbacked' on Youtube. He said 'Yes, how did you know??' To me, it was obvious.

Some of my favorite Hunchbacked terms

incoherence - a supposed inconsistency or contradiction in the record
disinformer - a badge I wear with pride
jeep - the LRV
tasty - frequent adjective for his 'incoherence' discoveries

What is his native language? Some of these sound familiar to me. (E.g. because Bulgarian lacks a direct equivalent to "rover", in some translations the LRV is called "lunar jeep" or "lunar buggy", because the translators decided to re-use familiar loanwords instead of introducing a new one. And "disinformer" seems to be a "translation" by back-formation : since "информатор" is "informer", "дезинформатор" must be "disinformer". )

[smartcooky]

Isn't doing much good...

It might be fun to collect a list of Hunchbacked's more amusing witticisms. Since his native language isn't English it's a bit unfair to criticize him on it, but his language is highly idiosyncratic and some of his word choices are persistently unusual. I once saw him on a different forum posting under a different name, and I asked if he was 'hunchbacked' on Youtube. He said 'Yes, how did you know??' To me, it was obvious.

Some of my favorite Hunchbacked terms

incoherence - a supposed inconsistency or contradiction in the record
disinformer - a badge I wear with pride
jeep - the LRV
tasty - frequent adjective for his 'incoherence' discoveries

What is his native language? Some of these sound familiar to me. (E.g. because Bulgarian lacks a direct equivalent to "rover", in some translations the LRV is called "lunar jeep" or "lunar buggy", because the translators decided to re-use familiar loanwords instead of introducing a new one. And "disinformer" seems to be a "translation" by back-formation : since "информатор" is "informer", "дезинформатор" must be "disinformer". )

Hunchbacked is Dutch isn't he?