Why I suspect Apollo was a hoax.

[bknight]

I know some people might feel that I took too long to ban him, but I try to find the right balance between "insta-ban" and "all the other members are getting angry because I haven't banned him yet".

I'm not going to ban someone the instant they post something that might be considered troll-like. There can be a fine line between a sincere belief and a phoney belief that is only intended to provoke anger. I am still not sure whether he really believes that the Earth is flat or not, and if he was actually willing to discuss it properly I would be more than willing to allow it.

No complaints from me.

[Zakalwe]

Spoiler warning.

A few fantastical elements in Gravity were perfectly fine as dramatic license, e.g., Clooney's temporary reappearance in the Soyuz. That simply showed her state of mind, i.e., that she was hallucinating.

But the orbital mechanics was just plain terrible. So was much of the behavior and dialogue of the astronauts.

And don't get me started on the orbital debris. It's far less dense and moving far faster, usually many times the speed of a rifle bullet, which means a single tiny object is enough to kill you; you don't need the huge swarms depicted. You generally don't see a rifle bullet coming either.

Ive tried three times to watch that film, but have yet to make it further than 20 minutes in without wanting to put my foot through the TV screen. Clooney is normally OK in movies, but his pairing with Sandra Bollocks, and the ridiculousness of the movie made it unwatchable.

[JayUtah]

I know some people might feel that I took too long to ban him, but I try to find the right balance between "insta-ban" and "all the other members are getting angry because I haven't banned him yet".

And good job, too.  Don't interpret my "good riddance" as criticism of your timing or method.  I just mean he was given more than a fair chance to be something other than a shrill attention-seeker, and he demonstrated no interest.

[onebigmonkey]

I know some people might feel that I took too long to ban him, but I try to find the right balance between "insta-ban" and "all the other members are getting angry because I haven't banned him yet".

And good job, too.  Don't interpret my "good riddance" as criticism of your timing or method.  I just mean he was given more than a fair chance to be something other than a shrill attention-seeker, and he demonstrated no interest.

And a good riddance from me too.

It's one thing for someone to try and discuss something and encourage you to find things out in order to rebut an argument, but the all too common habit recently is for someone to declare themselves the expert and offer nothing but their contempt to the debate. This particularly idiot was a prime example of that trend.

[DD Brock]

No, I've got no complaints how he was handled here. He was given every opportunity, yet he continued to simply troll away with reckless abandon.

I fully agree with not swinging the ban hammer right off the bat.

[Zakalwe]

It was only a matter of time before he was banned. He can slip back into the ooze from whence he came.

[raven]

No, I've got no complaints how he was handled here. He was given every opportunity, yet he continued to simply troll away with reckless abandon.

I fully agree with not swinging the ban hammer right off the bat.

Give them enough rope, and they'll hang themselves. In his case, he braided it and tied the knots!

[bknight]

It was only a matter of time before he was banned. He can slip back into the ooze from whence he came.

Commenting on his FE threads about how he was banned for attempting to reveal the "truth"

[raven]

It was only a matter of time before he was banned. He can slip back into the ooze from whence he came.

Commenting on his FE threads about how he was banned for attempting to reveal the "truth"

You should point out his lies about only believing for a year only to have a thread of his from several years ago, if you have not already.

[bknight]

It was only a matter of time before he was banned. He can slip back into the ooze from whence he came.

Commenting on his FE threads about how he was banned for attempting to reveal the "truth"

You should point out his lies about only believing for a year only to have a thread of his from several years ago, if you have not already.

I don't go to those types of forums, YT is as far up on the stupidity scale as I go.

[raven]

It was only a matter of time before he was banned. He can slip back into the ooze from whence he came.

Commenting on his FE threads about how he was banned for attempting to reveal the "truth"

You should point out his lies about only believing for a year only to have a thread of his from several years ago, if you have not already.

I don't go to those types of forums, YT is as far up on the stupidity scale as I go.

Ooh, gotcha. Your wording made it sound like you were, but I see my mistake now. Thanks.

[Dr_Orpheus]

You should point out his lies about only believing for a year only to have a thread of his from several years ago, if you have not already.

Technically, that prior post only showed a belief in a fixed Earth rather than a flat one.  He could have been advocating a round fixed Earth at that point.

[raven]

You should point out his lies about only believing for a year only to have a thread of his from several years ago, if you have not already.

Technically, that prior post only showed a belief in a fixed Earth rather than a flat one.  He could have been advocating a round fixed Earth at that point.

OK, fair point.

[ka9q]

Since I am hard of hearing, I missed the origin of the debris field that the hit them.

It was said to be from the Kessler Syndrome, which is a real concept: as we reach a critical density of debris in orbit, collisions will become more frequent, generating even more debris that generates even more collisions. Whole regions of orbit could become almost unusable because of the debris hazard.

But it doesn't happen that fast. It develops over years, especially after rare but spectacular collisions like that between Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251 generate large amounts of debris. But the debris is mostly small and spreads out along the orbit; it doesn't travel in close groups of big visible chunks as depicted in the film. If one ever hit, it would be as if somebody shot you with a very high powered sniper rifle with (most likely) a very tiny bullet. And you wouldn't see it coming.

There are arguments that a Kessler Syndrome has already started in certain low-earth orbits, particularly around 800 km. The one in Gravity was said to originate in geostationary orbit (I think - somebody correct me) which is far less likely, would not develop as quickly as depicted, and would not send debris so low.

And you wouldn't see it coming, at least not in the way depicted. You might have warning of the larger chunks since they can be tracked and cataloged on the ground, and the ISS astronauts routinely dodge these things (if they have time) or hide out in the Soyuz (if they can't). But most of the objects are too small to be seen with current sensors, and that's what people are most worried about.

As an analogy, you wouldn't say the volume of space including an active battlefield is "crowded" with bullets in the sense that they mostly fill the available volume, nor are you likely to see any of those bullets in flight with your own eyes. But you sure wouldn't want to travel through there.

[bknight]

Since I am hard of hearing, I missed the origin of the debris field that the hit them.

It was said to be from the Kessler Syndrome, which is a real concept: as we reach a critical density of debris in orbit, collisions will become more frequent, generating even more debris that generates even more collisions. Whole regions of orbit could become almost unusable because of the debris hazard.

But it doesn't happen that fast. It develops over years, especially after rare but spectacular collisions like that between Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251 generate large amounts of debris. But the debris is mostly small and spreads out along the orbit; it doesn't travel in close groups of big visible chunks as depicted in the film. If one ever hit, it would be as if somebody shot you with a very high powered sniper rifle with (most likely) a very tiny bullet. And you wouldn't see it coming.

There are arguments that a Kessler Syndrome has already started in certain low-earth orbits, particularly around 800 km. The one in Gravity was said to originate in geostationary orbit (I think - somebody correct me) which is far less likely, would not develop as quickly as depicted, and would not send debris so low.

And you wouldn't see it coming, at least not in the way depicted. You might have warning of the larger chunks since they can be tracked and cataloged on the ground, and the ISS astronauts routinely dodge these things (if they have time) or hide out in the Soyuz (if they can't). But most of the objects are too small to be seen with current sensors, and that's what people are most worried about.

As an analogy, you wouldn't say the volume of space including an active battlefield is "crowded" with bullets in the sense that they mostly fill the available volume, nor are you likely to see any of those bullets in flight with your own eyes. But you sure wouldn't want to travel through there.

Ok, but why a field of "debris" at 800 Km? I wasn't aware of that many satellites and upper stages in that orbit.  Seems like there would be a lot in geostationary or at ~400 Km(or whatever the ISS median is).