Solar System’s First Interstellar Visitor Dazzles Scientists

Started by Unbeliever, December 22, 2017, 06:03:18 PM

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Unbeliever

Quote from: Cavebear on December 26, 2017, 04:30:25 AM
"The internal system was penetrated and we didn't even get mildly excited before it was gone"?
And not even any foreplay - just slam, bam, thank you ma'am!
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

trdsf

I was listening to an audiobook of Rendezvous with Rama when I heard about it, for that extra layer of weirdness.  :)
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Unbeliever

That's an excellent book! I've read one of the sequels, but not all of them. Something to look forward to!
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

trdsf

Quote from: Unbeliever on December 27, 2017, 03:28:18 PM
That's an excellent book! I've read one of the sequels, but not all of them. Something to look forward to!
I cannot recommend the sequels -- they're not really Clarke anyway, they're Gentry Lee's work with only stray input from Clarke and nowhere near as good.  Rama II is tolerable in spots; The Garden of Rama and Rama Revealed are just awful.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Unbeliever

Well, that's too bad. I'd hoped Lee could do them justice, but not everyone can be A.C. Clarke, I guess.
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

trdsf

Quote from: Unbeliever on December 27, 2017, 04:27:52 PM
Well, that's too bad. I'd hoped Lee could do them justice, but not everyone can be A.C. Clarke, I guess.
In fact, the main thing that Rama Revealed is that Gentry Lee is no Arthur C. Clarke.

The books all devolved into (allegedly) intelligent people deliberately doing demonstrably stupid things for dumb reasonsâ€"with various pauses along the way for homophobia, genocide, enforced polyamory, and a creepy December-May relationshipâ€"all wrapped up with a genuinely disappointing dénouement.  It was as out-of-place with Clarke's work as Benford's Foundation's Fear was with Asimov's.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Baruch

Quote from: trdsf on December 29, 2017, 10:24:18 AM
In fact, the main thing that Rama Revealed is that Gentry Lee is no Arthur C. Clarke.

The books all devolved into (allegedly) intelligent people deliberately doing demonstrably stupid things for dumb reasonsâ€"with various pauses along the way for homophobia, genocide, enforced polyamory, and a creepy December-May relationshipâ€"all wrapped up with a genuinely disappointing dénouement.  It was as out-of-place with Clarke's work as Benford's Foundation's Fear was with Asimov's.

Did you think that the 4th and 5th books in the Asimov trilogy (Foundation) to be any good?
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Unbeliever

Why would a "trilogy" have more than 3 books?

Maybe the triune God is more than just Big Daddy, Junior and the Spook?
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

trdsf

Quote from: Unbeliever on December 29, 2017, 04:28:07 PM
Why would a "trilogy" have more than 3 books?
I am reminded that as books were added, Douglas Adams referred to his series as 'the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhikers Guide trilogy'.  :)

Words like 'tetralogy' or 'pentalogy' don't fall off the tongue quite so easily, though, do they?  I don't know why we don't use them.  They're perfectly cromulent words.  And even though it's the right word for them, we refer to the seven Harry Potter books as the 'Harry Potter series' or just the 'Harry Potter books' rather than the 'Harry Potter heptalogy'.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Shiranu

Quote from: PopeyesPappy on December 24, 2017, 10:23:08 AM
The state of NASA aside, no country or agency on Earth currently has the technology to send any type of probe to the general vicinity of this object. It was already moving away from the sun, and moving to fast for us to catch up with it by the time it was first discovered. The launch for such an intercept would have to have taken place months if not years in advance.

Well that's boring then.
"A little science distances you from God, but a lot of science brings you nearer to Him." - Louis Pasteur

Baruch

Quote from: Unbeliever on December 29, 2017, 04:28:07 PM
Why would a "trilogy" have more than 3 books?

Maybe the triune God is more than just Big Daddy, Junior and the Spook?

It was a trilogy for a long time.  Then after decades, he found he could write some more, then stopped again, empty of more things to say on the subject.

In Kabbalah, G-d is a dekad.  Each component (sephirot) linked by the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.  Leading to gematria.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.