Subject:
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Re: Some great Space info and dicussion
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.space
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Date:
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Thu, 16 Jan 2003 19:31:56 GMT
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Viewed:
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918 times
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In lugnet.space, Frank Filz writes:
> Brandon Harris wrote:
> > There was some physics geek who wrote this great little thing
> > about the effects of firing a can of ravioli at a star
> > destroyer at varying speeds. It's been circulating the net
> > for years and years - I first saw it in college. Anyways,
> > the sheer amount of devastation that a can of ravioli would be
> > able to do at even Mach 4 is pretty impressive.
>
> At an SF convention when I was in college, one fellow gave his theory of
> what first contact would be like:
>
> A large rock hurtling towards Earth at relativistic speeds. Boom! Flash!
One of my favorite products from Ad Astra games (who make games that
actually use science) is a T-Shirt, with the front showing:
"Give a person a relativistic rock, and they will shatter a planet today.
Teach them to do the math, and they will shatter planets for the rest of
their lives."
The back, in much smaller print, has the math. :)
> His theory was that once you develop the capability to easily visit
> other star systems, that you also easily have the capability of
> accelerating rocks to relativistic speeds. Since there's not much one
> can do to defend against such a tactic, should you find any
> technological society on another planet, you must pre-emptively strike.
You can defend against it though; all you need to do is shoot a rock of your
own, and meet it halfway.
James
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Some great Space info and dicussion
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| (...) Ahh, but that assumes you have the technology. His theory is that you will get blasted to oblivion before you get the technology. There's also the time factor. You don't have all that blasted much time to react to something approaching at (...) (22 years ago, 16-Jan-03, to lugnet.space)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Some great Space info and dicussion
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| (...) At an SF convention when I was in college, one fellow gave his theory of what first contact would be like: A large rock hurtling towards Earth at relativistic speeds. Boom! Flash! His theory was that once you develop the capability to easily (...) (22 years ago, 15-Jan-03, to lugnet.space)
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