[B5JMS] Ramming Speed

[b5jms-admin at cs.columbia.edu]

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From: "Andrew Swallow" <am.swallow at eatspam.btinternet.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Jan 2003 23:44:04 +0000 (UTC)
Lines: 28

"Robert Perkins" <rob_perkins at hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:n91t0v8vfd1oojlv3fmh80vr9flikpqv4g at 4ax.com...
[snip]
> Might be wrong, but all human knowledge is connective. Transistors
> don't operate at all as current sources, but it's useful to call them
> current sources in order to understand their behavior in terms of the
> rest of an electronic circuit.
>
> It's his fantasy, and if JMS wants to use a readily understandable
> term to make his story accessable to people like my mother-in-law,
> rather than using tiresome technobabble like in that other show, then
> I'd call it a good move. It's the Story that counts, after all. And
> the other stuff he got *right* more than makes up for it.
>

There are other examples of things not being what they are called.
A scientific one is that electrons come from the *negative* end
of a battery.

A variation on the thoughts about ramming speed command.
Ramming speed could be the speed of light.  The two ram
simply occurs before the ship gets to the requested speed.
This makes the command both military and technologically
correct (although physically impossible).

Andrew Swallow



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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 03 Jan 2003 00:40:25 GMT
Lines: 22

Actually, ramming speed *is* a legitimate term, because it encompasses several
sub-sets of instructions, to wit:

1) Turn off or over-ride all safety mechanisms designed to protect a collision 

2) Use full speed, without concern about fuel or other aspects (such as turning
away at the last minute).

Most big ships have safeguards designed to help prevent collisions; ramming
speed as an order over-rides those safety precautions (this per a Navy captain
who explained it to me a while back).

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd., 
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine 
and don't send me story ideas)