XPost: rec.arts.sf.tv, rec.arts.tv   
   From: kwicker1b_nospam@comcast.net   
      
   "Paul Vader"  wrote in message   
   news:11m1md9i952fv44@news.supernews.com...   
   > ANIM8Rfsk  writes:   
   >>> On the other hand, TOS era ships are so overpowered that you wonder why   
   >>> they bother going into orbit at all - they could just hang there in the   
   >>> same way that bricks don't. *   
   >>   
   >>That's exactly what they do.  They call it 'standard orbit' but it really   
   >>ain't no such thing.   
   >   
   > I guess this isn't really a fanwank. The military uses the term orbit to   
   > mean 'circling in the air over one place', so we can say that's what   
   > they're doing, because it DOES explain the constant instabilities that   
   > they're always experiencing when they lose power, as you said.   
   >   
   > It's a shame that it was never SHOWED that way in any series. Orbits   
   > always   
   > look like the conventional kind (other than the planets always being   
   > ridiculously too small in TOS). *   
   > --   
   > * PV   something like badgers--something like lizards--and something   
   >       like corkscrews.   
      
   But this means we're all kinda right. You're using the term "orbit" in its   
   scientific astronomical meaning while I was using it more loosely as far   
   circling a planet and Anim was using it as a standard term that is   
   predefined regardless of scientific correctness, akin to "English muffins"   
   which don't originate from England.   
      
   -- Ken from Chicago   
      
   P.S. "The number one reason people argue: people defining the same terms   
   differently."--Ken from Chicago   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)