From: "Peter Jovanovic" <peterzoran-AT-hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: AUT: Perplexing Ilan
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2002 12:02:34 +1100


hi all

Thiago wrote:
>Yes but how can I tell if supporting the greens in my local town will, in 
> >twenty years time, lead to them throwing their lot in with the the 
>bombers? >How would anyone have guessed the way Joschka Fischer went?

well there was the precedent of the European socialist parties rapidly 
changing from a (rhetorical) position of general strike in the event of war 
to acting as recruiting sergeants for their respective governments in 1914 
(not including the Russian, Italian and Serbian parties). First time as 
tragedy, second time as farce anyone?

as sure as night follows day parliamentary 'radicals' will support the 
imperatives of capitalism.

>Throwing a rock at the moon is pretty easy physics; there are only two
>objects involved, the rocket itself being to small to matter. Three 
>objects, >however, and you have chaos.

that's not entirely true. there is no 'general' solution to a three-body 
problem in gravitational physics but if your measurements are good enough it 
is possible to make good predictions for a fairly long time. barring the 
entry of massive objects from outside the solar system no-one need worry 
that the earth will be ejected from its orbit anytime soon despite it being 
part of a system with a sun, nine planets and
dozens of moons.

peter

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