Vanity: Excuse me ? 30 meter asteroid within .1 lunar distance ?

Spaceweather.com ^ | 2/20/16

[gleeaikin]

I read Moon is a Harsh Mistress about 40 years ago, along with a number of other SciFi books.

Didn’t remember the throwing rocks at earth. As a young woman was intrigued with the power of women in their limited numbers, dual marriage, communal marriage, matriarchs keeping it all together, etc.

[MrEdd]

I read it before puberty, so I was more interested in the science and the political theory than in the sexual dynamics.

Heinlein is a better storyteller, and his post socialist brand of libertarianism seemed closer to workable than Any Rand ‘ s myopic objectivism. There was a vast array of political theorizing going on in science fiction - all presented in custom universes designed to make them seem compelling and workable.

[going hot]

Would be spectacular if it hit the moon. We would get a light show for weeks after the main event.

[cynwoody]

The meteor which flew past Chelyabinsk three years ago was estimated to be 20m in diameter and moving 40 to 43 thousand miles per hour. It exploded at an altitude of 18.4 miles with an energy release estimated at 500 kt of TNT. Watch.

[cynwoody]

Divide by 3.2808 to get meters/second and the answer is 144,842,721,287 m/second.

That's way high.

Just google it: 11,176 m/s, or 6.9444444 miles/s.

[gleeaikin]

I particularly remember a youth oriented Heinlein about a class of young space cadets who were place on an uninhabited (of humans) planet for a few weeks of survival testing. They were allowed one weapon. The hero decided on a knife as he thought a gun would make him overconfident. They were also told “Beware of the Karkers.” Turned out those were small vicious little animals in large quantities. Later when they asked about the Karkers they were told they had NOT been know about in advance, but every planet has Karkers. The trick is figuring out which they are before they kill you. I am not sure if I spelled Karkers correctly or even if that is the exact name. Do you remember this book and it’s title?

I just recently read the original uncut Stranger in a Strange Land. If you only read the cut version, this one is longer and more complicated especially in the realm of religion.

[MrEdd]

That would be Tunnel In The Sky if I remember correctly. The knife was named after Lady Macbeth.

I am hoping more of his books come out as ebooks. You can mostly just get the juveniles.

[Smokin' Joe]

Read down the thread. Error was found, recalculated, etc. But thanks!

[Smokin' Joe]

Did you read Venus of Dreams? I found it interesting, because Venus of Shadows and it were the only two books where there were Muslims in space. At the time, I found that amusing. Now, with the politics of this administration, a warning.

I still like the genre, although much of what passes for sci-fi is a bleedover into fantasy fields.

A good rollicking (swashbuckling) space opera is good escapist reading. Check out Baen Books for some good ones, and If you haven't read the Honor Harrington series, you might enjoy them. Political intrigue with good ol' shoot-em-ups!

I cut my teeth on Asimov, Heinlein, Bradbury, HG Wells, Jules Verne, Arthur C. Clarke, Harlan Ellison, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and a host of others. Although I don't recall which books/stories involved slinging rocks at planets, but the idea cropped up in a few places.

[Smokin' Joe]

Corrected calculation here. Again, thanks for the heads up! Good catch. (I hate it when that happens).

[SunkenCiv]

The physical detail in Lucifer’s Hammer was based on underlying science.

[musicman]

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