22_51bb88b8@fidonet.org>   
   From: alexander koryagin    
      
   Hi, Roy Witt!   
   I read your message from 14.06.2013 16:15   
      
      
    ak>> "Planet" means a wandering star.   
    RW> Not necessarily. Planets were known to exist even in ancient times   
    RW> and they were known to be celestial bodies orbiting the sun. During   
    RW> the christian era of 1300 AD or so onward to modern times, it was   
    RW> blasphemy to think of anything in space orbiting anything but the   
    RW> Earth. Today and before christianity came along, we knew better.   
      
      The thing you have told doesn't refute my words. Ancient people did   
   not know any difference between stars and planets, except the one that   
   planets wander in the sky. That's why astrology had deal with both stars   
   ans planets.   
      
      
    ak>> Now we know the difference. BTW, in Russian books of scientific   
    ak>> fantasy we also have an equivalent of "astronaut", but we call in   
    ak>> such a way only those people who travel between stars really.   
      
    RW> When I get into my car and drive off, I'm a 'time traveler',   
    RW> difference.   
      
      "Time traveler" is not correct, IMHO. You can't travel through time   
   in your car, can't you?   
      
      
    ak>> You do, but the word "space" is not a self-sufficing term. There   
    ak>> is space in a kennel, too. When we speak of the space where the   
    ak>> stars and planets move, we, if we want to be perfectly correct,   
    ak>> speak of the cosmic space. That's why "cosmonaut" is more correct.   
    ak>> ;-)   
      
    RW> In reality, when traveling in 'outer' space, aka the universe,   
    RW> we're not merely a cosmonaut, but interstellar space travelers.   
      
      Stars and visible matter is just 4 percent of the Universe. The other   
   part is known as the dark matter. Traveling in space, we can travel   
   through vast regions where there no stars at all. We can easily say   
   that stars is an exclusion from the rules. That's why "space traveler"   
   (or " cosmonaut") is a more cool and long-term definition.   
      
      (Stars and visible matter is just 4 percent...)? (stars is an   
   exclusion...)?   
      
      
    ak>> actually, 96 percent of things that exist in the Universe are   
    ak>> located in the place which people call vacuum.   
      
    RW> So, is the universe expanding or collapsing?   
      
      For a while it expands with acceleration, like the gas during an   
   explosion. It is still in the process of explosion - some billions years   
   elapsed from the beginning is a very short term for such a huge   
   explosion.   
      
   Bye, Roy!   
   Alexander Koryagin   
   fido7.english-tutor 2013   
   --- ifmail v.2.15dev5.4   
    * Origin: NPO RUSnet InterNetNews site (2:5020/400)