The Astronomy Thread

TheBeagle

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Jesus Christ I'm furious. I'm hanging out at my girlfriends house and talking about her 8 year old sons schooling. He goes to a private catholic school and is learning about Venus. They procede to tell me that Venus has plant life. To which I laugh and say wtf, that's not even close to the truth. So I ask why they say that and they show a book that the school gave him and he is studying out of, which is a 1990 book of Isaac Asimov, Venus a shrouded mystery which says ," some scientists and and many science fiction writers, pictured Mars as an old planet, looking like earth might in the distant future. They also thought of Venus as a young planet, and imagined that it looked a lot like earth in its prehistoric past, in the age of dinosaurs. They pictured Venus as a tropical world with warm oceans and lots of plant and animal life. Since Venus is about the same size as earth, many people looked upon it as earths twin." End of text.

Below this quote is a drawing with a river and plants growing around it. How the fuck can they be giving this book to kids in 2015. I'm so fucking mad right now I can't see straight. So then I get into an argument with her son about how this a wrong and there is no evidence that there was ever life on Venus. He then thinks I'm an idiot because it says so right there in his school book. I try to tell him that they're just saying people thought that it might have plant life at one point and we've learned it's not true since the. but it falls on deaf ears.

This is fucking ridiculous that this is what they're giving kids to learn out of.
That is grounds for a break-up. Either the mom is an empty headed idiot who also believes Venus has plant life or doesn't give a shit about her son's education. Either way, she is clearly part of the problem and raising another dipshit that will prolong the problem.

Jesus, that's just a hair short of being flat Earth levels of stupid.

Also...this is what comes of private schooling.
 

Furry

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I constantly feel your pain, bro. He's at an impressionable age where wrongs taunt to him may take a long time to fix if you don't give him good information in a very memorable way. Take him to a planetarium, especially one with a telescope or contact a local university to see if they have something similar. I know the one near me does viewing parties with extremely high powered telescopes. They usually have TAs and sometimes a professor around. You can have him ask about venus to one of them and maybe look at it through a telescope.

If you just tell him hes wrong, he'll go NU UH, I LEARNED IT. Most people (example this forum) do not question how they were educated ever. They simply assume that everything in the news and wikipedia is the truth.
 

Drakurii

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Mystery bright spots on dwarf planet Ceres puzzle Nasa | euronews, Sport

Scientists getting their first ever close-up look at the dwarf planet Ceres say they're puzzled by bright spots that have been revealed on its surface.

The images come from NASA's Dawn spacecraft, which is using a slow-but-sure ion drive to edge into orbit around the planetoid, and should reach position by 6th March.

The reflective patches will give science fiction conspiracy theorists plenty to talk about, as they resemble bright city lights on an alien planet.
 

chthonic-anemos

bitchute.com/video/EvyOjOORbg5l/
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Jesus Christ I'm furious. I'm hanging out at my girlfriends house and talking about her 8 year old sons schooling. He goes to a private catholic school and is learning about Venus. They procede to tell me that Venus has plant life. To which I laugh and say wtf, that's not even close to the truth. So I ask why they say that and they show a book that the school gave him and he is studying out of, which is a 1990 book of Isaac Asimov, Venus a shrouded mystery which says ," some scientists and and many science fiction writers, pictured Mars as an old planet, looking like earth might in the distant future. They also thought of Venus as a young planet, and imagined that it looked a lot like earth in its prehistoric past, in the age of dinosaurs. They pictured Venus as a tropical world with warm oceans and lots of plant and animal life. Since Venus is about the same size as earth, many people looked upon it as earths twin." End of text.

Below this quote is a drawing with a river and plants growing around it. How the fuck can they be giving this book to kids in 2015. I'm so fucking mad right now I can't see straight. So then I get into an argument with her son about how this a wrong and there is no evidence that there was ever life on Venus. He then thinks I'm an idiot because it says so right there in his school book. I try to tell him that they're just saying people thought that it might have plant life at one point and we've learned it's not true since the. but it falls on deaf ears.

This is fucking ridiculous that this is what they're giving kids to learn out of.
He's going to join the Lumienati in a few years.
 

Jysin

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Jesus Christ I'm furious. I'm hanging out at my girlfriends house and talking about her 8 year old sons schooling. He goes to a private catholic school and is learning about Venus. They procede to tell me that Venus has plant life. To which I laugh and say wtf, that's not even close to the truth. So I ask why they say that and they show a book that the school gave him and he is studying out of, which is a 1990 book of Isaac Asimov, Venus a shrouded mystery which says ," some scientists and and many science fiction writers, pictured Mars as an old planet, looking like earth might in the distant future. They also thought of Venus as a young planet, and imagined that it looked a lot like earth in its prehistoric past, in the age of dinosaurs. They pictured Venus as a tropical world with warm oceans and lots of plant and animal life. Since Venus is about the same size as earth, many people looked upon it as earths twin." End of text.

Below this quote is a drawing with a river and plants growing around it. How the fuck can they be giving this book to kids in 2015. I'm so fucking mad right now I can't see straight. So then I get into an argument with her son about how this a wrong and there is no evidence that there was ever life on Venus. He then thinks I'm an idiot because it says so right there in his school book. I try to tell him that they're just saying people thought that it might have plant life at one point and we've learned it's not true since the. but it falls on deaf ears.

This is fucking ridiculous that this is what they're giving kids to learn out of.
Show him this:
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/...m?Object=Venus

More importantly:
Venera photos - Google Search
 

Chanur

Shit Posting Professional
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Time to sire a more deserving heir with this woman who will grow up and destroy his weak minded sibling.
 

khalid

Unelected Mod
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Meh, he doesn't know this random guy that is sleeping with his mom. It isn't shocking he would believe his textbooks over some random guy (to him). Buy him some other textbooks, modern ones, and let him read and compare.
 
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Asimov is an amazing science fiction writer. Make it clear to him that he is reading fiction, just like the bible.
wink.png
 

Julian The Apostate

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Asimov is an amazing science fiction writer. Make it clear to him that he is reading fiction, just like the bible.
wink.png
I'm a huge fan of Asimov and I'm sure that if he were alive today he'd be the first one to disagree with them using his outdated book.

Ohh well, this kid loves history but basically puts his fingers in his ears whenever I correct him about anything. A few months ago he was telling me that the Romans were the first people to have beer. I told him that the Egyptians had it long before the Romans. He didn't want to hear it. Guess I should focus on trying to teach him that it's okay to be wrong about stuff or to suspend judgement until you educate yourself on the topic. Just sucks to be part of a kids life that you weren't involved with from the start. That's what you get for dating single mothers.
 

Tuco

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Guess I should focus on trying to teach him that it's okay to be wrong about stuff or to suspend judgement until you educate yourself on the topic.
Depending on the personality of the kid the best way to do that might be to find something he knows more than you about and be humble about learning about it from him! I know the child me knew more about dinosaurs than I do now =(
 

iannis

Musty Nester
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I might even get him a couple of Carter of Mars / Carson of Venus books. I mean seriously.

He might figure out that it's complete bullshit all on his own and he miiiiight even see where the bullshit comes from.

You can't really father a single mother's child. It takes years to build that sort of trust.

Which isn't bad news. If you and the mother stick, you'll be up to bat around the time he's gonna stop listening to you anyway! Off the hook, man!
 

VariaVespasa_sl

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I'm a huge fan of Asimov and I'm sure that if he were alive today he'd be the first one to disagree with them using his outdated book.

Ohh well, this kid loves history but basically puts his fingers in his ears whenever I correct him about anything. A few months ago he was telling me that the Romans were the first people to have beer. I told him that the Egyptians had it long before the Romans. He didn't want to hear it. Guess I should focus on trying to teach him that it's okay to be wrong about stuff or to suspend judgement until you educate yourself on the topic. Just sucks to be part of a kids life that you weren't involved with from the start. That's what you get for dating single mothers.
The issue is reading comprehension- that quoted part is all PAST tense, not present tense, and the kid (and mother?) missed that. It would be worth finding out if the teacher did also or if its just the kid having that issue.
 

Cybsled

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I'm guessing him not wanting to listen to you has more to do with the fact it is a passive-aggressive reaction to you being the outsider "not my dad" figure than not wanting to learn. Like Iannis said, it takes a really long time to be accepted and the child's age/involvement of the other parent has a huge bearing on that.
 

Furry

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I've never really thought about how cassini is nearly 20 years old. I'd really love to see a satellite with modern technology go to one of the gas giants, cassini already produces such amazing stuff.

Of course, it takes like 5-12 years to transfer to a gas giant in an efficient manner, depending on which you go to, which is why tech is always so damn far behind on these things.