It’s light-speed time dilation. To hime, he’s only been gone a week. To us, it has been 6 years. I bet he still thinks Bush is president, so lucky him!
Besides, it’s a neat subject, and a certain amount of undead threads keep FR happy.
Freegards
Crap, I hate it when this happens! Particularly when they promise subspace translight travel so that there are no relativistic screw-ups!
Less exotically, I was replying to a post dated for the subjectively-perceived present date, had not read the dates for the previous postings, and assumed that this was a real-time objectively current discussion. Always late to the party, dang it!
Besides, it’s a neat subject.
Well, it will be until about 2017, when the Pope (yeah, same one) releases his--well, this is probably a violation of temporo-peregrinatorial policy, so better shut up. All I can say is: Keep your eye on the Valle Marineris in the summer of 2014 when a new Rover package misfires its retros but lands safely in the atmosphere-dense bottom of the canyon, and the first images back, showing the consequences of the landing, lead to an international firestorm of legal and moral debate, prompting the Pope to issue his statement (I've forgotten the Latin, but its English translation is:) That Which Can Sue Has a Soul, a conclusion based on the ideas that (a) one who sues can understand, however imperfectly, a concept of justice, (b)that he, she or squaa perceives a concrete injustice performed against oneself or another, and (c) believes that restitution must be made to correct the injustice--clearly indicating that the creature is sentient, has a moral code which is social rather than merely individual and idiosyncratic, and believes that the balance of justice must be maintained.
Oh--and that "manned mission to Mars" thing--it's not happening.
Ever.