"Black hole" is the new "niggardly"

[Isolder74]

Of all the silly stupid making the point to be offended garbage. Did the offended party sleep through all of his physics classes in high school?

Did he miss the movie The Black Hole because he that it was racists? The whole concept of the black hole, a place where nothing not even light can escape, get missed in all his life.

This isn't racist, he is in his suggestion, stupid at that, of saying why not call it a white hole implying that white people loses things. How can that implication not be racist? Pot calling the kettle black, er cast iron, indeed!

[Tasoth]

Given Mayfield, it just ... you just kind of expect him to have that kind of response. He is racist and doesn’t know it. Maybe he does know it. I haven’t quite figured out whether he knows it or not. I said it immediately: 'Why not a white hole?' And when I said, 'white hole,' Mayfield said, 'OK, then, a pink hole?' That is when Jones said he wasn’t going to sit here, he wanted an apology, they began to carry the discussion that way. I said, 'It’s a white hole and let's move it on.

Wait, he can't even tell if the guy is rascist so he assumes he's rascist? What the hell is up with that? What was this guys profession before coming under the employ of the government? The photo makes me think he was a male stripper...

[Oni Koneko Damien]

Hopefully Mr Mayfield does not get blacklisted over this debacle.

Certainly; it would not do to blacken his reputation.

Only a blackguard would believe so.

Well, if he gets fired over this, he'll have a hard time keeping his finances in the black.

[Lord of the Abyss]

Well gang, looks like we're just going to have to call them singularities from now on.

Or just call them "Collapsars" like the Russians always wanted to. As I recall, it was because "Black hole" is an obscenity of some kind in Russian. I expect it felt like doing a science lecture that included phrases like, "And in this simulation, we see how the asshole siphons mass from it's red giant companion."

[Oni Koneko Damien]

Well gang, looks like we're just going to have to call them singularities from now on.

Or just call them "Collapsars" like the Russians always wanted to. As I recall, it was because "Black hole" is an obscenity of some kind in Russian. I expect it felt like doing a science lecture that included phrases like, "And in this simulation, we see how the asshole siphons mass from it's red giant companion."

It's become kind of an obscenity here too. It's used to describe any town or suburb that combines the traits of poorly maintained and/or confusing streets, shitty employment, and a large percentage of unfavourable people (white trash, gangbangers, etc.). Gary Indiana, or Detroit Michigan would be good examples of this.

[General Zod]

It's become kind of an obscenity here too. It's used to describe any town or suburb that combines the traits of poorly maintained and/or confusing streets, shitty employment, and a large percentage of unfavourable people (white trash, gangbangers, etc.). Gary Indiana, or Detroit Michigan would be good examples of this.

Black hole has replaced "ghetto"? When did this happen?

[Oni Koneko Damien]

It's become kind of an obscenity here too. It's used to describe any town or suburb that combines the traits of poorly maintained and/or confusing streets, shitty employment, and a large percentage of unfavourable people (white trash, gangbangers, etc.). Gary Indiana, or Detroit Michigan would be good examples of this.

Black hole has replaced "ghetto"? When did this happen?

I've heard it more used to describe a 'ghetto' area that doesn't reside in an inner-city. And as far as I know, it's been going on for years.

[Havok]

It's become kind of an obscenity here too. It's used to describe any town or suburb that combines the traits of poorly maintained and/or confusing streets, shitty employment, and a large percentage of unfavourable people (white trash, gangbangers, etc.). Gary Indiana, or Detroit Michigan would be good examples of this.

Black hole has replaced "ghetto"? When did this happen?

I've heard it more used to describe a 'ghetto' area that doesn't reside in an inner-city. And as far as I know, it's been going on for years.

Huh. First I've heard of it. Maybe it isn't used around here because the first thing someone thinks of when they hear "black hole", is the section of really rowdy Raider fans.

[Galvatron]

Huh. First I've heard of it. Maybe it isn't used around here because the first thing someone thinks of when they hear "black hole", is the section of really rowdy Raider fans.

Are you familiar with a couple of fellow Oaklanders named Bubb Rubb & Lil Sis?

[Spyder]

Obviously the judge isn't a fan of afro-porn.

[CaptainChewbacca]

My mother used it to describe my room growing up, since anything I took in there was lost forever.

[Napoleon the Clown]

An excellent example of there being people who are looking for reasons to be offended. And excellent proof that knowing jack shit about astronomy can spare you a great deal of embarrassment in real life.

[Kuroneko]

Or just call them "Collapsars" like the Russians always wanted to. As I recall, it was because "Black hole" is an obscenity of some kind in Russian. I expect it felt like doing a science lecture that included phrases like, "And in this simulation, we see how the asshole siphons mass from it's red giant companion."

No, it's rather that both коллапсар (collapsar) and застывшaя звезда (stagnated/frozen star) were already in use before "black hole" was invented, and collapsar is more descriptive of astrophysical black holes anyway. The perceived obscenity might have slowed the adoption of "black hole", although I somewhat doubt it. For example, at a Russian conference just five years after Wheeler's invention of the term, Zel'dovich noted that "черная дыра" (black hole) was by then the customary term.

[The Spartan]

Of all the silly stupid making the point to be offended garbage. Did the offended party sleep through all of his physics classes in high school?

You assume he even had a physics class in high school.

[Isolder74]

Of all the silly stupid making the point to be offended garbage. Did the offended party sleep through all of his physics classes in high school?

You assume he even had a physics class in high school.

One year was required at my school. I'm not sure what the standards are everywhere in the US but that's the case where I grew up.

[The Spartan]

Of all the silly stupid making the point to be offended garbage. Did the offended party sleep through all of his physics classes in high school?

You assume he even had a physics class in high school.

One year was required at my school. I'm not sure what the standards are everywhere in the US but that's the case where I grew up.

For us it was one year of Physical Science, which would not have touched upon black holes, then one year of Biology and one of Chemistry.

For honors students like myself, it started with Biology and then Chemistry and typically they would then take a second year of Biology, though I went on to take two years of Physics. But in those classes we didn't, that I recall, touch upon black holes, we kept to things like statics, light refraction, etc. The basics.

There was a section on them in the book, I know because I went looking for it, but like I said, we never discussed them in class.

Keep in mind that though he is older than me he is in the same state as me so the standards while not necessarily identical are likely similar enough that he would have gone through much the same education as my peers.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Highschool physics does not, generally, address astronomical phenomena in any way. Torque, friction, and those sorts of concepts are what gets taught.

[Darth Wong]

Only a miniscule number of students actually learn about black holes from the standpoint of astrophysics. The vast majority of people learn about them from pop culture instead. Including plenty of highly educated people.

The fact is that the black hole theory has no relevance whatsoever to 99% of scientific and engineering endeavours, which is why it doesn't get much treatment in class.

[SCRawl]

Of all the silly stupid making the point to be offended garbage. Did the offended party sleep through all of his physics classes in high school?

You assume he even had a physics class in high school.

One year was required at my school. I'm not sure what the standards are everywhere in the US but that's the case where I grew up.

You know, I generally like to think of Canada's public education system as being (generally) better than its American counterpart, but I wasn't required to take a single physics course (or, indeed, a science course past grade 10) in order to earn my diploma, and neither was anyone else. (I did take two courses each of chemistry and physics, naturally, but my point is that I didn't have to.) I'm a little surprised that such a requirement would exist elsewhere. I'm glad of it, but I'm still surprised.

[FireNexus]

Certainly; it would not do to blacken his reputation.

Only a blackguard would believe so.

Well, if he gets fired over this, he'll have a hard time keeping his finances in the black.

Frankly, I'm of the opinion that this entire incident will give our justice system a serious black eye.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Holy shit, physics isn't a required subject in US high-schools universally? I hope I misread that or it's a bogus statement, because that is just diabolical.

And we managed to fit practical and theoretical physics just fine at my school. It took all of five minutes to give an overview of things like black holes or exotic matter and Theories of Everything. Not like you need to dedicate the syllabus to things only a few people in the world really need to know for their work.

[The Spartan]

Holy shit, physics isn't a required subject in US high-schools universally? I hope I misread that or it's a bogus statement, because that is just diabolical.

No, you did not mis-read that. Normal students get "Physical Science" not Physics and honors students don't even necessarily get that. Most of the ones at my high school took a second year of Biology as I recall.

But then I knew I wanted to go into Engineering back then so I persued the courses I thought would be useful to me.

(As a related aside, math has a similar cut off, most take Algebra I, II and Geometry. Most never have Trig and only honors students that choose to do so take Calculus.)

[Darth Wong]

Holy shit, physics isn't a required subject in US high-schools universally? I hope I misread that or it's a bogus statement, because that is just diabolical.

And we managed to fit practical and theoretical physics just fine at my school. It took all of five minutes to give an overview of things like black holes or exotic matter and Theories of Everything. Not like you need to dedicate the syllabus to things only a few people in the world really need to know for their work.

If it took five minutes, then it was a waste of five minutes. Certain kinds of subjects should be either taught with some depth or not taught at all.

[Admiral Valdemar]

If it took five minutes, then it was a waste of five minutes. Certain kinds of subjects should be either taught with some depth or not taught at all.

It was just a look into areas of physics that we could study later on in academia, just like in biology how we'd look at gene therapy, but we're obviously not going to go in depth into something like that. Clearing up basic terms seen in the media is not a waste if you get cretins like this totally missing the point of what a "black hole" is.

No, you did not mis-read that. Normal students get "Physical Science" not Physics and honors students don't even necessarily get that. Most of the ones at my high school took a second year of Biology as I recall.

But then I knew I wanted to go into Engineering back then so I persued the courses I thought would be useful to me.

(As a related aside, math has a similar cut off, most take Algebra I, II and Geometry. Most never have Trig and only honors students that choose to do so take Calculus.)

Odd. Combined science is mandatory at this level here. You need maths, English and science to leave school with any real degree of credibility.

[The Spartan]

Odd. Combined science is mandatory at this level here. You need maths, English and science to leave school with any real degree of credibility.

Oh everyone got science, just no one was really required to take physics. Same sort of thing with math, though we all got 4 years of English. Strangely, to me, we didn't get much Economics, just a single semester; same with Health. What else? 2 years of PE. A semester of Political Science. The rest was all optional courses.

That's all I really remember being required, but my memory of the particulars isn't especially fresh, nor have I gone out of my way to remember beyond the big stuff so get out your salt shaker.