What's an Oort?

What's an Oort?

[David S. Goldberg]

(Justin, I think I've got a soon to be FAQ for you :-)

Please forgive my ignorance, but what's oort?  I've tried several
dictionaries to no avail.

Thanks,
-- 
Dave Goldberg
dsg@world.std.com

Re: What's an Oort?

[Kai Großjohann]

Google is your friend.  I thought it was a place in Scandinavia, and
now I see that it's a cloud of celestial bodies.

I think Lars used the words `far out' in connection with Oort, which
kinda fits.

But there is also Jan Hendrik Oort, who discovered the Oort Cloud.

kai
-- 
A large number of young women don't trust men with beards.  (BFBS Radio)

Re: What's an Oort?

[William M. Perry]

Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann) writes:

> Google is your friend.  I thought it was a place in Scandinavia, and
> now I see that it's a cloud of celestial bodies.
> 
> I think Lars used the words `far out' in connection with Oort, which
> kinda fits.

If I recall the original reasoning was something along the lines of 'it is
far out, pretty, and occasionally rains fairy destruction down upon the
earth'. :)

-bp

Re: What's an Oort?

[Harry Putnam]

wmperry@aventail.com (William M. Perry) writes:

> Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann) writes:
> 
> > Google is your friend.  I thought it was a place in Scandinavia, and
> > now I see that it's a cloud of celestial bodies.
> > 
> > I think Lars used the words `far out' in connection with Oort, which
> > kinda fits.
> 
> If I recall the original reasoning was something along the lines of 'it is
> far out, pretty, and occasionally rains fairy destruction down upon the
> earth'. :)

I thought it was the sound a male Gnu makes when sighting a female.

Re: What's an Oort?

[Harry Putnam]

wmperry@aventail.com (William M. Perry) writes:

> Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann) writes:
> 
> > Google is your friend.  I thought it was a place in Scandinavia, and
> > now I see that it's a cloud of celestial bodies.
> > 
> > I think Lars used the words `far out' in connection with Oort, which
> > kinda fits.
> 
> If I recall the original reasoning was something along the lines of 'it is
> far out, pretty, and occasionally rains fairy destruction down upon the
> earth'. :)

I feel the beginnings of a round of dumb jokes about this....

Its only fitting that the next name choosen be `nemesis'.  `N' is up
and it fits naming gnus after the `theoreticle' star that is thought
to pass through the Oort cloud and provoke the deadly rain of
meteorites that some space buffs think brought on the great dinasour
tradgedy.

Re: What's an Oort?

[Didier Verna]

Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> wrote:

> I thought it was the sound a male Gnu makes when sighting a female.

        Almost. s/Gnu/Pterodactyl/ :-)

-- 
    /     /   _   _       Didier Verna        http://www.inf.enst.fr/~verna/
 - / / - / / /_/ /        EPITA / LRDE         mailto:didier@lrde.epita.fr
/_/ / /_/ / /__ /      14-16 rue Voltaire        Tel. +33 (1) 53 14 59 47
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Re: What's an Oort?

[Oyvind Moll]

* Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com>
|
| I feel the beginnings of a round of dumb jokes about this....
| 
| Its only fitting that the next name choosen be `nemesis'.  `N' is up
| and it fits naming gnus after the `theoreticle' star that is thought
| to pass through the Oort cloud and provoke the deadly rain of
| meteorites that some space buffs think brought on the great dinasour
| tradgedy.

My punning plan was to suggest 'No Gnus' when this time arrived.
I would then expect to use 'Good Gnus' in the vicinity of 2013.

-- 
   Øyvind Møll              <oyvindmo@initio.no>
   Initio IT-løsninger AS   <URL: http://www.initio.no/ >

Re: What's an Oort?

[John Cooper]

Didier Verna <didier@lrde.epita.fr> writes:

 > Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> wrote:
 > 
 > > I thought it was the sound a male Gnu makes when sighting a female.
 > 
 >         Almost. s/Gnu/Pterodactyl/ :-)

And then   s/male/mail/  :-)

    --- John

Re: What's an Oort?

[Kai Großjohann]

On 20 Dec 2000, John Cooper wrote:

> And then   s/male/mail/  :-)

The sound a mail pterodactyl makes when sighting a femail?

*confused look*

kai
-- 
A large number of young women don't trust men with beards.  (BFBS Radio)

Re: What's an Oort?

[Harry Putnam]

Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann) writes:

> On 20 Dec 2000, John Cooper wrote:
> 
> > And then   s/male/mail/  :-)
> 
> The sound a mail pterodactyl makes when sighting a femail?
> 
> *confused look*
> 

I've got it...

Its the thought process, a lisp programmer has when sighting the
meteorite fallout from a female Gnu passing through the Oort cloud.