From: Dick Davies <rasputnik@...>
Date: 2005-02-05T09:49:24+09:00
Subject: Re: [OT] Physics of black holes

* Eric Schwartz <emschwar@pobox.com> [0221 00:21]:
> Dick Davies <rasputnik@hellooperator.net> writes:
> > * Josef 'Jupp' Schugt <jupp@gmx.de> [0232 23:32]:
> >> An often unanswered question in SciFi: Why does the Schwarzschild radius
> >> mean a point of no return to space vessels that can fly faster than light?
> >
> > Ah, but these ships never travel faster than light, they always do some kind
> > of 'warp' or 'wormhole' travel to bypass the speed limit...
> 
> Not necessarily; in Vernor Vinge's stories, the only reason we can't
> do FTL now is that we live in a Slow Zone.  If we could make it to the
> Beyond, we'd be set.

I thought Earth was in the Unthinking Deep, myself :) 
(Vinge is a new discovery of mine - 'a fire on the deep' was a joy to read...)

-- 
'The old 'give em a Linux box and they think they're Jean-Luc Picard' syndrome.'
		-- Pete Bentley
Rasputin :: Jack of All Trades - Master of Nuns