Total non-derail. ;p

[Mitera Nikkou]

(total derail)

but think of it this way: he is dropping that book on the earth... the earth is spinning... the earth is orbiting around the sun... the sun is orbiting around the galaxy... and the galaxy... well... I'm pretty sure it is motion as well... so it /is/ possible... >_> <_< >_>

It's not possible that way, even if you take into account all of those factors during the second (or two) that it takes the book to travel from the hand, to the ground. Well, very unlikely, anyway (due to amount of time traveling, otherwise you don't have to drop the book and claim perpetual motion as accumulating a billion miles all of the time). Also, those factors shouldn't be included because it doesn't effect the path between point A and point B. Think about it. If the Earth's rotation were a factor, letting go of the book would show it fall very far away... And we would have been tossed off into space long ago. ^_^; And it's not just due to gravity, either. It's for the same reason that we are as motionless as the vehicle is when we're in it, while we see everything else in motion. That's why I said that, on an atomic scale, traveling a billion miles would be feasible. But I've long forgotten all of this science stuff... Someone else can elaborate what I mean, and/or correct me.

[Zeph]

Also, those factors shouldn't be included because it doesn't effect the path between point A and point B. Think about it. If the Earth's rotation were a factor, letting go of the book would show it fall very far away... And we would have been tossed off into space long ago. ^_^;

Nikkou, take a piece of paper and draw a straight line. Then take a piece of paper and draw a straight line while pulling the paper perpendicular to the direction of your pen/pencil. The second line will curve even though it appeared your pencil was going in a straight line.

[Mitera Nikkou]

That doesn't apply here. When I stand and walk straight, the ground beneath me doesn't move and make me accommodate for its movement (even though the Earth does move). When I walk a straight path, I go directly toward my destination instead of turning away from it. It's the same for the book being dropped. While its position changes absolutely, how far the distance between the transition in location is dependent on the space-time that it occupies. And thus the reason why it falls straight instead of curved. Like I said, if you include all motion (and thus the universe as an extension of the book), then you'd have perpetual motion. But that's not what May intimated. From the context of her post, the book's motion doesn't start until it's dropped, and then no other motion does she mention until the book is on the Earth. Basically, if the book is still in motion even if it hits the ground, then the same rules apply if it had been held by someone standing on the ground. It creates a paradox. If the distance is only considered on a local level (distance traveled starts when released by the hand, and stops when it lands on the ground), the book can still travel a billion miles under a certain scale of measurement. Otherwise, it's a no-brainer that we're always in motion, and we've all traveled countless miles in our lifetimes.

[Sophia Anieri]

Why all this controversy about a playing with semantics? What you say after "otherwise" is exactly what May-chan was saying, except she said it to make a joke.

[Mitera Nikkou]

Controversy? Where? O.o Here, this should help people understand what I'm getting at, based on what led up to the whole perpetual motion intimation:

Yeah. The Sun is, from what I've heard, competely and utterly false. It falls for pranks, doesn't check sources, and sometimes prints outright lies.

I trust it about as far as Steven Hawkings can throw it. (I could throw it, but it would be farther than I trust it.)

I bet he could drop it on the ground and prove it travelled a billion miles though...

See, it's about the book (well, depicted as a book in a succeeding post) traveling, not traveling for one instant than hitching a ride the next. Taking in all of the factors of motion in the universe, you don't need to say that the book had to land on Earth to continue moving, when it had been moving all along and has been traveling all along. Her focus started on the book's traveling from being dropped, as if that was the start of its motion instead of it already traveling.

Hey, I know I picked that apart, reading the context very critically. That's just the way that I am. My contribution, is that all of those factors of perpetual motion aren't even needed to produce that much traveled distance by the book, by taking into account the motion of objects unrelated to the book itself. The book itself only travels from a hand, to the ground. The Earth then carries it, then the Sun carries the Earth, then the center of the galaxy carries the Sun, and then another force carries the galaxy. Not only is it the most obvious answer for explaining so much travel, but the book's motion plays a very, very, very miniscule role as a contributing factor for the distance it traveled (especially since this explanation means that it has always been traveling).

I simply made a more simple explanation that works with the book exclusively, independent of other factors. Measurement is relative, but comparing existing measurements on a different scale is not only feasible, but it is done. If a cockroach were as big as a human (not sure if it's height, weight, or a combination thereof that is used), they could conceivably run at 200MPH. It is the same for fleas, and how high and far they could jump if they were human-sized. In the book's case, it'd be the other way around, and using the same scale as if we were as small as atoms.

People can see what I do as they want, and how they perceive things in general as they want. Why I do things like this won't be understood by anyone, even if I explained it. No one understands me, plain and simple.

[Sophia Anieri]

I saw the original thread. My point stands.

Otherwise, it's a no-brainer that we're always in motion, and we've all traveled countless miles in our lifetimes.

Which is exactly what May-Chan said here:

he could drop it on the ground and prove it travelled a billion miles though...

think of it this way: he is dropping that book on the earth... the earth is spinning... the earth is orbiting around the sun... the sun is orbiting around the galaxy... and the galaxy... well... I'm pretty sure it is motion as well... so it /is/ possible...

What in there contradicts the idea that we've all traveled countless miles in our lifetimes?

[Mitera Nikkou]

Forget it. My last point stands.

[May-chan]

I can say random things and spur nikkou into typing frenzies... >_>

[Mitera Nikkou]

That's just how I am. But I doubt anyone understood anything from my post before last. Well, I'm not going to give anyone the opportunity to prove me right and drive me deeper into depression. I'll drive myself, if you don't mind.