fando

The pertubations on the orbits of the outer planets is due to the Kuiper belt. It's another belt of debris, like the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Pluto grazes the inner edge of it. The chances of a terrestrial-sized mass being in this belt is very small. There might be a few Charon-sized objects, but that's probably the extent of it until we reach the Oort cloud. The Kuiper belt is a relatively recent discovery.

Sunfair

Oh man! Are dome homes considered nutty or something?? Please don't tell me they are! I've liked them ever since I first saw one on Northern Exposure way back whenever that was on. (Mike, the guy with wierd allergies, lived in a really nice one.) I just think they're neat. I've seen some really cool looking dome-shaped greenhouse designs, too.

It's not nutty!!!

I'm going to go sulk now...

The Other Michael

Sunfair,

<a href="http://www.alternativeengineering.com/DomePage/DomeConnections.html" target="_blank">This site</a> has some links to various other dome sites.

enjoy,
Michael

Agnostic Journyman

Dome homes in and of themselves aren't "nutty", though they tend to attract interesting occupants. I was involved with an underground housing (they would insist it be called "earth sheltering") community in the early eighties, where many of the members were building underground dome homes out of ferro-cement.

I hate to say this, but many of them were downright ugly. It takes a lot of skill to build a dome home that functions well and is attractive. But done right, they are delightful, and extremely strong.

What I think is "nutty" in regard to my uncle is that he wants to leave behind his nice little spread to hastily throw together some kind of dome home so he can survive this coming polar shift...THAT'S (polar shift) NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!!

Last night my mother called, upset that Uncle is sounding even more serious about it all. My wife spoke to her, as I was busy in my workshop and Mom didn't want to pull me out. Anyway, Mom's still upset, and I'm now getting a little steamed because she doesn't need this right now...(or ever) having just undergone treatment (successful) for cancer recently and is recovering.

It wouldn't bother me nearly as much if it didn't bother Mom as it does. Part of me remembers what I once believed when I was a fundie Christian, so I feel restraint when I'm tempted to really rip into Uncle. That never accomplishes much, anyway. So all I can hope is that my packet to him makes some kind of impact. My Dad read a copy of the cover letter I sent to Uncle and said "(Uncle)doesn't know who he's f**ckin' with!" in reference to my reply to Uncle's packet to me. That's high praise from my father, an accomplished skeptic.

[ July 12, 2002: Message edited by: Agnostic Journyman ]</p>

Marduk

Planet X debunk site:

<a href="http://www.planet-x.150m.com/" target="_blank">http://www.planet-x.150m.com/</a>