

DIY on the Moon: how Buzz saved the launch back to Earth - dlnovell
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article6625673.ece

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ckinnan
Cool story. I learned something else from the comments-- the Apollo missions
left reflecting mirrors on the moon and we have been pinging them with lasers
ever since. Good ammo to debunk the Apollo hoax nutters.

<http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/21jul_llr.htm>

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mhb
Because people who believe that Apollo was a hoax would surely be convinced by
instrumentation asserting that a laser is bouncing off a mirror those guys
left there.

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sneakums
They can buy their own damn lasers and try it themselves.

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randallsquared
Have you ever tried to convince someone of something which they were skeptical
about, but had little knowledge about? It's hard. They're suspicious of
everything they learn about it, because they're obviously aware that all the
people who know about it claim the thing they're skeptical about. They're
looking for the trick, where it all goes wrong, and if they don't see it, they
often just decide that they missed it, rather than that everything is on the
level.

There are probably things you have the same attitudes about: astrology,
alchemy, global warming, macroeconomics, or whatever. You don't bother to
study these things enough to refute them, but you might notice that the people
who've invested years in such study all seem convinced (at least, most of the
vocal ones, James Randi aside :]). Note that I'm not saying that those things
are all equally valid or invalid. Just to be clear.

I know people who will refuse to agree with perfectly reasonable, obvious
assertions because they're afraid that a series of such will "trick" them into
changing their mind where we disagree.

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sneakums
Yeah, I just thought it was time for a little bullish naïveté.

