Return-Path: Message-Id: <9110092055.AA13520@relay1.UU.NET> Date: Wed Oct 9 20:30:44 1991 Reply-To: cbmvax!uunet!pucc.princeton.edu!chandley Sender: Lojban list From: Chris Handley Subject: RE: Lojbab on subject/object X-To: LOJBAN%CUVMA.BITNET@pucc.princeton.edu To: John Cowan , Ken Taylor , List Reader Status: RO X-From-Space-Date: Wed Oct 9 20:30:44 1991 X-From-Space-Address: cbmvax!uunet!cuvma.bitnet!LOJBAN Hi I just picked up something as it flowed past me on the Net and I feel that there is *still* (%^} a concept lacking in Lojban. John Cowan writes > The movement of the Earth around the Sun, for example, has neither > origin nor destination, and so it is not true that "la terdi cu > klama"; but the word "litru" (roughly "travel"), which involves > only a traveler, a route, and a means, would be suitable. The Earth orbiting the sun, indeed any planetary body orbiting its primary, hardly has a 'choice' of route, nor even really a means. What about binary and triplet stars? What about our spacecraft esp the Voyagers. (I am not concerned about self-propelled UFOs and the like, but objects that 'coast' their paths largely defined by the gravitational influences if any large bodies they come close to. Orbiting is relatively easy, specify the secondary, the primary and (as subsidiary places the radius and eccentricity). Binary and higher order systems, where the masses are approximately equal pose a bit more of a problem, and as for Voyagers - a placeless (pun intended) 'verb' along the lines of 'coasts' or something similar. Chris Handley chandley@otago.ac.nz Dept of Computer Science Ph (+64) 3-479-8499 University of Otago Fax (+64) 3-479-8577 Dunedin, NZ