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Re: Origin of sci.physics.relativity

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On 11/5/2022 7:04 PM, JanPB wrote:
> On Saturday, November 5, 2022 at 3:30:40 PM UTC-7, Tom Roberts wrote:
>> On 11/4/22 1:00 PM, JanPB wrote:
>>> I've been on this group off and on since its inception (around 1995
>>> IIRC)
>> I first stumbled on sci.physics.relativity in 1982 when I joined Bell
>> Labs. At that time it was transported via uucp (unix-to-unix copy, over
>> dial-up modems at typically 1200 baud). Back then, USENET consisted of
>> only a handful of U.S. universities, plus Bell Labs. It has grown since
>> :) Apparently even in that very limited audience the relativity
>> crackpots had disturbed sci.physics so much that sci.physics.relativity
>> was created to quarantine the madness away from sci.physics.
> 
> I joined Usenet in 1985.  The way I remember it, sci.physics.relativity did
> not exist until mid-90s.  What happened was that sci.physics at the time
> would now and then be invaded by threads posted by anti-Einstein cranks
> and they would invariably get VERY long and polluting sci.physics.

The early 1980's was before the great renaming. The physics newsgroup 
then was called "net.physics."

> So someone decided to create sci.physics.relativity simply as a means
> of deflecting the crank traffic from sci.physics.  I remember not having
> sci.physics.relativity and then having it as a new newsgroup.  But maybe
> I'm remembering it wrong.  Not sure if there exists a database that contains
> the full history with first posts to s.p.r.
> 
>> Personal note: sometime later a crackpot here got so incensed with my
>> debunking his claims that as a shareholder of AT&T he demanded that I be
>> terminated (I was using a Bell Labs email at the time).
> 
> I had a similar experience with Archimedes Plutonium (primo voto
> Ludwig Pohlmann, secundo voto Ludwig van Logwig, tertio voto
> Ludwig Plutonium) who e-mailed the execs at my then-employer
> "alerting" them about me.
> 
>> I learned later
>> that an executive 'in camera' meeting was held, to which I was not
>> invited, and in which David Ritchie (of UNIX and C fame) stood up for
>> me, explaining that everything I had said was mainstream physics. I was
>> not terminated, and only indirectly heard about that meeting, but did
>> get a non-AT&T email for use around here.
> 
> Sometimes one has to be careful with outright nuts.

Hence my reveal my true identity.

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Where is the (real) error Richard Hachel <richard.hachel@invalid.fr> - 2022-11-03 22:17 +0000
  Re: Where is the (real) error Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2022-11-04 00:19 +0100
    Re: Where is the (real) error Richard Hachel <richard.hachel@invalid.fr> - 2022-11-03 23:54 +0000
      Re: Where is the (real) error Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2022-11-04 01:11 +0100
        Re: Where is the (real) error Richard Hachel <richard.hachel@invalid.fr> - 2022-11-04 00:19 +0000
          Re: Where is the (real) error Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2022-11-04 01:25 +0100
            Re: Where is the (real) error Richard Hachel <richard.hachel@invalid.fr> - 2022-11-04 00:43 +0000
              Re: Where is the (real) error Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de> - 2022-11-04 08:30 +0100
  Re: Where is the (real) error Stan Fultoni <fultonistan@gmail.com> - 2022-11-03 16:57 -0700
    Re: Where is the (real) error Richard Hachel <richard.hachel@invalid.fr> - 2022-11-04 00:14 +0000
      Re: Where is the (real) error Stan Fultoni <fultonistan@gmail.com> - 2022-11-03 17:45 -0700
        Re: Where is the (real) error Richard Hachel <richard.hachel@invalid.fr> - 2022-11-04 01:09 +0000
          Re: Where is the (real) error Stan Fultoni <fultonistan@gmail.com> - 2022-11-03 18:49 -0700
  Re: Where is the (real) error Mikko <mikko.levanto@iki.fi> - 2022-11-04 11:58 +0200
    Re: Where is the (real) error Maciej Wozniak <maluwozniak@gmail.com> - 2022-11-04 03:20 -0700
    Re: Where is the (real) error Richard Hachel <richard.hachel@invalid.fr> - 2022-11-04 12:32 +0000
      Re: Where is the (real) error Stan Fultoni <fultonistan@gmail.com> - 2022-11-04 06:16 -0700
        Re: Where is the (real) error Maciej Wozniak <maluwozniak@gmail.com> - 2022-11-04 06:18 -0700
      Re: Where is the (real) error Mikko <mikko.levanto@iki.fi> - 2022-11-04 18:14 +0200
        Re: Where is the (real) error Richard Hachel <richard.hachel@invalid.fr> - 2022-11-04 16:21 +0000
          Re: Where is the (real) error JanPB <filmart@gmail.com> - 2022-11-04 11:00 -0700
            Re: Where is the (real) error Stefan Russo <ftfr@urstsoto.ee> - 2022-11-04 18:10 +0000
              Re: Where is the (real) error JanPB <filmart@gmail.com> - 2022-11-04 14:23 -0700
              Re: Where is the (real) error Jim Pennino <jimp@gonzo.specsol.net> - 2022-11-04 14:49 -0700
            Origin of sci.physics.relativity Tom Roberts <tjoberts137@sbcglobal.net> - 2022-11-05 17:30 -0500
              Re: Origin of sci.physics.relativity JanPB <filmart@gmail.com> - 2022-11-05 17:04 -0700
                Re: Origin of sci.physics.relativity whodat <whodaat@void.nowgre.com> - 2022-11-05 20:37 -0500
                Re: Origin of sci.physics.relativity JanPB <filmart@gmail.com> - 2022-11-05 18:48 -0700
                Re: Origin of sci.physics.relativity The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2022-11-05 21:06 -0700
                Re: Origin of sci.physics.relativity The Starmaker <starmaker@ix.netcom.com> - 2022-11-06 12:03 -0800

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