On (29 Aug 97) BILL NICHOLS wrote to ROBERT MCKAY...
 BN> Example the first : "Where No One Has Gone Before."  Geordi at
 BN> one point says "We're passing W10."  Later in the episode, however,
 BN> it's discovered that at no point in the whole mess did they ever
 BN> actually exceed W1.5.  Verdict?  Blown out of the water.
   Actually, IIRC, the Wf1.5 limitation applied only to the final trip,
not the previous 2.  However, I tend to rationalize that the
circumstance of the Traveller being involved with the propulsion wasn't
a consideration for the computer system, therefore all it's careful
calibration went "bonkers," to use a technical term, and mis-reported
the >Wf10 speed.
 RM> along with the simple silliness of altering the warp scale (can you
 RM> imagine altering our current speed scale, so that what is now 70
 RM> mph becomes 25 mph?), leads me to the personal opinion that any
 RM> notion of warp 10 being impossible or the warp scale being changed
 RM> is nonsense.
 BN> Exactly -- it's so wildly illogical & irrational a proposition
 BN> that I'm Frankly Amazed that supposedly intelligent Trek fans even
 BN> consider it to be a possibility.  It's moronic -- there's no other
 BN> word for it.
   As I believe Time Edwards is fond of pointing out, Warp Factors
aren't necessarily a denotation of a specific velocity, but rather of
power required to reach a certain velocity. (my apologies to Tim if I'm
mangling his words here)  It's not as if what used to be referred to as
70mph is now referred to as 25mph, as RM suggests above, or even a
conversion between mph and km/h as I've seen others compare it to.
   Let me put it this way, and keep in mind this is a VERY loose
metaphor, and probably not entirely compatible, but it's the best I can
come up with at the moment.  Assume that all automobile engines are
equally tuned so that when running at 1000rpm the car will move at a
certain speed, at 2000rpm it will move at twice that speed, and so on...
What that speed is doesn't matter, since cars have no speedometers, only
tachometers, and no one measures speed in mph, only in rpm.
   However, as engines become more efficient, an engine running at
2000rpm will no longer propel the car at twice the speed of 1000rpm,
but rather at 2.5 times the speed. Therefore, 2000rpm on a new engine is
roughly equivalent to 2500rpm on an old one.  Is this making any sense
or am I just rambling at this point?  I realize horsepower would be a
more apt comparison than rpm, but I'm too tired to figure out how to
apply that one (note the Time on this message ;).  Oh well...
... Can I upgrade my Hard drive to a Warp Drive?
--- PPoint 1.96
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