Subject: (urth) More on textual reliability, lack of

From: Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <ddanehy at siebel.com>
Date: Tue, 09 Apr 2002 15:44:47 +0000

Okay ... we have two textual data from SHORT SUN:

1) We have the third-hand report that Green at conjunction is
   30,000 leagues away from Blue.
2) We have the direct report that Lune appears much bigger in
   Urth's sky than Green does in Blue's

Now, add this to the mix:

	Not a glimmer showed upon the waters of the lake,
	save for the green, reflected light that fell from 
	the myriad leaves of the Forest of Lune, fifty
	thousand leagues away.
		-- THE SWORD OF THE LICTOR
		   Timescape h/c, p. 253

(n.b., as has been noted, the Moon currently orbits at a
 mean distance of 238,877 miles, or a smidge under eighty
 thousand leagues from the Earth. Not that that's 
 particularly relevant, though it means that Lune is rather
 bigger in Urth's sky than Luna is in Earth's...)

Okay, so _if_ we stipulate that Green is Lune, then one of 
three things is true:

1) the third-hand 30K league figure is wrong;
2) the 50K league figure is wrong;
3) Green, to appear smaller when 40% closer, is _much_ smaller
   than Lune.

Now, the third of these is contra hypothesi. We know that
the 30K league figure is third-hand and have no especial reason
to trust its original source; contrariwise, we know (see his
night on the mountain after escaping from Thrax) that Severian
has had at least some minimal education in astronomy. Ergo, _if_
Lune is Green, the thirty-thousand league figure is wrong.

Marc, take your pick; I don't think you can save both.

--