Thursday 26 February 2009

(66652) Borasisi, a confidence game is like putting on a play where everyone knows their part, except for the mark

(66652) Borasisi is a binary classical Kuiper Belt object discovered in September of 1999 and named in September of 2007. It has a perihelion of 40.0 AU and an aphelion of 47.4 AU. It has an inclination of 0.6º. It has a diameter of about 165 km + 135 km.

Observations in November of 2001 suggested a companion, that was discovered in April of 2003 and named Pabu in September of 2007.


Bokononism 

The name comes from Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle (1963): "... wherein Borasisi, the sun, held Pabu, the moon, in his arms, and hoped that Pabu would bear him a fiery child. But poor Pabu gave birth to children that were cold, that did not burn; and Borasisi threw them away in disgust. These were the planets, who circled their terrible father at a safe distance. Then poor Pabu herself was cast away, and she went to live with her favourite child, which was Earth. Earth was Pabu's favourite because it had people on it; and the people looked up at her and loved her and sympathized." 

Bokononism is the fictional religion practiced by many of the characters in Kurt Vonnegut's novel "Cat's Cradle" (1963): "The foundation of Bokononism is that all religion, including Bokononism and all its texts, is formed entirely of lies; however, if you believe and adhere to these lies, you will at least have peace of mind, and perhaps live a good life." 


Planing a confidence game

"A confidence game... is like putting on a play where everyone knows their part. The Inside Man, the Roper, the Shills... Everyone that is, except for the Mark." ("Confidence", 2002)

"The Beach" (1999)

(66652) Borasisi dynamics can also be activated in an amusement park, like in the movie "House on Haunted Hill" (1999), "The Haunting" (1999), "Scooby Doo" (1969), or "The Truman Show" (1998); and in a coin, like in the movie "Confidence" (2002), "Anger Management" (2003), or "The Cider House Rules" (1999) when the title of professional qualification is presented in front of the comite of the orphanage.

"House on Haunted Hill" (1999)