[Avodah] earth stops spinning

[Zev Sero via Avodah]

On 02/09/16 11:57, saul newman via Avodah wrote:
> 1. hashemesh begivon dom.  do we assume that means the earth didn't
> rotate then , or was it an optical effect?
>
> 2. if the former, then is this science true?
> https://www.quora.com/Youre-flying-a-small-plane-when-the-Earth-stops-spinning-for-10-seconds-then-starts-spinning-a
> gain-What-do-you-do

I think it has to mean that the earth stopped rotating, or that the sun
(and probably the rest of the universe) started rotating to remain over
the same longitude of the earth, which are two ways of stating exactly
the same thing.   And that all inertial effects were automatically damped
out by the same miracle that made it happen in the first place.  So yes,


That is the problem with stupid questions like that one on Quora.  If the
premise of a question requires a suspension of natural law, then the answer
can't assume natural law remains in effect.  As Manoach's wife told him,
if Hashem meant us to die He wouldn't have sent us the angel in the first
place; therefore even if the sight of angels is deadly, we're protected.
If fresh water is coming out of a rock, it's silly to analyze its chemical
makeup and worry about the water being toxic; it's water, not liquid rock.
If the sea splits it's silly to analyze the weight of the water behind the
"walls" and figure out their tensile strength or structural integrity;
whatever changes in nature are necessary to make the miracle work are
included in the miracle.  

-- 
Zev Sero               Meaningless combinations of words do not acquire
zev at sero.name          meaning merely by appending them to the two other
                        words `God can'.  Nonsense remains nonsense, even
                        when we talk it about God.   -- C S Lewis