Parabola?

[Oliver Xymoron]

The parabola is a romanticized trajectory. One might just as well point
out that rainbows are also not parabolic, but elliptical (circular in
fact), discounting atmospheric distortion. But the shape of trajectories
in our everyday experience, that we have a deep intuitive grasp of, is
very nearly parabolic. I won't make the obvious connection to baseball and
the outfield distribution, 'cuz I can't stand the game. Kepler will tell
you that all orbits are elliptical, sweeping out equal areas in equal
times.  But of course that's just an approximation, we've failed to take
full account of the subtleties of gravitational waves, space-time
curvature, and the chaotic interaction of the planets. Note parabolas 
have more mathematical mystique than ellipses, which are just ovals. 
"Elliptical" curves are making waves in theoretical mathematics  
these days though, so I might change my mind about that.

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