"Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe" The Sea Hawk @See My Sig.com wrote:
[ Explaining the pendulum fallacy: ]
Same here - nothing personal. However, it's a matter of physics - not
a viewpoint. If you try and draw a free body diagram to illustrate
where you think the turning momemt comes from that would re-upright
the jet pack thingie after it is tipped a bit, you will quickly find
that there isn't any.

Just FYI, there is a Wikipedia page dealing with this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendulum_Rocket_Fallacy

Which includes a link to a page that actually shows vector diagrams and gif
graphics:

http://www.geocities.com/jim_bowery/pendrock.html