Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum - Small Media at Large http://www.bautforum.com/ Books, radio, movies, TV, podcasts, interactive holograms.... en Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:37:39 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.bautforum.com/images/misc/rss.jpg Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum - Small Media at Large http://www.bautforum.com/ <![CDATA[America's Next Top Model]]> http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96916-americas-next-top-model.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:08:56 GMT Any comments on the hit show America's Next Top Model? ]]> Small Media at Large bebe7 http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96916-americas-next-top-model.html <![CDATA[question re: Greg Egan's story, Border Guards]]> http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96896-question-re-greg-egans-story-border-guards.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:51:33 GMT In Greg Egan's short story, Border Guards, the people live in a place called "the New Territories." I'm trying to figure out exactly what that is supposed to be. I first read the story years ago and thought it was about people living in a virtual world like Second Life. I happened to find the story again recently and this time when I read it, I'm not sure at all what the New Territories are supposed to be. If you haven't read the story and would like to, here's a link to it. It's not very long.
http://gregegan.customer.netspace.ne...te/Border.html

There are only four mentions of the New Territories in the story. Here's are the most informative two:
Quote:
The library had near-instantaneous contact with every artificial universe in the New Territories, and the additional lightspeed lag between Earth and the point in space from which the whole tree-structure blossomed was only a few hours. Jamil had been to Earth, but only as a tourist; land was scarce, they accepted no migrants. There were remote planets you could live on, in the home universe, but you had to be a certain kind of masochistic purist to want that. The precise reasons why his ancestors had entered the New Territories had been forgotten generations before — and it would have been presumptuous to track them down and ask them in person — but given a choice between the then even-more-crowded Earth, the horrifying reality of interstellar distances, and an endlessly extensible branching chain of worlds which could be traversed within a matter of weeks, the decision wasn't exactly baffling.
So, what do you think this is? It's sort of like a place: "a few light hours" puts it inside our solar system, perhaps just beyond the kuiper belt. But is it a virtual reality, an alternate universe, what? ]]> Small Media at Large tofu http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96896-question-re-greg-egans-story-border-guards.html What They Got Right and Wrong http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96714-what-they-got-right-wrong.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:22:57 GMT This is for listing Sci Fi movie stuff they got right or wrong. Extra points for the older the movie, the accuracy of what they got right and the humor of what they got wrong. Notable dicotomies extra points. And make a case for why they got it right or wrong.

The first obvious one is the comunicator. They didn't get the usefulness right. Ours is a whole lot more useful and we got it much sooner than they did. But they did get the frequent loss of signal right.

Get the idea?

2001 they got the flat screen "note book" TV that the astronauts watched their interview on BBC right. They got the timing right too as a lot of people had one by 2001. The space station thay got right and in the sense of timing the one in the movie was under construction and our real one was under construction in 2001. But they got the cost of a phone call wrong. Heywood Floyd talked to his daughter for a couple of minutes and the call cost nearly ten bucks. Maybe it was because he used Bell.

TV in the bedroom. Star Trek got that right. I don't know about the rest of you but I have a computer by my bed. Star Trek got that right because their "TV" was apparently also a computer access point.

Notable dicotomy; Many movies had video phones. Now we can have them virtually for free with the web cam but we generally don't want them or if we have them we don't use them much. I think a polite protocol is developing for their use that may result in their being accepted and used more in the future. Also it's still a little awkward to connect having to log into a messenger service like yahoo to make a call. ]]> Small Media at Large aastrotech http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96714-what-they-got-right-wrong.html 2012 - The Movie (Spoilers) Thread http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96696-2012-movie-spoilers-thread.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:36:38 GMT Saw 2012 on the weekend - I expect it, and Avatar will be dukeing it out for the best special effects oscar. They credited 7 main stream CG companies in the credits - and 12 also rans. I am assuming that is almost all the CG companies there are in Southern California. The movie itself was a wonderful romp - if your idea of fun is watching 6 Billion people die... There were a few too many close calls, and happy coincidences for me - but was quite entertaining none the less. Any one else see it yet? Any other opinions? Saw 2012 on the weekend - I expect it, and Avatar will be dukeing it out for the best special effects oscar.

They credited 7 main stream CG companies in the credits - and 12 also rans. I am assuming that is almost all the CG companies there are in Southern California.

The movie itself was a wonderful romp - if your idea of fun is watching 6 Billion people die... There were a few too many close calls, and happy coincidences for me - but was quite entertaining none the less.

Any one else see it yet? Any other opinions? ]]> Small Media at Large Atraveller http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96696-2012-movie-spoilers-thread.html The Herschel Space Telescope, Episode 1 http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96630-herschel-space-telescope-episode-1-a.html Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:47:26 GMT Going by the trail there are high production values found in this two-parter on BBC Radio 4, starting this Wednesday 18th Nov at 11am. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nvt8r Going by the trail there are high production values found in this two-parter on BBC Radio 4, starting this Wednesday 18th Nov at 11am.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nvt8r ]]> Small Media at Large Middenrat http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96630-herschel-space-telescope-episode-1-a.html <![CDATA[Eric's Drabbles]]> http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96512-erics-drabbles.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:56:13 GMT I tend to listen to a lot of podcasts - there's some really great fiction out there and I can listen to it while doing other things.

One of the podcasts I found is called the DrabbleCast. A drabble is a 100 word story. After listening to the drabblecast for a while I decided that perhaps even I can string one hundred words together. So I started writing some drabbles, and before I knew it I had quite a few of them.

I've created a blog to post them to at http://eric-marsh.blogspot.com/. If you like sciency-fiction-horror type stories check them out and let me know what you think.

ciao,

Eric ]]> Small Media at Large eric_marsh http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96512-erics-drabbles.html Teaching Moon Hoax as a Foreign Language http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96327-teaching-moon-hoax-foreign-language.html Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:10:57 GMT I teach English as a Foreign Language. Last week I was working from the book called New Headway Upper Intermediate, on a chapter called “Nothing but the truth.” This was concerned with the language of negatives and lies. I noticed that a section was concerned with conspiracy theories. I groaned when I saw that one of them was the Apollo Landings, but I was quite pleased with the general tone. This is it in full apart from picture captions. (The other “theories” were Princess Diana and JFK Jr.) ---Quote (Originally by New Headway Upper Intermediate)--- Conspiracy Theory 2 The Apollo Moon Landing For over 30 years rumours have been circulating that the Apollo Moon landings were faked. They say astronaut Neil Armstrong made no ‘giant leap for mankind’, they assert that the 1969 Moon mission was a hoax to prove America won the space race, that the astronauts were ‘astro-nots’! The high point in the Great Moon Landing Conspiracy came on 15 February 2001, the date that the Fox television network broadcast a programme entitled Did We Land on the Moon? This alleged that the whole Moon landing had been staged inside a film studio on a US military base somewhere in the Mojave desert. The programme claimed: 1 The US flag planted on the Moon’s surface is seen fluttering and there is no breeze of any kind on the Moon. 2 The photographs taken by the astronauts do not include any of the Moon’s night sky, where there would have been a stunning array of stars on view. 3 The shadows in the pictures are clearly coming from more than one angle – an impossibility on the Moon, where the only light source is the Sun, but more than plausible inside a film studio. 4 One of the famed Moon rocks brought back by the Apollo astronauts is marked with a telltale letter ‘C’, suggesting the markings not of some alien life force but of a film prop. After the programme the Internet went crazy with theories and counter-theories. However, scientists have unanimously agreed that the conspiracy theorist don’t have even the beginnings of a case. Too many things about the Apollo missions were impossible to fake, from the radio signals picked up at listening stations around the world, to the Moon rocks, which have been subjected to repeated geological analysis and clearly date back several millennia. Finally there are the UFO ‘nuts’. They actually do believe that astronauts went to the Moon, and found not only a load of rocks, but also widespread evidence of an ancient alien civilization – a discovery so terrifying that NASA has been desperately seeking to conceal it from the public ever since. ---End Quote--- I teach English as a Foreign Language. Last week I was working from the book called New Headway Upper Intermediate, on a chapter called “Nothing but the truth.” This was concerned with the language of negatives and lies. I noticed that a section was concerned with conspiracy theories. I groaned when I saw that one of them was the Apollo Landings, but I was quite pleased with the general tone.

This is it in full apart from picture captions. (The other “theories” were Princess Diana and JFK Jr.)

Quote:
Originally Posted by New Headway Upper Intermediate
Conspiracy Theory 2 The Apollo Moon Landing

For over 30 years rumours have been circulating that the Apollo Moon landings were faked. They say astronaut Neil Armstrong made no ‘giant leap for mankind’, they assert that the 1969 Moon mission was a hoax to prove America won the space race, that the astronauts were ‘astro-nots’! The high point in the Great Moon Landing Conspiracy came on 15 February 2001, the date that the Fox television network broadcast a programme entitled Did We Land on the Moon? This alleged that the whole Moon landing had been staged inside a film studio on a US military base somewhere in the Mojave desert.

The programme claimed:
1 The US flag planted on the Moon’s surface is seen fluttering and there is no breeze of any kind on the Moon.
2 The photographs taken by the astronauts do not include any of the Moon’s night sky, where there would have been a stunning array of stars on view.
3 The shadows in the pictures are clearly coming from more than one angle – an impossibility on the Moon, where the only light source is the Sun, but more than plausible inside a film studio.
4 One of the famed Moon rocks brought back by the Apollo astronauts is marked with a telltale letter ‘C’, suggesting the markings not of some alien life force but of a film prop.

After the programme the Internet went crazy with theories and counter-theories. However, scientists have unanimously agreed that the conspiracy theorist don’t have even the beginnings of a case. Too many things about the Apollo missions were impossible to fake, from the radio signals picked up at listening stations around the world, to the Moon rocks, which have been subjected to repeated geological analysis and clearly date back several millennia.

Finally there are the UFO ‘nuts’. They actually do believe that astronauts went to the Moon, and found not only a load of rocks, but also widespread evidence of an ancient alien civilization – a discovery so terrifying that NASA has been desperately seeking to conceal it from the public ever since.
]]> Small Media at Large Paul Beardsley http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96327-teaching-moon-hoax-foreign-language.html <![CDATA[My God! It's full of ... something]]> http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96301-my-god-its-full-something.html Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:53:45 GMT Brewster Rockit 8 Nov 2009. (If it's too small, as Phil would say, click to embiggen).

Nick ]]> Small Media at Large Nick Theodorakis http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96301-my-god-its-full-something.html Who understands the truth of the Opera House? (Spoilers permitted) http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96231-who-understands-truth-opera-house-spoilers-permitted.html Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:28:07 GMT The Opera House seems to have caused a bit of contention among those who did not pay enough attention. I readily confess I too was flumixed in the beginning. But then I watched season 4.0 again and suddenly realised what it was about.

If you watch the entire series including 'The Plan', you will find the Truth of the Opera House as no surprise.

Consider that there are three people most responsible for the holocaust of the Colonies. There is One obviously. But there is also Caprica Six and Baltar. In the case of the latter two, they were spared by the mercy of the humans. Indeed, Baltar faced trial for his actions and was acquitted (and only after acquittal did the Four awake and Angel Starbuck appear). And yet it was those two who saved Hera at the Battle of the Colony and allowed the future of humanity to survive.

In fact, Roslin had a chance to execute Baltar for his culpability. It was in 'Resurrection Hub' when he was critically wounded and he confessed his sin to Roslin. She initially removed his bandages to allow him to bleed out, but after some coaxing from Kai Opaka, spared him. She showed mercy. Because of that mercy, Baltar, along with Caprica Six, was in a position to save Hera and with it the future of humanity.

And so it came to pass that the two people most responsible for the destruction of humanity, would save the future of humanity. The Truth of the Opera House is that it is through forgiveness and mercy than mankind finds salvation. ]]> Small Media at Large Glom http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96231-who-understands-truth-opera-house-spoilers-permitted.html What are you not reading? http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96211-what-you-not-reading.html Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:37:08 GMT I'm currently not reading Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. I actually enjoyed Da Vinci Code and quite liked Angels and Demons, but enough is enough.

I'm interspersing this with every book ever that has anything whatsoever to do with Michael Jackson. I'm simultaneously not listening to any of his records.

Earlier in the year I put John Ajvide Lindqvist's Let The Right One In on my not-reading pile, but didn't get round to not reading it. It turned out to be very good indeed. ]]> Small Media at Large Paul Beardsley http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96211-what-you-not-reading.html <![CDATA[PDF of Hubble Telescope "Blueprints"]]> http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96189-pdf-hubble-telescope-blueprints.html Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:42:36 GMT Not really sure if this is the right forum for this question, so mods feel free to kick it to where you think is best.

Some time back, I managed to find on the intarwebs a PDF of drawings of the Hubble telescope. Naturally, I downloaded it and saved it. Unfortunately, I can no longer find the disk/drive I saved it to. In googling, I haven't been able to find the site (or the file) again. I'm going to WAG and figure that someone here either has a copy of the file, or can point me to where it can be found. So, am I right? ]]> Small Media at Large Tuckerfan http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96189-pdf-hubble-telescope-blueprints.html Grand Fenwick was first! http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96061-grand-fenwick-first.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:11:31 GMT Caught the last 15 minutes of an old film today. About how David Kossof and Bernard Cribbin were the first on the Moon. Yes, British film producers led the World in international mickey taking 50 years ago. But an evil thought occurs based on Expedition to Earth by Arthur Clark. If a dvd of this film be smuggled on the next space probe beyond Pluto, it could be de facto history of what happened. Heh. Just as well they left their signatures on the descent stages:) Caught the last 15 minutes of an old film
today. About how David Kossof and Bernard
Cribbin were the first on the Moon. Yes,
British film producers led the World in
international mickey taking 50 years ago.

But an evil thought occurs based on Expedition
to Earth by Arthur Clark. If a dvd of this
film be smuggled on the next space probe
beyond Pluto, it could be de facto history
of what happened. Heh.

Just as well they left their signatures on
the descent stages:) ]]> Small Media at Large peteshimmon http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96061-grand-fenwick-first.html <![CDATA[New "V" Series - SPOILER WARNING!]]> http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96029-new-v-series-spoiler-warning.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:09:24 GMT I figured I'd start a new thread rather than post in the other one so there could be a spoiler warning on it. :)

I thought it was pretty good. I found it interesting that they wrote it so the Visitors had agents here on Earth for some time - didn't require spending any screen time on exactly how people found out they were reptiles.

One thing I noticed, though - the FBI agent woman recognized the creepy guy in the priest's pictures from the unidentifiable passport, right? But the only reason she knew about the unidentifiable passport was because her partner showed it to her - her partner who was an undercover Visitor! Seems like he should've maybe not pointed that kind of thing out to her in the first place.

Also, I liked the little dig at "Independence Day" being a rip off... :)

Hope and change and universal health care - who'da thunk it? ]]> Small Media at Large SeanF http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96029-new-v-series-spoiler-warning.html Planet 51 http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96017-planet-51-a.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:11:46 GMT http://www.planet51.com/

I saw the trailer yesterday. Sure, it's a reversed ALF plot, but I still think it has potential to be cute.
What do you think?

I especially like the little "Alien" dog. :lol: The robot's looks also quite cute, with the tiny "webcam" on it. But why does the page say it has a "petroleum gas sensor"? For... exploring a presumed to be dead planet? Is that for detecting its own leaks?
And it's strange there's only one on the mission and there were no earlier probes (*fully expects a "wormhole" plot to explain that away*).

I don't know much about the animation studio, can anyone enlighten me about them?

;) ]]> Small Media at Large jokergirl http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/96017-planet-51-a.html BBC Horizon: black holes http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/95997-bbc-horizon-black-holes.html Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:52:14 GMT an hour long program, and they didn't even mention Hawking Radiation.

I'm all for the bbc licence fee, but after watching all that, I wonder.... ]]> Small Media at Large Frog march http://www.bautforum.com/small-media-large/95997-bbc-horizon-black-holes.html