Niall (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
coalescent) wrote2006-12-25 08:16 pm
coalescent) wrote2006-12-25 08:16 pm
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Didn't the story get the formation of the Earth correct to within a hundred million years or so? I'm pretty sure the Doctor said it was 4.6 billion years ago, which is pretty close to the accepted age of 4.55 billion years. I don't know where this idea about hundreds of trillions of years came from.
Also, I thought "Dark Times" was supposed to be understood literally rather than metaphorically: the time before the first stars began to burn. But I've only watched the episode once and I was partially distracted throughout.
Also, I think "Arachnos" was first draft. By the second draft they had become "Racnoss", clearly a substantial step forward in sophistication.
Also, I thought "Dark Times" was supposed to be understood literally rather than metaphorically: the time before the first stars began to burn. But I've only watched the episode once and I was partially distracted throughout.
Also, I think "Arachnos" was first draft. By the second draft they had become "Racnoss", clearly a substantial step forward in sophistication.
Unfortunately it's not half as awesome as that sounds, but it does include David Tennant being both wet and angsty at the same time.
it does include David Tennant being both wet and angsty at the same time.
*\o/*
*\o/*
Hey! I'm not complaining about the hole to the centre of the earth - it's stupid, but I have learnt to let go and stop expecting RTD to produce anything good. I just wish he'd stop using the sonic screwdriver quite so much.
In this episode it actually got to be sonic. That has to count for something.
Thinking therapeutically, maybe the Doctor's next companion should be Sonic the Hedgehog. Then we could gradually reduce his reliance on the screwdriver.
Thinking therapeutically, maybe the Doctor's next companion should be Sonic the Hedgehog. Then we could gradually reduce his reliance on the screwdriver.
Aside on the age of the Earth, I checked the tape and he does say "4.6 billion years" which isn't that wrong as a view of Earth formation (given that the web ship is supposed to have accelerated the accretion process; IIRC the 4.6 figure corresponds to the time when the body is fully accreted.) I couldn't find any reference to figures like "trillions" as others have referred to.
Dear god, that was so bad there are not sufficient words to express either my horror or my level of boredom. That's an hour of my life I regret wasting; I could have been cleaning the bathroom, clipping my toenails, doing the filing, or anything stimulating and entertaining.
For example, I'm a little concerned about exactly how much water would be required to fill a hole down to the centre of the Earth.
A 5m radius tunnel to the centre of the earth has a volume of 500 million cubic metres. According to http://www.the-river-thames.co.uk/weather.htm the flow of the Thames at Teddington during winter is 30 million cubic metres a day (though I don't know if this includes some of the same water more than once, due to the tide).
It didn't need to *fill* the hole, but it is silly to to fill enough to empty the London stretch through a small aperture in a short time. But only *too* silly if you are curmudgeon.
Admittedly this was done on back of an envelope, I don't understand how weirs work and the copy of this in my LJ was made private as soon as I realised my first pass was out by a factor of a thousand.
Niall: the channel tunnel isn't filled with stone, even though that is what surrounds it. That is why it is a tunnel. There's no reason why a tunnel to spidery spaceship hard-centre of the Earth should have lava in it. Assuming they used some sort of special rays when constructing it. Or a wizard did it.
I was slightly freaked out by the Tardis being there while the Earth was forming, so obviously in the way of various bits of rock and dust that really need to go in exactly the right place...
That precision reminded me of the joke about the museum watchman who told visitors that the T.Rex exhibit was 64 million years and three months old. They told him it was 64 million years old when he started there, and he had been there three months. Before the scene had finished I had rationalised it thus: the TARDIS never materialises inside a solid object, so he set the co-ordinates for the centre of the Earth (accounting for the Earth's motion) and simply kept winding the dial back until the moment it would let him materialise. Then set the co-ords one mile away and one minute earlier to see what changed. That is what I would do.
Torchwood was good fun, thought there was no excuse for lifting *shots* from F**** C*** in addition the theme; the writing and direction being apparently disconnected projects (one treating them as supercool, one treating them as an idiotic vanity project of Queen Victoria) has been Torchwood's biggest problem all season, along with Barrowman's on-screen out-takes.
What did slightly bother me was the stupidity of the plot to force-feed Donna alien particles through a boyfriend over a six month period and not just kidnap someone random. Plus it seemed very easy to do the same to her fiancee in mere minutes at the end - so why did they even need her?
The Empress expositioned while they were force-feeding Lance: the slow Donna experiment had established the correct "dose" and now they could do it to anyone quickly.
John Barrowman was a presenter on Live And Kicking. He's on telly RIGHT NOW.
-- tom
-- tom
Talking about dongers.
We appreciate your sharing this vital information with us.
emptying the Thames into something that size isn't going to make a noticeable difference to anything
Gentlemen, here are the facts.
Radius of the earth at latitude 51.5 degrees: 6365.080 km (according to my calculations, based on figures and a formula from Wikipedia)
Radius of the hole: 2.5 m (from what i remember)
Area of the Thames within London: 2050 ha (Tidal Thames habitat audit)
Depth of the Thames at the Barrier at lowest astronomical tide, which we will take as a fairly arbitrary guess at the average depth of the whole Thames within London: 6.1 m (Imray chart C2, based on Admiralty soundings)
So, how much of the hole can the Thames's water fill? I hope it's not too much to interrupt your critical flow to ask for a little bit of GCSE-level mathematics ...
-- tom
It's this kind of thing that makes this blog the hub of cutting-edge SF discussion that it is. I am proud to be doing my part.
Done the sums yet?
-- tom
Done the sums yet?
-- tom
No, but thank you for bringing the light of reason into our intemperate and heated debate.
Also, I think it was more like a 4m diameter.
Also, I think it was more like a 4m diameter.
Damn it just do the sums! What good is the light of reason if YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THE CONCLUSION IS?
-- tom
-- tom
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