Myths of Space (movies)

There are pretty big problems with every science fiction space movie or TV show, except 2001: Space Odyssey.

1. There are no auditable sounds in outer space. Maybe ships battling it out in a very dense nebula might produce auditable noises, but other than that, the only auditable noise transmitted is within the ships or objects themselves, and not across the vacuum of space. The first season of Star Trek got this right, but even the makers of that show eventually opted for the excitement of noisy explosions.

2. Massive fireball explosions do not occur in the vacuum of space, even when oxygen is involved. How is this known? Well, although Apollo 13 crew members did not see their service module oxygen tank explode, it certainly didn’t rip through their vessel in a fireball when it did blow. That incident may suggest it’s pretty hard to blow-up even flimsiest objects in space because the vacuum outside the object creates the path of least resistance for any force being exerted on the object. That’s my own thought on the matter. But the fact is, the vacuum outside the ship does cause any explosion to dissipate so rapidly, no fireball would have a chance to form.

3. When a person is ejected into space without protection, they will not simply explode from the pressure of their body. I’ve only seen two movies get this right: 2001: Space Odyssey and (believe it or not) Airplane II. The human body doesn’t have nearly enough pressure built up within it to spontaneously explode when going from normal atmosphere to vacuum. What would happen is that the person would suffer lose of consciousness from lack of oxygen to the brain, get the bends and prolly actually begin to die only after a couple of minutes. A couple of incidents have already occurred that support these conclusions, where either a whole person or an area of the body was exposed to a vacuum environment.

Sources: Basic High School curriculum (LOL), http://spider.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/waw/mad/mad12.html, http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=8, http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970603.html, and the Apollo 13 “historical records”.

Anudder weekend of fun :)

I enjoyed getting to spend an evening with Miriam out last Friday. We had dinner at Viva Sol in Mountain View, as we have so many times in the past. Cuz of the season, we didn’t get to dine outside though. Afterwards, we ended up a Zucca’s in downtown Mountain View and met several interesting characters. We met two owners of several other local establishments. They were very entertaining along with Zucca’s owners too, of course. Later, a regular showed up and started going on about how the U.S. is going to be beat by China. Kinda funny. He’s arguments were that of a drunk, and were a bit outdated. Anyways, Miriam and I eventually settled at a table with Zucca’s owners for awhile before calling it a night.
Allie and I meet up on Saturday to go over to her boss’s house for a wine tasting tour in the Livermore area. There was ten of us total. We had great fun at two wineries. I can’t remember the names of either of them right now, and prolly for good reason. hehe At the first place, we got a sampling of 8 wines. The winery was set in a relatively beautiful area, save for the growing city over the hill, and the trailer park at the bottom. The wine was good, but nothing that really impressed me. The second place was a smaller operation with organic fields. Are group was too big to keep in the serving area, so we eventually ended up at large a large table in the outdoors area. The afternoon waned to the likes of sheep jokes and playfully harassing the hostess (mostly with sheep jokes). This was prolly the best day I’ve had in quite some time.

Weekend Fun of Sorts and such

Well, a very relaxing weekend both started off extremely hectically and was very busy for Allie who took care of in town stuff for me while I was away. Thank you, Allie. ::muah:: So, there's like repair work that needed to be done to my apartment right away due to a leak in the pipes in the wall. Well, I was going away for the weekend to Seattle to visit Dave and his g/f. There was no way I was going to be able to stick around the apartment. Luckily, my g/f stepped up and took care of everything for me. This allowed me to have a relaxing weekend. Needless to say, I owe her big time. :)
So, in Seattle, Dave and I hung out and did some exploring around town. The Seahawks where playing in the Superbowl on Sunday, so the whole area had Superbowl fever. (This is the first time the Seahawks made it to the Superbowl.) He showed up his big new office to me. We checked out a couple of new restaurants (new to us). On Friday night, we accidentally ended up in an area of town I know, and I was like, "Turn left here. There's a good sushi place around the corner." It was funny that I was taking Dave and his g/f to a restaurant when it was them who was trying to take me out. lol
Sunday, his g/f had a good idea. We headed over the Gig harbor to rent a boat. The day was sunny and fairly warm. Perfect weather. Well, because of the Superbowl fever, none of the boat rental places were closed. The bastards. Oh well, we had a good lunch at a nearby restaurant. So basically the point of the trip for to find new restaurants. lol
When I got back, I found that Allie took care of all the stuff that needed to be done and had done my laundry too. I'm very lucky. Oh, and the news I went up to tell Dave?
Allie and I are engaged.

Seattle II Trip

 

February 4, 2006, visited Seattle again with David Erlichman.  (Original post/backup link)

Yesterday's business trip (no trouble with time)

For the first time in a long time, the pace of time seemed to allow me to hit my day’s schedule perfectly. Everything went smoothly yesterday. I had a business trip to a vendor convention. I got up early for my flight. I got to the airport on time, as usual. My wait was maybe about 1/2hr. The flight to Santa Ana passed by quickly enough. I passively watched the sun rise during our ascent, as I took in the beauty of its light play off of the thin layer of clouds just below us. I imaged what it would be like if we could walk on the clouds. I know it’s a bit silly, but the clouds looked like a large mattress floating over the ground. Taking off on a morning like this is my favorite daylight flight experience.
I got my car quickly from Hertz and made it to the convention center about 1 hour before the doors opened. The wait allowed me to explore the nearby Disneyland based Hilton, to make a few phone calls to friends and family, and to just relax in the morning sun at some tables set up outside in the front of the convention entrance.
The convention was huge, with thousands of vendor booths, all trying to get my attention. Some booths have cool gimmicks, aggressive promoters, flashy backdrops, demonstrations, examples, etc. A few had Booth Babes (relatively hot chicks). Many booths where plan, uninteresting or didn’t have a clear message as to the service offered by the vendor. I walked down every aisle, and talked to many vendors that I need now, or may have some interest in later. I was able to get through the whole place within 5 hours. There was like 10 really hot chicks in the whole place, and 8 of them where in working in booths.
I took one of my co-workers to the airport at around 3:30. I then headed off to find a nearby beach with restaurants. I don’t know the L.A./Orange County area well, but I do have a general sense of the area. I found Huntington Beach around 4:45 and settled down at the bar in Dunes. I was aware that I needed to take off by 6pm to give myself time to get to the airport, but I didn’t worry about it. I had a drink and a tasty battered fish taco as I passively watched the sun set over the Pacific horizon. This was exactly what I planned to restfully close my long day. After I finished dinner, I walked down the pier to watch the surfers. On the walk back, I stopped in a little shop to pick up a Huntington t-shirt (cuz that’s just what I do), then headed back to the car. I left the beach parking lot at exactly 6pm. Not bad considering I wasn’t trying to keep my schedule.
After dropping off the car, I made it to my gate at about 6:45. My flight was scheduled for boarding at 7:50, but another flight was heading back to San Jose earlier. I was able to get on the earlier flight.
Allie had planned to pick me up at 9:30. She left her phone off, so I had to get a hold of her through her brother, who called their dad’s cell in order to get through, cuz the house phone was busy. So, I did do a little waiting after the flight, but we left the airport around 9:25. Not too bad. Allie and I spent a little time at her place before I headed home.
Time wasn’t an issue for me yesterday. It’s been a long time since I had that feeling. Normally I watch the clock and see the minutes tick away like seconds. But yesterday moved as a pace that allowed me to get everything I wanted to without the worry or rush. Now, if only every day was like that.

I'm not so annoyed today

The president of the U.S. is likely to use the term "We are addicted to oil" or some form of that statement in the State of the Union tonight. Umm, well, it's a nice thought, but I know the words are hollow and the sentiment a bit late in the game. However, it is good that it is being said. Oil dependency is leading us down a path of collapse. The more money we unnecessarily send over seas, the more we weaken our nation when we don't have it come back in return. Foreign powers have used oil money to invest in the U.S. economy, but it's not in a way that can provide long term benefit to us. We need them to buy U.S. goods, not to U.S. companies. lol
Well, maybe the words will lead to some improvement of the situation. We get rid of oil dependancy (not just foreign oil), we strike a massive blow to terrorist, long term economic decline, and foreign powers seeking advantage over us.