New Miniseries "Salvation"

[kham]

Deadly asteroid en route to wipe us all out blah blah blah

It drives off the fucking road 13 minutes in. Oh yes, the evul government dark forces will abduct someone and cover it up, and only our cast heros have any hope of saving us all....
Fuck me. I KNEW they kept some of the physical data secret. On purpose. Since, anyone with knowledge of physics and orbital mechanics would be screaming bullshit at the top of their lungs. A 7km object, on a 97% pk of impact? In 186 days? Live large, get drunk and fuck all the good looking women, people. We are toast.
For starters, knowing the size of an object that's 3.3 AU out is guessing at best. And if you have a .97 probability of impact? You aint just UNEXPECTEDLY!!! finding this out. That would mean you have orbital data going back a long time. And handwavium physics for deflection? Look, just fucking admit you got nothing, and you'd have a better story. And nukes? Sure. Go hog wild. Do I really have to explain how ineffective that would be?
I don't see this improving in the next 34 minutes. Sigh. Bring on S3 of the Expanse. PLEASE

[Duncan Edwards]

Hollywood failed physics long ago.

[Fred588]

Hollywood failed physics long ago.

True enough but if being scientifically correct is the criteria then Star Trek, Star Wars, and Dr Who all have to go in the trash can.

[Duncan Edwards]

Hollywood failed physics long ago.

True enough but if being scientifically correct is the criteria then Star Trek, Star Wars, and Dr Who all have to go in the trash can.

Yes but I'm not suggesting they have to get it right all the time. This is just one of those things where it would be so easy to get it right and make a better story at the same time. It's like they don't even try. Of course with most of the television audience they don't have to make too much of an effort to appear at least plausible. We live in an age totally dependent on science and technology for daily life and nobody has a clue about any of it. I guess that might be the most unsettling part of all.

[Fred588]

Hollywood failed physics long ago.

True enough but if being scientifically correct is the criteria then Star Trek, Star Wars, and Dr Who all have to go in the trash can.

Yes but I'm not suggesting they have to get it right all the time. This is just one of those things where it would be so easy to get it right and make a better story at the same time. It's like they don't even try. Of course with most of the television audience they don't have to make too much of an effort to appear at least plausible. We live in an age totally dependent on science and technology for daily life and nobody has a clue about any of it. I guess that might be the most unsettling part of all.

I saw a news story a few weeks ago that reported a study that showed something like 8 percent of the adult, American population believes that chocolate milk comes from brown cows. There is a certain proportion that will believe anything.

[Duncan Edwards]

I saw a news story a few weeks ago that reported a study that showed something like 8 percent of the adult, American population believes that chocolate milk comes from brown cows. There is a certain proportion that will believe anything.

Yes and I have since encountered someone who was surprised to learn that it all starts out as white.

I have railed against such public misinformation in the past. The cow story and this one are examples of where it leads with varying degress of consequence -

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ikaika-kang-army-solider-thought-911-attack-was-inside-job-hawaii-ex-bunk-mate/

HONOLULU -- A former bunk mate of a U.S. soldier accused of pledging loyalty to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group says they debated conspiracy theories.

Dustin Lyles says Army Sgt. 1st Class Ikaika Kang believed the moon landing was faked, questioned the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and thought the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were an inside job coordinated by the U.S. government.

Kang was arrested Saturday and appeared in federal court in Honolulu Thursday for a detention hearing. At the hearing, the Department of Justice introduced a photo of Kang kissing an ISIS flag. Kang also allegedly praised the Pulse nightclub shooting.

[Mynock]

Cable TV is in a death spiral, the content isn't going to get any better. I cancelled mine months ago, upped the internet speed and invested a much more modest amount in Hulu, Netflix and Youtube Red. Not only do you get to watch what you want, when you want to, it's COMMERCIAL FREE. I'm paying about $50 less a month and getting ad free content.
One of the things that finally pushed me to cut the cord was the ridiculous amount of advertising I was putting up with. Why should I have to watch 20 minutes of commercials when I'm already paying for the fucking service?

[kham]

What's really galling, is just the complete lack of grip on reality; acting like it's the 1960s and able to control information? THAT is serious fiction. It's the fucking 21st Century. Do they even COMPREHEND how impossible that is? CNN got it's face set on fire , and continues to , after thinking they could act like the fucking STASI. That lasted , predictably , about 20 seconds before the massive retaliation(TM) started. Containing something like this? Aside from the tiny detail that most of the observatories around the world aren't IN the US, AND the protocol for something like this, is to TELL EVERYONE, we are too connected communications wise now. No way you conceal it. Oh, plus, you somehow get the Russians, and Chinese, and French, and Brits, to all agree to not tell. Good luck on that.
If you had another year, 18 months, MAYBE you could mount a mission. But 6 months? Forget it. You don't just have spacecraft AND boosters laying around to use. Plus, you'd need both a big one, AND one capable of achieving escape velocity. SpaceX is working on THAT right now, but other than small interplanetary probes, we haven't shot anything really big since they used up the last Saturn Vs
Think ya can cobble together one in less than 6 months? Like, 3? It's just so stupid. Even the super-genius Musk-guy's initial idea was the one from "When Worlds Collide" except going to Mars, and somehow, colonizing it with 160 people. But of course, hot redhead insider convinces him to somehow save the entire planet. Somehow.
I'll be in the BAR. Drinking.
I ran the numbers, by the by; they more or less have the velocities right (not exactly, but hey, MATH HARD for CBS) but for their impact point off the east coast? Assuming the falling flaming bits of crust, magma and asteroidal debris doesn't set everything on fire, the Tsunami even HERE will put me under 75 feet of water. Guess the bunker needs to be on higher ground, huh? Physics Hard too, for these dumbasses

[Regisblb]

Nitpicking the science is definitely the best way to enjoy an escapist TV show.

[kham]

If the ENTIRE fucking premise on the show is based on physics, ya think they might want to GET THAT FUCKING RIGHT???

You FAIL