A Nitpicker's Review of the Movie The Martian
I watched the movie last weekend, and I have to say that, overall, I was impressed by its technical correctness.
That said, I have to pick a few nits.
Martian Surface Gravity is Not One Gee
(For obvious reasons, such as expense) the movie depicts Mars' surface gravity at one gee (one Earth-normal gravity). In fact, Mars pulls about one-third gee. Movements would be different, and things would fall more slowly than here on Earth.
Cumulus Clouds
In one of the opening shots of the movie, Mars' sky is depicted with a row of cumulus clouds down near the horizon. That's a no-no. Clouds on Mars are wispy cirrus and quite high up.
The Dust Storm
Okay, there's a couple of things wrong here. Point one: a Martian dust storm approaching from a distance would not produce thick rolls of dust, as we see cascading down the mountainside towards the camp. Point two: it would not blot out the sky and make everything dark, as Mars' atmosphere is too thin for that. Point three: although the wind speeds are high in a Martian dust storm, Mars' atmosphere is so thin that it would be like a gentle summer breeze on Earth, with no catastrophic damage to infrastructure and human beings. Point four: Martian dust is silt-fine, yet the movie featured particles the size of snowflakes. You don't even get that on Earth.
"I'll Implode"
While the protagonist records a log entry, he states that if the habitat lost pressure, he would implode. Quite the opposite, actually; his body would try to explode from the steep drop in pressure.
Items Dangling and Flapping in the Wind
See The Dust Storm, above. In one of the penultimate scenes in the movie, he's shown hauling a tarpaulin over the nose cone of the escape rocket. Said tarpaulin is strongly lifted by the breeze, flapping away like on Earth. No.
Consumables
It's not clear where he's getting all that extra oxygen for long trips into the Martian desert.
The Spare Pathfinder
The movie depicts this as activating along with the one actually on Mars. Sorry, but this just wouldn't happen in real life. That said, I experienced a whoop of joy when he dug it up (something that could conceivably happen in future).
Takes More than Plastic and Duct Tape
In one scene, after losing pressure in the airlock, he's seen sealing the blown-out habitat with sheet plastic and duct tape and then re-pressurizing. Any high-school kid can tell you that it'd take a lot more than that to hold in the twelve pounds of pressure it's inflated to. The actual total pressure there would be many tons (about twenty-four, from a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation, assuming the diameter of the entranceway to be about six feet).
That said, it was a fun and inspiring movie, and I can only hope it's inspired the next generation of aerospace engineers.
-Bill
Sunday 25 October 2015
Wednesday 21 October 2015
A Funny Thing Happened
on the Way to an Election
There's no question that Prime Minister Stephen Harper was a master political strategist. His handling of Stephane Dion and Michael Ignatieff proved that, along with his artful management of a once-minority government. An artful manipulator of the media, he deftly sidestepped his opponents' strong points, pointed out their perceived weaknesses, and bought himself a decade of power.
But, this time around, he made some critical mistakes, especially in the last few weeks of the campaign.
Let's examine what I think are the key ones.
Too Long a Campaign
This near-record-setting campaign was just too damned long. I know Harper thought he needed that amount of time to deliver his message effectively; and at first it seemed to be working. But as the long weeks ground on, it only gave people more time to think and to decide that Stephen Harper's Canada is not the Canada we want. Add to that the Mike Duffy trial and other things, it was enough, in the end, to tip the scales in the wrong direction.
"Justin's Just Not Ready"
You know, you have to have a certain respect for Canadian voters. Simply repeating a mantra and hoping it'll stick doesn't work; we Canadians can think for ourselves. Being told repeatedly, day after day, that Justin wasn't ready got dull. It was repeated way too often. It took the sting out of it. And it was petty and mean-minded. I think we resented it, in the end, and, again, the facts came out. And I think it backfired.
People already knew that Justin had nice hair and, come to think of it, a whole lot of other positive attributes that people could never find in Harper. With Harper, it was always the same story, the same dull guy with eyes like a dead haddock and a bad toupe, the parrotting of US foreign and drug policy, the embarrassment on the world stage. People recognized that Justin was, in fact, a nice guy, someone you wouldn't mind having over for dinner--with the advantage that he had political smarts. He took the high road while the Cons waded through the muck, American-style.
One fact: Justin is perhaps more ready than any before him. Don't forget that he was born at 24 Sussex and has years of political experience at this point. Politics is in his blood. Oops.
Extending Maternity Leave to 18 Months
This is a no-brainer. Harper was seen, by his mean-old-Conservative base, i.e. the diehards, to be handing over even more of their hard-won money to people who didn't deserve it. You've got to respect your own constituents, and Harper forgot that.
"The Price is Right" Fiasco
As the campaign wore on, people got tired of the message that only the Conservatives could effectively manage Canada's economy. Once again, the facts came out: Harper's economic record was poor indeed--one of the worst since the Great Depression. Most years, the Conservatives ran huge deficits. That was conveniently forgotten as the government shouted from the rooftops that Justin would spend us into the poorhouse. Fact is, Justin's promise of a 10-billion-dollar deficit was about par for the course for the Conservatives, except, of course, in election years. Harper's desperate attempt to portray it as something it was not was irritating, annoying, and insulting.
Rob and Doug Ford
In the last days of the campaign, as Harper's advisors made clear the fact that he was about to lose, Stephen got desperate. He courted the Ford brothers--yes, there was ol' crackhead, drunk-driving Robbie preaching to the converted. Problem is, Ford Nation is actually pretty small--and small-minded. Outside of the GTA, it's just not a factor. But Harper cozying up to the Fords was too much for many people outside of that region, who might otherwise have gone ahead and voted Con. The Liberal sweep in Atlantic Canada would seem to confirm this. I have great respect for maritimers (I am one, myself). They know the smell of rotting fish from a mile away; and, in that sense at least, the Fords stink to high heaven.
His Autocratic Nature
Stephen Harper is an autocrat. Throughout his terms in office, that much was very clear. Global warming isn't happening. Scientists don't know what they're talking about. It's my way or the highway. Canada's New Government. The Harper Government. The recession isn't happening (twice). I think, in the end, he pulled the rug out from under his own candidates, by not giving them a voice--because only Uncle Stephen could beat those big, bad Liberals.
Conclusion
The final outcome was almost pre-ordained; Justin Trudeau won a majority, and Harper tried, rather lamely, to turn his concession speech into a victory speech. He couldn't even bring himself to say that he was quitting. A sad exit for the master political strategist.
Disclaimer:
I am not a Conservative Party supporter.
-Bill
on the Way to an Election
There's no question that Prime Minister Stephen Harper was a master political strategist. His handling of Stephane Dion and Michael Ignatieff proved that, along with his artful management of a once-minority government. An artful manipulator of the media, he deftly sidestepped his opponents' strong points, pointed out their perceived weaknesses, and bought himself a decade of power.
But, this time around, he made some critical mistakes, especially in the last few weeks of the campaign.
Let's examine what I think are the key ones.
Too Long a Campaign
This near-record-setting campaign was just too damned long. I know Harper thought he needed that amount of time to deliver his message effectively; and at first it seemed to be working. But as the long weeks ground on, it only gave people more time to think and to decide that Stephen Harper's Canada is not the Canada we want. Add to that the Mike Duffy trial and other things, it was enough, in the end, to tip the scales in the wrong direction.
"Justin's Just Not Ready"
You know, you have to have a certain respect for Canadian voters. Simply repeating a mantra and hoping it'll stick doesn't work; we Canadians can think for ourselves. Being told repeatedly, day after day, that Justin wasn't ready got dull. It was repeated way too often. It took the sting out of it. And it was petty and mean-minded. I think we resented it, in the end, and, again, the facts came out. And I think it backfired.
People already knew that Justin had nice hair and, come to think of it, a whole lot of other positive attributes that people could never find in Harper. With Harper, it was always the same story, the same dull guy with eyes like a dead haddock and a bad toupe, the parrotting of US foreign and drug policy, the embarrassment on the world stage. People recognized that Justin was, in fact, a nice guy, someone you wouldn't mind having over for dinner--with the advantage that he had political smarts. He took the high road while the Cons waded through the muck, American-style.
One fact: Justin is perhaps more ready than any before him. Don't forget that he was born at 24 Sussex and has years of political experience at this point. Politics is in his blood. Oops.
Extending Maternity Leave to 18 Months
This is a no-brainer. Harper was seen, by his mean-old-Conservative base, i.e. the diehards, to be handing over even more of their hard-won money to people who didn't deserve it. You've got to respect your own constituents, and Harper forgot that.
"The Price is Right" Fiasco
As the campaign wore on, people got tired of the message that only the Conservatives could effectively manage Canada's economy. Once again, the facts came out: Harper's economic record was poor indeed--one of the worst since the Great Depression. Most years, the Conservatives ran huge deficits. That was conveniently forgotten as the government shouted from the rooftops that Justin would spend us into the poorhouse. Fact is, Justin's promise of a 10-billion-dollar deficit was about par for the course for the Conservatives, except, of course, in election years. Harper's desperate attempt to portray it as something it was not was irritating, annoying, and insulting.
Rob and Doug Ford
In the last days of the campaign, as Harper's advisors made clear the fact that he was about to lose, Stephen got desperate. He courted the Ford brothers--yes, there was ol' crackhead, drunk-driving Robbie preaching to the converted. Problem is, Ford Nation is actually pretty small--and small-minded. Outside of the GTA, it's just not a factor. But Harper cozying up to the Fords was too much for many people outside of that region, who might otherwise have gone ahead and voted Con. The Liberal sweep in Atlantic Canada would seem to confirm this. I have great respect for maritimers (I am one, myself). They know the smell of rotting fish from a mile away; and, in that sense at least, the Fords stink to high heaven.
His Autocratic Nature
Stephen Harper is an autocrat. Throughout his terms in office, that much was very clear. Global warming isn't happening. Scientists don't know what they're talking about. It's my way or the highway. Canada's New Government. The Harper Government. The recession isn't happening (twice). I think, in the end, he pulled the rug out from under his own candidates, by not giving them a voice--because only Uncle Stephen could beat those big, bad Liberals.
Conclusion
The final outcome was almost pre-ordained; Justin Trudeau won a majority, and Harper tried, rather lamely, to turn his concession speech into a victory speech. He couldn't even bring himself to say that he was quitting. A sad exit for the master political strategist.
Disclaimer:
I am not a Conservative Party supporter.
-Bill
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