I need quotes on The Core!

[Val Trottan]

I'm trying to pull together a fantastic package on The Core (read: why it sux).
I have some good graphics and good science, but my editor demands quotes. I'm having difficulties finding local sources. ( Yes, I know it's sci-fantasy ... but the bad science needs addressing.)
So I think ... where is there a better place than here to find great minds to discuss this than Bad Astronomy?

Any scientists willing to discuss The Core on the record?

Contact me at malicea@pbpost.com

Thanks!

[g99]

Dang, only a lowly college student. Oh well. I am looking forward to the article. Just remember to tell the difference between magnetic pole shifts and actual pole shifts. Major difference.

[Glom]

It's out this Friday!!!

[g99]

yup! I can't wait. I really want to review it. UK people, do you get it friday too? I know David in Japan won't get it for a while (sorry. ). I hope most uf us can see it.

One really good thing, my girlfriend is going home for the weekend to go to a confertence. So I get to see it without worrying about ignoring her or taking her to a movie she does not like! Perfect timing. Plus i get to accidentaly hit on Irony more without getting her mad. :P

[Glom]

UK people, do you get it friday too?

Yep. I checked the Warner Village site and texted my girlfriend to see if she wants to see it this weekend.

Plus i get to accidentaly hit on Irony more without getting her mad.

But when she comes back, she could just check the previous threads.

[g99]

She only knows that i posts here. When she comes over i leave and spend time with her. The only time she has seen my posts is if she comes on here in her spare time, figures out what my screename is (not hard, i use it everytwhere) and reads them. Even then, she knows i love her (my girlfriend not Irony. Sorry Irony. But i can only love one woman. :-)) and its only a accident or joke. She knows that i think she is "the one" (I am talking about my Girlfriend, for those of you keeping track) and that i would never cheat. That's all.

[The Bad Astronomer]

I plan on watching it as soon as I can, but I'll be at a teacher's conference when it comes out. I'm hoping to drag a couple of science teachers with me, so we can throw popcorn at the screen.

[Colt]

I am on my springbreak right now (Hah!) so I will hopefully talk my parents into driving me and my friend to see it this friday (I would have my own truck already but I want a surplus military HMMWV).

Remember to stretch before attempting to throw masses of popcorn at the screen! -Colt

[gethen]

I can't wait for this movie, but I don't think I can talk anyone I know into seeing it with me, so I may be the only one in the theater on a school day afternoon. At least my snorts and derisive comments should not annoy anyone much.

[kucharek]

g99 I can't wait.
The BA I plan on watching it as soon as I can,...
gethen I can't wait for this movie...

Mass hysteria?

You know, when the producers read this, they may put it into their advertisement:

The Core - what people say about this movie:

Phil Plait, Astronomer: I plan on watching it as soon as I can,...
gethen, critical thinker: I can't wait for this movie...

See this breathtaking movie in a theater near you!


Harald

[gethen]

OUCH!!!! Kucharek, maybe I need to learn to keep my critical mouth shut and my critical foot out of it? If even our allies twist our words? ops:

[g99]

Well when i review i will have to watch what i say. If my words are going to be twisted into some nightmare of quotes for a movie poster i better get some part of the profit. I would hate to be the science advisor for that movie. He must be the joke of the community right now.

[Jar Jar]

Yes, you have to watch out for the ellipsis in movie reviews. There's a good movie (cf. The Core) called And God Spoke where two filmmakers get "...a good film..." from the following:

"[I would have thought it was] a good film [if it was made by a high school student.]"

[daver]

The local paper (San Jose Murky News) had a review where the science was described as "some facts that could have been true if they weren't all made up". That pretty much pegs it.

[g99]

Well at least we are not the only ones who think this movie is brain numbing. This renews my faith in the school systems of the world. Sort of.

[Colt]

Does anyone have an idea on how to take notes in a darkened movie theater? It seems that just holding the pad and scribbling away might be kind of gruesome to read afterward. :P -Colt

[g99]

Get one of those electronic voice recorders. Just remember all notes are required by law to start with "Note to self...".

[nebularain]

Val - when do you need quotes by?

(BTW, I have a bachelor's degree in science and am in school to become a science teacher. Does that count?)

It's difficult to follow what is going on with this film. Some reviews mention how the producers want to be true to science, yet if the article I read is correct, they are relying on the science of a guy who is on the fringe - the one who proposes an additional layer to the earth's core containing plutonium or uranium or something like that. You guys know what I'm talking about?

[gethen]

Colt, do you have one of those red flashlights to use with your telescope? I was thinking that would be a very appropropriate way to light a notepad while watching this movie. Kind of fighting the forces of ignorance with the modern tools of astronomy.(key the heroic music.)

[g99]

Well if you need quotes and need more than than neb. and the BA. here is mine (i am giving all of my thoughts on the subject, edit and delete to your pleasure):

(if it helps at all i am just about to finish (at the end of this semester) a minor in geography and a bachelors in Anthropology. )

-----
"The position that the core suddenly stops assumes that no human on the face of the earth and any alien listenting to the broadcasts of commercials and trailers have ever been in a moving vehicle. Somehow the laws of Inertia and Newton have been forgotten and thrown away like a old twinkey.

The earth is really, really big. You think that your VW ug is heavy? Think of how much the ground you are walking on weighs. The core of the earth is massive and very, very dense. Think of the last time you were in your car and somebody cut infront of you. You slam the breaks and are thrown forward (hopefully into the sweet embrace of your seatbelt). Now imagine something a heck of alot more massive suddenly doing this. Would we poor earthlings on the surface of this giant dense ball survive? I think now. We would not have to worry about "cosmic storms". The land under us would probobly melt from just the force of the core stopping.

Now onto the cause of the core stopping. We (the U.S. Govt.) creates a super weapon that causes earthquakes but doing something to the earth's core. Now this logic is faulty from the start. Earthquakes start and finish in the crust of the earth. While i will give that the shockwaves from the quake do travel throught the earth like fdropping a pebble in a toilet bowl. Those shockwaves are the reason why we think that there is a solid inner core and a liquid outer core. But that is a different matter. Back to the earthquakes. Most of the earthquakes, like the ones in California are formed in faults (cracks in the crust of the earth) called Transform faults. These big slabs of rock grind by eachother. They build up pressure while grinding together and finally slip. This slip is a earhtquake.

Try this: Make sure your hands are dry. Put your palms together and squeeze them hard. then slowly try to slide them past eachother. Eventually they will slip. That is a earthquake.

Nowhere in this does the core of the earth interact except to provide the heat for movement of the plates.

Now onto the ship itself. This ship is made of a metal called Unobtanium (Un-ob-tan-ium). This metal (with powers greater than Gandoff and Harry potter) gets toughter and stronger as the heat and pressure increases. If it is so indestructable, how does one forge it into a ship? The humans have only recently been abot to go down a few miles under the deepest oceans. The pressure of those deep ocean trenches are immense. The shiops were under imense pressures, but not much heat. Now how could we make a machine that can go down thousands of miles under hotter conditions and denser materials? So far, impossible.
I am not even going to go into the stupidity of saying a Nucular bomb will restart the core, no matter how big.

So in short? There is more science and believability in Star Trek or Star Wars than this movie. Heck i will want to believe Joules Verne and Journey to the center of the earth more than The Core. At least he don't try to think they are scientific and he didn't know anybetter. Hollywood should.

[nebularain]

Here, I found this quote from the movie's official web site .

The truth is, the earth's core grinds to a halt and changes direction every seven hundred thousand years or so,....

No, the evidence indicates that the earth's magnetic field reverses polarity every several hundred thousand years or so. The cause of this, the last I have heard, is still unkown. Scientists have proposed their theories, all of which are open to debate, but none I have heard ever suggested the earth's core changed its direction of rotation. This idea goes against the basic laws of physics!

OK, I found the article I was referencing to above .

The premise might sound like Hollywood hogwash, except for one thing: According to geophysicist Dr. J. Marvin Herndon, this very disaster is inevitable.

(snip)

Herndon, who laid out his theory in Discover Magazine in 2002, believes the premise of "The Core" is more science than fiction.

He says the center of the Earth is essentially a gigantic, natural nuclear reactor that could, at any time, suddenly stop working. The magazine and other geologists called Herndon's theory revolutionary and, if true, the biggest breakthrough in the study of geophysics since the discovery of plate tectonics.

Herndon, considered a maverick geophysicist, is releasing his latest findings on this phenomenon just as "The Core" comes to audiences.

"Sometime in the future -- we don't know whether it's a hundred years from now, or a million, or a billion from now -- the nuclear reactor will die and the geomagnetic field will no longer have a power source, and it too will die," Herndon says. "Life on Earth will never be the same."

Herndon cites his latest paper, which he says contains "very strong evidence that there is a nuclear reactor at the center of the Earth."

The key phrase here is: "Herndon [is] considered a maverick geophysicist." In other words, he is against the mainstream. He is proposing a theory that has not been accepted by the scientific community at large.

My conclusion:

Whatever "science" the producers of The Core are relying on for this movie is unconventional at best and misconstrued at worst. The earth's core changes direction? Honestly!

Beam me up, Scotti - there is no intelligent life down here!
:roll:

[g99]

I think the fact that this "scientist" produced his stuff in Discover before any peer reviewed material says it all anout him and his idea.

added:How does he believe the core will suddenly stop? Where does all of the energy from the change in speed go?

[captain swoop]

I think the fact that this "scientist" produced his stuff in Discover before any peer reviewed material says it all anout him and his idea.

added:How does he believe the core will suddenly stop? Where does all of the energy from the change in speed go?

rules of thumb for detecting bogus
science.

They are

1. The discoverer pitches the claim directly to the media.

2. The discoverer says that a powerful establishment is trying to suppress his or her work.

3. The scientific effect involved is always at the very limit of detection.

4. Evidence for a discovery is anecdotal.

5. The discoverer says a belief is credible because it has endured for centuries.

6. The discoverer has worked in isolation.

7. The discoverer must propose new laws of nature to explain an observation.

from

http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i21/21b02001.htm



1, 4, 6 and 7 I think :wink:

[Val Trottan]

Thanks guys for all your help. I was able to gather some quotes from NASA, JPL and a couple of local geologists ... we'll see if they get used.

I've been wrecked off my feet calling crematoriums, scuba shops, cardiologists, meteorlogists, etc. getting numbers and data for the Fact vs. Core fiction part of the package. That's the fun part.
Yeah, right.

Anyone else see it?
You guys want specifics of Bad Science?
(There's a ton of stuff!)
:-D

[irony]

Don't worry, g99, I promise not to try to come between you two.

I looked through a few reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and was amazed to see that the critics are saying that the movie is bad enough to be worth laughing at. In my experience, critics usually have zero sense of humour for the egregiously amusing. If they're saying it's literally 'laughably bad,' it must be darned funny!

[informant]

You will find a few reviews of The Core in here.
Check the previous pages too.

[g99]

Val Trottan, can you give us the link to your article? Thanks

[edited out a sentance that made no sense]

[g99]

AHHH!!!!! MY brain is Frying!!!

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-m.../28/12.00.film

From the article:

"We really felt we were going where no movie had really gone before, a real journey to a real center of this planet. And we really did try to use every bit of science that was available to us to make that journey feel real.""

and "... the world [can] come together, pool its resources, its ingenuity, and pull itself back from the brink of catastrophe by the use of a common endeavor. To me that feels like a theme that couldn't be more timely." "

Umm..I saw the movie and the only foreigner who even contributed was a franch nuclear physicist. No other world countries. So where is this pulling together?

P.S. half of the characters dies stupidly, not heroicly. Only two die with heroics.

[Colt]

I actually thought I saw an Iraqi flag outside of the hangar when they were constructing the ship. Maybe I have been watching the news too much but who knows. -Colt

[gethen]

Best quote, although I may be paraphrasing, you should check, as the the earth once again starts to spin, "The Earth is Healing Itself!!" :roll: