This page intentionally left blank.
Greg Laden's Blog
Evolution, Life Sciences, Science Education, Human Evolution, and Stuff
Looking for stuff about birds?
Learn more about Charles Darwin and his work.
Lean more about lions
An archaeological expedition to the Congo
The Skeptical Search Engine
This search engine will only give you results from carefully selected skeptical and scientific sites.
The contents of Greg Laden's Blog are copyrighted by Greg Laden.
Recent Comments
- george on Is climate change a leftist scientific conspiracy to destroy America?
- Mike Haubrich on Environmentally Friendly Hard Drive Case
- L.Long on Environmentally Friendly Hard Drive Case
- Colin on Environmentally Friendly Hard Drive Case
- Nemo on Environmentally Friendly Hard Drive Case
- Colin on Environmentally Friendly Hard Drive Case
- Greg Laden on Environmentally Friendly Hard Drive Case
- Colin on Environmentally Friendly Hard Drive Case
- daedalus2u on Melting Ice and Sea Level Rise
- sedeer on Breatkthrough at Lake Vostok
Search
Profile
Click on "About" for the big picture, and "Archives" for the details.
Recent Posts
- Looking for stuff about birds?
- Environmentally Friendly Hard Drive Case
- Charles Darwin February 12, 1809 - April 19, 1882
- Whitney Houston has died
- Lions!
- Changing the rep of Fungi one mushroom-based robot thingie-builder at a time
- More Mississippi Meanderings
- Is climate change a leftist scientific conspiracy to destroy America?
- Oldest Animals Discovered in Namibia
- Wild Mississippi
Blogroll
If you don't see yourself on my blogroll, just drop me a line and let me know. I'll add you.*- 10,000 Birds
- Alpha Meme
- a Nadder!
- Angry by Choice
- Armchair Dissident
- (((Billy))) The Atheist
- blogfish
- blogSci
- Blond Nonbeliever
- Blue Lion Blog
- Bug Girl's Blog
- Camels with Hammers
- Catalogue of Oganisms
- Cassandra's Tears
- Class M Planet
- Cocktail Party Physics
- Counter Minds
- Cranky Linguist, The
- Crowded Head, Cozy Bed
- Dead Racist Society
- Deep Sea News
- Dispersal of Darwin
- Divine Afflatus
- Dread Tomato Addiction
- Evil is Underrated
- Evolved and Rational
- Evolving in Kansas
- Evolving Thoughts
- Fellman Studio Blog
- Flying Trilobite
- Further Thoughts
- Hoxful Monsters
- ICBS Everywhere
- Illusory Tenant
- It's Alive!!
- Jafcisa
- Letters from a Broad
- Life Before Death
- Looking For Detachment
- Matharu's Rants and Raves
- Mors dei
- Natural Reckonings
- Nature Blog Network
- Providentia
- Qeyḥ bāḥrī
- Quiche Moraine
- Religion, Sets, and Politics
- Sandwalk
- Sarah Zielinski
- Science Notes
- The Seething Primate
- Skepchick
- Spanish Inquisitor
- Splendid Elles
- Survival Machine
- Synapostasy
- TalkOrigins
- Tangled Up in Blue Guy
- Tetrapod Zoology
- The Flying Trilobite
- The Inoculated Mind
- The Intersection
- The Loom (new)
- The Scientific Activist
- The Unexamined Life..
- The Zone
- Thinking for Free
- Think Progress
- Three Toed Sloth
- Toomanytribbles
- Traumatized by Truth
- Truth Is a Woman
- udreamofjanie
- Uncommon Liberty
- View from the Pond
- Vickie Henderson Art
- When Pigs Fly Returns
- Writer's Daily Grind
Archives
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
« Who are better conversationalists. Cats or dogs? | Main | Make Your Own "Liquid Nitrogen" at Home »
The Science in the Movie 2012
Posted on: November 21, 2009 8:21 PM, by Greg Laden
TrackBacks
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/125233
Comments
This comment intentionally left blank.
Posted by: Coturnix | November 21, 2009 8:55 PM
This comment intentionally left blank.
I'm ... speechless.
Posted by: Greg Laden | November 21, 2009 8:57 PM
Posted by: The Science Pundit | November 21, 2009 9:24 PM
Someone actually watched that alleged movie? It must have been one of those 'know thy enemy' proponents.
Posted by: NewEnglandBob | November 21, 2009 9:39 PM
I saw a few reviews for the movie so I read the reviews and thought the authors were bending over to say anything nice at all. "Lots of explosions" seems to be the nicest thing they can say. I think I'll head over to Roger Ebert's site and see if he's watched it (damn, I almost said Gene Siskel).
Posted by: MadScientist | November 22, 2009 1:15 AM
I mean, how awesome is this: A rare planetary constellation triggers a neutrino outburst in the sun that melts the earth's core...
Posted by: Clemens | November 22, 2009 7:07 AM
Everything that I've read or heard about the movie suggests that this parody trailer got it exactly right. :-)
Posted by: The Science Pundit | November 22, 2009 7:34 AM
I hear so much about this movie claiming it all to be rubbish. Perhaps MST3K will get its hands on it?
Posted by: Claire Binkley | November 22, 2009 8:38 AM
In just the trailer version of the special effects, I can tell that they will be even worse than the ones in the transformers ii movie. Yes, I saw that movie. Yes, I almost cried (for the wasted ticket money.)
Posted by: Mike Haubrich, FCD | November 22, 2009 10:05 AM
Destruction porn is a guilty pleasure for many of us. I won't apologize. But I do think I strained an eye muscle from all the eye rolling at the science (or lack thereof).
Posted by: momkat | November 22, 2009 11:42 AM
As a person who is a scientist and who went to see the film, I must admit that it was quite funny. However bad the science was, the action sequences were quite well-done and it never really made me yawn.
Furthermore, there were so many tongue-in-cheek references in the film that I'm sure they weren't taking themselves seriously. However, some of the things that struck me immediately as wrong (and I'm not a physicist or a geologist) were:
* the alignment of planets occurs quite often
* microwaves would have cooked all matter on Earth, not just the core
* the counterfeit Mona Lisa was obviously a fake
* the twin prop jet should have encountered more turbulence when flying through a volcanic eruption
* the shifting of the continents - if it happened so quickly - would have caused a lot more initial devastation than the washing away done by the water
* what's the significance of the south pole shifting to Madison Wisconsin (other than continuing the several references in the film to Wisconsin)?
* tsunamis a couple thousand meters high?!?
* even if they were so high, they should have receded quickly (not take 27 days)
* if people were at a couple thousand meters of elevation, they should have been breathing harder
* if the southern part of the African continent had risen so significantly, the Great Rift Lakes should have shifted
* Mt Kilimanjaro should have erupted (if all the other volcanoes and hotspots had also erupted, too)
* if Europe were still inundated after 27 days, then why wasn't North Africa?
I'm sure there were plenty of other ones, but these were ones that occurred to me, even though I tried to turn off my "scientist thinking". One shouldn't go to these kinds of films (including The Day After Tomorrow) to critique the science.
Posted by: Umlud | November 22, 2009 3:04 PM
My favorite part was how the "hydraulics room" actually housed gears, not hydraulics.
Posted by: yud | November 22, 2009 8:57 PM
Umlid: I have a lot of things to day about the geology related to Africa as well as the socio-political implications of the whole setup but I'm keeping that to myself for now because it requires referring to how the film ends and I don't want to ruint it for the zillions of people who are still going to see the film.
Posted by: Greg Laden | November 22, 2009 9:04 PM
Greg: The hero doesn't die. The girl kisses him. He rebuilds the world, and the US is still the bestest country EVAH. There, did I hit it? Now you can comment :D
Posted by: Rodrigo | November 23, 2009 12:12 AM
The hero dies, the US is part of the Atlano-pacific ocean forever, and the girl is actually the hero's daughter, but she turns out fairly happy.
Or is that other guy the hero?
Posted by: Greg Laden | November 23, 2009 12:13 AM
I had a brainstorm. How do you explain 2012 to the general public? Well, the Mayans didn't use base ten, and their calender had a different starting point than ours ...so our 1999 is sort of like the Mayan year 2011. What happens one year later? IT'S THE Y-2K DISASTER! The entire Mayan government crumbles because nobody knows how to write the date on official documents. Riots and looting and expensively dressed bureaucrats with paper bags over their heads!
But we're already past all that. Only ancient Mayan government officials need worry about the (gasp!) Y- 5.125K disaster.
Posted by: Bill Beaty | November 23, 2009 2:59 AM
I saw the title and, while clicking on it, thought "This must be a blank page". Bingo. Do I win something ?
Posted by: Christophe Thill | November 23, 2009 4:45 AM
The movie 2012 was a credit to Computer Generated Imagery, it is fabulous as a graphic exageration, but if the actual phenomenon had happened, I dont understand why would it be like that, given that the humans and other animals on the surface are so vulnerable, would not we melt before we say ouch? our skin is not designed to take a shower of rays coming from out space in such intensity. I am half Mayan Half Lenca, we dont see the 2012 as Westerner see it, for us is the conclusin of one of many rounds, this round hands over its goodies to the next, which in tourn nurish what is put inside it, and thus a new cycle start. In my tribal language we hav not word for Armagedon or the final end of days, it is a new concept that has made it into the popular talks, even among our people.
Posted by: Antonio Chevez | May 3, 2011 9:52 PM