Impact – Will the Moon destroy the Earth?

Last Sunday night I happened to catch a few minutes of a made-for-TV movie on ABC called “Impact“.   It was about a meteor shower that hid “a rogue asteroid” which hit the Moon and pushed it closer to Earth.  This new elliptical orbit caused all kinds of problems, and it looked neat to see the Moon up close to the Earth.

The tagline of the movie is: “Get ready to experience the dark side of the moon!”  Obviously that can be taken as a pun, but perhaps the movie also means to portray the Moon as evil.  The plot twist is that the Moon is going to crash into the Earth in 39 days, and unless man can stop it, all life on the planet will be destroyed.

I didn’t see a lot of the movie, but even what I saw had some difficult-to-believe moments (and I like science fiction movies).  The main problem I had with it was that people and objects (as heavy as trains) would sometimes float into the air.   They could’ve explained that as the Moon’s gravity competing with the Earth’s, but they said it was due to some electromagnetic effect resulting from the meteors / asteroids.   I’m not sure how electromagnetism makes people float away, but that’s what happens in the movie.

There were also numerous cliché-type moments in the movie, which can get old.   But what kept my interest was when the scientists / astronomers said the Moon was going to crash into the Earth.  What will they do about that?  The obvious answer is to blow it up.   Once the plot thickened to this consistency, I started watching more.   Unfortunately, it was “to be continued”, and will finish this next Sunday at 8pm CST.  I figure they won’t blow it up, but it is an interesting idea.

The idea of blowing up the Moon is not my idea — I remember seeing an online petition to blow up the Moon.   (I wonder who started that, and why.)  But I have explained on numerous occasions that the Moon is broken, and something needs to be done to fix it.  (Follow that link for a full explanation, and there are several trackbacks in the comments leading to further discussion on this subject.)

FYI, there are two links at the IMDb page for watching the movie, but I haven’t tried using them.

a caption contest with prizes from Klipsch

For those of you who enjoy caption contests and would actually like the chance to win a prize, I’ve found one for you!  At Klipsch.com there will be 4 bi-weekly caption contests, with each winner receiving a pair of Klipsch Image S4 in-ear headphones (valued at $79.99).  All entries will be entered in a drawing for the Klipsch HD Theatre 300 (valued at $399.99).  I missed the first one, but the second one is underway now.  The contests will last through August 24, 2009.

Note that you can enter only once per contest per valid e-mail address.   Multiple entries in one contest will get you disqualified.

caption contest, golfers with bear

It’s time for our weekly caption contest.  Since I’ve been hearing a lot about golf on TV (something about Tiger Woods trying to win the U.S. Open), I figured I’d post a golf-related picture this time.   But this is golf-gone-bad, in that a bear has entered the green (putting area), and the golfers might be in for a bad day.  So figure out what the golfers might be thinking or saying, or what the bear is thinking, or what the TV announcers might say in this situation.  And share that caption in a comment, for us all to enjoy.

golfers with bear

(To see the other caption contests, click on the “Say What?” category in the sidebar.)

celebrating Juneteenth

I just heard that today is a holiday.  Nobody told me to take the day off work!  So I did some research, so I won’t miss this opportunity next year.

June 19 is Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day.  The day is to commemorate the announcement of the abolition of slavery.  The holiday started in Texas in 1865 but is now recognized in 31 states, including Arkansas.  The name Juneteenth is a combination of the words June and nineteenth, which is called a portmanteau.  (You learn something every day.)

I’ve been told the day is traditionally celebrated with a large feast served as an all day meal in a park or outdoor space, and that food typically includes barbecue, fried chicken, greens, baked bread, red soda, pies, home-made ice cream, and watermelon.

Did you notice the part that said “all day meal”?  There was also a mention of fried chicken and barbecue.  That’s what I’m talkin’ about!  🙂  Unfortunately I don’t know anyone having a party for this, but now you know, so there’s no excuse for next year.