More than the Earth Stood Still

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Having sat through the remake of the classic SciFi movie The Day the Earth Stood Still, I am compelled to set up a warning beacon for those who have yet to see this movie.

Here is the warning- While it may be worth seeing on a big screen, it is definitely not worth the full price of admission. If your local cineplex offers discount tickets for afternoon shows, take the opportunity to see it then. Also, be sure to sneak in as many concession snacks as possible. You want to keep your financial investment in this movie to a bare minimum.

First, a few words about Keanu Reeves. Much like John Wayne, Reeves seems to have a single character that he portrays in every film. In this movie, it’s “Reeves plays Klaatu”.  I will say that Reeves portrayal of Klaatu is fine- his trademark deadpan delivery works well for the part. 

Jennifer Connelly plays Dr. Helen Benson, an astrobiologist who is swept into action by mysterious people with Chinook helicopters. Her part is poorly written and suffers from excessive cliche. Character development is weak as is emotional buy-in. 

Stepchild  Jacob Benson, played by Jaden Smith, is an impish, totally gratuitous angry stepchild trapped in a love-less domestic truce with stepmom Connelly. Smith’s part was poorly written and directed as well. There is little or no opportunity to emotionally connect with his character.

The blackboard scene with John Cleese was conducted like a checkers match rather than a brainstorming session. It was lifeless and unconvincing.  This is one of the few serious roles played by Cleese and I believe it is a step down from Basil Fawlty.

Emotional connection is the lost key to this movie. It is actually part of the plot construction. The movie demands the viewer to accept that Connelly and Smith emotionally connect with Klaatu, but the direction and writing of the movie fails to bridge that gap convincingly or even connect the viewer to the characters.

This movie is written like a class project in preparation for midterm exams in a Cinema 205 course. Cliche parts and story telling devices were taken off the shelf and snapped together.  While I will give a passing grade on cinematography and effects, it is a sophomoric exercise in movie writing.

Infrastructure

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I often feel badly for people who join large organizations. They miss out on so much excitement.  The benefits of joining large organizations are many, so why question doing it? What is wrong with driving up to a large campus-like facility every day and pass through security with your card to your quiet work area?  Nothing, really.

Yes, there is infrastructure and funding to provide support for business activity. Yes, there is prestige in professional association with certain large organizations. And, yes, you do get to be involved with large scale projects.

But unless you participate in forming a new business division at your MegaCorp, you’ll miss the chance to construct infrastructure from scratch.  I don’t mean bricks and mortar.  I refer to the actual standard operating procedures, work instructions, job descriptions, accounting procedures, customer lists, databases, and other fundamental structure relating to the conduct of business.

It is messy, contentious, confusing, and exhausting. It happens in successive approximations. Careers can be spent trying to get an organization moving in the best direction.You’ll make lifelong friends and enemies. You will see both the best and the worst in people bloom before your eyes.

Not everyone likes to do this. In fact, you might even say that very few people are willing to do it. If you are a chemist, you probably prefer to do chemistry rather than monkey with chemical business structure. That’s fine.

Having participated in this kind of work, and, speaking only for myself, I must say that I have a better appreciation for the accomplishments of others. To a large extent, civilization is about the establishment of infrastructure in its many forms. Business isn’t “just business”, it is part of civilization. While few of us will be able to help construct a granite monument or edifice, we can more readily participate in the conduct of our institutions.

Nernstian Sunrise in the Cryosphere

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WAWAwawa ..wawa..wawawa..waawaa..waaawaaa..wa..wa……wa……….wa.

The thermometer read -20 F this morning. It hasn’t been that cold for a few years.  As I sat in the Jeep listening to my battery die hard, my mind wandered fondly to the green meadows of P-Chem and the Nernst equation. This equation sets forth the relationship between temperature and cell potential.  The University of Arizona has this fantastic Nernst simulator (web version) that lets you dial in temperature and immediately see the effect on the voltage of the electrochemical cell.  It is plain to see that as the temperature drops, the EMF drops as well.

Knowing that nature wouldn’t let me summon sufficient wattage from my battery, I went back inside and switched on CNN.  After seeing multiple replays of an indignant journalist hurling a pair of shoes at our president, I was treated to an ad by the Central Intelligence Agency- the CIA. Yeah, the CIA is advertising on CNN!  Take a minute to get your arms around that.

Strangely, uncharacteristically perhaps, I experienced a synergistic swelling of sympathy after seeing the shots of Bush II being assaulted by Iraqi footwear followed by the patriotic CIA ad. For a moment- just a sparkle in time- a quorum of voices in my head agreed that somebody should kick that journalist’s ass. Bush II may be a buffoon, but he is OUR buffoon and nobody should treat him like that. There- I said it.

Halliburton to Take Over Management of NASA

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December 12, 2008.  In an unexpected move the Bush administration has transferred management responsibility for NASA’s Constellation Project to Halliburton.  The no-bid contract was announced 10 pm Friday evening. Reportedly, Halliburton will also take over day to day management of NASA activities.

Halliburton will take immediate responsibility for project management of the new manned launch vehicle system and, eventually, lunar missions planned for the end of the next decade.

Major General (ret.) Garman Schlumpet, President of Halliburton Drilling and Space Services, declined to give details of the new arrangement, but did remark that he “looks forward to working with Mr. Cheney again” on the upcoming lunar mission.

Halliburton is expected to subcontract significant portions of project management to Blackwater Space Systems (BSS) based in Terlott, NC. Recently, the privately held BSS has denied having an ongoing development program in play to develop payload delivery systems for orbital and suborbital applications. 

However, a recently discovered shipping manifest disclosing large quantities of ammonium perchlorate being shipped into the remote North Carolina headquarters has been reported by the Mount Pilot Recorder.  A coalition of adjacent coal mine operators  claim they will file an injunction to halt the “private space program” from contaminating  their pristine mountain valley.

Reportedly, BSS is offering turnkey underground launch facilities as well as launch facility services from their  privately held volcanic island in the Caribbean Mauvaise Odeur Island chain.

Kar Tsar? Car Czar?

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A Car Czar?  What?  Are they kidding? Pfffttt!! Industry people barely know how to run the car business. How is a civil servant or political appointee going to direct a bunch of cocky rust belt stiffs in pinstripe suits to drive us into a clean and happy motorized future? Is this a joke? HEY!!  Who’s idea is this?

The big three automotive companies need a blood purge. The executives who lead these venerable organizations onto this jeep trail to perdition need to have their heads skewered on a row of pikes planted outside corporate HQ for all to see. There must be a big show of public firings and some tearful, sobbing contrition by the survivors. People who become automobile executives captains of industry should be terrified every day they show up to work, fearing for their careers. If you get too relaxed, You’re Out!  Damn’d skippy.

Aqueous Enceladus

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With the revelation that streams of water ejected from the Saturnian moon Enceladus may arise from subsurface liquid water, the space science crowd is abuzz with excitement about the possibility of life on this frosted novelty moon. It seems to me that if there is aqueous life under the surface of Enceladus, then some of it should have been blown ejected above the surface by these geysers. In fact, a few of the hapless critters may be lying about on the surface this very moment wearing an expression of shock and dismay on their frozen xenomorphic faces. How embarrassing for them.

The three cosmic damp spots- Earth, Europa, and Enceladus. I wonder how long it will take for a lander proposal to get serious evaluation? Life on Enceladus is as likely to resemble a microbial mat as anything.  A lander would have to consider microscopic examination of samples.

Receding Tide Strands All Boats

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Wow. Major dose of reality. For Th’ Gaussling, this economy fiasco just went from made-for-TV to in-your-face reality. Big chemical producers are pitching 10 % chunks of resourceful humanity overboard. They are burning down inventory levels, pushing back raw material purchases, and stopping capital projects. The reciprocal of the old saw about “a rising tide lifting all boats” is in effect.

Well, everywhere except government. Government seems to continue to build up debt obligations into the tens of terabucks range. Now is a good time to have defense related products- things that have MIL SPEC on them.

But now is when it really sucks to be in advertising, RV sales, and office supplies.  Advertising budgets are among the easiest to cut when the flancing of blubber begins. 

This is a great time to hire. Lots of job candidates out there with degrees. I’ve been getting Hail Mary resumes from people wildly disconnected from chemistry.

If you are a well paid 50-something, golly, you might as well put a target on your back. This is one of the ways companies can re-jigger their staff to be rid of those expensive, middle aged folk who burden the health insurance pool with those costly diseases. In a recession, a company can use the situation to reset the payroll and have a chance to restaff with cheaper worker bees when things pick back up. That is, if there is anybody left.

Upslope

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We had an upslope storm come and go here in Colorado. It left solid phase hydroxylic acid all over the place. Fortunately, my Jeep has a special traction setting for that situation.

State officials have attempted to deal with it by using Group 1 and Group 2 metal halides as well as diaminocarbonyl to affect the colligative properties of the hydroxylic acid crystals.  This leads to an increase in the friction coefficient of the asphaltene and hydrated calcium oxide conglomerates used by motorists.

Memo to Jeb Bush

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Hello Mr. Bush. We hear that you are considering a run for the US Senate. We do not know each other and it is unlikely that our paths will cross.  But if you do indeed win a seat in the Senate, then you will be in my life, though somewhat indirectly. You seem like a nice fellow. Let me offer a few thoughts.

Consider that the entire GOP franchise has been badly damaged by your brother, his handlers, and by groups who have perverted the meaning of conservatism. Your brother and his people have presided over the creation of entirely new species of corruption, incompetence, and forms of malfeasance that will take a decade to untangle.

A large fraction of citizens are angry over Bush II arrogance and its willful disregard of good civics. Americans want to move past the Bush epoch: A Bush III period is not welcome.

That being said, it seems that redemption of the family name may lie squarely on your shoulders. Please consider that the direction of this redemption may not be in Washington. It may be elsewhere and may take the form of more humble activity.

Sincerely yours,

Th’ Gaussling