from ESPN.com Page 2 columns. They don't just talk all sports you know...
On Superman Returns and Hollywood punches:
A column complained about movie special-effect scenes in which a punched person flies backward through the air as if hit by far more force than even Mike Tyson could deliver. Specifically I objected that when Lex Luthor punches the kryptonite-weakened Man of Steel in "Superman Returns," Supe is thrown backward 20 feet -- though Luthor has no special powers, he's just swinging a normal fist. I asked readers if anyone could calculate how much force would be required to throw the 225-pound object 20 feet. Eric Wells, a professor of physics at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D. wrote, "Assuming projectile motion and a launch angle for Superman of 10 degrees, to travel backwards 20 feet would require a launch speed of 13.2 m/s. How much force is this? Well, the easiest guess is to use the fact that the impulse imparted to an object is equal to its change in momentum. For a force that is constant with time, the impulse is force*time applied. Assuming Luthor's fist was in contact with Superman for 0.2 seconds, I get a force of 6,760 Newtons or about 1,520 pounds. If Kevin Spacey, who plays Luthor, weighs 180 pounds, he's generating a force that is an impressive 8.4 times his body weight. Anyway this will make a nice test question for my freshman class." Jim Doherty of Raleigh, N.C. found this projectile motion calculator. He used it to reckon that to be hurtled backward 20 feet, a 225-pound superhero would need an initial velocity of 17 miles per hour, and for a fist to impart such velocity, "Luthor's fist would have needed to be moving 150 miles per hour. Even assuming one could actually achieve that speed, the fist would shatter when it transferred all of that energy into a stationary object." Michael Dowling of Melun, France adds, "These kinds of technical inaccuracies in superhero movies drive me crazy. What's weird is that I have little trouble believing the rest of the stuff."
On 24:
Will "24" Do An Extra Episode If a Disaster Begins on the Day That Daylight Savings Time Ends? Now that Keifer Sutherland has won an Emmy for "24," maybe Fox will debut a new show called "365" that is nothing but Sutherland all day long every day. According to the internal reality of the show, Sutherland has single-handedly prevented an assassination, saved Los Angeles from a nuclear bomb, saved Los Angeles from another nuclear bomb, saved Los Angeles from an unstoppable bioweapon, saved Los Angeles from nerve gas, rescued the Secretary of Defense from terrorists, prevented the meltdown of a nuclear reactor, recovered the missing presidential briefcase of missile-launch codes, faked his own death, and done all these things in just five days.
Sure, Sutherland was able to stop the reactor disaster by stealing back from terrorists a government-built device that sends a signal that causes nuclear reactors to melt down. Probably you'd think it would make absolutely no sense for the government to build a device that sends a signal that causes nuclear reactors to melt down -- that's why you are not a super-spy and Keifer is. And sure, Sutherland has the advantage of carrying one of those pistols that never runs out of ammunition no matter how many times it is fired. There sure aren't any spare magazines in the pockets of his extra-tight jeans! (Note to ESPN.com Art Department, have just created an excuse for you to show a beefcake photo of Keifer's buns in jeans.)
Sutherland's gun also can be fired repeatedly in small, enclosed spaces without his ears being damaged, another big plus. But what TMQ really likes about this show is that every time a nuclear warhead or bioweapon is about to destroy California, Sutherland must act alone because everyone else in the entire United States government is busy. "Hello Jack? Terrorists just stole an experimental wormhole generator and they're about to use it to rip the fabric of space-time, making the entire West Coast disappear. Would you mind handling this alone? Everyone else in the entire United States government is in a meeting today."
Two entertainment bits
Not sure whose columns I took those from. I generally only read page 2 during football season.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell