i recently decided to join your ranks to up m nerd street cred and i am a few eps deep in season 1.

i have a very, very important question.

why is there an altitude meter on a spaceship?

2/16/2011 10:02:25 PM

So it can take off on the treadmill

2/16/2011 10:04:06 PM

If it doesn't have Erin Grey in it. It's not battlestar galatctica.

2/16/2011 10:08:08 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Mormon

2/16/2011 10:33:22 PM

Ok for reals: some of the spaceships are designed for sub-atmospheric flights, and thus would require altimeters.

2/16/2011 11:07:06 PM

Cause as soon as the Enterprise shows up, the Galactica knows its time to run and hide

thus the need to land, meaning you need to know the altitude

2/16/2011 11:21:33 PM

2/16/2011 11:24:31 PM

you do know that if Praxis had not exploded, this would not matter anyway

2/16/2011 11:27:51 PM

stfu?

2/16/2011 11:29:46 PM

no, make it so

2/16/2011 11:30:03 PM

keep running your mouth and see what you encounter at farpoint

2/16/2011 11:38:55 PM

2/16/2011 11:40:47 PM

I'm about to watch the new SVU

2/16/2011 11:47:47 PM

why dont you just STFU and Let that be your last battlefield

2/16/2011 11:50:46 PM

You'll see why that might be important a few seasons in

2/17/2011 9:51:56 AM

Quote :

"You'll see why that might be important a few seasons in"

yeah, i didnt want to ruin why the meter is actually there but its pretty bad ass when they use it.

might be one of my favorite episodes.

2/17/2011 9:53:26 AM

seconded

2/17/2011 9:53:55 AM

i never watched this show but all i know the title music has bit of Gayatri Mantra:

Quote :

" o? bhur bhuva? sva? tát savitúr váreniya? bhárgo devásya dhimahi dhíyo yó na? pracodáyat "

2/17/2011 9:56:07 AM

so ok since people answered me seriously, i have follow ups

the vipers may be occasionally planetary, but they are prob 99.9% in space, right? so does an old-timey dial-based altimeter really deserve that much space on an instrument panel?

second, the assumption must be made that they have some fancy new kind of altimeter b/c any altimeter we currently have would only work on earth (or whatever planet it was designed for). obv, this could be made to use some database of known planets, but it would presumably be useless on a never explored/visited planet. but even assuming they figured out a way to quickly incorporate a planet's atmospheric pressure, terrain, etc, my main question is: a friggin dial? they cant have a digital readout?

end /comic book guy rant

and i am interested if there is a real answer to this or if it an anachronism left over from maybe the original BSG or to make scenes like the ep i was watching more dramatic.

Quote :

"I'll field this one. Let me ask you a question. Why would a man whose shirt says "Genius at Work" spend all of his time watching a children's cartoon show?"

2/17/2011 7:56:20 PM

why do you assume their development exactly parallels our development?

2/17/2011 8:16:29 PM

well they clearly have the technology to have digital readouts...

2/17/2011 10:47:46 PM

Quote :

"second, the assumption must be made that they have some fancy new kind of altimeter b/c any altimeter we currently have would only work on earth (or whatever planet it was designed for). obv, this could be made to use some database of known planets, but it would presumably be useless on a never explored/visited planet."

I don't watch the show, but not sure I follow this...doesn't an altimeter just measure your distance from sea level (or ground level, I suppose)? Wouldn't that be pretty easy to measure wherever you went?

2/17/2011 10:54:09 PM

The points about the altimeter are valid, but the reason everything is analog is because it's unhackable and immune to EMP.

2/17/2011 10:59:57 PM

Quote :

"The points about the altimeter are valid, but the reason everything is analog is because it's unhackable and immune to EMP."

I think we have a winner

2/17/2011 11:05:56 PM

nah, that isnt it, is a digital clock hackable? they have plenty of digital readout type stuff, just no networking.

^^^yes, but altimeter work based on atmospheric pressure and knowledge of how that pressure changes with altitude. obviously, those values would change given a different atmosphere.

[Edited on February 17, 2011 at 11:07 PM. Reason : a]

[Edited on February 17, 2011 at 11:08 PM. Reason : EVERYTHING isnt analog, only some things.]

2/17/2011 11:07:34 PM

I found Starbuck to be hot. Anyone else with me?

2/17/2011 11:17:36 PM

look, buddy, this is a thread for nerds, of COURSE we found an under 50yr old female cast member of a sci-fi show to be hot. Don't come in here with stupid questions.

2/17/2011 11:33:14 PM

The old analog altimeter is just a representation of the level of technology of the old Raptors in the series. It's suppose to give a sense that even with the level of high technology of the culture that existed in the original battlestar galactica and the new one, they had the rely on 60 year old technology to fight the cylons. Same goes with the actual battlestar, using old telephones and old pieces of technology. The first episode of the mini series kind of hints on this how the battle with a technologically advanced cylons, the humans had to look backwards in tech to fight them. Remember how all the new tech failed them because they were hackable?

All in all, the altimeter, while not really functional or useful in the series, it's just a piece of technology that everyone can relate to in our society of being old technology. There are a few episodes that showcase the altimeter, but yeah, the raptors are generally a space based fighter platform but are capable of operate in atmosphere.

2/18/2011 12:01:52 AM

2/18/2011 12:03:54 AM

2/18/2011 12:07:19 AM

Quote :

"I found Starbuck to be hot. Anyone else with me?"

I would make sweet space love to Katee Sackhoff.

2/18/2011 12:09:03 AM

^I'll agree she's hot.


But in comparison to her fellow cast members?

2/18/2011 1:28:42 AM

I recently watched Battlestar on netflix since I never watched it "live"....Once I completed the series I felt compeled to watch Xena and Spartacus, for obvious reasons.

2/18/2011 8:53:21 AM

it was just a cast of hot women.

2/18/2011 10:08:40 AM

Did any guys really watch Xena? I do not believe any of my nerd fellows watched it other than on a whim. I do know a bunch of chicks who loved Xena, and their current show of choice is "Charmed".

2/18/2011 10:34:49 AM

I'll admit that I did. Not hardcore watched it, but had it in the background while I was doing other things or playing a game on the other TV. The Sami Raimi Cheeseball factor wins...this includes herculese as well

2/18/2011 11:12:39 AM

I freaking hate/d Xena.

2/18/2011 9:08:37 PM

I watched Xena off and on because I was a horny teenager and Lucy Lawless is a fucking fox

2/18/2011 10:01:07 PM

I watched the original pilot of Hercules on netflix recently.

WAY worse than I remembered.

2/19/2011 12:55:39 AM

syfy is supposed to launch a new bsg spinoff soon


i don't have much hope since they bailed on the first one when it was just getting good.

they also cancelled stargate universe and i'm quite upset about it.

what did they dump it for? friday night smackdown.

2/19/2011 12:59:00 AM

cause SGU was stupid. And I'm a big SG fan. I was surprised they made it to season 2.

2/19/2011 1:14:26 AM