An Inconvenient Truth

Not that this has anything to do with the quality of the film, but today in the USA Today it was stated the film only took in 1.3 million dollars during the weekend, and had a total of 77 screenings. As I stated before this probally has nothing to do with the quality of the picutre or its message, its just the fact that alot of people do not want to "waste" their time with documenteries, even if they are amazing or inspiring. Its sad.

Whats sad is the US' views on pollution.

People goto to theatres to be entertained. A documentory, especially an anxiety inducing one is not most peoples idea of entertainment.

Quote from Skjalg

Whats sad is the US' views on pollution.

It is my understanding that the only form of polution that we are a leader in, would be car emissions.

Whats really sad is that canada has 1/10th the population of the U.S. and were the #2 polluters

considering this guy invented the internet any movie he makes has got to be good.

and yes, I really do want to see it. The previews kinda made me think that this is a REAL issue. And I swear it feels like our summers do get a hell of a lot hotter each year.

Quote from mabufo

It is my understanding that the only form of polution that we are a leader in, would be car emissions.

We also burn more coal and natural gas than any other country. Coal emissions being about the worst thing out there. Acidic black smoke of death. We also create more cubic solid waste (both in total and per person) than any other country. In general, Americans shouldn't throw any stones in regards to energy policy.

As for measuring the revenue of the film, if it made 1.3 million at 77 venues, that's actually excpetionally good. That's about $18,000 per screen for the weekend. An average hollywood movie is usually bringing in $1,000 per screen (except on big opening weekends).

I'll probably catch it on DVD. It's not that I'm uninterested, it's just I don't need to be sold. That's the problem with these movies. If you're already inclined to hear the message (less polution, more green energy), you'll see it. If you're disinclined to hear that message, you'll avoid it. Very few people will see it casually (usually because they are friends with the first group).

That being said, I've always liked Al Gore. He really is a good public speaker. He just had a shitty time of it during his presidential run. If you want to see some unbelievably energetic speeches from Gore, watch the documentary The War Room about the Clinton/Gore '92 campaign. He was on top of his game back then (if you're in to politics or like watching things like The West Wing, you'll also enjoy The War Room).

Gore didn't invent the net cdxx. He just coined the term "information systems highway" when he tried to get all the schools hooked up to the net. The internet evolved from a U.S. military program known as DARPA.

Or were you being sarcastic? I can't seem to be able tell when people do that anymore

Quote from Polaris

Gore didn't invent the net cdxx. He just coined the term "information systems highway" when he tried to get all the schools hooked up to the net. The internet evolved from a U.S. military program known as DARPA.

The exact quote is

Quote from Al Gore

During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system.

Which is true. He was one of the main backers in pushing for the Internet as we know it to spring from its original beginnings. He helped put in place the financial deals that let the groundwork get put in place for ISPs and such. He never claimed he designed it, so it's just a little political fudging. The whole "Al Gore invented the internet" thing came from a Republican Party fundraising newsletter a few weeks later.

Oh, and the original netowrk wasn't called DARPA. It was ARPANET, which was run by an Defence Department organization (ARPA) that would later be called DARPA. DARPA (Defense Andvanced Research Projects Agency) also helped give birth to NASA, high caliber deflection armor, high energy weapons, cruise missles, and infrared sensing. Recently, they ran the Grand Challenge which had unmanned vehicles navigate a rough course using various arrays of GPS, FLIR, video techonology, land mapping cameras, etc. It was really cool if you're into robotics. Or just read Slashdot too much.

I'm going to shut up now.

Oh your right, I called it DARPA instead of ARPA :\

But why would the republicans credit that to him?

Quote from mabufo

It is my understanding that the only form of polution that we are a leader in, would be car emissions.

haha, thanks for making my point ;D

Quote from Skjalg

It is my understanding that the only form of polution that we are a leader in, would be car emissions.

haha, thanks for making my point ;D

There are a plethera of other things to put into persepective when you talk about polution. You can't just say that Americans pollute a lot because they are smelly. That doesn't hold water very well. You have to take into account how industrialized the nation in question is, how many people live in it, how many own cars, and things like that. You can't just accuse someone of being a polluter and then call them stupid about it. America has lots of people, cars, and factories - that much can't be helped. It's my understanding that those are the three things that ultimately give us a bad rap. People produce waste, factories produce smog and whatnot, and cars give off emmissions. Obvious. America however, has a different situation than other countries. For example - Norway, your country. It is to my understanding that Norway has less people, less industry, and fewer cars. Another obvious difference is Political Climate. Norway is most likely pro-I love the furry animals, where as the US can't agree on anything - let alone how to get our environmental problems straightened out..

What I'm saying is that before you imply that I'm an idiot and don't know what I'm talking about. You have to take a look at your own argument. The World's leading polluters have different situations than the nation's that pollute the least. So it's ridiculous that you try to compare them(large nations with industry) to small nations with no industry by way of pollution.

So for once, please stop blatantly blaming America for everything without taking into consideration the obvious things first.

We are for a fact, a leader in car emmissions - but that can't be helped can it? Blame the car companies for that - not me.

First off, I apologise if you think i implied that you were an idiot, I didnt, I just implied that you dont know much about this subject.

When it comes to blame; I blame you, your friends, and your society.

You can't go saying that all those reasons are an excuse for polluting, its nothing more than reasons period.

But I'll give you that, too some degree it isn't fair to put you side by side with a non-industry country. But take a look at norway, in comparison to how many people, our ratio for polluting is way less than yours.

Even after the Kyotodeal you guys havent done jack shit (at least not much) to reduce your polluting, norway on the other hand has taken CO2 and SO4 polluting down by several percent, while actually increasing the size of our industry.

And your whole attitude of this actually, again, proves my point. You seem totally oblivious to the problem and choose to ignore because its just the way it is over there. Thats wrong!

Oh and, I've just come home from a Chemistry exam where this was a huge part of it (30%). I blamed the US there too

In norway and many other countries we have something called "environment tax" on gas, since the consumer should pay for their pollution. This tax is then used to give companies money so they can clean up their business if it is possible.

The us have that? No.

Quote from Skjalg

This tax is then used to give companies money so they can clean up their business if it is possible.

I'm sorry but that sounds retarded

Quote from Polaris

I'm sorry but that sounds retarded

haha, sorry, as you know english isn't my first language so some of the expressions I use are a little weird

What I ment was that companies that has invested millions of dollars for building a certain industry a certain way shouldn't be shut down or fined immediatly after an environment law has passed (old example, this method is outdated, but lets just say that they would have to install filters in their smoke pipes) Then they would probably get some support from the government to do just that, clean up their business

Ofcourse, it's not always possible to do so, you can only purify gases this much.

Oh and, most of that money goes into research, like producing more efficient cars.

Quote from Polaris

Gore didn't invent the net cdxx. He just coined the term "information systems highway" when he tried to get all the schools hooked up to the net. The internet evolved from a U.S. military program known as DARPA.Or were you being sarcastic? I can't seem to be able tell when people do that anymore

I always thought that JANET the joint academic network, was one of the precursors to the net as we know it. Praps that was just over here in the UK though.

Quote

Licklider formulated the earliest ideas of a global computer network in August 1962 at BBN, in a series of memos discussing the "Galactic Network" concept. These ideas contained almost everything that the Internet is today.His paper The Computer as a Communication Device, Science and Technology, April 1968, illustrates his vision of network applications.

In October 1962 Licklider was appointed head of the DARPA information processing office, part of the United States Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. He would then convince Ivan Sutherland, Bob Taylor, and Lawrence G. Roberts that an all-encompassing computer network was a very important concept.

Screw Gore, Licklider is probably the most under-appreciated American of all time. JANET was formed in 1983, the British contribution to the net would be the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee, who imo is one of the more under-appreciated Brits if not the most.

Quote from Polaris

JANET was formed in 1983, the British contribution to the net would be the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee, who imo is one of the more under-appreciated Brits if not the most.

Didn't he get knighted for his work?