# Under The Dome 8/05/2013 "Imperfect Circles"



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

Hey, we're making progress! We got to see the inner dome, and the magic egg inside that. A few stupidity rants (and I'm sure there are dozens more...):

* No one thought to see if there was a center to the dome before now?

* The edge of the dome is right across the street from Julia? How did we not know that before this episode?

* I love how Alice, who is a shrink and 20 years removed from medical school, is the go-to person for all medical issues. Everything from diagnosing meningitis to childbirth, and wrapped umbilical cords. Jackie of all trades. Even diagnosed her own heart attack. Bye bye!

* Did anyone think Big Jim would sit passively on the sidelines and let Goober steal his propane? Come on now, not even Goober could think it was gonna be that easy.

* Rose's body in the diner. Wouldn't it be... icky by now?

All in all, it was less stupidity per minute than the past few eps. And we did make progress on the dome/egg (I've not read the books).


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## sushikitten (Jan 28, 2005)

Of course they take a 6wk prematurely delivering lady...immediately back to the house? At least they went to the clinic soon after. 

And of course the high school kid thinks of where else to look. And that was just the first few minutes.


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## getreal (Sep 29, 2003)

Such a TV trope to have a one-night stand interrupted by someone at the door, and the new/strange lover either steps out of the shower wrapped in a towel (or less) and walks into the room with the visitor, or comes to the front door while the person who lives there is still talking to the visitor, making for an AWKWARD moment. Ugh!


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## Ment (Mar 27, 2008)

astrohip said:


> * Rose's body in the diner. Wouldn't it be... icky by now?


At least the blood was fresh.


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## sushikitten (Jan 28, 2005)

Well, I guess in the grand scheme of things, this was probably the most believable episode yet.


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## GoPackGo (Dec 29, 2012)

Glad the episode advanced the story somewhat. If I were on the writing staff I would be putting the camp through the roof every chance I got. This show needs to stop taking itself seriously and just go all out on the stupidity.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

I'm beginning to like Big Jim.

As for Rose's body being icky by now - it's only been one day, but I'd say it became icky at the moment of death. After a day that puddle of blood would have started drying up.

Interesting that just pouring a quart of water on the inner dome cleaned it to a streak free crystal clear shine. It had rained really hard the night before, why didn't that clear off the inner dome? and why were the leaves and dirt covering it, bone dry?


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## Ereth (Jun 16, 2000)

scandia101 said:


> I'm beginning to like Big Jim.
> 
> As for Rose's body being icky by now - it's only been one day, but I'd say it became icky at the moment of death. After a day that puddle of blood would have started drying up.
> 
> Interesting that just pouring a quart of water on the inner dome cleaned it to a streak free crystal clear shine. It had rained really hard the night before, why didn't that clear off the inner dome? and why were the leaves and dirt covering it, bone dry?


Did you notice the perfect star the water formed as it poured out, too, with the water streaks equidistant. It was quite impressive. Nonsense, but impressive.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

getreal said:


> Such a TV trope to have a one-night stand interrupted by someone at the door, and the new/strange lover either steps out of the shower wrapped in a towel (or less) and walks into the room with the visitor, or comes to the front door while the person who lives there is still talking to the visitor, making for an AWKWARD moment. Ugh!


I would kind of expect the neighbor to know that Barbie is staying with Julia considering that she's 8 months pregnant and on her own and is friendly enough with Julia to knock on her door to ask for yogurt.


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

astrohip said:


> * The edge of the dome is right across the street from Julia? How did we not know that before this episode?


I think we did know and see that. Especially at the time she was trying to get the attention of the army guys outside the dome a few days back and they were ignoring her.

Also, I noticed the garbage piling up outside her house.



astrohip said:


> * Did anyone think Big Jim would sit passively on the sidelines and let Goober steal his propane? Come on now, not even Goober could think it was gonna be that easy.


I was just surprised he had to get drunk to do it. (Yes, I get the implication that he's really a coward but when you considered he joined in the hunt for the wacko deputy....)


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

Ereth said:


> Did you notice the perfect star the water formed as it poured out, too, with the water streaks equidistant. It was quite impressive. Nonsense, but impressive.


I just looked at that scene again. What I find impressive is that the cg people held back from making it a perfectly even distribution of the water. and I was wrong about the amount of water used. When Norrie is done pouring, her bottle is still half full, so she only used about a half quart of water. I need more water than that and more pressure to rinse the soap off of a cereal bowl.


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

The dome made the pregnant woman see her husband, and it also made the girl see her dying mother. Now that we know it can make people hallucinate, we'll see if that plays into the story anymore. The way the kid describes the dome (as a cell like object I think) it sounds more like a sphere than a dome.


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## stellie93 (Feb 25, 2006)

How could the farmer be so sure the "dome" goes deep enough to keep the water coming forever? 

I think in a real town there would be a meeting, and it would be decided whether you are going to confiscate necessities so that people don't die. A couple farmers can't fight the whole town if they need food and water. I thought Jim was nice to actually pay him with the propane for doing the right thing.

Really meandering away from the book by now.....


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## Langree (Apr 29, 2004)

I'm not surprised nobody thought to go to the center, all visible "effects" occurred at the edges and it looked like the inner dome was in an out of the way spot.


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## RGM1138 (Oct 6, 1999)

Wow, Red. Your hubby isn't even cold yet, and you're already doin' the hokey pokey with his killer?

Now that her mother has died, maybe charged-particle teen won't be so annoying. (Probably not). Or, _is_ she dead?

Now that Junior has his first kill, who'll be next?

Hey, wonder if there's a face hugger in that egg?


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## jamesbobo (Jun 18, 2000)

RGM1138 said:


> Now that Junior has his first kill, who'll be next?





Spoiler



If you saw the previews for next week, it might be Big Jim. My guess is that it's just a tease.


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## Langree (Apr 29, 2004)

RGM1138 said:


> Hey, wonder if there's a face hugger in that egg?


One can hope.


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## RGM1138 (Oct 6, 1999)

Langree said:


> One can hope.


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## RGM1138 (Oct 6, 1999)

jamesbobo said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> If you saw the previews for next week, it might be Big Jim. My guess is that it's just a tease.





Spoiler



Yeah, I think you're right, just a tease. I can't imagine them killing off Big Jim so early in the series.


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## tivoboyjr (Apr 28, 2003)

RGM1138 said:


> Hey, wonder if there's a face hugger in that egg?


Or maybe this is the start of "Mork from Ork - The Next Generation."


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## tivoboyjr (Apr 28, 2003)

stellie93 said:


> A couple farmers can't fight the whole town if they need food and water.





Numb And Number2 said:


> It's refreshing that you're honest enough to to reveal you'd use mob violence to steal what you need. Just make sure your marks truly are weaker than you.


I would use "mob violence" too, if that is mob violence. The farmer isn't "weaker," though. He's trying to use his position of strength - having resources everyone needs - in a way that is detrimental to everyone else, and based on his interactions with Big Jim, he's not above violence. So if Big Jim and the crew want to lock him up or take him out and ration the resources, more power to them.


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## Numb And Number2 (Jan 13, 2009)

stellie93 said:


> A couple farmers can't fight the whole town if they need food and water.


Mob violence, when practiced for the good of the mob, is moral. Just make sure your marks truly are weaker than you.


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## danterner (Mar 4, 2005)

Conservation of Alices - that woman never should have named her daughter Alice. She exceeded the Dome's quota. Someone had to go.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

RGM1138 said:


> Wow, Red. Your hubby isn't even cold yet, and you're already doin' the hokey pokey with his killer?
> ..................


She doesn't know her husband is dead. She thinks he ran off and left her. With the house in foreclosure.


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## Bob_Newhart (Jul 14, 2004)

RGM1138 said:


> Wow, Red. Your hubby isn't even cold yet, and you're already doin' the hokey pokey with his killer?
> 
> Now that her mother has died, maybe charged-particle teen won't be so annoying. (Probably not). Or, _is_ she dead?
> 
> ...


Although I didn't like the teen's mother's character and am glad she's dead, I would have preferred that the black guy she was married to would have been written out of the show, as well.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Bob_Newhart said:


> Although I didn't like the teen's mother's character and am glad she's dead, I would have preferred that the black guy she was married to would have been written out of the show, as well.


Black guy???

You mean black gal. The actress is a woman.


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## Hunter Green (Feb 22, 2002)

My appreciation for the show dropped sharply when I heard that they were extending it to a second season (and who knows how many more). The thing that made me get into it in the first place was "there's a fixed length so there'll be an actual resolution".

The "Very Special Episode" birth-and-death cliché didn't help. Neither did the egg -- we're veering farther and farther from the kind of resolution I'm likely to find satisfying. I'm afraid to ruminate about this here, though, because of all the people who read the book. Even though the discussion about the book will likely fall within spoiler tags, it tends to prevent the kind of discussion we would have if this weren't based on a book. That's why I haven't been participating in previous threads.

Pilot episode with the kid trigonometry-measuring the dome, I immediately said "okay, now go check the center". I've been saying that to him almost every week since. By this point I figured it would never actually happen. So it seems in a way _more_ ridiculous that it did, in that it took this long for the guy who was mapping it in the first place to take that step.

I don't mean to threadcrap, I just can't find much positive to say anymore. About the only thing keeping me here now is the hope that we're going to learn something about Big Jim and why he had all that propane in the first place.


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## heySkippy (Jul 2, 2001)

aaronwt said:


> Black guy???
> 
> You mean black gal.


He was trying to be funny. He's just not very good at it.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Hunter Green said:


> .....................................
> Pilot episode with the kid trigonometry-measuring the dome, I immediately said "okay, now go check the center". I've been saying that to him almost every week since. By this point I figured it would never actually happen. So it seems in a way _more_ ridiculous that it did, in that it took this long for the guy who was mapping it in the first place to take that step.
> 
> ................


Your average person is not going to be checking the center of the dome. Even after measuring it, there would be zero reason to check the center of the dome. They only went looking for the center of the dome when they had a reason to. Which makes sense to me. To me it would have made no sense to check for the center of the dome after measuring it. There was no reason to think anything would be in the center at the beginning of the show.


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## LlamaLarry (Apr 30, 2003)

I would expect Radio Lass to have considered checking the center of the dome, especially once her power source hunt kind of panned out.

I am also kind of surprised that Big Jim just didn't hobble back to his car and run over the town giant, then go back and kill Ollie. 

As mentioned above, I don't think the town would care one bit if Ollie's property rights were infringed on in time of emergency; hell, the whole freaking town was ready to throttle people that they've known their whole lives one day previous for the contents of the local five and dime.


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

Hunter Green said:


> .....About the only thing keeping me here now is the hope that we're going to learn something about Big Jim and why he had all that propane in the first place.


That was pretty much fully explained already. They were making Meth to sell for money to keep the town from going bankrupt.


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## late for dinner (May 17, 2013)

aaronwt said:


> Your average person is not going to be checking the center of the dome. Even after measuring it, there would be zero reason to check the center of the dome. They only went looking for the center of the dome when they had a reason to. Which makes sense to me. To me it would have made no sense to check for the center of the dome after measuring it. There was no reason to think anything would be in the center at the beginning of the show.


checking the center was the first thing I thought of when the dome landed. I'm surprised it took this long for someone to check it out.


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## LlamaLarry (Apr 30, 2003)

At least it made sense why they finally decided to go... "hey, if the dome is the electron shell of an atom then there has to be a nucleus"...


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## danterner (Mar 4, 2005)

I did kind of like the idea of a dome within a dome, but it would be even cooler if there's another smaller dome within that one, between the leaf-dome and the egg. There could be multiple nested domes. Each season in a finale cliffhanger they figure out how to shut off the outermost one, thinking that they can finally reach the egg and somehow use it to deactivate the Main Dome, only to find there was yet another layer -- TO BE CONTINUED. They could go on this way for years and years.


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## RGM1138 (Oct 6, 1999)

Bob_Newhart said:


> Although I didn't like the teen's mother's character and am glad she's dead, I would have preferred that the black guy she was married to would have been written out of the show, as well.


I guess that love isn't all about looks anyway.


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## TonyTheTiger (Dec 22, 2006)

WHen I watch this show, I can't help but think....



































Why the heck am I still watching this drivel????


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## Ereth (Jun 16, 2000)

aaronwt said:


> Your average person is not going to be checking the center of the dome. Even after measuring it, there would be zero reason to check the center of the dome. They only went looking for the center of the dome when they had a reason to. Which makes sense to me. To me it would have made no sense to check for the center of the dome after measuring it. There was no reason to think anything would be in the center at the beginning of the show.


Really? A giant dome springs into existence and you think there's no reason to look at the center? The most logical place for the device that is generating the dome is the exact center. That's the reason it's spherical in the first place, is that it emanates from a center.


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## Ereth (Jun 16, 2000)

danterner said:


> I did kind of like the idea of a dome within a dome, but it would be even cooler if there's another smaller dome within that one, between the leaf-dome and the egg. There could be multiple nested domes. Each season in a finale cliffhanger they figure out how to shut off the outermost one, thinking that they can finally reach the egg and somehow use it to deactivate the Main Dome, only to find there was yet another layer -- TO BE CONTINUED. They could go on this way for years and years.


Then, when they finally get inside, there's Desmond entering in the numbers in the computer so the world doesn't end.


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## tivoboyjr (Apr 28, 2003)

Bob_Newhart said:


> Although I didn't like the teen's mother's character and am glad she's dead, I would have preferred that the black guy she was married to would have been written out of the show, as well.


That isn't just some black guy. It's Dennis Rodman. Show some respect. He's an international diplomat.


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## RGM1138 (Oct 6, 1999)

tivoboyjr said:


> That isn't just some black guy. It's Dennis Rodman. Show some respect. He's an international diplomat.


And well-regarded raconteur.

Who once married himself.


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## danterner (Mar 4, 2005)

TonyTheTiger said:


> WHen I watch this show, I can't help but think....
> 
> Why the heck am I still watching this drivel????


I have a meh/hate relationship with this show.


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## DeDondeEs (Feb 20, 2004)

Is it me, or does it seem like everyone in that town has the dome going through their backyard or right next to their house?


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Ereth said:


> Really? A giant dome springs into existence and you think there's no reason to look at the center? The most logical place for the device that is generating the dome is the exact center. That's the reason it's spherical in the first place, is that it emanates from a center.


How do they know it's a sphere? All they can see is a dome. A sphere means the same amount above ground is also below. And they would have no way of knowing that.

If I were in the town and a dome appeared like that. My thought would be that it is powered by something outside of the dome, not inside. Since there is no way something that powerful could be inside the dome without some one knowing about it. Since it would have to be massive to power something that size.. Of course the thinking would also be that it is somehow man made too.


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## Hoffer (Jun 1, 2001)

I was kinda getting bored with this show. A dome can only be interesting so long. Surprisingly, a mini-dome within the dome made things interesting for me again. Of course the egg thing is the most important part of the mini-dome. If that wasn't in there, I'd probably not care so much.


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## andyw715 (Jul 31, 2007)

aaronwt said:


> How do they know it's a sphere? All they can see is a dome. A sphere means the same amount above ground is also below. And they would have no way of knowing that.
> 
> If I were in the town and a dome appeared like that. My thought would be that it is powered by something outside of the dome, not inside. Since there is no way something that powerful could be inside the dome without some one knowing about it. Since it would have to be massive to power something that size.. Of course the thinking would also be that it is somehow man made too.


spherical != complete sphere


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## Beryl (Feb 22, 2009)

Ereth said:


> Really? A giant dome springs into existence and you think there's no reason to look at the center? The most logical place for the device that is generating the dome is the exact center. That's the reason it's spherical in the first place, is that it emanates from a center.


Exactly. Don't they have any science teachers working in that town? I know when I taught math in Podunk, Colorado, I lived in the town for several months before I couldn't stand it anymore,

Heck, they are into meth right? Where is their WW?


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

Ereth said:


> Really? A giant dome springs into existence and you think there's no reason to look at the center? The most logical place for the device that is generating the dome is the exact center. That's the reason it's spherical in the first place, is that it emanates from a center.


The average person isn't logical.



Beryl said:


> Exactly. Don't they have any science teachers working in that town? I know when I taught math in Podunk, Colorado, I lived in the town for several months before I couldn't stand it anymore,
> 
> Heck, they are into meth right? Where is their WW?


Out of town or dead.


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## stellie93 (Feb 25, 2006)

aaronwt said:


> How do they know it's a sphere? All they can see is a dome. A sphere means the same amount above ground is also below. And they would have no way of knowing that.
> .


This is what I pictured too--a dome above ground with the edges going straight down for however long. That's not a sphere is it? I would never have thought to look for the center. I guess I'm an idiot. Definitely not a scientist.


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## Hunter Green (Feb 22, 2002)

nickels said:


> That was pretty much fully explained already. They were making Meth to sell for money to keep the town from going bankrupt.


That's my point, one of the few, thin threads of hope is that there's going to turn out to be something more to it than that. At first it looked like he knew the dome was coming before it came (or that something was coming at least) which hinted at some mystery to be answered. Then it got wiped away. I was relieved in a way -- Yet Another Conspiracy didn't seem too appealing -- but now that I see the direction the show is going with the "why is there a dome?" question, I'm kind of thinking a conspiracy might have been better, and hope-against-hope that we're going to have yet another onion layer peeled away from Big Jim. As you point out, that's a vanishingly thin hope.



JYoung said:


> The average person isn't logical.


The point is, the kid (I should probably know his name by now) immediately went out and started mapping the dome ("wall" at that point) and discovered it was a circle within the first episode, almost immediately after the dome appeared. So regardless of what the average person is, we know he is thinking about this, and doing the math.

Now, you guys can all get hung up on "is it a dome? is it a sphere?" all you want, but that's beside the point. Finding it's a _circle _is enough to suggest a center, regardless of what three-dimensional shape the circle is part of. If the wall is the sides of a cylinder, or a hybrid cylinder/dome, or anything else that's got a circular cross section at ground level, any one of those suggests the two most important places to look for clues are the wall itself -- which wonder-boy did by the middle of episode #1, enough to make a map and calculate a diameter -- *and the center*. That's immediately obvious from "it's a circle" and becomes even more obvious once you throw in the fact that the mystery-wall is a thing that something has to be generating or creating (as opposed to, say, a line on a map not necessarily tied to a physical phenomenon).

Now, on the scale of how often the story is using the Idiot Ball, this is a minor, minor detail. It could be erased with a trivial use of storytelling -- distracting wonder-boy at the right moment, having the center be on the other side of a scene where something's going on, etc. They just didn't provide that. But the number of ridiculous things out there is so big this one is just a little blip. In fact, I'm sorry I mentioned it.


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## getreal (Sep 29, 2003)

Ereth said:


> Really? A giant dome springs into existence and you think there's no reason to look at the center? The most logical place for the device that is generating the dome is the exact center. That's the reason it's spherical in the first place, is that it emanates from a center.





aaronwt said:


> How do they know it's a sphere? All they can see is a dome. A sphere means the same amount above ground is also below. And they would have no way of knowing that.
> 
> If I were in the town and a dome appeared like that. My thought would be that it is powered by something outside of the dome, not inside. Since there is no way something that powerful could be inside the dome without some one knowing about it. Since it would have to be massive to power something that size.. Of course the thinking would also be that it is somehow man made too.





stellie93 said:


> This is what I pictured too--a dome above ground with the edges going straight down for however long. That's not a sphere is it? I would never have thought to look for the center. I guess I'm an idiot. Definitely not a scientist.


The "dome" might be ovoid (i.e. egg-shaped) with the small end on the top, as the black egg.

Maybe in the final episode we will get to see a gigantic elephant on the outside holding their dome on the end of his trunk ...


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## Numb And Number2 (Jan 13, 2009)

If the small dome is a sphere it should be able to be disinterred.


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## heySkippy (Jul 2, 2001)

Numb And Number2 said:


> If the small dome is a sphere it should be able to be disinterred.


Not sure I'd want to be the first one to try that.


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## danterner (Mar 4, 2005)

aaronwt said:


> How do they know it's a sphere? All they can see is a dome. A sphere means the same amount above ground is also below. And they would have no way of knowing that.


It could be a perfect sphere and yet be more below-ground than above-ground (though finding the egg at ground-level suggests otherwise). Or, as suggested above, it could be egg-shaped with the short-end above and the rest iceberg'd below.



Numb And Number2 said:


> If the small dome is a sphere it should be able to be disinterred.


That is such an excellent point and such an obvious thing they should try. I bet they never will, though. Also, if they do succeed in moving it, would the main dome likewise move, such that the egg remains at its center but the perimeter is shifted?


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## Ereth (Jun 16, 2000)

JYoung said:


> The average person isn't logical.


So I keep learning. I forget. It's the bane of my existence.


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## DeDondeEs (Feb 20, 2004)

That thing in the middle of the mini-dome looks like one of those 100 year old eggs that many Asians like to eat:


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## wprager (Feb 19, 2006)

aaronwt said:


> Your average person is not going to be checking the center of the dome. Even after measuring it, there would be zero reason to check the center of the dome. They only went looking for the center of the dome when they had a reason to. Which makes sense to me. To me it would have made no sense to check for the center of the dome after measuring it. There was no reason to think anything would be in the center at the beginning of the show.


Sorry, first thing I thought of was this was a sphere and not a dome, and the force field or whatever must be emanating from the center.


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## DeDondeEs (Feb 20, 2004)

What if it is actually a cylinder?


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

Beryl said:


> Exactly. Don't they have any science teachers working in that town? I know when I taught math in Podunk, Colorado, I lived in the town for several months before I couldn't stand it anymore,
> 
> Heck, they are into meth right? Where is their WW?


A lot of small towns don't have their own schools


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## danterner (Mar 4, 2005)

DeDondeEs said:


> What if it is actually a cylinder?


Or a cone


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

Hunter Green said:


> The point is, the kid (I should probably know his name by now) immediately went out and started mapping the dome ("wall" at that point) and discovered it was a circle within the first episode, almost immediately after the dome appeared. So regardless of what the average person is, we know he is thinking about this, and doing the math.


He's a 14 or 15 year old kid, not Wesley Crusher. Plus he's got the attention of a hot girl for the first time in his life.
I'm not surprised that he's not coming to fast conclusions here.



Ereth said:


> So I keep learning. I forget. It's the bane of my existence.


It's not like the producers are claiming that Chester's Mill is populated with Earth's best and brightest.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

JYoung said:


> The average person isn't logical.





Ereth said:


> So I keep learning. I forget. It's the bane of my existence.


My mantra in life has become "Common Sense isn't"


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## randyb359 (Jan 3, 2009)

I like all the comments that they should have looked for the center right away because it was an obvious thing to do yet with all the complaining about the show in previous threads no one suggested it.


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## wprager (Feb 19, 2006)

I can't believe we are on P3 of a thread for an episode of this show. Doesn't anyone here have Netflix?


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## Hunter Green (Feb 22, 2002)

JYoung said:


> He's a 14 or 15 year old kid, not Wesley Crusher.


He's a 14 or 15 year old kid who immediately set to taking measurements and even doing trigonometry to figure out the shape and extent of the circle.



JYoung said:


> Plus he's got the attention of a hot girl for the first time in his life.


That didn't happen for a while after, actually.



randyb359 said:


> I like all the comments that they should have looked for the center right away because it was an obvious thing to do yet with all the complaining about the show in previous threads no one suggested it.


As noted previously, I didn't participate in earlier threads because they seemed heavily dominated by "I read the book and..." comments. At least the first two; I haven't checked into any since until this time.


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## heySkippy (Jul 2, 2001)

wprager said:


> I can't believe we are on P3 of a thread for an episode of this show. Doesn't anyone here have Netflix?


There's a whole other thread for that.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=447161


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## jamesbobo (Jun 18, 2000)

wprager said:


> Sorry, first thing I thought of was this was a sphere and not a dome, and the force field or whatever must be emanating from the center.


Then you're not the average American. That thought never occurred to me.


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## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

I love watching this with my 7-year old.

"how long does it take someone to die?" (exasperated at how long the good-bye scene was taking)

and when she died with her eyes closed "did she fall asleep?" (no, she's dead)..."Finally!" 

Interesting that none of the scientists bothered to come back to check the dome. And none tried to get the help of people inside to perform experiments for them from the inside. Is that even plausible?

Anyone notice that they tried to give the impression that the newborn has powers? did Alice kill Alice?

finally, I thought Big Jim was growing weed, not meth. Not sure where I got this impression from. I just assumed he was doing something harmless (but illegal).


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

Well, I just googled "Propane drugs" and all of the info returned was about Meth, so that is where I jumped to that conclusion.

As for the newborn having powers, when the lady touched it and went into labor she said something like "the dome did something to my baby".


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

randyb359 said:


> I like all the comments that they should have looked for the center right away because it was an obvious thing to do yet with all the complaining about the show in previous threads no one suggested it.


I actually thought they already did it. It confused me that they hadn't.


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## NorthAlabama (Apr 19, 2012)

Anubys said:


> Interesting that none of the scientists bothered to come back to check the dome. And none tried to get the help of people inside to perform experiments for them from the inside. Is that even plausible?


that's one of my biggest gripes, the national guard went straight to bombing, and within a matter of hours. when has our military ever planned and executed anything that efficiently, even with a natural disaster? not knocking our troups, but historically we aren't known for being quick out of the gate.

it's hard to keep track of the events, the time line is moving so slowly, but you'd think even the military would want to do a little testing on what they were about to blow up!


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## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

I did love how the brother never asked his sister where she'd been (or really look for her, for that matter).


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## Beryl (Feb 22, 2009)

Anubys said:


> I did love how the brother never asked his sister where she'd been (or really look for her, for that matter).


Funny.

Appears he cared about her less than many of the viewers or was accustomed to her "turning up missing".


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

Beryl said:


> Funny.
> 
> Appears he cared about her less than many of the viewers or was accustomed to her "turning up missing".


Just more bad writing/continuity. Just last week (the day before in dome time), he risked his life looking for her.


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## gweempose (Mar 23, 2003)

I'm surprised nobody has yet mentioned the thing that annoyed me most about this episode. If I'm not mistaken, Big Jim blew up a sh*tload of propane when he killed that dude. Given that propane is one of their most important resources, this struck me as completely idiotic.


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## late for dinner (May 17, 2013)

well Big Jimmy was drunk out of his mind at the time.


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## loubob57 (Mar 19, 2001)

gweempose said:


> I'm surprised nobody has yet mentioned the thing that annoyed me most about this episode. If I'm not mistaken, Big Jim blew up a sh*tload of propane when he killed that dude. Given that propane is one of their most important resources, this struck me as completely idiotic.


Yup, I thought the same thing.


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## nickels (Jan 11, 2010)

Not to mention that shooting a propane tank wouldn't blow it up:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/33060-mythbusters-exploding-propane-tank-video.htm

That is all he did, right, just shot the tank? I can't remember.

There must be a lot of it, as I am pretty sure Jim told the water guy that he had enough to last a long, long time.


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## gweempose (Mar 23, 2003)

nickels said:


> Not to mention that shooting a propane tank wouldn't blow it up:
> http://science.howstuffworks.com/33060-mythbusters-exploding-propane-tank-video.htm
> 
> That is all he did, right, just shot the tank? I can't remember.


I could be wrong, but I think he shot the truck's gas tank, and the ensuing explosion ignited the propane. Either way, it's pretty darn silly.


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## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

nickels said:


> Not to mention that shooting a propane tank wouldn't blow it up:
> http://science.howstuffworks.com/33060-mythbusters-exploding-propane-tank-video.htm
> 
> That is all he did, right, just shot the tank? I can't remember.
> ...


He shot the gasoline tank for the truck. Of course, we now know what happens when those things start blowing up (from the accident a week or so ago in real life).


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

Hunter Green said:


> He's a 14 or 15 year old kid who immediately set to taking measurements and even doing trigonometry to figure out the shape and extent of the circle.
> 
> That didn't happen for a while after, actually.


A day or two is "a while after"?



Anubys said:


> He shot the gasoline tank for the truck. Of course, we now know what happens when those things start blowing up (from the accident a week or so ago in real life).


I know because I see it on TV all the time.


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## NorthAlabama (Apr 19, 2012)

Numb And Number2 said:


> If the small dome is a sphere it should be able to be disinterred.


hey! instead of digging it up, they can use up the remaining propane, gasoline, and bullets to try and blow it up, because that worked so well with the big dome.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

NorthAlabama said:


> hey! instead of digging it up, they can use up the remaining propane, gasoline, and bullets to try and blow it up, because that worked so well with the big dome.


Junior will probably try to shoot it into submission.


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## danterner (Mar 4, 2005)

TonyD79 said:


> Junior will probably try to shoot it into submission.


We can only hope for a ricochet.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

nickels said:


> Not to mention that shooting a propane tank wouldn't blow it up:
> http://science.howstuffworks.com/33060-mythbusters-exploding-propane-tank-video.htm
> 
> That is all he did, right, just shot the tank? I can't remember.
> ...


It's TV. You know on TV shows and movies a shot to a propane/gas tank makes it explode. Another thing that is not based on the real world but is very common to be seen on TV and in the movies.


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## getreal (Sep 29, 2003)

aaronwt said:


> It's TV. You know on TV shows and movies a shot to a propane/gas tank makes it explode. Another thing that is not based on the real world but is very common to be seen on TV and in the movies.


_*Yes ... thank you!*_

More silly TV tropes:
1. Shooting a doorknob or padlock automatically breaks the lock;
2. Driving into a line of parked cars makes your vehicle fly up and flip in the air, almost as if there was a ramp;
3. Stabbing zombies in the skull with a pointy object will penetrate the skull like a watermelon;
4. The undead can always be killed if you have bullets or bombs;
5. Out of shape people can run uphill without exhaustion;
6. Anybody can leap UP from ledge to ledge with just finger power;
7. People falling any distance can save themselves by grabbing onto anything with just their fingers;
8. Warehouses store stacks of empty boxes;
9. Falling boulders will bounce off your head without damage to your skull;
10. 100 lb. women can overpower 250 lb. musclemen;
... etc. etc. etc.


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## gweempose (Mar 23, 2003)

getreal said:


> _*Yes ... thank you!*_
> 
> More silly TV tropes:
> 1. Shooting a doorknob or padlock automatically breaks the lock;
> ...


You forgot my favorite ... Anyone can easily knock someone unconscious with a hard blow to the back of the head.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

gweempose said:


> You forgot my favorite ... Anyone can easily knock someone unconscious with a hard blow to the back of the head.


Don't forget the ability to dodge a bullet by the show leads.


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

Anubys said:


> Interesting that none of the scientists bothered to come back to check the dome. And none tried to get the help of people inside to perform experiments for them from the inside. Is that even plausible?


This is an area that has bothered me the most. The total lack of outside interest. If a dome like this appeared in real life, it would be a circus. Government, media, onlookers, etc. Remember the scene in _Contact _where the public learns about the contact, and are lined up on the road to the radio telescopes. It _was _a circus.

The total lack of outside interest could be explained by some weird radiation or whatnot keeping people away. But they should allude to that, if so. Otherwise, it creates a real disconnect between reality and this show.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

astrohip said:


> Otherwise, it creates a real disconnect between reality and this show.


Oh, so _that's_ what causes it!


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

Also, must be coincidental that all babies born on TV have the umbilical cord wrapped around the baby's neck at one time or another.

I said it out loud before the actor did!


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## NorthAlabama (Apr 19, 2012)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> Oh, so _that's_ what causes it!


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## loubob57 (Mar 19, 2001)

steve614 said:


> Also, must be coincidental that all babies born on TV have the umbilical cord wrapped around the baby's neck at one time or another.
> 
> I said it out loud before the actor did!


Yeah I saw that one coming too.


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## TonyTheTiger (Dec 22, 2006)

All this talk of explosions and no-one mentions the fireworks that were shot off just as the truck hit the water tower fence in the previous episode?

Amateurs.


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## dtle (Dec 12, 2001)

steve614 said:


> Also, must be coincidental that all babies born on TV have the umbilical cord wrapped around the baby's neck at one time or another.
> 
> I said it out loud before the actor did!


Speaking of babies, they are not allowed to use recently born babies, so the babies you see are usually around 6 months old. I was so amazed to see how small real born babies were.


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## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

loubob57 said:


> Yeah I saw that one coming too.


My son swears I've seen this show before since I always predict what is going to happen; sometimes even saying what an actor is going to say almost word for word.

I've convinced him that I'm just a...you know...genius.

So that makes TWO


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Anubys said:


> My son swears I've seen this show before since I always predict what is going to happen; sometimes even saying what an actor is going to say almost word for word.
> 
> I've convinced him that I'm just a...you know...genius.
> 
> So that makes TWO


So instead of the kids talking during the show it's the parents that won't be quiet?


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Anubys said:


> I've convinced him that I'm just a...you know...genius.
> 
> So that makes TWO


But only one who means it in a non-ironic way...


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## awsnyde (May 11, 2007)

My wife and I both laughed out loud when Junior said, "Got him." That may well be my favorite part of the entire series so far.

I tend not to think of the show as stupid, if only because many of the things people are complaining about would get insanely boring fast if the writers delved into them to any extent. E.g., I'm already bored with looting.

And I have an actual bachelor's degree in mathematics, and I never considered the idea of looking at the center. It may well be the most efficient place for a power source, but it is by no means the only place it could be. The center of a circle is interesting from a mathematical standpoint, but seriously, so is every other point within and on the circumference of the circle.

No, what makes this show so meh is how cliched a lot of the writing is. Nothing drove that home more than the death scene, which was literally one cliche after another. Compare that to Buffy's "The Body", or better yet don't: "Under the Dome" and Buffy should never be thought of in the same sentence. ;-) And as others have noted, the perilous birth. When what's-her-name said what's-its-name had a whatwhosit around its whatever, I just said to my wife, "Of course it does."


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## Barmat (Jun 1, 2001)

Are the writers of this show the same as for Revolution? Can there be that many horrible and at the same time successful groups of writers?


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Barmat said:


> Are the writers of this show the same as for Revolution? Can there be that many horrible and at the same time successful groups of writers?


Maybe they're all good writers. Maybe you have a writing team, and different writers have different strengths and weaknesses, and the key to assembling a great writing team is to make sure that their strengths cover each other's weaknesses.

And maybe Vaughan didn't do that.


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## wprager (Feb 19, 2006)

NorthAlabama said:


> hey! instead of digging it up, they can use up the remaining propane, gasoline, and bullets to try and blow it up, because that worked so well with the big dome.


Or build a trebuchet.

Oh, wait, wrong show.


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## wprager (Feb 19, 2006)

jamesbobo said:


> Then you're not the average American. That thought never occurred to me.


You're right. I'm the average Canadian. Which often means I didn't grow up "here" watching The Big Three.


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## brianric (Aug 29, 2002)

wprager said:


> You're right. I'm the average Canadian. Which often means I didn't grow up "here" watching The Big Three.


I grew up in Lawrence Massachusetts where we had the big three, plus a duplicate ABC from New Hampshire, along with two independent channels. Visiting my uncle in Glace Bay Nova Scotia in the late 1950ies I asked him if he would rather live in the states with six channels to choose from versus the one that was available in Glace Bay. He said no. When I asked why, he said "TV is either on or off, there are no arguments what they were going to watch.


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## wprager (Feb 19, 2006)

brianric said:


> I grew up in Lawrence Massachusetts where we had the big three, plus a duplicate ABC from New Hampshire, along with two independent channels. Visiting my uncle in Glace Bay Nova Scotia in the late 1950ies I asked him if he would rather live in the states with six channels to choose from versus the one that was available in Glace Bay. He said no. When I asked why, he said "TV is either on or off, there are no arguments what they were going to watch.


Where I came from, we had 4 channels. Channel 4 came on with news at 7 and then a movie; channel 3 was educational -- only aired content during school hours. That left 2 channels.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

wprager said:


> Where I came from, we had 4 channels. Channel 4 came on with news at 7 and then a movie; channel 3 was educational -- only aired content during school hours. That left 2 channels.


I had three. ABC, CBS and NBC. The big news was when PBS added a channel in my area. I grew up close to where cable started.


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## RGM1138 (Oct 6, 1999)

When we first got TV, early 50s, we had two stations with fringe reception. Both were over 70 miles away. So, I watched a very fuzzy Lone Ranger, Tonto, Ralph Kramden and Amos 'n Andy for years before CATV came to town. (With 12 channels!). It was called VuMore.


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## wprager (Feb 19, 2006)

Well, I'm not that old, but I remember a TV with a *wired* remote. Had 2 buttons on it for channel up and channel down. You still had to get up to turn it on/off. 

And Hollerith cards my first year in university.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

wprager said:


> Well, I'm not that old, but I remember a TV with a *wired* remote. Had 2 buttons on it for channel up and channel down. You still had to get up to turn it on/off.


You had a remote?!?

I had to walk an hour to the couch, and another hour back...and it was uphill both ways!


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## Beryl (Feb 22, 2009)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> You had a remote?!?
> 
> I had to walk an hour to the couch, and another hour back...and it was uphill both ways!


Yes. And where you had to turn the ring behind the channel knob to get a decent picture. We committed to a show and the commercials back then. No surfing in between.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Beryl said:


> Yes. And where you had to turn the ring behind the channel knob to get a decent picture. We committed to a show and the commercials back then. No surfing in between.


Of course not! When else could we make bathroom or fridge runs?!?


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## NorthAlabama (Apr 19, 2012)

wprager said:


> Well, I'm not that old, but I remember a TV with a *wired* remote. Had 2 buttons on it for channel up and channel down. You still had to get up to turn it on/off.
> 
> And Hollerith cards my first year in university.


the first remote i remember was our neighbors, an ultrasound, for their rca 25" console color tv. it had three or four buttons - power, channel up, channel down, and mute. it worked by a click that vibrated a combination of 3 sound bars inside, hence the term "clicker".

and, yes, my first semester, they were still using hollerith cards for classes, but it was the last time. i had already been using pc's in school for 4 years by then.


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## RGM1138 (Oct 6, 1999)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> You had a remote?!?
> 
> I had to walk an hour to the couch, and another hour back...and it was uphill both ways!


In the snow?


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## wprager (Feb 19, 2006)

Color TV? Luxury!


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

RGM1138 said:


> In the snow?


Well, it WAS Minnesota...I thought that went without saying.


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## Anubys (Jul 16, 2004)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> Well, it WAS Minnesota...I thought that went without saying.


But at least you didn't have to fight your way through bugs the size of a Buick!


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## loubob57 (Mar 19, 2001)

NorthAlabama said:


> the first remote i remember was our neighbors, an ultrasound, for their rca 25" console color tv. it had three or four buttons - power, channel up, channel down, and mute. it worked by a click that vibrated a combination of 3 sound bars inside, hence the term "clicker".
> 
> and, yes, my first semester, they were still using hollerith cards for classes, but it was the last time. i had already been using pc's in school for 4 years by then.


And if you shook your keys in front of the TV you could sometimes get it to react. A friend of mine showed me that when I was about 12.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Anubys said:


> But at least you didn't have to fight your way through bugs the size of a Buick!


Why else would I choose to be born in a place where it's uphill snowbanks in every direction?


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## nyc13 (May 31, 2013)

danterner said:


> I did kind of like the idea of a dome within a dome, but it would be even cooler if there's another smaller dome within that one, between the leaf-dome and the egg. There could be multiple nested domes. Each season in a finale cliffhanger they figure out how to shut off the outermost one, thinking that they can finally reach the egg and somehow use it to deactivate the Main Dome, only to find there was yet another layer -- TO BE CONTINUED. They could go on this way for years and years.


It's domes all the way down.


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## mike_k (Sep 20, 2005)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> You had a remote?!?
> 
> I had to walk an hour to the couch, and another hour back...and it was uphill both ways!


I have an older brother. *I* was the remote.


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

mike_k said:


> I have an older brother. *I* was the remote.


Winner!


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## sharkster (Jul 3, 2004)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> You had a remote?!?
> 
> I had to walk an hour to the couch, and another hour back...and it was uphill both ways!


Blizzard conditions and you had no shoes, right?


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

sharkster said:


> Blizzard conditions and you had no shoes, right?


Well, I tied scraps of mastodon fur to my feet, if that counts...


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## RGM1138 (Oct 6, 1999)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> Well, I tied scraps of mastodon fur to my feet, if that counts...


You could afford mastodon? We only had squirrel.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

nyc13 said:


> It's domes all the way down.


What if it's domes all the way up as well?


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## brianric (Aug 29, 2002)

mike_k said:


> I have an older brother. *I* was the remote.


:up::up::up:


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## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

TonyD79 said:


> I had three. ABC, CBS and NBC. The big news was when PBS added a channel in my area. I grew up close to where cable started.


Did they run double coax feeds when "cable started"? I remember it coming to my area, where I grew up, and have always since wondered "why dual coax in the beginning, and now only single?" (other than cost savings).

Sorry for the Off-Topic post.


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## trainman (Jan 29, 2001)

nooneuknow said:


> Did they run double coax feeds when "cable started"? I remember it coming to my area, where I grew up, and have always since wondered "why dual coax in the beginning, and now only single?" (other than cost savings).


When cable _first_ started, it was single-coax, had no more than 12 channels, and was really "community antenna television," primarily for getting reception of not-quite-local broadcast channels. _Maybe_ there was a channel where they had a black-and-white camera aimed at a barometer and thermometer on a wall, or something like that.

Gradually, things expanded once a few program providers began microwave transmissions, and then _really_ expanded once satellite transmission began.

Only a relative handful of cable systems were ever dual-coax, though, so that they could offer more channels than a single-coax system could.

In these modern times, though, many more channels can be carried on a single-coax digital cable system versus a dual-coax analog cable system, plus it's cheaper and easier to just run one wire to everyone's house instead of two.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

Actually, our cable was only channels 2 through 6 originally. There wasn't a lot to see. And they did not have the "local" channels (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre) but CBS and NBC from New York and ABC from Philadelphia. Throw in WPIX and WOR from New York and you had the original channels in my town.


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## RGM1138 (Oct 6, 1999)

trainman said:


> When cable _first_ started, it was single-coax, had no more than 12 channels, and was really "community antenna television," primarily for getting reception of not-quite-local broadcast channels. _Maybe_ there was a channel where they had a black-and-white camera aimed at a barometer and thermometer on a wall, or something like that.


Yep, that's what we had. 12 whole channels in glorious black & white. After a long while of 2 or 3 really fuzzy channels, VuMore was da bomb.  And I remember a channel that had a B&W camera that rotated back and forth over several weather gauges. That was our weather channel.


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## NorthAlabama (Apr 19, 2012)

RGM1138 said:


> Yep, that's what we had. 12 whole channels in glorious black & white.


and then, when they wanted to offer more than 12 channels (in order to charge more money),

~~boom!~~

the cable box was invented...along with the monthly equipment rental fee.


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## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

trainman said:


> When cable _first_ started, it was single-coax, had no more than 12 channels, and was really "community antenna television," primarily for getting reception of not-quite-local broadcast channels. _Maybe_ there was a channel where they had a black-and-white camera aimed at a barometer and thermometer on a wall, or something like that.
> 
> Gradually, things expanded once a few program providers began microwave transmissions, and then _really_ expanded once satellite transmission began.
> 
> ...


It was Time Warner. They were the STBs that had ~57 channels, with a rotary dial, no remote, and a entire page of channel mappings that told you that to get channel 4, you needed to click that dial to something like 37. NONE of the original channels were on the same channel on the STB. Even when they issued new boxes, still without remotes, and still with a rotary dial, they just got rid of the actual wood (particle board) cases, and changed to metal. I *think* the change was more for making sure that people couldn't just remove the blocking filters and get all their cable back... Back in 2001, they were still using dual coax, which was copper-clad, steel core, RG6. I still have some of it, but have separated them into single coax. Since the shielding was only single shield, I really don't use it, except for a TV in the garage, where the run is short, and the cable can get damaged, without me having to sacrifice quad-shield every time it gets damaged...


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

NorthAlabama said:


> and then, when they wanted to offer more than 12 channels (in order to charge more money),
> 
> ~~boom!~~
> 
> the cable box was invented...along with the monthly equipment rental fee.


First cable boxes I saw were for the soul purpose of tuning HBO which was a night time only premium at the time. Was open during the day, running promos and Cleveland Indians (!) highlights. (I lived in northeast Pa)


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## gweempose (Mar 23, 2003)

Our first cable box had a key that you turned on the side to lock out the adult channels. My brother and I looked high and low for that key, but we never found it.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Was there a thread for the episode on August 12th?


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## jay_man2 (Sep 15, 2003)

aaronwt said:


> Was there a thread for the episode on August 12th?


http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=507385


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

He's probably not spelling "Dumb" correctly...


----------



## heySkippy (Jul 2, 2001)

I guess I should ask Mike to fix that for the sake of future searches.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

astrohip said:


> This is an area that has bothered me the most. The total lack of outside interest. If a dome like this appeared in real life, it would be a circus. Government, media, onlookers, etc. Remember the scene in _Contact _where the public learns about the contact, and are lined up on the road to the radio telescopes. It _was _a circus.
> 
> The total lack of outside interest could be explained by some weird radiation or whatnot keeping people away. But they should allude to that, if so. Otherwise, it creates a real disconnect between reality and this show.


Sorry for the late response. But I thought this was explained pretty well. The scientists and army were outside the dome for a couple of days. Then everyone was ordered away, they let the families come and say their final goodbyes, and then they bombed the dome. I'm pretty sure they said that about 10 miles in every direction had been evacuated before the bomb hit. It's now only been one or two days since the bomb, so it's possible the military is still enforcing the evacuation zone until they determine if it's safe to go back.

Man, I thought this episode was super boring, especially all the crap at the end with the birth and death and stupid montage set to music.


----------

