Am I right to think the point of CBC's Doc Zone

[james_davis_nicoll]

Is to present the most alarming case for a given set of facts?

Comments

[dewline.livejournal.com]

And trigger a lot of arguments. Thus do they avert irrelevance.

I consider this a good thing.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

The point of CBC's Doc Zone is to get the best ratings it can. You probably get better results with flesh-eating bacteria than with the intricacies of literary theory.

[doc-lemming.livejournal.com]

You speak, of course, of the Yellowstone Caldera documentary?

I thought it was interesting, but that's because it pointed up something that I hadn't known about.

It did err on the side of (POTENTIAL) DOOM, but I suspect an hour of them saying, "Well, the error bars are such and such, and the eruption is only posited, so no need to worry," does have the unfortunate effect of not putting bums in the seats and eyeballs toward the screen.

And I think that's a substantial part of what they're about--if they could make goldfish into a ratings bonanza, I think they would.

[keithmm.livejournal.com]

I think the Yellowstone DOOOOOOOMMMMM! crowd is missing a golden opportunity. After all, the hotspot has been moving easterly relative to the North American plate[1], so that means it's only a matter of time[2] before Chicago[3] gets nailed by a volcanic eruption.

1. Northeasterly, but it could change direction!
2. Only 230 million years at the current North American plate velocity!
3. Of course there are other cities closer, but who cares about them?

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

My impression was that with the Yellowstone DOOOOM scenario it doesn't matter that much where you live anyway.

Have they done one about the supposed Las Palmas mega-tsunami that will wipe out the US Eastern Seaboard at any moment, unless that's complete bullshit?

[keithmm.livejournal.com]

I think once you're the basis for a CSI Miami episode, you've pretty much lost all credibility.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Until you posted that, I had no idea that there was a mega-tsunami apocalypse in the CSI universe. (It seems to have only affected Miami, though.)

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I loved the part where they illustrated a discussion of geology with a clip of the Sun.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

But apparently the earth's core is as hot as the sun's surface, so that all makes sense.

[bwross.livejournal.com]

The one about how Canadians are losing their love of winter wasn't alarmist, but that's a pretty hard topic to do that with. My impression of it was jealousy over the Scandinavians with their heated sidewalks... it certainly wasn't concern that Canadians might be losing our winter cred.

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Hey, you've got all that underground concourse in Montréal: that counts for a lot!

[bwross.livejournal.com]

Not really... it doesn't extend out to KW. Nor does Winnipeg's extensive winter protected walkway system. Not that I need the protection from cold, I come from NW Ontario, so the winter's here are at least 10C warmer... my only complaint is that the snow down here isn't dry, and heated sidewalks would fix that.

But more importantly, that was actually part of the point of that episode... Canadians losing their love for winter and hiding inside from it until spring and complaining, while the Russians and Scandinavians still have an outdoor winter culture and enjoy winter.