We read this at the office today and couldn't stop laughing and coming up with other examples of how Hollywood movies always make code and hacking look SO silly on the big screen.
- Jess
Blog:KnitClimbJava | Twitter: jsant | Ravelry: wingedsheep
Please remove the code in your post on the line starting with 'http' etc

1. No Real Software. You never see a honest-to-God, OTS piece of software in the movies or TV. It's all graphical BS. No Windows, no UNIX, no Office apps. You'd think with the way they plant products in movies and TV nowadays that they could at least use real software.
2. Too Cute Email/Chat Programs... the ones with screen-wide password boxes and size 96 font.
3. Database Reports on Crack... the ones that have all the info on the bad guy complete with 3D rotating rendered head shot.

"I'm not back." - Bill Harding, Twister
Surely the most ridiculous computer film moment was in Independence Day when they managed to get their Mac to talk to the alien computer.
There will be glitches in my transition from being a saloon bar sage to a world statesman. - Tony Banks
If you want to die of laughing , then see the following link.
It's in Tamil language, so have someone who knows tamil while watching for translation.
Captain Vijaykanth
;-)
1) The movie-picture-zoom technology: A shot of the bad guy(s) is taken from what looks like far away. The guy then clicks and the main bad guy's face comes into focus, zooming in, without any loss of detail whatsoever.
2) Over simplified hacking commands: The 'hacker' uses commands that have names literally match their actions e.g. 'Send Blocking Signal' or 'Send Spike'. What's up with that?
Originally posted by Bear Bibeault:
Ah, you've been watching CSI!
"Las Vegas" is just as bad. they also start watching someone with their camersa, and say "go to infrared" and BAM!!! you now have the infra-red filter turned on... then they switch to UV or something, and use that to read the serial number off the gun in the guys holster.
There are only two hard things in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-one errors

Read a piece sometime this year by a guy who actually calculated (roughly) how much weight Neo would have been carrying around were those weapons and ammo for real.
It was quite a bit, not only would have have been quite incapable of moving around with that weight, but the bulk would have prevented him from moving through such things like doors.
42
Sheriff

"I'm not back." - Bill Harding, Twister
Originally posted by Jim Yingst:
I suppose an action hero could always travel light by simply grabbing fresh guns & ammo off his opponents.![]()
That's what I've always been able to do. Depends on where you are. Some places, there are these nice, square, colorfully-labelled boxes full of shotgun shells, nails for your nailgun, plasma cells, etc. Often, when you kill a monster^H^H^H^H^H^H^H guy, ammo will just come flying off him, already packed in a nice backpack. Other places, you have to actually loot the corpses. C'est la vie.
Sheriff

Yeah, I remember a Christmas mod for Doom 2 back in the mid-90's, in which all the little ammo packs, etc appeared as brightly-colored wrapped Christmas gifts. And the demons were often dressed as elves, Santa, etc. Great fun. The one that really caught me off guard though was when I went outside and it was snowing, an effect I hadn't seen before. I thought, "cool" - unitl someone started shooting at me, and I couldn't see where they were, because all that frakking snow was in the way. It suddenly switched from being an amusing effect to a critical game element.
"I'm not back." - Bill Harding, Twister
Originally posted by Jessica Sant:
... other examples of how Hollywood movies always make code and hacking look SO silly on the big screen.
Funny how significant cs issues sometimes are addressed in MD.
I was in a Hollywood movie as an extra. I went to the costume trailer, dressed exacly like 300 law in training except for a really good Indiana Jones hat.
It is remarkable that I was at least 100 pounds underweight from starvation consequent to the 87-92 economic (use your word here).
To buy $200 costume to work as an extra is remarkable given the situation.
Wardrobe answered the door went into a fit, said "We said something you would wear to a rifle range ! "
I asked them what they thought I should be wearing. They thought I should be wearing a totally black teenager's Ninja costume on a 100 degree Texas day. If you have not been there, it will not be imaginable how idiotic this is.
I feel that we as information workers have a duty and priviledge to conduct ongoing low-intensity information warfare to correct broadly held mistaken beliefs about computers.
The tight coupling between what the average user sees on the screen and their actions is generally not discoverable by the average user.
[that's the best edit I can come up with]
[ January 07, 2007: Message edited by: Nicholas Jordan ]
"The differential equations that describe dynamic interactions of power generators are similar to that of the gravitational interplay among celestial bodies, which is chaotic in nature."
Originally posted by Greg Charles:
I don't know enough about Nicholas to be sure if:
1. He doesn't have full command of the English language
2. He's joking, or
3. He's stoned
It's too bad because there seems to be a good story buried in there somewhere.
1. I do get criticised for poor construction of sentences, often I just think so fast about so many possible constructions of some problem that I tend to skip words or try to put too many meanings in too few words. This largely comes from frustration at trying to deal with people who are stoned.
2. Often I try to cram both joking and truthful meanings into one phrase. I would say that another person who could really see into me would say that I am intense. I believe this intensity comes from burdens we all face. It is not unusual for some to resort to humor to try to manage or express difficult burdens.
3. Drugs failed me. I quit in 1977, taking about five years to really and totally cease.
I see things other people miss. I have discussed this with my Social Engineer, they are real. But he also provides exactly the same feedback.
[ Additional material: Sunday, January 07, 2007 ]
I note with interest in the last few days there was several lines a major broadcast, delivered in manner so as not to be perceptible to someone who is not paying attention - it is called going soft in "The Industry" as they call it - about data hidden on a disk so as not to show up in the directory structure.
It was replete with details.
You guys would very likely be amazed at how much impact a board like this can have.
Emphasise can.
[ January 07, 2007: Message edited by: Nicholas Jordan ]
"The differential equations that describe dynamic interactions of power generators are similar to that of the gravitational interplay among celestial bodies, which is chaotic in nature."
