An argument we are having at work...

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by PKFFW

Stephen Hawking once guess starred on Star Trek TNG. He was given a tour of the sets after telling them he had always been a big fan.

When he saw the set for the warp engine he said "I'm working on it."

I don't know if faster than light travel will ever be possible but if Stephen Hawking gives the idea enough credit to even suggest that it might be, then I certainly wouldn't want to be the one to claim I know it will never be.

Something to think about anyway.

Cheers,
PKFFW

Let's say that it is possible. My question then would be; can a living being survive it?

[Argel]

Originally Posted by ahi

IIt seems pointless to read something written by somebody who is clearly intellectually duller than I... hell, what if I catch what they have?

But that would mean I hardly read anything at all...

[PKFFW]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Let's say that it is possible. My question then would be; can a living being survive it?

Interesting question.

I guess the easy answer is that if we could figure out how to do it then figuring out how to survive it should be child's play in comparison.

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Let's say that it is possible. My question then would be; can a living being survive it?

Originally Posted by PKFFW

Interesting question.

I guess the easy answer is that if we could figure out how to do it then figuring out how to survive it should be child's play in comparison.

Clearly, y'all need a vacation in the Llounge last week. Adrian's Bar is open 25/7.5, but closes for second breakfast. The whole question will resolve itself for you while you are there. Hope you had a nice vacation there next week!

[Lady Blue]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Clearly, y'all need a vacation in the Llounge last week. Adrian's Bar is open 25/7.5, but closes for second breakfast. The whole question will resolve itself for you while you are there. Hope you had a nice vacation there next week!

In the Llounge EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE, and VERY PROBABLE as well . . . . a strange but factual truth.

[mark42]

Originally Posted by ficbot

...And he told me that it's all pretend anyway so it doesn't have to make sense. I say fiction or not, it still has to make sense and if there is some special explanation for something illogical, they need to clue the reader in. So, what do you think...it's all pretend so who cares, or I am right to demand an explanation.

I can't help but to think of the original Twilight Zone series here. Many of the classic episodes require a giant leap of disbelief at the very beginning in order to set the stage for the story that unfolds.

An episode titled "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up" comes to mind: A couple of state troopers are investigating reports of a flying saucer crash in a relatively unpopulated area, while in that same area, a bus driver and his passengers wait out some bad weather in a diner. They soon realize that there's one more among them than were on the bus, and the immediate supposition is that one of them is actually a Martian. I actually rather liked that they didn't try to explain anything at all about the flying saucer crash, that the level of panic fell far short of what one would expect should a flying saucer crash land on Earth, or even the assumption that a Martian would be indistinguishable from a human. You just accept the basic premise and enjoy what follows.

Of course, an episode of an anthology show and a novel are two completely different things, but in my opinion a good writer can ask a whole lot from you up front so long as he/she delivers a well-crafted story from that point forward.

[Ea]

Just remembered something that really irritated me: In George R. R. Martin's "Song of Fire and Ice" there's these flint mountains, and AFAIK it's a geological impossibility. It just kept taking me out of the story and I never got futher than the first book.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Ea

Just remembered something that really irritated me: In George R. R. Martin's "Song of Fire and Ice" there's these flint mountains, and AFAIK it's a geological impossibility. It just kept taking me out of the story and I never got futher than the first book.

Mountains made of flint? Yep, that'd pull me up quite sharply too. Flint occurs in layers of lumpy nodules in chalk, and sometimes in almost complete sheets. But a mountain of flint just can't happen.

There's a neolithic flint mine near me - great site - one of the mines has been excavated, and you can go down the main shaft.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/s...hosenImageId/2

[Ea]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Mountains made of flint? Yep, that'd pull me up quite sharply too. Flint occurs in layers of lumpy nodules in chalk, and sometimes in almost complete sheets. But a mountain of flint just can't happen.

There's a neolithic flint mine near me - great site - one of the mines has been excavated, and you can go down the main shaft.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/s...hosenImageId/2

It worked really well for atmosphere, but it was just the wrong kind of departure from reality.

The flint mine was interesting. I've read about it long ago, and I htink they also exported flint out of the country. I tracked down a photo from a Danish flint mine (Google books link)

[Gaurnim]

Originally Posted by Ea

Just remembered something that really irritated me: In George R. R. Martin's "Song of Fire and Ice" there's these flint mountains, and AFAIK it's a geological impossibility. It just kept taking me out of the story and I never got futher than the first book.

I don't remember that, but then again, I have no specific professional or personal interest in flint and / or geology, so it might explain why.
Well, if a book contains stupid things about computer science, I'm much more likely to remark them. It might not lead me to stop reading the book, though, because I'm used to it (to be frank, it would depend on the scale of the error).

Ea, it's too bad that this prevented you from enjoying the story, as Martin has created a very interesting setting.

I feel that it depends on the goal and advertised genre of the book.
If a book is hard sci-fi, it HAS to be solid and scientifically credible. There shouldn't be much suspension of disbelief at play, in fact, it should mostly consist in accepting the author's hypothesis about scientific progress.
If a book is *simple* science-fiction without claims of scientific accuracy, then I am much more flexible.
I think I'm even more permissive with fantasy, especially for magic-based stories.

In the end, for me it's more about internal consistency than about compliance with an external set of rules.
The author might have to explain important discrepancies, though, either in the foreword, a footnote or integrating it within the story.

This makes me think about the "a long time ago in a galaxy far far away" intro to Star Wars, it's an easy way (a bit too easy maybe) to give oneself a great leeway for inventing /modifying stuff.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by Ea

there's these flint mountains, and AFAIK it's a geological impossibility.

It's also relatively frequent to have impossible sun/moon combinations, like thin waning moon high in the sky at midnight. My father also told me he had read in a book by Lobsang Rampa that he saw Mercury near the zenith... which is as impossible*

[*] Mercury and thin waning/waxing moons are always close to the sun, they cannot be high up when the sun is "low down".

And it's fun when you see these thin crescents in movies with stars inside the obscured portion

[Lo Zeno]

Originally Posted by Gaurnim

Well, if a book contains stupid things about computer science, I'm much more likely to remark them. It might not lead me to stop reading the book, though, because I'm used to it (to be frank, it would depend on the scale of the error).

Same for me.
Watching TRON was impossible for me, because of all the honestly too stupid ideas about the cyberspace. And I get thrown off by every single movie or book about hackers and how they supposedly hack into other networks or computers.

"Aha, there are three layers of security... Oh my god, they discovered me! They are tracking me! Thirtyfive seconds and they will get my address!"
...seriously, this makes my nuts roll on the floor (and Italian way of saying "good chap! this is nonsense!")

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Lo Zeno

Same for me.
Watching TRON was impossible for me, because of all the honestly too stupid ideas about the cyberspace. And I get thrown off by every single movie or book about hackers and how they supposedly hack into other networks or computers.

"Aha, there are three layers of security... Oh my god, they discovered me! They are tracking me! Thirtyfive seconds and they will get my address!"
...seriously, this makes my nuts roll on the floor (and Italian way of saying "good chap! this is nonsense!")

I found my new sig line.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Jellby

It's also relatively frequent to have impossible sun/moon combinations, like thin waning moon high in the sky at midnight. My father also told me he had read in a book by Lobsang Rampa that he saw Mercury near the zenith... which is as impossible*

[*] Mercury and thin waning/waxing moons are always close to the sun, they cannot be high up when the sun is "low down".

And it's fun when you see these thin crescents in movies with stars inside the obscured portion

that's my personal favourite.

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I found my new sig line.

Lo Zeno, how do you say this expression in italian ?

[Lo Zeno]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

that's my personal favourite.

Lo Zeno, how do you say this expression in italian ?

It's quite a vulgar saying:

"Mi fa rotolare le palle sul pavimento"

Alternatively, "mi fa rimbalzare le palle sul pavimento" which is more like "this makes my nuts BOUNCE on the floor"