On 3/4/2015 12:56 PM, Ken Norton wrote:
Carburetor Eating Dead Horse Moose wrote:
I am currently reading a literary novel. It's written by a youngish person
with a PhD. from Baylor in English Literature who has been teaching that
subject for a few years at a mid level University. Allowing for the
occasionally excessive use of allusion and metaphor, oddly overdone
descriptions and so on typical of the genre, it's a pretty well written
book.
Nothing quite grinds my goat into white gift-mouthed elephants like
over-reaching prose. You see it in high-brow forms of poetry. There is
this thing where it isn't taken seriously unless you have forty words
in a row with no less than 18 syllables per word.
I've always treasured Leonard Cohen's statement I heard in an interview that when he was young, all he wanted was to be
a minor poet - because he couldn't understand the major ones.
The protagonist is a young woman who has a 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle 350,
which she works on herself. The errors of fact about the engine and her work
on it are amusing.
I like reading criminal, spy and aviation related novels.
Unfortunately, the extensive technical errors can be so aggregious as
to render the book unreadable.
Ah well, your misspelling of "egregious" slowed my down a bit, too. ;-)
Perhaps "aggregious" means aggressively egregious? Aggravatingly egregious?
This is particularily true with
anything involving outer space. But once Hollywood gets ahold of even
a marginal story, all facts and physics get completely thrown out the
window--
Some of this stuff drives me crazy, and I, in turn, drive Carol crazy. :-) We were watching a police procedural last
night, in which super hackers were causing lots of trouble. But:
1. They hacked into the electronic thermostat in an apartment, had it turn off the pilot light, then turn on the gas, so
it would accumulate and suffocate the victim.
2. As is becoming all too common, they hacked into the single computer operating a car and took over control so it raced
ahead and the brakes didn't work.
In both cases, the way existing systems are intentionally designed, and the laws that govern them, in the case of the
gas heater, make the proposed actions impossible. I'm good with time travel, worm holes, Transporters, spaceships
controlled by computers that can take take control themselves or be hacked, and so on and on.
Carol doesn't see the difference between invented future or other world stuff and things that exist in the world we live
in right now and only work in particular ways. She says "It's all a story! Get over it and watch the story, or at least
let me watch it."
They story also includes hacking into the NYC computer systems to control traffic lights. I don't know if those
particular lights are in fact computer controlled, but that is something that does exist, so I have no problem with it.
But if I mention that, I'm just getting in the way of the story again. :-)
especially if the "King of Metaphors' is directing the thing.
As to the 1971 Chevelle having a 350, that was an option. I'm sure you
are referring to the writer's talking about fuel-injection and hood
scoops.
Far worse than that. "In this case, the V8 engine is more of a V7, one cylinder misfiring. I need to sit down and order
parts sometime. ... So after I replace a spark plug and a couple of worn cylinder heads I keep tinkering, finally decide
what the hell, I’ll replace the whole intake manifold. ... When I climb into the Chevelle, I slide the key into the
ignition and for a second just listen to the throaty rumble of the engine. It’s a new car with the manifold replaced. I
think it even gets better gas mileage, but it’s hard to tell when a good day averages about seventeen miles to the gallon."
The misinformation and misunderstanding is very, very deep. The author and editor should have consulted someone at least
slightly more knowledgeable. :-)
Two Heads Better Moose
--
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|