Comments on: Single point failures…. http://rocketscientist.today.com/2008/09/19/single-point-failures/ Melding fiction and science in life and on paper Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:51:35 +0000 http://www.today.com/version-2.3.1 By: stephanieebarr http://rocketscientist.today.com/2008/09/19/single-point-failures/#comment-92 stephanieebarr Sat, 20 Sep 2008 23:27:30 +0000 http://rocketscientist.today.com/2008/09/19/single-point-failures/#comment-92 Doesn't it though? Doesn’t it though?

]]> By: Baron von Rochester http://rocketscientist.today.com/2008/09/19/single-point-failures/#comment-84 Baron von Rochester Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:48:19 +0000 http://rocketscientist.today.com/2008/09/19/single-point-failures/#comment-84 I'm now looking for someplace to buy some extra bolts for my entire life, so that failure doesn't seem like such a disaster. :-) Technology has some good inherent metaphors. I’m now looking for someplace to buy some extra bolts for my entire life, so that failure doesn’t seem like such a disaster. :-)

Technology has some good inherent metaphors.

]]> By: stephanieebarr http://rocketscientist.today.com/2008/09/19/single-point-failures/#comment-83 stephanieebarr Sat, 20 Sep 2008 20:10:46 +0000 http://rocketscientist.today.com/2008/09/19/single-point-failures/#comment-83 Things can go wrong over and over, but, truth to tell, a single thing can go wrong that can cause all kinds of problems, like losing one job or one misplaced candle. I think it's much more reasonable to have a single thing point failure one didn't see coming and letting that snowball on its own. Believe me, that can happen. And, Shakespearemom, I KNEW you weren't comparing me to the BS from Armageddon. We walked away from that movie with the same opinion. It does suck when this sort of crap happens in reality, flit. But then, if it didn't suck once in fiction, how dull it would get for the reader. Things can go wrong over and over, but, truth to tell, a single thing can go wrong that can cause all kinds of problems, like losing one job or one misplaced candle.

I think it’s much more reasonable to have a single thing point failure one didn’t see coming and letting that snowball on its own. Believe me, that can happen.

And, Shakespearemom, I KNEW you weren’t comparing me to the BS from Armageddon. We walked away from that movie with the same opinion.

It does suck when this sort of crap happens in reality, flit. But then, if it didn’t suck once in fiction, how dull it would get for the reader.

]]> By: shakespeare http://rocketscientist.today.com/2008/09/19/single-point-failures/#comment-82 shakespeare Sat, 20 Sep 2008 19:37:55 +0000 http://rocketscientist.today.com/2008/09/19/single-point-failures/#comment-82 But in real life things go wrong...yet when art imitates that, it's exciting. That's why the idea of restraint works for me. When a one-shot chance has five things go wrong, making its likelihood one in 476 kagillion (I'm making that up), only stupid readers/viewers can suspend their disbelief so far. That's why shows like "Murder She Wrote" are lampooned now...what small town has that much murder? How can inexperienced astronauts possibly land on, drill into, and explode an asteroid when they land in the wrong place, lose all sorts of stuff, and go wrong over and over? No, the answer is not that one of them just has to be willing to die to get it done. That isn't good enough. In real life, when something is impossible, it's simply impossible. Make it challenging, not stupid! (And no, I'm not saying you are doing that, Stephanie--I'm ranting rhetorically). Nice post! But in real life things go wrong…yet when art imitates that, it’s exciting. That’s why the idea of restraint works for me. When a one-shot chance has five things go wrong, making its likelihood one in 476 kagillion (I’m making that up), only stupid readers/viewers can suspend their disbelief so far. That’s why shows like “Murder She Wrote” are lampooned now…what small town has that much murder? How can inexperienced astronauts possibly land on, drill into, and explode an asteroid when they land in the wrong place, lose all sorts of stuff, and go wrong over and over? No, the answer is not that one of them just has to be willing to die to get it done. That isn’t good enough.

In real life, when something is impossible, it’s simply impossible. Make it challenging, not stupid! (And no, I’m not saying you are doing that, Stephanie–I’m ranting rhetorically).

Nice post!

]]>