10 ms·

That sentence did stick out to me too. As abrupt and lacking further information as it was it did serve to notify us as to how he was able to be on the tarmac a

by adjagu 8y ago

That sentence did stick out to me too. As abrupt and lacking further information as it was it did serve to notify us as to how he was able to be on the tarmac and gain access to the airplane. I do feel that the author could have expanded that thought a bit more.

saagarjha 8y ago
I think helped show how sudden this change was. One day, he's working his normal job, another he's stealing a plane and crashing it into an island.
- gumby 8y ago
  But you could just as well read it another way: the pressure built up and eventually he snapped, or he was just waiting for an opportunity and finally one presented itself, or he was just spontaneously overcome (not that we'll likely ever know). That's what I meant by the inanity: it's just a random trivial fact jammed in there without context nor explanation of why it should be relevant. Writing a story is selecting the relevant facts and dropping the rest: if there was a bank robbery I wouldn't expect to see "the robber wore a blue baseball hat" unless it were explained why it was worth mentioning. It could of course be poor editing, but it reminds me more of one of those high school essays where you just jam a few extra things in there to get the word count up. Admittedly, this isn't the most important article in the world and could easily have been assigned to a junior reporter -- and reporters write a lot so I don't mean to harsh on this one.
  - chipotle_coyote 8y ago
    I don't know that it's fair to describe it as a random trivial fact; it at least implies that he worked that shift and nobody noticed anything amiss. The events of his final day are just a tiny part of the story, but they're a part of the story nonetheless. Journalists are going to look for narratives, and the narrative of "he worked his day normally and at the end of the shift stole a plane" is different than "he wasn't scheduled to even be there that day and came in to steal a plane," or "he hadn't shown up for work the last four days, until he came in to steal a plane." (I'm not sure the bank robber in a blue baseball hat is a good example of an unnecessary detail, by the way. Almost every story about a robbery with witnesses is likely to include basic details about what the witnesses saw. I'm not sure I've read a single story about such a robbery that wouldn't include a detail like that!)

by adjagu 8y ago

saagarjha 8y ago

I think helped show how sudden this change was. One day, he's working his normal job, another he's stealing a plane and crashing it into an island.

gumby 8y ago
But you could just as well read it another way: the pressure built up and eventually he snapped, or he was just waiting for an opportunity and finally one presented itself, or he was just spontaneously overcome (not that we'll likely ever know). That's what I meant by the inanity: it's just a random trivial fact jammed in there without context nor explanation of why it should be relevant. Writing a story is selecting the relevant facts and dropping the rest: if there was a bank robbery I wouldn't expect to see "the robber wore a blue baseball hat" unless it were explained why it was worth mentioning. It could of course be poor editing, but it reminds me more of one of those high school essays where you just jam a few extra things in there to get the word count up. Admittedly, this isn't the most important article in the world and could easily have been assigned to a junior reporter -- and reporters write a lot so I don't mean to harsh on this one.
- chipotle_coyote 8y ago
  I don't know that it's fair to describe it as a random trivial fact; it at least implies that he worked that shift and nobody noticed anything amiss. The events of his final day are just a tiny part of the story, but they're a part of the story nonetheless. Journalists are going to look for narratives, and the narrative of "he worked his day normally and at the end of the shift stole a plane" is different than "he wasn't scheduled to even be there that day and came in to steal a plane," or "he hadn't shown up for work the last four days, until he came in to steal a plane." (I'm not sure the bank robber in a blue baseball hat is a good example of an unnecessary detail, by the way. Almost every story about a robbery with witnesses is likely to include basic details about what the witnesses saw. I'm not sure I've read a single story about such a robbery that wouldn't include a detail like that!)