6 ms·

Am I the only one who found this to be very poorly written? Its like the author keeps telling me how cool and mysterious this story is, why doesn't he just tell

Am I the only one who found this to be very poorly written? Its like the author keeps telling me how cool and mysterious this story is, why doesn't he just tell me the story and I'll decide if its mysterious or not? "Like a handful of random jigsaw-puzzle pieces, each one was incomprehensible without an understanding of the larger picture." He keeps going on about how unrelated these events are, and how mysterious it is they are happening all over the world - well if you don't know whats going on of course you will not know that two things are related?!

bobbyadamson 8y ago
> well if you don't know whats going on of course you will not know that two things are related?! This made me laugh so hard. You're completely right, it's like someone setting up a joke by saying "THIS IS HILARIOUS YOU'RE GONNA LOVE IT" why don't you just get on with it then
sudomakeup 8y ago
Great point! This reminds of of the film concept of "show, dont tell" but applied to prose instead of a visual medium
- superhuzza 8y ago
  The expression actually comes from prose originally, but applies very well to writing, theatre, movies etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show,_don%27t_tell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show,_don%27t_tell
canada_dry 8y ago
> this to be very poorly written? Yah, sadly most of the stuff coming out of Wired the last couple years has been pretty low quality... this is typical. It was painful to read.
- oarabbus_ 8y ago
  Hmm, really? I subscribe to the print magazine and I'd say every article has at least one worthwhile story.
ivanhoe 8y ago
Don't forget a full page about that Filipino garbageman, that ends in him basically knowing nothing, seeing nothing and being completely irrelevant character to the whole story...
- world32 8y ago
  Oh man that part was ridiculous. Its like, you could spend a whole page talking about some guy taking a dog for a walk and talking about how he bagged up the dog poo and put it in a bin. Then say "little did I know this dog poo was actually related to the murder of a journalist in Australia... The dog belonged to an infamous hitman who hired a dog sitter to look after his dog while he was in Australia on a job". The whole thing sounds like it was written by a 15 year old.
ilovetux 8y ago
I actually enjoyed it; although usually I'd agree. It was like reading a fictional book where the author's purpose is to entertain rather than to inform. I saw it as a story following a reporter around and the allusions to the mysterious nature of everything were like how a movie would play a mysterious sounding background track while the main character followed a new lead.
prolepunk 8y ago
The story isn't so mysterious once it's been written as a wikipedi article -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le_Roux https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le_Roux
tru3_power 8y ago
Yea, it really bothered me too. Seems like the writer was really amped up.
everdev 8y ago
Huge pet peeve of mine is when writers use analogies to describe technology or science instead of writing what actually happened. I think I read somewhere once, "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." which seems to ring true with these artful descriptions of mechanical things.
- Pharmakon 8y ago
  I think that’s probably a rephrasing of Einstein’s alleged quote, ”It should be possible to explain the laws of physics to a barmaid.” That quote as relayed by de Brolgie seems to have mutated quite a bit, changing the meaning to something more general. Of course it’s also worth pointing out that Quantum Mechanics sort of throw a superposition of wrenches into that puppy.
  - everdev 8y ago
    > Quantum Mechanics sort of throw a superposition of wrenches into that puppy Maybe because we don't understand it enough quite yet! I'm sure gravity was hard to explain when it was first being talked about.
    - TeMPOraL 8y ago
      Rough idea for a barmaid-level explanation: "Quantum mechanics pop up because the stuff we're made of isn't very small balls. It's really a manifestation of waves. How can something that's made of waves behave like particles? Let me show you: [proceeds to pull out a length of cable, tying one end of it to some structure] [proceeds to wave the other end, creating a wave on the cable, pointing out how the peaks move forward] [proceeds to wave faster, creating a standing wave, pointing out the nodes] Roughly like this. You can think of the moving peak, or the standing node, as particles - stationary or in motion. They're not really there, but you can point to them and name them. Now all the weird stuff that quantum mechanics is about - quantum tunneling, double slit experiments, etc. - appear when you stop looking at particles, and start doing the math on the underlying waves."
gwbas1c 8y ago
Because it's an excerpt from a book
hateful 8y ago
Reminds me of a lot of the science shows on TV. A whole hour of "wow" to let me know 1/6 of what I learned in one youtube video.

bobbyadamson 8y ago

> well if you don't know whats going on of course you will not know that two things are related?! This made me laugh so hard. You're completely right, it's like someone setting up a joke by saying "THIS IS HILARIOUS YOU'RE GONNA LOVE IT" why don't you just get on with it then

sudomakeup 8y ago

Great point! This reminds of of the film concept of "show, dont tell" but applied to prose instead of a visual medium

superhuzza 8y ago
The expression actually comes from prose originally, but applies very well to writing, theatre, movies etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show,_don%27t_tell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show,_don%27t_tell

canada_dry 8y ago

> this to be very poorly written? Yah, sadly most of the stuff coming out of Wired the last couple years has been pretty low quality... this is typical. It was painful to read.

oarabbus_ 8y ago
Hmm, really? I subscribe to the print magazine and I'd say every article has at least one worthwhile story.

ivanhoe 8y ago

Don't forget a full page about that Filipino garbageman, that ends in him basically knowing nothing, seeing nothing and being completely irrelevant character to the whole story...

world32 8y ago
Oh man that part was ridiculous. Its like, you could spend a whole page talking about some guy taking a dog for a walk and talking about how he bagged up the dog poo and put it in a bin. Then say "little did I know this dog poo was actually related to the murder of a journalist in Australia... The dog belonged to an infamous hitman who hired a dog sitter to look after his dog while he was in Australia on a job". The whole thing sounds like it was written by a 15 year old.

ilovetux 8y ago

I actually enjoyed it; although usually I'd agree. It was like reading a fictional book where the author's purpose is to entertain rather than to inform. I saw it as a story following a reporter around and the allusions to the mysterious nature of everything were like how a movie would play a mysterious sounding background track while the main character followed a new lead.

prolepunk 8y ago

The story isn't so mysterious once it's been written as a wikipedi article -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le_Roux https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Le_Roux

tru3_power 8y ago

Yea, it really bothered me too. Seems like the writer was really amped up.

everdev 8y ago

Huge pet peeve of mine is when writers use analogies to describe technology or science instead of writing what actually happened. I think I read somewhere once, "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." which seems to ring true with these artful descriptions of mechanical things.

Pharmakon 8y ago
I think that’s probably a rephrasing of Einstein’s alleged quote, ”It should be possible to explain the laws of physics to a barmaid.” That quote as relayed by de Brolgie seems to have mutated quite a bit, changing the meaning to something more general. Of course it’s also worth pointing out that Quantum Mechanics sort of throw a superposition of wrenches into that puppy.
- everdev 8y ago
  > Quantum Mechanics sort of throw a superposition of wrenches into that puppy Maybe because we don't understand it enough quite yet! I'm sure gravity was hard to explain when it was first being talked about.
  - TeMPOraL 8y ago
    Rough idea for a barmaid-level explanation: "Quantum mechanics pop up because the stuff we're made of isn't very small balls. It's really a manifestation of waves. How can something that's made of waves behave like particles? Let me show you: [proceeds to pull out a length of cable, tying one end of it to some structure] [proceeds to wave the other end, creating a wave on the cable, pointing out how the peaks move forward] [proceeds to wave faster, creating a standing wave, pointing out the nodes] Roughly like this. You can think of the moving peak, or the standing node, as particles - stationary or in motion. They're not really there, but you can point to them and name them. Now all the weird stuff that quantum mechanics is about - quantum tunneling, double slit experiments, etc. - appear when you stop looking at particles, and start doing the math on the underlying waves."

gwbas1c 8y ago

Because it's an excerpt from a book

hateful 8y ago

Reminds me of a lot of the science shows on TV. A whole hour of "wow" to let me know 1/6 of what I learned in one youtube video.