"I'll create a GUI interface using Visual Basic - see if I can track an IP address." [K, you do that. Sure hope your criminalistics are better than your infotech skills] - Anthony Citrano

Just want to tear my eyes out and stuff them in my ears - ɐ ɯıʞ sıɹɥɔ

And two weeks later someone thought of traceroute - Eric - 100% Choice Cuts

Oh man, that's going to have me smiling all morning. Thanks Anthony! - Raoul Pop

@Raoul - glad to oblige. ;) I was watching "Without A Trace" tonight on CBS and the infotech elements in the story were just excruciatingly bad. It reminded me of this CSI episode from last season so I dug it up. - Anthony Citrano

Slaps forehead in dismay.... would be much better if they just didn't try, wouldn't it? - Bob Walder

Solid gold. I wonder how long it took her to learn that line, to make it sound like it's coming from a pro. - Yuval Atzmon

Give it another 20 years or so; maybe then Hollywood will start to get it. - Anthony Citrano

Whois and tracert will get you 90% of the way there. - Scoble, Alex Scoble

@Alex - I suggest you, Eric, and torque make your own CSI scene. - Anthony Citrano

Her first mistake was "GUI interface". It was all downhill from there. - Ken Sheppardson

"First let me run out to the ATM machine, stop at my car and write down my VIN number, then I'll come back and get started on that GUI interface..." - Ken Sheppardson

Ken, be sure not to forget your PIN number. - Michael McKean

You know, there's probably some dedicated device she could use instead. Something that recorded the data stream off the LAN network onto DAT tape. Maybe with an LCD display. It'll need a battery or she'll have to run it off AC current. Then she can generate graphs of the traffic in GIF format... and we can all make fun of her here in FF's approximation of IRC chat. - Ken Sheppardson

Perhaps I should redirect you here ;) http://beta.friendfeed.com/isthiss... - Michael McKean

But this isn't trivial, Michael. ;-) - Anthony Citrano

It's not just TV. I can't remember the last time I saw a movie that something computer related that was reasonable. For years I've thought about forming a company that would specialize in tech-related script reviews for Hollywood. I don't know how much of a market there is for it, but there *should* be quite a big one. - Joey Gibson

Anthony: I think Michael was talking about my struggle with RAS syndrome. :-) - Ken Sheppardson

Ken, I was referring to both. :P - Michael McKean

@Joey - I have a couple friends who write for TV. Not terribly close friends, but guys I've known a while. I've asked them about this issue, even offered to assist if they need. Their teams didn't seem particularly receptive. It's part of a broader problem - infotech, particularly online tech, is still seen as an abstract fad by much of Hollywood, believe it or not. I do like your idea, though. A small consultancy might do well, so long as no one was planning to make a living from it. - Anthony Citrano

XAXAXAXA, I will so no more - Dobromir Hadzhiev

This actually worries me quite a bit - and it seems to have got worse if anything. It's basically misinforming the general public about something that's central to our lives these days. Doesn't it border on immoral or propagandist? Imagine they did the same thing with medicine? - Robin Barooah

You guys remind me of my daughter. She passed the Bar last year and now she drives me crazy if we watch a police or law show together, she gets so annoyed by and *vocal about at length* all the unrealistic stuff that happens. :) - Dawn

"Imagine they did the same thing with medicine" -- don't they? - Ken Sheppardson

...Oh! And then there was my late husband (a nuclear reactor operator for the Navy for 8 years) who couldn't watch a movie that had to do with nuclear power. I remember one where all the workers were freaking out and one fearful guy says "The reactor is going critical!" Even I knew that reactors *operate* at critical. That's the norm! - Dawn

As Joey and I discuss above, it's an easy problem to solve (legal, infotech, medical, even nuclear) if they shed the arrogance. - Anthony Citrano from BuddyFeed

"We need to write a believable Hollywood script, stat!" ... "Right. I'll get our dialog coach to pitch a green light at the directory of photography. Give me 2 days" ... "I need it 5. Minutes." ... "You got it!" - Micah

I for one welcome our new GUI interface Overlords. - Matthew

One of my favorite moments was on "Eleventh Hour" when special science consultant Jacob Hood explained to an FBI agent what DARPA was. - Sue Radd

What such a GUI might look like: http://bit.ly/JLjhI - Alex Scrivener

The worst show for these types of comments is "Numbers". In one episode they went into a small computer repair shop to pick up their mainframe. In another Charlie began expounding on how he would use a pagerank algorithm to determine something in game theory.. It's painful. - Bill Rawlinson

As an ex-scientist, I can say that the science on the crime shows is equally bad. I'm sure my wife is sick of me yelling at the TV when we watch CSI. - Dave Roth

Can any show top 24 for repeated and ridiculous misuse of computer terminology? "Refresh the drives" and "Open a socket" are two of my favorites. - Kevin (barely visible)

A federal agent I once knew said "don't get me started on 'the computer' in 24 - IF ONLY we had the computer". He said the rest of it was ludicrous too, but mostly in scale, whereas 'the computer' was about as realistic as them having teleporters. - Robin Barooah

Back when I was a scientist, I would think 'popular media can't get chemistry right to save it's life'; now I'm thinking it's not just chemistry. - Robert Hafer