A matter of degree. 2/27/2007
I was channel surfing last night, in the throes of insomnia, when I caught a snippet of CSI:NY. I know a lot of people rave about this show, grooving on the technical jargon being thrown around, and the forensic scientists looking cool finding clues the first time they look, making accurate predictions and getting test results instantaneously.
The reality is a little different. Forensics science is more of an art than a skill, and requires a person with a very keen mind and an eye for detail. Along with the fact that forensics takes a bloody long time to get test results or details of analyses, and then a lot of time is taken to interpret the results. Bear in mind that a forensics pathologist may be required to give evidence under oath in court, and subject to cross examination by counsel, something I don’t see a lot of in CSI. And the evidence has to hold up in court, because justice being served, and served correctly, may hinge on the testimony of the forensics scientist.
And I use the word scientist in it’s most literal sense here. Someone working in forensics will have a science degree of some sort, usually in one of the hard biological sciences, or a forensics degree. Definitely someone with a lot of science education. So when watching this particular episode of CSI, I fell off the sofa laughing when I heard the following.
Scene : In a cold room containing sides of beef hanging from the ceiling. Frost is evident on the walls and floor, and breath is coming out in mist.
CSI actress : “The blood is still liquid. It can’t be. The temperature in here is freezing, at zero degrees Fahrenheit.”
In case you failed general science, 0 degrees Fahrenheit is -17.78 degrees Centigrade, which is way below freezing. Freezing point, where water turns from its liquid state to ice, is 32 degrees Fahrenheit, or 0 degrees Centigrade. Meat lockers are set at 4-6 degrees centigrade, because setting the freezer temperature below zero centigrade spoils the texture of the meat. I think what the actress meant to say was “Centigrade”, not “Fahrenheit”. And fans still groove on this show? I think it’s pseudo science of the worst sort, along with Dan Brown’s “Da Vinci Code”.
For a calculator where you can check this, go here.
Anyway, if you use Fahrenheit or Centigrade, you’re a bapuk. Real men use Kelvin.
- Posted in : General
- Author : thesnark
Comments»
It is all a fad… nothing else. It seriously hurt the judicial systems around the world thinking that DNA test can be so simple and cheap.
Police departments do not have that kind of budget to spend, the equipments, the Hummer, and the facilities. Police departments all around the world are not even close in its efficiency that is found on the CSIs let alone the pretty chicks with brains, boobs popping out from their plunging necklines! Woo… I would be a CSI in my next life.
Fiction, my friend. It is all fiction!
DV : Yeah, I know it’s fiction. But the least the scriptwriters could do is perform some research, and get some basic facts right. “House” is much the same, except that Hugh Laurie’s acting and delivery of his character’s sarcasm makes up for the show’s factual shortcomings. If real life were like fiction, everyone would be slim and fit and glamourous, and drive flashy cars, and all life’s problems will be solved in an hour (including commercial breaks).
That’s ME. I’m a slim 350 pounds, I drive a throbbing powerful 400 Hondamatic, and I’m so glamorous I just can’t stand it.
So, how is that wrong?
Maybe you should write an alternative series : Polis: KL
It would be the antithesis of CSI. A realistic portrayal of how cops really work.
Of course nothing would ever get solved, but at least you’d get to write in bribes and questions like “what were you wearing when you got raped (you slut)?”