I just had two experiences today which demonstrated that old aphorism, “Ignorance is bliss.”
For instance, I would have enjoyed this evening’s episode of Dr. Who more if I hadn’t gone to Launchpad. The episode involved powering a giant converter for the Daleks with a blast of gamma radiation from giant solar flare. Except, the blast happened when it was nighttime, which means that the area the Daleks were in would have been shielded by the Earth and not hit with the gamma rays. Not like any of the rest of the science was accurate, but you get the point.
The other one today regards the story that I just sold to Asimov’s. I had a conversation with a businessman about a medical company during which he casually said, “We might have to move because India has really strict medical experiment regulations.”
This is wince-making because my story is set in India specifically because we wanted a place with weak regulations. I told Sheila today and she agrees with me; when the story comes out, it will not be in India.
Life would be so much easier if I hadn’t known that. Have you had one of those moments?
It happens all too often. =(
Like the fact that at work, when you send files to the printer, you know the proofs will always have errors.
Or that some friends will always be late.
Or that you’ll inevitably say something stupid/embarrassing on the Internet.
That would be me.
I work in aviation. Almost every movie where action scenes take place in an airplane are ruined for me. “Flightplan” with Jody Foster is a perfect example.
Ah yes. I also have this reaction when reading fiction set in the theater or film industry. Films get it right, because there are enough people who know better working on them, but authors tend to botch it.