Is The 'CSI Phenomenon' Good For Science? 815
Tycoon Guy writes "With CSI: Crime Scene Investigation airing its 100th episode this week, I wonder, how do Slashdot readers feel about the show, and its two spinoffs? On the one hand, they've caused a boom in the popularity of forensic science college courses, and they glamorize geeks bent over microscopes, rather than smarmy lawyers. On the other hand, they may also promote an inaccurate view of science: prosecutors throughout the country now worry about juries that refuse to accept eyewitness accounts or even outright confessions, and instead exclusively demand the kind of forensic evidence they see on CSI. But of course, in the real world, you don't get a test like that in mere seconds - or without spending a substantial amount of money. So where does CSI rate on the geek scale for you?"
My rating (Score:4, Funny)
Definitive answer (Score:4, Funny)
television sucks, let's move on (Score:5, Funny)
Infinite Resolution (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Infinite Resolution (Score:2, Funny)
Re:CSI (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Infinite Resolution (Score:2, Funny)
I wonder what will happen when they upgrade to 640x480 - will they be viewing things on a quantum level from the other side of the planet?
I had hoped (in vain) that it would end with Enemy of the State... but no, it's just getting worse
Re:Infinite Resolution (Score:1, Funny)
Somehow, I think license plates are the last thing they'd be used for.
On a completely unrelated topic, property values around women's dorms would probably skyrocket.
Re:Grade (Score:4, Funny)
I take it you're not a big fan of star trek either eh?
Re:television sucks, let's move on (Score:5, Funny)
Shouldn't that be "Good for Criminals?" (Score:5, Funny)
I sure have cleaned up my evidence-leaving ways, seeing all the good tips on these reality shows.
Heck, if the witness-relocation program didn't keep moving me about, I'd be caught by now, for sure!
Re:Infinite Resolution (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Infinite Resolution (Score:2, Funny)
It goes more than that, what really happens is in that split instance, the camera did a molecular and quantum analysis of its surroundings, and record all that molecular and quantum states onto that dodgy VHS-lookalike tape!
Re:Infinite Resolution (Score:5, Funny)
Indeed. I'd really like to get a hold of the filter that lets them turn 6 pixels into a licence plate. Do you think it would be available for The GIMP?
Seinfeld parady (Score:3, Funny)
That can't be good for anybody.
Re:This is Slashdot (Score:3, Funny)
Jebus.
Re:CSI (Score:5, Funny)
ONE WORD: (Score:4, Funny)
-
Pantsman on CSI. (Score:1, Funny)
Frankly, I tend to agree.
TFOAE
Re:CSI is terrible (Score:3, Funny)
Good Lookin' Scientists in Vegas (Score:2, Funny)
That's nothing... Last night on Law & Order... (Score:2, Funny)
My wife turned to me and said, "It looks like they need to update their Anti-Virus"
Right in the center of the really busy screen was the Norton Anti-Virus "Update your Anti-Virus Definitions" window.
CSI (Score:5, Funny)
I always get a good laugh out of the magic scanner machine. They rinse a q-tip into a little test tube, put the test tube into a rack, the rack gets roboticaly loaded into a machine, there is a couple of seconds of the sound of a dot matrix printer, and the "tech" says in a serious voice, "It's a piece of rubber from the tire of a 1989 green chevy pickup truck! There were only 1000 of this model produced of which only 17 are still on the road and only one is registered in this state. The owner is the suspects sister!"
At this point they confront the sister who admits that she really was in town after all and she did cut up the body, disolve it in lye, grid up the bones and throw the dust in the Atlantic, "but he was already dead."
Since one of the teeth didn't get ground up all the way they are able to put the tooth back into the magic scanner (cue more dot matrix printer sounds) and show he really died of poisoning on tuesday when the sister said that she saw him alive on wednesday.
They then connect to a national database that tracks the cash purchases of everyone in the country for the last 10 years (here we are treated to the sound of a 9600baud modem, dee,doo,deeeeeeeeee,doooo,dooooooooo!) to show that last August she bought some rat poison when she was in Chicago for a business trip and had an affair with the dead guy.
They confront her again and this time she admits she did it. We get about 20 seconds of the main character finally on a date with the cute scientist from out of town when his pager goes off (no nooky for you) and its time to watch an ad for a new cure for erectile disfunction ( when a quiet time becomes the right time) .
Pipetting (Score:5, Funny)
Also, if you ever see a M.E. kneeling over my corpse, touching my hair and saying "oh, poor baby, who did this to you?" you have my permission to slap her! Or as David Caruso would say, "You have my permission...[dramatically puts sunglasses on]...to slap her."
Re:And what's up with the colorization? (Score:2, Funny)
Fractalate (Score:5, Funny)
Fractalate!
Fractalate!
How did you know this would be my new favorite word? Honestly, if you had used "wavify" instead of "wavelet", I would have mailed you a ham out of sheer glee.
Re:Infinite Resolution (Score:5, Funny)
In the episode The Prom they're watching a tape of a demon attack:
Re:Grade (Score:5, Funny)
Fuck, you hire some guy to keep track of which blood spatters belong to who, and all of a sudden he's taken over the entire Florida legal system. You ever see any trials in this show? For all we know he just takes these fuckers out back and buries them in the motherfucking parking lot. It's not like he couldn't get away with it, he apparently got some kind of extra-legal status where he immediately just takes over command in any situation he wanders into.
Re:Its good, look at what happened with OJ (Score:4, Funny)
I want more movie magic in real life!
I dream of a glorious future where there is absolutely no difference in the quality of image you can get from a 320x200 cell phone camera and a $bignum 10-megapixel digital camera.
We could use the same technology to implement amazing lossless compression. 3kb files will store HD-quality images! Entire albums will fly across the P2P networks, tucked away in files that wouldn't come close to filling a 5.25" floppy disk, but sound even better than the original master recordings! Nerds will get dotcodes containing DVD-quality movies tattooed into their skulls in protest of the DVD CCA!
Ah yes, the future is glorious indeed!
Re:Infinite Resolution (Score:3, Funny)
I achieved that feat playing with Hot-Wheels when I was 8 years old.
Fan (Score:3, Funny)
The AC is obviously a fan of Yoda.
There are no commercials in Star Wars.
Mmm...glee (Score:3, Funny)
If true, it would follow that sheer glee lies somewhere between solid glee and liquid glee. I would pursue this further, but all this talk of ham jelly is making me hungry and/or nauseous.
Re:Its good, look at what happened with OJ (Score:4, Funny)
Next line... (Score:3, Funny)
According to Buffy, it's still possible to do this kind of crap, just not on a normal VCR.
And a mandatory pipet for everyone (Score:2, Funny)
Seriously, any other science geeks get a kick everytime they see a lab coat and pipette?
Re:Infinite Resolution (Score:2, Funny)
i love the follow up lines tho
Oz: What's that? Pause it.
Xander: Guys! It's just a normal VCR. It doesn't... Oh wait, uh, it can do pause.