Research! It's your friend

[kippurbird]

Part Six:

Hotel California, sort of.Hah. It is to laugh. They’re going to California. To the School which is sort of like a hotel, but not. I’m not going to really bother with asking how they know of the title of the song

Comments

[kippurbird]

I could understand approximate numbers. "Oh it's about five miles down the road, I think" but such exactness, when there's no absolute way to tell? Nah. Stupid. Sterile and unnatural.

[brightlotusmoon]

I don't really like that comma placement in the "disinfectant" sentence myself. Also, wouldn't "chemical disinfectant" be redundant?

[kippurbird]

also, why do they need to cut up her brain when they could use MRIs?

To do SCIENCE! Upon it.

Because clearly you can tell about how a brain functions by cutting up little pieces of it.

Clearly.

[kippurbird]

I don't know if it's redundant, I've heard the phrase before. But the comma is just weird. And since I noticed it -having as my poor editor friend complains - an abusive personality to them, it must be bad.

[cimplybe]

In regards to the fastest flying bird, that would be a Peregrine Falcon which can hit around 120 mph.

And lets not forget that the 120mph is in a dive. Their top horizontal speed tops out around 50, and they have to work for that. When cruising, they're not that much faster than any other bird.

“she would recognize that chemical, disinfectant smell anywhere”

She could be smelling chemicals and disinfectants instead of a disinfectant made of chemicals, in which case it would be correct, but even if that's so it's still jarring and unclear. *slaps Patterson's editor* Bad editor, no cookie.

Wait, wait, wait. They want to find out why she's psychic? So...they didn't make her psychic? What are the odds of experimenting with bird parts on a kid that's already a lab experiment. Huh.

[dove_cg]

I think the implication is that she was born psychic. It's a piss-poor excuse for why they only wanted Angel and let the others go. And it still doesn't explain why they took so long to recapture her either. :P

[dove_cg]

Max and Nudge even managed to have a conversation. While flying. At ninety miles per hour. Because, you know, that’ll be heard easily.

You know, talking while running is hard to do. I have to wonder that flying at such a speed wouldn't require at least more effort than walking normally would. I mean it gets hand-waved in comics and probably other sci-fi/fantasy novels all the time but given that they ARE using wings, and he gave a precise speed, I can't help being a bit of a stickler about this too. It just seems stupid that 90MPH would be a fucking leisurely pace for them. They should be out of breath at some point.

Like, when we got there, we’d see a road paved with good intentions and have to cross the river Styx to get in.

Isn't that a mixed metaphor? I mean, the Greek/Roman underworld had the river Styx but I don't recall if it was specifically equated with Hell? (Well, other than Dante's Inferno but... you know what I mean.) It just sounds weird to me. o.o

Max starts thinking about setting down to find something to eat,

[venusrain]

Late reply, but that story germ sounds like it's be adorable. Sad, but adorable. Much like my icon.

[the_norseman]

The link to the site discussing the speed of a swallow doesn't work properly, you need to go fix it.

[kippurbird]

Hah. Thanks. Fixed.