The depiction of technology in movies and on TV has never been particularly consistent with reality. I'm not referring to Flash Gordon or Star Trek or any other science fiction type of story - these intend to stretch the boundaries of the possible and invite us to suspend our disbelief about the tools they use and the molding of the laws of physics to their needs.

One of the most noticeable flaws is in the use of photographs in crime shows. It usually goes something like this.

Cop/Investigator: "Let's look at this really grainy, dark, indistinct photo of the presumed villian."

Grainy, dark, indistinct photo from a 1970s era surveillance camera appears. Blurry, somewhat humanoid figure appears in the background.

Cop/Investigator: "Can you zoom in on that?"

Technician fiddles with a few buttons and the photo resolves into a crystal clear image that shows individual pores and the constellation of freckles on the villian's neck that looks like the outline of Poland. Techno-magic is one thing, but you just can't create more pixels in a photo than exist to begin with.

Books: I'm trying A Posturing of Fools again. Maybe because the asshole boss is about to get his comeuppance. Or maybe because I'm not yet ready to tackle Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell just yet.