Re: Unguarded conduits--The unheralded hero of scifi adventure!

DougL wrote:
> On Jan 22, 6:38 am, "Ken from Chicago" <kwicker1b_nos...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> wrote:
>> Time and again, in Star Trek, Stargate, Farscape, Terminator,
>> Aliens, etc., the unguarded and unmonitored hallway, the unlocked
>> person-sized air vents, the huge sewer pipes ... if you need to
>> break in, surveil and / or break out of a place you need the
>>
>> UNGUARDED CONDUIT.
>>
>> Now, it's a staple of nongenre shows, movies and stories, but you'd
>> think in scifi you could space some extra minions, robots, psionic
>> sensors, even a couple of webcams to guard or at least monitor.
>
> Heck, why does the ventilation system even HAVE a human sized access
> to the sensative parts of the structure. Human sized vents and ducts
> aren't all that common, and even when ducts ARE large enough for
> people they frequently aren't braced to hold a person's weight.
>
>> And with Unguarded Conduit is trusty sidekick:
>>
>> Slow Noisy Distracted Guards.
>>
>> Our heroes are sneaking into a some super secret ultra lair, the
>> Archvillain once in a blue moon actually DOES have guards, but is
>> undone by said guards:
>> --taking forever to patrol an area,
>> --making enough noise to alert anyone sneaking about from miles away,
>> --and even when said guards get the drop on the sneaks lurking
>> about, the guards are too distracted by their own conversation or a
>> radio or tv or some magazine or picture book to take notice.
>
> Guarding is deadly boring work almost all the time. It's perfectly
> realistic to have the guards paying more attention to talking with
> each other than to their nominal job.
>
> This is why we have motion sensors and remote cammeras where the
> guards merely have to glance at a TV to see what's going on and you
> CAN'T know if they are paying attention or not and the alarms don't
> care if they are paying attention or not.
>
Is this my cue to bring up the MythBusters?  They did an episode on Movie 
Break-In Capers.  I believe one of the comments on their attempt to
"sneak" 
in via a conduit was "Why, Thor, God of Thunder, is trying to break in to
my 
building!" because of the huge echoeing booms the thin steel walls made.

-- 
"Reading by the light of a lost Christmas day
It begins...."