Escape Artists

Escape Pod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: eytanz on March 22, 2012, 09:36:32 PM

Title: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: eytanz on March 22, 2012, 09:36:32 PM
EP337: Counting Cracks (http://escapepod.org/2012/03/22/ep337-counting-cracks/)

By George R. Galuschak (http://encephalo-ray.blogspot.com/)

Read by Mat Weller

Originally appeared in Strange Horizons

---

Four of us, jammed into my sister’s Ford Festiva, going to kill the monster. Sylvia drives. The Hum has left her untouched, so she’s the only one left in town who can drive. My sister licks the palm of her hand, touches it to her nose and bumps her forehead against the steering wheel. Then she does it again.

“Today would be nice, sis.” I say. I’m in the back seat with June, a twelve-year old girl clutching a teddy bear to her chest.

“I’m going as fast as I can,” she tells me. “It’s bad today.”

“The Shop-Rite has three hundred and fifty-seven ceiling tiles,” Michael tells me. He’s a little kid, nine years old, sitting up front with Sylvia. “I counted them.”

“Inpatient oranges creep handsome banisters,” June says, rolling her eyes.

“Good for you,” I say. My left leg hurts, which I guess is a good sign. My left arm feels like dead weight except for the tips of my fingers, which are tingly.

“Do you count tiles, Mr. Bruschi?” Michael asks.

“No. I counted cracks on the sidewalk. When I was a kid.”

A sparrow collides with the windshield. It bounces off and skitters to the pavement, where it thrashes. I haven’t seen a living bird in days. It must have flown into the Hum.

“Swill,” June says, pointing at the bird. “Maraschino cherries. Skittles. Cocktail weenies.”

“All right. I’m ready.” Sylvia twists the key, and the car starts. We back out of the driveway.

“The streets are so empty,” she says.

“That’s because everyone is dead,” Michael tells her. “They listened to the Hum and went into their houses and pulled the covers over their heads and died. I had a hamster that died, once. It got real old, so it made a little nest, and then it laid down in it and died.”

“We’re not dead,” I say.

“Not yet,” Michael corrects me. “Give it time.”


(http://escapepod.org/wp-images/podcast-mini4.gif) Listen to this week’s Escape Pod! (http://traffic.libsyn.com/escapepod/EP337_CountingCracks.mp3)
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: ToooooMuchCoffeeMan on March 23, 2012, 06:37:30 AM
That was awesome.
That was awesome.
That was awesome.
That was awesome.
That was awesome.
That was awesome.
That was awesome.
That was awesome.
That was awesome.
That was awesome.

...Seriously. As someone with both OCD and Tourettish symptoms, I'm used to explaining to people that I don't have a disability, just a difference. But I've never before thought of it as a superpower. Cool.

I could've done without the description of how the cats died, though.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: ElectricPaladin on March 23, 2012, 01:06:22 PM
Neuro-atypical heroes for the win! Only we can save you from the alien invasion!

Well, only they can save you from the invasion. I'm pretty sure my ADHD doesn't rate.

In any case, I loved this one. The very idea of a brain weapon that fails against those with atypical brain structures was just so clever, and the story really delivered on that clever premise. I liked how the story was really driven by the human connection between the characters: the main character and his sister, the main character and June. This was a grim, hard, and ultimately uplifting story about people banding together in crisis, and finding forgiveness.

My only nit-pick was that the alien invasion didn't make a lot of sense. Who employs a weapon that destroys his own soldiers? I didn't need the exact nature of the invasion to become clear - I liked the mystery - but I would have appreciated that piece being less contradictory, even if it didn't exactly fall into place. It seemed a little too convenient, which combined poorly which being unexplained.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Unblinking on March 23, 2012, 03:59:26 PM
My only nit-pick was that the alien invasion didn't make a lot of sense. Who employs a weapon that destroys his own soldiers? I didn't need the exact nature of the invasion to become clear - I liked the mystery - but I would have appreciated that piece being less contradictory, even if it didn't exactly fall into place. It seemed a little too convenient, which combined poorly which being unexplained.

I'll second that.  And in addition to that, what did the aliens actually want?  All we see them doing here is hanging out in the grocery store and guarding that grocery store.  They slaughtered most of humanity so that they could use our refrigerators?  Seriously?

This story was pretty interesting.  I liked that the neuro-atypical people had a strength that got them through it.  The way I pictured it, they are operating on a different wavelength than most of humanity and the aliens have (understandably) tuned their weapon based on the most common wavelength.  The most interesting was that some people could apparently shift in and out of that wavelength at will.  If there are some advantages to being neuro-typical and some advantages to being neuro-atypical, I would think it would be even more advantageous to be able to shift from one to the other.

This was probably more interesting to me than it might've been before I've been learning about Temple Grandin.  She is a very interesting person.  For those who haven't heard of her, she is a specialist in animal science who has high-functioning autism.  Among other things she has redesigned equipment used at slaughterhouses so that they are more humane, and she has been able to do this so effectively because she is much more effective at understanding what the animals see and what makes them afraid and how to change the setting so that it does not inspire fear.  My wife recently read her book Animals in Translation which I intend to read sometime, and there was a fairly recent movie based on her as well (titled "Temple Grandin").

So in many ways I liked the story, but the fact that the aliens' weapon hurt their own troops and the fact that there was no apparent gain for the aliens in this otherwise organized invasion bugged me enough that I liked it less as a result.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: ElectricPaladin on March 23, 2012, 04:05:04 PM
My only nit-pick was that the alien invasion didn't make a lot of sense. Who employs a weapon that destroys his own soldiers? I didn't need the exact nature of the invasion to become clear - I liked the mystery - but I would have appreciated that piece being less contradictory, even if it didn't exactly fall into place. It seemed a little too convenient, which combined poorly which being unexplained.

I'll second that.  And in addition to that, what did the aliens actually want?  All we see them doing here is hanging out in the grocery store and guarding that grocery store.  They slaughtered most of humanity so that they could use our refrigerators?  Seriously?

This story was pretty interesting.  I liked that the neuro-atypical people had a strength that got them through it.  The way I pictured it, they are operating on a different wavelength than most of humanity and the aliens have (understandably) tuned their weapon based on the most common wavelength.  The most interesting was that some people could apparently shift in and out of that wavelength at will.  If there are some advantages to being neuro-typical and some advantages to being neuro-atypical, I would think it would be even more advantageous to be able to shift from one to the other.

Trust me, there's an advantage to being neuro-typical - usually it means you get shit done faster. You don't have to lick things, or wash things, or talk to imaginary people, or... whatever the hell it is I do. I don't have the slightest idea. My wife tells me that it takes me between a third again and twice as long as anyone else to do pretty much anything. I have no idea where the time goes.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Unblinking on March 23, 2012, 04:45:26 PM
My only nit-pick was that the alien invasion didn't make a lot of sense. Who employs a weapon that destroys his own soldiers? I didn't need the exact nature of the invasion to become clear - I liked the mystery - but I would have appreciated that piece being less contradictory, even if it didn't exactly fall into place. It seemed a little too convenient, which combined poorly which being unexplained.

I'll second that.  And in addition to that, what did the aliens actually want?  All we see them doing here is hanging out in the grocery store and guarding that grocery store.  They slaughtered most of humanity so that they could use our refrigerators?  Seriously?

This story was pretty interesting.  I liked that the neuro-atypical people had a strength that got them through it.  The way I pictured it, they are operating on a different wavelength than most of humanity and the aliens have (understandably) tuned their weapon based on the most common wavelength.  The most interesting was that some people could apparently shift in and out of that wavelength at will.  If there are some advantages to being neuro-typical and some advantages to being neuro-atypical, I would think it would be even more advantageous to be able to shift from one to the other.

Trust me, there's an advantage to being neuro-typical - usually it means you get shit done faster. You don't have to lick things, or wash things, or talk to imaginary people, or... whatever the hell it is I do. I don't have the slightest idea. My wife tells me that it takes me between a third again and twice as long as anyone else to do pretty much anything. I have no idea where the time goes.

That makes sense.  Being able to more easily relate to other neurotypicals would be handy too.  I more meant that as part of the whole statement, saying that if there are advantages to both that it would be handy to be able to switch.  :)
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: childoftyranny on March 23, 2012, 05:40:31 PM
I liked this one, a bit more after the brain-fog left from a previous listening and finally grasped that it was his sister with the word replacement issues, for the entire car ride I thought it was one of the two extra children they brought along. I'm sure they have names but they kind of felt like pity-fodder to me.

Its very refreshing to have heroes that aren't typical, so many are either normal people or super-people and after a few too many stories about super-spies and genius space warrior children I've just about had my fill of folks who are amazing and know it..

If we need a reason for setting up at the supermarket we might be able to assume that the spiders need to eat, and people need to eat, therefore if they set up where people need to go to find food they will find some sort of nutrients! Perhaps the hero was wrong and instead of the Hum making them sick, it was the human food they tried it eat, sometimes people can wrong, or readers can make excuses!
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: matweller on March 25, 2012, 03:08:16 AM
Trust me, there's an advantage to being neuro-typical - usually it means you get shit done faster. You don't have to lick things, or wash things, or talk to imaginary people, or... whatever the hell it is I do. I don't have the slightest idea. My wife tells me that it takes me between a third again and twice as long as anyone else to do pretty much anything. I have no idea where the time goes.

Well, you don't have to lick things...
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Scattercat on March 25, 2012, 03:16:48 AM
Trust me, there's an advantage to being neuro-typical - usually it means you get shit done faster. You don't have to lick things, or wash things, or talk to imaginary people, or... whatever the hell it is I do. I don't have the slightest idea. My wife tells me that it takes me between a third again and twice as long as anyone else to do pretty much anything. I have no idea where the time goes.

Well, you don't have to lick things...
Often it is not permitted.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Anarquistador on March 25, 2012, 05:17:02 AM
Meh. This one felt a little too much like an escapist fantasy for OCD sufferers. As someone who struggled to overcome his tendencies toward that kind of thing, it insults me a little when it's celebrated as a valid lifestyle choice. Harumph.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: ElectricPaladin on March 25, 2012, 07:01:58 AM
Trust me, there's an advantage to being neuro-typical - usually it means you get shit done faster. You don't have to lick things, or wash things, or talk to imaginary people, or... whatever the hell it is I do. I don't have the slightest idea. My wife tells me that it takes me between a third again and twice as long as anyone else to do pretty much anything. I have no idea where the time goes.

Well, you don't have to lick things...
Often it is not permitted.

Only in boring places.

Meh. This one felt a little too much like an escapist fantasy for OCD sufferers. As someone who struggled to overcome his tendencies toward that kind of thing, it insults me a little when it's celebrated as a valid lifestyle choice. Harumph.

Really?

So, let me get this straight. Escapist fantasy is fine if you're "normal" and if the escapist fantasy celebrates something you judge as "normal," Yahtzee. If the escapist fantasy goes into something else, you don't?

For that matter, I don't see how this story "celebrated" OCD as a "lifestyle choice." It basically said "if you're different and your life works for you and you're willing to pay the price, that's ok." Nowhere did the story pretend that any character who embraced his or her OCD was going to have a "perfect" life. The main character's sister was openly living her OCD, and seemed all set to become a crazy cat lady. What made that ok was not that her "lifestyle choice" was celebrated, but that she had chosen it, and it made her, if not perfectly happy, happy enough. And goodness knows, few people even get that out of life.

Yeah... I just don't see it. It's like we listened to two different stories.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Max e^{i pi} on March 25, 2012, 09:48:53 PM
I loved this one. Neuro-atypical FTW!
My only nit-pick was that the Hum (it attained proper-noun status in my mind) seemed to effect our protag's left side. Unless I have forgotten everything I learned in high school, that means that it was actually attacking his right brain. Which is cool, because that's often referred to as the "creative side" of the brain. (Strict lateralization of the brain is really not true, but this appears to be a broad enough generalization to be partially true). And someone who counts cracks would have a more active left brain, or at least more atypical left brain. And that would explain why the Hum only affected the protag's left arm and leg. But (and here we finally get to the pick), that would mean that when it gets really bad his right eye would get droopy, not his left. Because the spinal cord controlling these things crosses over in the middle of the neck. Right brain "controls" (again, not strictly true) right eye and left arm.
This didn't detract much from my enjoyment of the story because either:
a) it is a little-known fact and therefore I shouldn't expect everybody to know it or
b) I am remembering all this stuff wrong.

Also, haven't you people read enough pulp science fiction? Aliens aren't rational beings! They just want to come to our planet, kidnap people to test their anal probes on, vaporize small towns, abscond with the occasional sheep and drive people crazy until they die. There is no rhyme or reason to it.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Max e^{i pi} on March 25, 2012, 09:55:57 PM
Another thing, the changing of time frames.
This is a complaint that gets heard a lot, that it is often hard to tell in audio when a new sequence begins that takes the reader/listener back in time to a previous point, and then back to the "present". It gets confusing and results in some serious mental-gear clashing.
Perhaps our fine editors - who do an extraordinary job - can introduce some kind of audible cue that signifies that large white space or three spaced asterisks you get in text. You know, that thing telling you that this is a new scene.
Perhaps 5 solid seconds of silence? A tone? A whoosh? An entry from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Unblinking on March 26, 2012, 02:53:49 PM
I loved this one. Neuro-atypical FTW!
My only nit-pick was that the Hum (it attained proper-noun status in my mind) seemed to effect our protag's left side. Unless I have forgotten everything I learned in high school, that means that it was actually attacking his right brain. Which is cool, because that's often referred to as the "creative side" of the brain. (Strict lateralization of the brain is really not true, but this appears to be a broad enough generalization to be partially true). And someone who counts cracks would have a more active left brain, or at least more atypical left brain. And that would explain why the Hum only affected the protag's left arm and leg. But (and here we finally get to the pick), that would mean that when it gets really bad his right eye would get droopy, not his left. Because the spinal cord controlling these things crosses over in the middle of the neck. Right brain "controls" (again, not strictly true) right eye and left arm.
This didn't detract much from my enjoyment of the story because either:
a) it is a little-known fact and therefore I shouldn't expect everybody to know it or
b) I am remembering all this stuff wrong.

Also, haven't you people read enough pulp science fiction? Aliens aren't rational beings! They just want to come to our planet, kidnap people to test their anal probes on, vaporize small towns, abscond with the occasional sheep and drive people crazy until they die. There is no rhyme or reason to it.

You are right that the side of the brain is opposite of the side of the body it primarily controls.  But I didn't see that as a contradiction here.  The way I interpreted it, the Hum attacks the entire brain not just one side or the other.  The exact effect seem to be at least somewhat random, but distributed.  I think this is supported by the fact that his wife went blind in BOTH eyes, not just one.  The fact that his body had problems on just one side is not because it attacked only one side, but because the overall attack on his brain ended having a specific effect of giving him a stroke which typically does effect one side more than the other. 

Another thing, the changing of time frames.
This is a complaint that gets heard a lot, that it is often hard to tell in audio when a new sequence begins that takes the reader/listener back in time to a previous point, and then back to the "present". It gets confusing and results in some serious mental-gear clashing.
Perhaps our fine editors - who do an extraordinary job - can introduce some kind of audible cue that signifies that large white space or three spaced asterisks you get in text. You know, that thing telling you that this is a new scene.
Perhaps 5 solid seconds of silence? A tone? A whoosh? An entry from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

Oh!  I forgot to mention that.  Yes, some kind of signal of a time shift would be very useful, I found this one rather chronologically confusing. 
Also, I wish that authors would stop writing so many stories of the flashback/flashforward variety. Usually it's not necessary and it just leaches the tension out of the earlier scenes because you know where they end up.


Also, another thing I forgot to mention:
Am I the only one who thought a shotgun was a terrible choice of weapon for this man?  He knows that his left side responds to an irregular degree to his commands, to the extent that he has trouble getting out of cars sometimes.  Why in the world would you choose a weapon that you need both hands to use well.  I suppose you could aim a shotgun with one hand, but it'd be hard to aim well and if half your body is semi-unresponsive the recoil could easily knock you on your ass.  A handgun would've been better.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Max e^{i pi} on March 26, 2012, 03:44:05 PM
My only nit-pick was that the Hum (it attained proper-noun status in my mind) seemed to effect our protag's left side. Unless I have forgotten everything I learned in high school, that means that it was actually attacking his right brain. Which is cool, because that's often referred to as the "creative side" of the brain. (Strict lateralization of the brain is really not true, but this appears to be a broad enough generalization to be partially true). And someone who counts cracks would have a more active left brain, or at least more atypical left brain. And that would explain why the Hum only affected the protag's left arm and leg. But (and here we finally get to the pick), that would mean that when it gets really bad his right eye would get droopy, not his left. Because the spinal cord controlling these things crosses over in the middle of the neck. Right brain "controls" (again, not strictly true) right eye and left arm.

You are right that the side of the brain is opposite of the side of the body it primarily controls.  But I didn't see that as a contradiction here.  The way I interpreted it, the Hum attacks the entire brain not just one side or the other.  The exact effect seem to be at least somewhat random, but distributed.  I think this is supported by the fact that his wife went blind in BOTH eyes, not just one.  The fact that his body had problems on just one side is not because it attacked only one side, but because the overall attack on his brain ended having a specific effect of giving him a stroke which typically does effect one side more than the other. 
You missed the point of my pick. It's that his left eye got all droopy when it got really bad, not his right eye, because the crossover happens in the neck.
Also, I tried to claim that the Hum attacked both sides of his brain, but his left brain, the analytical side, had more protection due to his OCD or mathematical inclination or whatever it was. But his other side, his creative side, didn't have so much protection and therefore was affected.

Also, another thing I forgot to mention:
Am I the only one who thought a shotgun was a terrible choice of weapon for this man?  He knows that his left side responds to an irregular degree to his commands, to the extent that he has trouble getting out of cars sometimes.  Why in the world would you choose a weapon that you need both hands to use well.  I suppose you could aim a shotgun with one hand, but it'd be hard to aim well and if half your body is semi-unresponsive the recoil could easily knock you on your ass.  A handgun would've been better.

Actually, a shotgun is one of the few guns that can be effectively aimed with one hand and still do lots of damage. Bracing the gun against his hip and using large-scatter rounds he can cause a lot of damage with very little aiming. Perfect for someone with little control over half his body.
A handgun, on the other hand, is very hard to properly aim one-handed. Unless it's small. And if it's small it doesn't do much damage.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Unblinking on March 26, 2012, 04:17:48 PM
You missed the point of my pick. It's that his left eye got all droopy when it got really bad, not his right eye, because the crossover happens in the neck.
Also, I tried to claim that the Hum attacked both sides of his brain, but his left brain, the analytical side, had more protection due to his OCD or mathematical inclination or whatever it was. But his other side, his creative side, didn't have so much protection and therefore was affected.

Oh!  Yes, you're right.  My mistake.


Actually, a shotgun is one of the few guns that can be effectively aimed with one hand and still do lots of damage. Bracing the gun against his hip and using large-scatter rounds he can cause a lot of damage with very little aiming. Perfect for someone with little control over half his body.
A handgun, on the other hand, is very hard to properly aim one-handed. Unless it's small. And if it's small it doesn't do much damage.

Ah, hadn't realized you could effectively brace against the hip.  I'd still say that if he has little control of one leg that he would still risk knocking himself on his butt and leaving himself vulnerable to attack as a result.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Devoted135 on March 26, 2012, 04:29:52 PM
Overall, I enjoyed this story. I agree that the flashbacks were difficult to place at first, but once I got all of the main characters straight it was a fun romp to the end.

It was very cool to see a story hinge on the unexpected usefulness of being neuro-atypical, though the prevalence of immune or semi-immune people seemed a bit low, unless perhaps there wasn't a university in the area. For example, I don't think anyone would class me as neuro-atypical, but even I have some instinctive acknowledging behaviors, usually relating to floor tiles or street lights. *waves at my fellow scientists*

My only real nitpick was this: cell phones do not have dial tones!!!
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Talia on March 27, 2012, 03:03:30 AM
Tremendously fun. Really enjoyed June's character - the humorous element she introduced was welcome.

The cats' death part stuck out to me too  - as a cat owner I found it particularly affecting. I didn't see that as a negative though; for me it added an extra element of tragedy (I am single and cannot relate to a spouse).

Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Lionman on March 27, 2012, 11:49:07 AM
The building of the pace of the story, the back and forth of scenes in time were a litle disjointing at first, but as the pace quickened it worked much better.  That was a good deal of flashbacks, but we did manage to avoid the flash-sideways, so that's definetly a good thing. :-) However, I felt like the end of the story, it's creschendo was a little flat with "we found surivors and got on a bus, drove to another town and said, 'We're here,' and life went back to 'normal' again."  I just felt like it was longing for more details about reactions from others, the impact this had much farther out from its epicenter.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Unblinking on March 27, 2012, 01:56:03 PM
My only real nitpick was this: cell phones do not have dial tones!!!

Ha!  I didn't even notice that.  I imagine the next generation would say "What's a dial tone?"

Which reminds me of an anecdote someone was telling me the other day when someone showed some current high-schoolers a picture of a floppy disk and asked them what it was.  Someone immediately piped up and said "Yeah, that's the Save button."
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Devoted135 on March 27, 2012, 02:44:33 PM
My only real nitpick was this: cell phones do not have dial tones!!!

Ha!  I didn't even notice that.  I imagine the next generation would say "What's a dial tone?"

Which reminds me of an anecdote someone was telling me the other day when someone showed some current high-schoolers a picture of a floppy disk and asked them what it was.  Someone immediately piped up and said "Yeah, that's the Save button."


That's fantastic! :D It's amazing how quickly stuff like that is changing. Over New Years' we did a massive cleaning and I was taking pictures of all the old stuff we found: a floppy disk, some mix tapes from the nineties, an old vhs we used to record tv shows, a disposable camera...
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Rembrandt on March 27, 2012, 07:19:15 PM
This story had its moments.
I mean, spiders sniffing at meat? ;D Loved that one!
And yes, I know alien spiders are well known for their sniffing at things...

The story itself rated high on my Stephen King detector.
Liked it though, good one.

Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Lightspeed Kiwi on March 28, 2012, 06:00:13 AM
I liked the hint of black comedy smattered through out (or was it just my own personality quirk that found this?).  I also find myself contemplating how the beasty got locked in a fridge, perhaps a valiant humans attempt to capture it.  Or was it just a pet that got out of control, like alligators in the sewer?
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Gamercow on March 30, 2012, 03:18:44 AM
I liked the concept, and found the setting a bit weak.  I probably would have survived when I was a kid, I had a tendency to count to 5000 or 10000 via multiples,[(2,4,6,8)...(3,6,9,12)...(4,8,12,16)etc] and to see how far I could accurately double a number.  The latter was extremely helpful when I started learning binary. But now, I would probably be dead unless someone told me to do one of these atypical behaviors. 

I don't see this as an escapist "This impairment is not an impairment at all" story, but rather a "This impairment could save your life" story.  The story about the autistic girl who saw the world in a different speed is an example of the former to me. The atypical people in this story weren't superheroes at all, they were just lucky enough to have a skill that helped them survive.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: SF.Fangirl on March 31, 2012, 02:49:50 AM
I happily enjoyed this story.  The sci fi plotting was a bit weak, but as a neuro-typical geek with some some autisic-like social issues I really enjoyed the heroes of the story.  I don't have OCD, but I feel enough like an outsider that I really enjoyed reading about the outsiders saving the day.  Plus the characterization seemed like the meat of the story so the plot problems were not in the forefront.

On a technical note: I agree it would be really handy for Escape Pod to use some of sound to signify flashback and flashforwards in the stories.  I've found that to be a problem in some previous stories, but not in this one.  I was able to pick up right away that it was a flashback usually because his wife or mom was mentioned as alive.  In general, though, this is a need because in addition to not having  a visual symbol it's simply harder to pause an audio story or rewind it than it is to stop reading to think or to reread to the previous paragraph when actually reading.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Listener on April 02, 2012, 07:35:17 PM
My only real nitpick was this: cell phones do not have dial tones!!!

This drives my wife up the effing wall.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Max e^{i pi} on April 03, 2012, 07:31:27 AM
My only real nitpick was this: cell phones do not have dial tones!!!

This drives my wife up the effing wall.
Me too. I miss having something to listen to while dragging my finger around that clickety little dial.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Unblinking on April 03, 2012, 01:07:22 PM
My only real nitpick was this: cell phones do not have dial tones!!!

This drives my wife up the effing wall.
Me too. I miss having something to listen to while dragging my finger around that clickety little dial.

rotary cell phone?  sweet!
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Max e^{i pi} on April 03, 2012, 03:58:17 PM
My only real nitpick was this: cell phones do not have dial tones!!!

This drives my wife up the effing wall.
Me too. I miss having something to listen to while dragging my finger around that clickety little dial.

rotary cell phone?  sweet!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxXmC3K_B4o (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxXmC3K_B4o)
Too bad that young little whippersnapper in the video doesn't get the point.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: InfiniteMonkey on April 03, 2012, 08:12:17 PM
This was NOT the story to listen to the same week I had to frantically dial 9-1-1 for someone having a seizure!! AHHH!!

This was very reminciant of an indie horror movie made in Atlanta about a madness inducing tone. Can't quite cough up the name but it was very freaky. This was a bit more optimistic. No, really.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Sgarre1 on April 03, 2012, 09:53:56 PM
THE SIGNAL?
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: InfiniteMonkey on April 05, 2012, 05:48:39 PM
THE SIGNAL?

Yes, that's it exactly. Thank you.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: CryptoMe on April 05, 2012, 06:57:40 PM
I enjoyed this story; it was Fun!

I understand the negative points several forumites have brought up, but those just didn't bug me (pun intended ;)). It was an enjoyable story, and didn't end just at the main character opens the freezer door (which, in my mind, is what a bunch of recent EP stories have been doing). 
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Fenrix on April 06, 2012, 08:36:21 PM
The plot doesn't hold up well to close scrutiny, but it was a fantastic character sketch. In addition, even with the plot holes, it was way better than that stupid alien bug movie starring Doogie Howser. I would take this any day of the week and twice on Sunday over that bit of "entertainment".
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Cutter McKay on April 06, 2012, 09:56:57 PM
Hi everyone,
<---Newby here.

Another thing, the changing of time frames.
This is a complaint that gets heard a lot, that it is often hard to tell in audio when a new sequence begins that takes the reader/listener back in time to a previous point, and then back to the "present". It gets confusing and results in some serious mental-gear clashing.
Perhaps our fine editors - who do an extraordinary job - can introduce some kind of audible cue that signifies that large white space or three spaced asterisks you get in text. You know, that thing telling you that this is a new scene.
Perhaps 5 solid seconds of silence? A tone? A whoosh? An entry from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

Personally, I didn't find the changes in time difficult to follow, mostly because there was a change in tense each time. Current events were in present tense, past events were in past tense. So it was only a matter of seconds into a new segment before a dialogue tag "says/said" clued me in. Not to mention that the time change occurred at every break, I think. HOWEVER, I do find stories like this increasingly recurrent in modern fiction and also increasingly annoying. I agree with Unblinking that it tends to leach the tension out of the story.

Overall I enjoyed this story. Being neuro-typical, I found it very interesting to catch a glimpse of what life might be like for people with OCD or other atypical mentalities. It was a nice change from the standard protagonist.

My only real nitpick was this: cell phones do not have dial tones!!!

Which reminds me of an anecdote someone was telling me the other day when someone showed some current high-schoolers a picture of a floppy disk and asked them what it was.  Someone immediately piped up and said "Yeah, that's the Save button."


Another fun anecdote along along those lines: My preteen niece was hounding her father, my brother, for a cell phone. After repeated denials, she finally asked my brother, "Oh yeah? Well how old were you when you got YOUR first cell phone?" To which my brother smirked and replied, "Thirty-two." Not surprisingly, she didn't believe him. It took a phone call to Grandma to convince her.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: El Barto on April 09, 2012, 03:44:59 AM
I didn't enjoy listening to this one very much, but I sure enjoyed thinking about it afterwards.

It was apparent quite quickly to me that the narrator was going to triumph, and I didn't feel any real sense of drama in the buildup to the showdown.  I also wasn't expecting (or liking) the cause of the hum to be . . .  aliens camped out in a supermarket.  I was expecting a natural phenomenon, or a science experiment gone wrong.  Or even some kind of industrial accident – perhaps someone trying to jury-rig a power plant in a way that generated a maddening hum.   I got plenty hung up on why would aliens who have mastered intersteller travel would behave so strangely and ineffectively.  The showdown was far too “Independence Day” for my taste in its unlikelihood as well.

All that said, I do like how this story reinforces what is, to me, one of the key pieces of proof of the method and power of evolution.  Namely, the fact that evolution consists of two parts – random variation and culling of those without certain traits.  The simple fact that humanity is so diverse right now is a kind of proof (to me) that evolution has already happened.  We are different in ways that could make a difference between life and death in many different situations.  We are probably a single global disaster away from demonstrating (to those who find the concept of evolution scary to their belief system) that the evolving of the human race has already happened.  If a new black death plague kills 95% of all humans, except those who randomly produce a single enzyme, or if a nuclear winter raises radiation to a level that kills 98% of all humans, except those with a unique metabolism, it is likely that nearly all humans afterwards will share whatever trait saved them.  We do not need to wait for the global disaster to actually understand this point.

What I liked about this story is that it may be improbable that having OCD will be the difference between surviving an apocalypse, it is not impossible.  And we have no way of knowing right now which random trait may be what saves a subset of our children's children from some catastrophe they never see coming.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: Unblinking on April 09, 2012, 02:17:02 PM
What I liked about this story is that it may be improbable that having OCD will be the difference between surviving an apocalypse, it is not impossible.  And we have no way of knowing right now which random trait may be what saves a subset of our children's children from some catastrophe they never see coming.

Interesting!  I've heard many times that genetic diversity is a major key to species survival, but usually it's used in respect to disease immunity, not of thinking patterns.  Cool!
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: El Barto on April 09, 2012, 10:40:08 PM

Interesting!  I've heard many times that genetic diversity is a major key to species survival, but usually it's used in respect to disease immunity, not of thinking patterns.  Cool!

The list of physical and behavioral variations that could make a difference in a life or death situation is nearly endless.  This concept could be nicely explored in the context of a large series of interstellar generation ships heading in different directions.  100 ships head out and a bunch of them suffer different types of disasters that wipe out everyone on board who doesn't share a certain characteristic.  Maybe on one ship the oxygen runs low and only people with supercharged hemoglobin survive.  Maybe on another there's an intense cosmic wind that overwhelms the shields and only those people who have a certain skin type survive.  Oh the speculation could go on and on....
Title: Apocalyptic Table Turning
Post by: robertcday on April 13, 2012, 11:18:51 AM
I love the idea of an apocalypse that shunts peoples that are, societally speaking, at the back of the queue straight to the front. What a lovely karmic picture that paints.
Robert.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: LaShawn on May 17, 2012, 07:12:42 PM
Any story that can successfully use the word "snausages" is a winner in my book.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: hardware on May 24, 2012, 09:57:34 PM
I liked this one quite a lot, the gang of unlikely heroes were done with humor and respect, it didn't hold back on the action and it dared to include the tougher parts necessary to raise the stakes. At some points it went a bit close to cliche county, but overall it felt fresh and fun.
Title: Re: EP337: Counting Cracks
Post by: jwbjerk on June 16, 2012, 04:15:17 PM
A well done example of dropping the read in the middle of: "What in the world is going on?!?  This is crazy!" and gradually unfolding the situation until almost everything makes sense.

Another thing, the changing of time frames.
This is a complaint that gets heard a lot, that it is often hard to tell in audio when a new sequence begins that takes the reader/listener back in time to a previous point, and then back to the "present". It gets confusing and results in some serious mental-gear clashing.
Perhaps our fine editors - who do an extraordinary job - can introduce some kind of audible cue that signifies that large white space or three spaced asterisks you get in text....
Ditto.  That little touch could greatly increase comprehensibility.  We can't see the line breaks, so put in something audible.