> Note: I actually don't know who ordered first. I just made up that part of the story to make it funnier. (Note that I make up parts of other stories, too. I'm not a historian. I'm a storyteller.)
It really made me rethink the value everyone places in the accuracy (or lack thereof) of storytelling.
[1] https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20130205-00/?p=...
And especially the FAQ about it: https://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail-faq.html
> "You waited a few DAYS?" I interrupted, a tremor tinging my voice. "And you couldn't send email this whole time?"
> "We could send email. Just not more than--"
> "--500 miles, yes," I finished for him, "I got that. But why didn't you call earlier?"
> "Well, we hadn't collected enough data to be sure of what was going on until just now." Right. This is the chairman of statistics.
I hadn't read the FAQ before though! Thanks for posting these. This guy definitely has a lot of patience for putting up with all those FAQs about inconsistencies in his story...
I've been in the "movie industry" for decades and it still astounds me that people come out of the theater thinking what they saw, in most cases, is reality--even when the disclaimer "based on" is clearly shown ahead of time.
I can't exactly fault them as "based on" seems to be more of a marketing gimmick used to imply some form of authenticity rather than an actual disclaimer. For the longest time I fell for the fallacy that "based on" implied some semblance of factual accuracy.
Something that is inspired by something is also based on that thing.
This seems false? If iPhone was inspired by Blackberry (no idea if it was) that doesn't imply iPhone was based on Blackberry.
Inspire -- give rise to -- stimulate, motivate, spawn, engender.
Based on -- rooted in -- built upon, be founded on/upon, be anchored in something, rooted in.
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A hamburger inspired the design of the Millenium Falcon, the ship is not based on hamburgers. A comic book inspired the movie 300, which is only loosely based on the comic and historical fact.
A story that is based on specific events it must build upon those events. A story that is inspired by something has no presumption of content, only that some facet of it motivated the storyteller somehow.
So while, yes there is nuance, they still broadly mean the same thing: you actually just gave two examples agreeing with me.
And directly conflicting definitions are not "nuance". You are missing a qualifier in order to make the point you think you're making (ie "the design of X is rooted in..."). You've also wilfully read past both examples in order to stretch this point.
Inspiration can not be understood as "rooted in". That is not how words or sentences work. The millenium falcon is not rooted in Hamburgers. "Imagine" is not rooted in Yoko Ono.