The last paragraph at
http://oceans11.warnerbros.com/designinglook.html

It appears that the writers knew what they were doing--when they say "based on reality," they mean loosely.

Just think of the hue and cry if the plot were more realistic. Even Tom Clancy has said that he has changed his plots so that they were not realizable--otherwise, he'd be accused of providing blue prints for terrorists.

There was actually a case a few years ago of a bank robbery being accomplished almost exactly as it had been described in a mystery novel.

And there's the famous story of the science fiction writer who was questioned by the FBI after his description of an atomic bomb came a little too close to what was even then being worked on.

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And wasn't there an underground novel about the bombing of the Kansas City federal building that was apparently the inspiration for McVeigh?

Dang saw ocean's 11 and forgot to look for Hale Bopp! Doh!

Andrew Macdonald's "The Turner Diaries" was the paranoid and racist inspiration for Timothy McVeigh's act of terrorism.

Bill

ps. Having said "paranoid and racist", I must admit I've never read it, neither have I any plan nor desire to. I'd rather spend my time rereading "Lord of the Rings"!

I heard an interview with Ricky Jay, a con artist expert, on NPR. He related the story of a con they used in House of Games being tried in real life. Of course, it didn't quite work [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Rob

More about the science (?) behind Ocean's 11:

High-tech robbery

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.