Numb-bers

On the TV series Numb3rs, Mr. Universe helps Northern Exposure fight crime using advanced mathematical principles that are easily explained using an analogy combined with some kind of nifty graphic that involves delta-sigma notation and cosines and other neat high-level trigonometric or algebraic voodoo.

The implication is that if somebody gets shot in the face, the FBI can turn to Mr. Universe for his input, which consists of explaining how solving an arithmetic operation on a hyper-elliptic curve is EXACTLY like figuring out who likes to shoot people in the face. He runs off to go tell a computer how to solve e^x * B_f, where B_f is the probability of getting a bullet lodged in your face. A commercial break or two later, the computers have solved the problem and it's time for Judd Hirsch to goof around just enough to warrant collecting a paycheck for playing the role of "Kitschy Jewish Dad Stereotype".

In reality, data mining and various other methods of deductive prognostication are all long, tedious, and devoid of ritz and glamor. About the only fun you get when you have hundreds of megabytes of log files to organize is to distract yourself by playing with the big regex that's going to do all of the heavy lifting in your Perl script.

Other than that, sometimes you just have to fight to keep your eyes open while you're building whatever gizmo or gadget is going to find the problem and save the day.