MythBusters and HTF... (1 Viewer)

[Chuck Anstey]

If this is accurate then the truly important thing to take away from that statement is "A 70-year-old driver at their best is the same as a 20-year-old driver at their worst." That is scary.

Plus I have been seeing on the news that people want to pass laws that come down harshly on young drivers with cell phones and totally ignore the other age group succeptible to impaired driving skills.

I will say that anecdotally, I find my cell phone conversations (rarely done) more distracting than even a really interesting philosophical discussion with my passenger. I am sure it is due to the passenger adapting their conversation to the situation, such as stop talking when things get a bit stressful, and being a 2nd pair of eyes.

Chuck Anstey

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

That would be interesting, and they have the perfect guy to call up again, their hi-tech sound guy. I'm sure they can give us some pretty graphs.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Preach on, brother. I think most people are, in fact, lousy drivers. They don't pay attention to where they're going, they don't look past the hood of their own car, they don't even seem to know that there are rules of the road. The last thing these folks need is a cell phone to further distract them from the task at hand.

Example: the street behind my office is closed and torn up while they lay in utilities for a new high-rise condo going up at the corner. It is blocked off an quite literally torn up. There are big piles of earth, no visible pavement in the construction area, totally obvious from the nearest corner where there is a giant "Detour/Road Closed/Local Traffic Only" sign. Anyone at the corner who simply glances into this street (which is not a major through street) would see this mess and a clearly closed street 100 yards away. The road's been closed since last Tuesday. Yesterday the city had to put a giant lighted construction sign at the corner because so many half-wits turn up the street and drive right up to the contruction barrier before realizing that they can't go further. Then they either do their U-turns in the parking lot we share with the Red Cross and all their emergency vehicles or they tear straight through our parking lot at 40 miles an hour to reach the next cross street and continue on their way. There is simply no way to miss the construction if you simply look where you should be looking. The only explanation is these morons aren't.

Regards,

Joe

 

[MarkHastings]

The reason I'm so angered by this is because they are passing laws against cell phone use because they think they are the reason that so many people drive bad :rolleyes. The thing that kills me is that there are so many other distractions that should also be against the law and if they're going to ban cell phone use, then they need to also ban everything else (including conversations).

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

With some jurisdictions going so far as to ban hands-free cell phones. (Like how is the cop supposed to know I'm using the phone if I'm on a headset or a speakerphone? I can always claim I was talking to myself, singing along with the radio or rehearsing a presentation for the office or just talking to myself. Try proving I wasn't when we get to court.)

Legislatures are just too quick to pull the trigger and create more laws and regulations whether or not they're needed or will do any good. In the wake of the Enron debacle there was a raft of new laws - everyone involved apparently having forgotten that what the Enron guys did was already illegal and that people who think they're too smart to get caught rarely worry about what the law says. Today a local city passed a law prohibiting register sex offenders from living within 1500 feet of a school, daycare, park or shopping center - to protect "the children". The law makes no distinction between pedophiles and sex offenders who don't target children, and completely ignores the fact that most pedophiles prey on children they know - relatives and the children of friends and neighbors. The stranger-abductor in the park is the smallest threat, but the one that is most "visible" (in terms of media coverage) and therefore the one that politician think they can score points by going after. The "not near my school" law does nothing to prevent a registered sex offender, pedophile or not, from living next door to a family with 12 kids, just as long as he or she is not near one of the prohibited public areas.

Meanwhile given the distribution of schools, parks daycares and shopping centers in most cities, it is almost impossible to find a place that meets the criteria, and the few areas that do will suddenly become sex offender ghettos - and how long before that information becomes clear to local realtors (not to mention the local news team during Sweeps Months.)

Another monument to the Law of Unintended Consequences.

(My, it gets windy up here on the soap box. )

Regards,

Joe

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Tomorrows episode deals with dodging bullets by going underwater and swinging so hard you do a loop over the swingset.

Two myths I'm very curious about. I remember when I was a kid and being afraid of swinging too high that you go over the top and get stuck....or the biggest scare tactic of them all...you'll turn inside out!

 

[JonZ]

Im too lazy to look thru all these post but Im posting it here in case it hasnt been yet.

During next weeks Shark Week, mythbusters will be taking on the movie Jaws and the things the shark did in the film.

Should be fun.

http://dsc.discovery.com/schedule/se...=0&channel=DSC

 

[MarkMel]

This is no myth. I put my sister over the top of a swing set. But, it wasn't a graceful arc on the way down. She got over the top and mostly fell down. She hung on though, to her credit.

 

[Citizen87645]

I think the swing one is a no-brainer (not enough centrifugal force), but it's essentially the entertainment of seeing how they tackle it.

 

[Evan M]

I dunno, I would say the question on swingin over the swingset is exactly that.. is it possible to swing so hard that you actually do a loop as opposed to getting straight up and falling down.

 

[Ken Chan]

With all the mishaps with the rockets, it was hilarious!

In the end, you can do a full-tension circle with enough velocity, but you need to reach that speed instantaneously. You can't build up to it, because then you go like MarkMel's sister, and lose any momentum.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

I was really surprised about the bullets in water outcome. Guess that opening scene in Saving Private Ryan just lost some credibility. I can't believe that a .50 cal bullet blew apart and became harmless after less than 3 feet of water.

It was hilarious when they were shooting straight down into their tank and busted it with the deer slug. Oops.

This show still entertains!

 

[Paul McElligott]

I think the angle of deflection coupled with the high speeds of the bullets just tore the copper jackets to shreds. Maybe the German machine guns, firing from the top of the cliff, slowed down enough not to be destroyed when hitting the water.

 

[MarkMel]

I wish I saw this one. Maybe I can catch one of the reruns. Did they do the shark one yet?

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Shark Week is next week, starting Sunday:

Shark Week

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

The two hour "Jaws" special was pretty good. Best section was Buster punching sharks with 'fisting' sex toys for hands, and then of course Jamie punching sharks. Both of those had some intense moments.

Then it's all fun and games until the FBI brings out the C4.

 

[MarkHastings]

What amazed me was the fact that the only scenario that worked was the same one that worked on the small scale.

 

[MarkHastings]

I loved the scuba tank rocketing around the metal container

Did anyone notice that when they were tugging the boat backwards and the line snapped, the boat looked like it was out of control and heading toward the other side of the dock/pier? The camera pulled away from the action and Adam had a concerned look on his face. Then they cut the shot and continued on.

I wonder if something happened that they didn't want to show on tv??? Perhaps the boat slammed into the dock and they were trying to hide it?? I don't know, but it looked a bit suspicious to me.

p.s. Do you all find yourself (as I do) getting excited along with the Mythbusters? You can tell Kari (and Adam, to an extent) is the type that wants to be the first one on the scene to see the damage and yell "WOAH! Look at that!" - I find her excitment always gives me that "Hurry up and see what happened" feeling.

 

[David Williams]

This episode took *forever* to get going. I think they could have easily condensed it down to 1 hour... at least I would have been less bored. The scuba tank stuff was great, along with most of the Sharammer stuff. Not so keen on the punching sharks in the face until Jamie had to do it himself.

 

[Malcolm R]

Amen to that. This was the first time I'd ever watched the show. Is it always this boring?

Plus I don't think their comparisons/extrapolations were all that accurate in their set-ups. Basing many of their experiments on the characteristics and abilities of 3-foot reef sharks when we're trying to compare to a 25-foot Great White. Much like other forces of nature, there may be exponential increases in strength, speed, and endurance based on size. Not to mention other characteristics that can vary greatly among a species, such as aggressiveness.

Not that I think Great Whites are generally aggressive, but punching a Great White in the gills may trigger a much different reaction from doing the same to a small reef shark.