# History channel morons **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 30, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541 "2007-08-30T21:42:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541/1 "2007-08-30T21:42:53Z")
Yes, I know you ahve to make something look “cool” or whatever for the special weapons shows. Here’s a hint: If you have to take special pressurized gun t shoto your stupid mini-shuriken, and shoot it 5 or more times against a target without even a shirt on to get even a nasty flesh wound, it’s not a very impressive weapon. You did nothing but cut the cut, and that was firing this weird shotgun thing at a range of about 6-10 feet. Yes, you might have broken a rib or two, and cut him up pretty bad. An actual shotgun would have killed instantly. I am not going to be impressed at the ability of any armored vest to protect against this. Any bulky suit probably oculd do. Morons. :rolleyes: What the hell ever happened to R. Lee Ermy? _Mail Call_ was awesome. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541/2 "2007-08-30T21:48:33Z")
[QUOTE=smiling bandit] What the hell ever happened to R. Lee Ermy? _Mail Call_ was awesome. [/QUOTE] I don’t have cable, but whenever I have TV at my disposal, I head right to the History and Discovery Channels. Mail Call is on every. single. time. I think there is a Mail Call channel, in fact. What’s worse is, I have quite a few friends who are Marines, so guess what I’m always bamboozled into watching? Anywho, isn’t it on the Military History channel? Or Discovery Military. Or whatever that channel is called? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541/3 "2007-08-30T22:15:24Z")
I think its on the Military Channel now, though I could be mistaken. Not sure what the rest of the rant was all about. I don’t remember a show on the History Channel that was like that. Mostly the History Channel is good fun…but sometimes its definitely rolley eye material. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541/4 "2007-08-30T22:42:01Z")
I’m still working on how _Ice Road Truckers_ (the show that’s on whenever I turn to HC) is historical in nature. By this time next year the lineup will include _Did the Roswell UFO Carry the Family of Christ?_ as a lead-in to _Flavor Flav’s Civil War Diary_ and _Butts in the News_. ---
**Author:** ![SisterCoyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@SisterCoyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SisterCoyote)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541/5 "2007-08-30T23:57:24Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] I’m still working on how _Ice Road Truckers_ (the show that’s on whenever I turn to HC) is historical in nature. By this time next year the lineup will include _Did the Roswell UFO Carry the Family of Christ?_ as a lead-in to _Flavor Flav’s Civil War Diary_ and _Butts in the News_. [/QUOTE] Well, _Butts in the News_ might not be historical, but it’s probably timely… Or did you mean _Butts in the Nudes_? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2007, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541/6 "2007-08-31T13:25:10Z")
[QUOTE=smiling bandit] Yes, I know you ahve to make something look “cool” or whatever for the special weapons shows. Here’s a hint: If you have to take special pressurized gun t shoto your stupid mini-shuriken, and shoot it 5 or more times against a target without even a shirt on to get even a nasty flesh wound, it’s not a very impressive weapon. [/quote] 😕 Huh? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2007, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541/7 "2007-08-31T16:49:00Z")
Alright, to exaplin a bit better, The show had some weird special on military equipment, and this episode was on DragonSkin. This is a body armor known for its flexibility - it’s made in overlapping plates which do bear some resemblance to reptilian scales. There was a bit of a pointless scandal a while back when the Dept of Defense told soldiers not to buy or wear it. Some people got upset, but the DoD pointed out that the armor wasn’t as good as the suits they handed out, and was not getting replaced. Regardless. After some fairly interesting material on how it’s made (and it’s not bad stuff at all) and what it can protect against, they had the section I noted. First, they made a weird shotgun-like thing. It had a big wave of compressed air pushing out the firing material through a tube. The tube was about the size of standard plumbing pipe - not huge, but much larger than a shotgun barrel (this is important). To fill the barrel, they made a bunch of tiny shuriken (“ninja throwing stars”) about the size of a thumbnail. Now, something that size is not all that dangerous. Even _actual_ shuriken are not particularly dangerous - suffice it to say no actual ninja would try and seriously harm or kill someone with one. They also put nails in. To test their crap gun and body armor, they then made a cool gel mold of a human body, basically putting a clear plastic gell to cool around one of those life-size plastic skeletons they like to have in high school biology. This part was actually neat to watch, although they skimmed over the painstaking process of using the computer to make a 3D model of the human body (or maybe they got theirs from a software company). Once assembled, this will do a fairly good job of mimicking the human body’s response to impact and cuts. So they get out their crap gun. And fire it. From 10 feet (they claimed, but it looked bloody like 4 to me). And, they make some cuts. Not particularly deep ones, either. Surface cuts. One shuriken sticks in the wound about a 1/4" deep. Not impressive. SO they shoot again. And again. And again. At least 5 times, and maybe more. And the end of it, the target has, at worst, a nail stuck about 1/2" inside. Now, these were very unpleasant wound. They might get _infected_, even. And if you left it alone, for say, a coupla a days, you might bleed to death. But you’d probably clot up and have a nice ugly scar, and recover nicely. Now, at that range, virtually any gun on the planet can kill you. Some very light calibers won’t, but pretty mcuh anything else will. Even a gut wound might well kill you. An actual shotgun would take your body apart if it was firing shot, and wound punch an 1" hole through your body if slug. Then they were gonna run tests using the body armor for this crapgun (that’s the name, now: crapgun)? Of course it’s stop this stuff! A freaking pair of overalls might stop it! I turned off the TV. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541/8 "2007-08-31T17:03:05Z")
Oh, that does sound stupid. Did they try to explain why the hell they didn’t just have somebody on the crew bring in a shotgun? Or buy one for $150? ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2007, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541/9 "2007-08-31T17:19:48Z")
It sounds like they were trying to simulate a flechette attack. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541/10 "2007-08-31T17:25:51Z")
What are y’all talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Fir\_na\_tine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541/11 "2007-08-31T19:08:57Z")
[QUOTE=smiling bandit] The show had some weird special on military equipment, and this episode was on DragonSkin. [/QUOTE] Either 60 Minutes or 20-20 just ran a side by side test at an accredited testing facility. DragonSkin beat the current standard vest. They used 45. cal, 50 cal and 7.62 DragonSkin seems to be one of those products that’s out of favor because it was created by private enterprise and not the Army. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541/12 "2007-08-31T19:13:44Z")
Its what the Mythbusters use in their new Buster crash test dummy. What more do you need? 😉 -XT ---
**Author:** ![RedSwinglineOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@RedSwinglineOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedSwinglineOne)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2007, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541/13 "2007-08-31T22:11:51Z")
Could it be they were trying to simulate shrapnel, like from a granade or i.e.d.? IIRC, generally solders are more often hit by shrapnel than bullets. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541/14 "2007-09-01T01:13:08Z")
Maybe ut it’s fairly pointless. Any thick suit will handily stop shrapnel like that, and this was after they showed it stopping bullets. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541/15 "2007-09-01T01:18:17Z")
[QUOTE=DiosaBellissima] I don’t have cable, but whenever I have TV at my disposal, I head right to the History and Discovery Channels. Mail Call is on every. single. time. I think there is a Mail Call channel, in fact. What’s worse is, I have quite a few friends who are Marines, so guess what I’m always bamboozled into watching? Anywho, isn’t it on the Military History channel? Or Discovery Military. Or whatever that channel is called? [/QUOTE] No, Mail Call is on The History Channel and always has been. The History Channel is a part of A&E Networks and not associated with the Discovery network. [Mail Call on the History Channel](http://www.history.com/minisites/mailcall/) ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541/16 "2007-09-01T04:20:07Z")
[QUOTE=Fir na tine] Either 60 Minutes or 20-20 just ran a side by side test at an accredited testing facility. DragonSkin beat the current standard vest. They used 45. cal, 50 cal and 7.62 DragonSkin seems to be one of those products that’s out of favor because it was created by private enterprise and not the Army. [/QUOTE] This is my understanding after some light research. It’s more effective but the military doesn’t want to pay for a lot of it, so they declare it inferior and allow no one to wear it. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541/17 "2007-09-01T13:24:08Z")
[QUOTE=Fir na tine] Either 60 Minutes or 20-20 just ran a side by side test at an accredited testing facility. DragonSkin beat the current standard vest. They used 45. cal, 50 cal and 7.62 DragonSkin seems to be one of those products that’s out of favor because it was created by private enterprise and not the Army. [/QUOTE] 50 cal? As in the Browning machine gun round? I can’t imagine anything wearable that could absorb that type of energy and still allow you to function. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541/18 "2007-09-01T15:53:36Z")
[Link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Skin_body_armor#Army_Testing_Controversy_and_Comparison_with_Interceptor_body_armor) Now, maybe they’re right and maybe the Army has repeatedly lied about it all. But probably not. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541/19 "2007-09-01T16:41:54Z")
[QUOTE=smiling bandit] [Link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Skin_body_armor#Army_Testing_Controversy_and_Comparison_with_Interceptor_body_armor) Now, maybe they’re right and maybe the Army has repeatedly lied about it all. But probably not. [/QUOTE] That cite is at best ambiguous. I wouldn’t be surprised if this administration’s Defense Department were lying about it, given their record of veterans’ health care at Walter Reed and elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541/20 "2007-09-02T19:02:49Z")
I’ve been saving up the outrage to Pit _The History Channel_ for a long time, but if I was going to do it I would have by now so I’ll settle for just this posting. I love history, that’s why I watch _The History Channel_. When did it become _The Alaskan Trucker Channel_? Trucking is so boring to do and to watch I seriously doubt **OTHER** truckers watch this crap! There are a few other shows that don’t really follow the history theme either, but none of which is more insulting to the _The History Channel_ audience than that show…and I swear it’s run in marathons. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-channel-morons/417541.md?page=2)