I have a hard time believing that they would joke about the cannonball incident, yet the commercial is so close to what happened that I simply cannot decide either way. If they did intend this commercial to be a joke about the accident, it is a very bad public relations move. It is also not funny, in my opinion. They shot a cannon ball through someone’s house. To me, for the Mythbusters to suggest that it is funny, is like someone driving drunk and hitting a house, but it being funny because no one got hurt. You can see footage of the damage and the path the cannonball took through the neighborhood here.
I really like the Mythbusters, including what was formerly the “build team” and is now the co-host team, currently made up of Tory, Grant and Kari. However, both teams have been grossly negligent numerous times over the years. I fast-forward through the safety warnings given by the hosts before and during the show. It is hard to watch them blatantly lie and still like them.
One of my biggest gripes is that they have used the Alameda County bomb range for so many experiments that had a high probability of flying and/or rolling debris, despite its relatively close proximity to residences. The bomb range is located at 37°43’12"N 121°52’54"W. Google Earth provides an excellent view. What kind of idiots fire round projectiles at hills, protecting residential property, that said projectile will likely roll up and over, if they fail to hit their target of water-filled garbage cans? They did not show footage of their cannonball blunder, but even if the cannonball did not careen into the house that way, but it was some other mistake, it is still a terrible idea (the footage of the misfire, which was presumably shot by the crew, is not online or in the episode about the myth). There was a cinderblock wall that was behind the barrels, but such a wall is almost certainly insufficient to stop a cannonball, especially if it was not filled with concrete, as they have failed to do on the show before - not important when building a wall to a specified code, but important when stopping projectiles. Also, I think they have fired other round projectiles at the same hill in other experiments.
While their retired FBI buddy, Frank, and their bomb tech, Jamie, may be qualified to safely make, handle, set and detonate explosives, they are unqualified for the kind of expertise needed to keep the experiments safe from a big picture point of view. That is not their fault, in my opinion. While they are qualified for their job and former job, the experiments involve aspects that are simply not within their knowledge base or that of any Mythbusters host. Also, the experiments that have been unsafe have not just been at the bomb range with Frank and/or Jamie and have not just involved explosives. Someone with a degree in physics should be involved in any experiment with dangerous projectiles. Grant is very smart, but his degree is in electrical engineering, and he is not present for the experiments that Adam and Jamie do. Besides that, a dedicated safety officer is needed, not someone who is involved with hosting or other tasks.
Long, long ago, the Mythbusters team should have gotten a full team of safety experts to supervise all experiments involving firearms, explosives, swinging blades, anything that launches projectiles (trebuchet, enormous slingshot), hazardous chemicals (highly concentrated sulfuric acid), anything involving high voltage (above household) or high current electricity, car crashes or the remote control of cars and boats, and anything that does not involve a firearm, yet still necessitates a bullet-resistant shield. In addition, the safety people should be certified and have extensive experience in whatever they are supervising. You cannot have the same person doing the hazardous chemicals supervising and the firearms supervising unless they are truly qualified to do so. There also needs to be backups for the safety people certified in different disciplines because there are two teams doing experiments, and even within teams, they sometimes split up and do different tasks. In this case, anyone is welcome to steal my idea and pitch it as their own. I have already voiced my concerns, twice, years ago. I did not expect or need a response, but I was hoping that they might make changes to increase safety. Judging by the credits (on TV and IMDb) and by watching the continuing lack of proper safety measures, they have not made such changes.
–kjkolb
