I’m not that old so I might have missed them - what are some examples of great science television shows before the tragic decline of the last decade you speak of? The only one I remember is Bill Nye the Science Guy.
Kudos to marshmallow. It may have taken 20 posts but we finally got a decent pitting of Mythbusters.
They are fun and entertaining, but I can’t suffer through an episode without fast forwarding through all of the recaps and the bullshit. In an hour show they usually have about 30 minutes worth of content, maybe less.
But they are funny. Authoritative science they are not, and nobody would say that they are, but they are fun and interesting.
Also, I like Tory and Grant <3.
F-
From what I read yesterday, they followed the safety advice of their police department advisers. So, I’m puzzled as to why you’d pit the Mythbusters…or even the police…over this. Seems to be a ‘shit happens’ kind of moment, i.e. sometimes things just go wrong, no matter how well you plan. Now, if the MB’s or the police had just gone out and winged it, and THEN something went wrong, that would be another matter. But unless I’m missing something here, they were doing this on a bomb range and they were following the procedures and advice of the experts who were advising them…and then something went wrong. Bummer, but, you know, shit happens…
-XT
Xtisme.
I gotta disagree with ya on this one. SOMEBODY screwed up. I don’t know who it was on the Mythbusters team. Or perhaps it was their advisors or the police or the consultants. But IMO this was NOT a FREAK freaky free sort of accident. I’ve worked where they shoot/blow shit up for a living. You assume the WORST case when it comes to safety. For example, lets TRY to shoot this cannon ball out of the range. Can’t do it? We are safe! Which is quit different from the cannonball won’t escape from the range if it hits our target or doesn’t misfire and aim high over the hill.
I wouldn’t say this is a holy moly case of WTF? bad range safety but then again I wouldn’t say this is a random crazy shit happens case either.
And BTW I love the Busters!
I just can’t wait until this episode airs.
Science that’s fun and accessible to the masses is SO 1995. Puh-lease, girlfriend. If it isn’t boring and so dense as to be inaccessible to the average person, I’m not interested. I’ll be in my lab analyzing genome printouts for the next 2 months, if you need me.
Do police have any specific expertise when it comes to safely firing artillery? l can’t really think of why they would. I suspect “advisor” here was just the guy that ran the firing range, which I think is kind of worse then useless, as it gives the illusion of safety and expertize without any of the actual benefits.
They should’ve got someone from the military, who no doubt have actual experience in firing artillery pieces, and ranges set up to do so.
I thought it was their junior partners, the aforementioned trio, that were firing the cannon, not the two head honchos. Actually, given the stunts Tory’s pulled on the show, it’s easy to believe something will, not may, but will go wrong with him involved.
Interesting. When Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg and spent 22 months in prison for it, (meanwhile Dick Cheney shot a hunting companion in the face and didn’t get charged), people said of Burress, “Yea, but what if someone else had been hit by the bullet.” Well, nobody was but still, 22 months in prison.
Redundant? Sorry, but I don’t visit Cafe Society unless I have a $4 latte in my hand, which is hardly ever. Maybe we should filter all posts through you and you can decide what is relevant and you can direct it to the appropriate forum. My apology.
Can we be in agreement that, based on the nature of the forum, F- is the highest rank that a post on this board can achieve. This is the Pit. Based on my experience here, if you had given an A+ I would be very insulted.
according to the article, the accident happened at 4 PM. That’s in the afternoon, folks.
What in the hell were a man, woman AND child doing sleeping in the same room at 4pm?
:dubious:
that’s the best you could come up with? Do you and yours often nap together at 4 in the afternoon?
I find the claim dubious. Unless, of course, this is a trend that hasn’t caught on in my neck of the woods.
And it was a Tuesday. Not even a weekend, where it could be possible, I suppose.
So the kid isn’t in school, and the parents don’t work. Or they work all night and sleep during the day.
ok.
What exactly are you being skeptical of? The child is 2, and it’s not unusual for a 2-year-old to take a nap in the afternoon (or any other time, really) with a family member. I’m not sure why the parents were home, but who cares?
If you have never been the parent of a 2 year old you can’t appreciate the price that a parent would pay to have the kid take a nap, no matter what the time of day.
Having a cannonball go though your wall. What did anybody do to deserve that? Was Mythbuster’s trying to take out bad parents and insolent kids? 'Splain that to the judge.
Pitting some people who took precautions but stuffed up and are immensely contrite and will pay all damages is beyond weak.
… illegal possession and reckless endangerment. The former obviously doesn’t apply to the Mythbusters, and as to the latter there is a yawning gulf between taking careful precautions and nonetheless stuffing up on the one hand, and “reckless” on the other.
What bullshit. I don’t think there is much crossover between Mythbusters fans and those who enjoy reality TV. The former are geeks and propellor heads and the latter are drama junkies. The MB’s had one series where their producers kept pitting Adam against Jamie and it was a bit pissweak but they came to their senses.
I agree with you about Kari: OK she’s moderately easy on the eye but the drooling is over the top.
And the last bit is just utter crap: Mythbusters is one of the few shows actually doing science on TV now or ever. I’d struggle to think of any other. Most “science” shows just relate scientific findings, or at absolute best, replicate well known experiments.
Yes, Mythbusters sometimes (too often in my view) just do stunts, weakly disguised as experiments. But Mythbusters also regularly do experiments that have never been done before. The outcome is sometimes surprising. Sure, even more often the outcome is obvious but, in case you haven’t noticed, testing the apparently obvious is precisely what scientists often do.
Frankly, when a person thinks that what the Mythbusters do is not good science education I think they have failed a reasonable litmus test showing whether that person actually understands what science is.
Why exactly does that Alameda County Sheriff’s Office have a Bomb Range anyway? I know there’s some bad neighbourhoods in Oakland but are the police routinely calling for artillery support or air strikes?
Bomb Disposal Range.
AFAIK, it’s where the bomb squad does controlled detonations.