# Whoopsie! - Mythbusters + Cannonball
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 7, 2011, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339 "2011-12-07T03:51:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339/1 "2011-12-07T03:51:27Z")
[Cannonball Hits Dublin Home During ‘Mythbusters’ Stunt](http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/12/06/cannonball-hits-dublin-home-during-mythbusters-stunt/)
> [@](#):
>
> DUBLIN (CBS SF) – A cannonball damaged a home in a Dublin neighborhood during a stunt for the popular cable TV show “Mythbusters”, officials said.
Nobody appears to have been hurt.
ETA: Dublin CA is about 30 miles east of San Francisco.
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339/2 "2011-12-07T03:53:25Z")
“We’re what you call prof. . . HOLY CRAP!”
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339/3 "2011-12-07T06:57:48Z")
“Please, do not try any of this at home…Aim at somebody else’s home instead.”
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### Author:  [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339/4 "2011-12-07T08:28:17Z")
I’m confused by two parts of that story:
1. Is that woman basically complaining that no one came to her door and told her - a neighbour uninvolved whatsoever in the incident - what happened? Is that what she thinks cops are for? I don’t know this person, but I don’t like her…
2. The cannonball allegedly bounced off of something called Cassatta Place, and _then_ went straight through a house and into/through a car, leaving only a dent in Cassatta Place? Is that what the end of the story is saying? What kind of concrete is Cassatta Place built with, because it’s the kind of stuff the Middle East might be interested in building it’s houses out of.
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339/5 "2011-12-07T08:49:27Z")
Cassatta Place is a street. Not too many people interested in that sort of construction.
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339/6 "2011-12-07T09:18:45Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#):
>
> 1. The cannonball allegedly bounced off of something called Cassatta Place
I suspect that that’s the name of a street.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339/7 "2011-12-07T14:29:58Z")
> [@Foggy](#):
>
> ETA: Dublin CA is about 30 miles east of San Francisco.
If they were firing from that abandoned air station, that’s not bad.
And why do I think that Tory must have been involved?
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### Author:  [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339/8 "2011-12-07T14:34:38Z")
So was the myth busted?
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### Author:  [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339/9 "2011-12-07T15:00:45Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> If they were firing from that abandoned air station, that’s not bad.
>
> And why do I think that Tory must have been involved?
If you look at [this map](http://wikimapia.org/8706724/Alameda-County-Bomb-Disposal-Range), with the Alameda Bomb Disposal range marked, the cannonball hit a house in one of those neighborhoods that’s just off to the east. It looks like maybe a mile or so. (Edit: You have to zoom out a level or two.)
I hope the Mythbusters don’t get in too much trouble for this. I’m a bit surprised, as they’ve always seemed to take safety pretty seriously, but I guess accidents happen. I’m reminded of that myth they did about stripping the roof off a car by driving it under a semi-truck, in which the car then launched itself over a nearby hill. “Wait…what’s behind that hill?!”
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### Author:  [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339/10 "2011-12-07T15:17:16Z")
Don’t these guys claim to be professionals?
Seems to me that part of your “just in case” planning is you point that sucker North into the vast empty area available, not the adjoining neighborhood.
Won’t somebody think of The Children? 😛
[http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/cannonball-fired-mythbusters-stunt-goes-through-du/nFwRj/](http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/cannonball-fired-mythbusters-stunt-goes-through-du/nFwRj/)
Here’s my WAG of the locations…
[ ](https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v677/ural/cannonball.jpg)
And a map for those of you who are Dublin-challenged
https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.719017,-121.87414&z=17&t=h&hl=en
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339/11 "2011-12-07T15:19:26Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#):
>
> If you look at [this map](http://wikimapia.org/8706724/Alameda-County-Bomb-Disposal-Range), with the Alameda Bomb Disposal range marked, the cannonball hit a house in one of those neighborhoods that’s just off to the east. It looks like maybe a mile or so. (Edit: You have to zoom out a level or two.)
Checked in Google Earth, less than 650 yds. :eek:
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339/12 "2011-12-07T15:21:23Z")
[Big boom in Cafe Society.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=633982)
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339/13 "2011-12-07T15:24:45Z")
> [@joebuck20](#):
>
> So was the myth busted?
Depends what the myth was. If it was “You can build your own cannon (or cannonball) and launch it into the neighboring city” then I’d say it was confirmed.
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### Author:  [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339/14 "2011-12-07T15:31:34Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> If they were firing from that abandoned air station, that’s not bad.
>
> And why do I think that Tory must have been involved?
The article mentioned a cannon they’ve used several times before, so I’m guessing it’s probably that cannon Tory made.
It’d be funnier if it was the duct tape cannon, though.
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### Author:  [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339/15 "2011-12-07T15:37:25Z")
> [@joebuck20](#):
>
> So was the myth busted?
Among other things.
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### Author:  [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339/16 "2011-12-07T15:41:54Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#):
>
> I’m confused by two parts of that story:
>
> 1. Is that woman basically complaining that no one came to her door and told her - a neighbour uninvolved whatsoever in the incident - what happened? Is that what she thinks cops are for? I don’t know this person, but I don’t like .
Where you see a complaint, I just see a statement of fact. She told a reporter interviewing her that she didn’t know what had happened until she saw it on the news. There’s nothing to indicate she expected to be told.
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### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339/17 "2011-12-07T15:59:19Z")
When I first read the thread title, I thought “California to Dublin, Ireland? Yep, that would be quite a shot!”
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### Author:  [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339/18 "2011-12-07T16:25:58Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#):
>
> When I first read the thread title, I thought “California to Dublin, Ireland? Yep, that would be quite a shot!”
I grew up in the Bay Area, and I remember hearing a report on the radio when I was a child about a house fire in Dublin. I couldn’t figure out why the local news would be reporting a house fire in Ireland.
It sounds like the myth had something to do with shooting the cannonball through water. The shot was set up to go through water (presumably slowing it down), but missed the water entirely.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339/19 "2011-12-07T16:33:39Z")
Merged duplicate threads.
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### Author:  [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoopsie-mythbusters-cannonball/605339/20 "2011-12-07T16:41:05Z")
I live about a mile from there. I could have easily completely missed this if I hadn’t passed local news on the TV at just the right moment (I’m convinced that local news causes brain cancer so I avoid it).
Wouldn’t even have noticed the noise if I’d been around as they’re always blowing stuff up there and the sheriff and Army (Camp Parks) have firing ranges nearby so those sounds are quickly ignored.
But I would like to report that the fine people of Dublin successfully repelled the Mythbusters invasion.
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