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Anyone else here have a hard time watching mythbusters?

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Dave Marshall

Tue Feb 26 2008, 04:21PM

Registered Member #16 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 02:22PM
Location: New Wilmington, PA
Posts: 554

I'm definitely the "yelling at the TV" sort, though I do so with the full understanding that its just entertainment. Yelling is half the fun!

This sort of stuff is ubiquitous on TV any more. From those TAPS goofs on "Ghost Hunter" that claim a fuse box can "leak" EM radiation (no kidding, he claimed that electrical wiring should not have a measurable magnetic field around it), to House claiming that microwaves cause cancer/cure cancer/induce orgasms/whatever , to the mythbusters saying that talking to plants can help them grow.

Some of it is more laughable than others. That being said, the Mythbusters have gotten some pretty tough myths right over the years. I have to say that even *I* was scratching my head trying to reason my way through the Airplane on a Treadmill myth.

I'm with EVR on this one though. Kari makes it worth watching, even on the worst episodes :)

BTW, Tesladownunder, there are atleast 2 34KJ capacitor banks in the hands of 4HV members. You probably have some of the more spectacular results, but you aren't the biggest!

Dave

HV Enthusiast

Tue Feb 26 2008, 05:48PM

Registered Member #15 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068

If you want real science, then check out that old Mr. Wizard show from Nickelodeon from the 1980's. Nothing super spectacular, but definitely a worthwhile show.

And yeah, definitely the reason i don't even like those blockbuster movies anymore - they are just so scientifically implausible. (i.e Armageddon, Day After, etc...)

At least movies like Alien, Pitch Black, etc... are somewhat believable, although they do have their scientific errors as well.

Of course, i can't seem to understand why the Star Trek Enterprise will jolt from a incoming phasor fire, yet will not budge an inch when accelerating from 0 to warp nine bazillion.

teslacoolguy

Tue Feb 26 2008, 06:17PM

Registered Member #1107 Joined: Thu Nov 08 2007, 10:09PM
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Posts: 792

If you want real science, then check out that old Mr. Wizard show from Nickelodeon from the 1980's. Nothing super spectacular, but definitely a worthwhile show.

my uncle who also has built some coils used to watch that show and this one episode he was talking about had you hold a vacume cleaner up to a tv picturetube and it will demagnatize it so he tryed it and it left a big green spot were the vacume was. it was sooo funny how he told me and he even had a picture if it but yea i would love to watch that show myself.

Noelle

Tue Feb 26 2008, 09:50PM

Napoleonic Powermonger
Registered Member #2 Joined: Thu Jan 26 2006, 05:10AM
Location: Meadville, PA
Posts: 70

Mr Wizard was an awesome show, I used to watch it every morning at 5am before school when I was young.

Tesladownunder

Tue Feb 26 2008, 11:40PM

Registered Member #10 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 09:45AM
Location: Bunbury, Australia
Posts: 1424

Noelle wrote ...

Mr Wizard was an awesome show, I used to watch it every morning at 5am before school when I was young.

Noelle, a rare visit. 5am for school sounds pretty early. Of course, when I was young I would get up before I even went to bed...

Dave Marshall wrote ...

BTW, Tesladownunder, there are atleast 2 34KJ capacitor banks in the hands of 4HV members....

Is it a secret who has this arsenal or what they do with it?
I have just completed my MOT charger for my cap bank along with remote metering, also extra busbar for intercap earthing. This will allow me to go to rated power of 16kJ. I have only ever gone to 5kJ or so before for a variety of reasons - too scared, too noisy for neighbours, inadequate charger. But I now have a trailer and a generator to take it away from home and I am getting bolder. Also have plans for lots of new effects.
Someone offered me 30kJ of new Maxwells for $5,000 a few days ago. Thought I should probably keep sending my kids to school rather than buying it though, sadly.

EastVoltResearch wrote ...

If you want real science, then check out that old Mr. Wizard show from Nickelodeon from the 1980's. Nothing super spectacular, but definitely a worthwhile show.

Assuming that formula is not viable these days due to it being not dynamic enough or flashy (or dare I say not appealing to a dumbed down modern audience) then what sort of show format would appeal to you (and your family, parents teenagers and non technical audience). Get some really good ideas forward and I might be able to pitch it to Creative Differences if it is something I could do or be involved in.

TDU

Noelle

Wed Feb 27 2008, 12:43AM

Napoleonic Powermonger
Registered Member #2 Joined: Thu Jan 26 2006, 05:10AM
Location: Meadville, PA
Posts: 70

Tesladownunder wrote ...

Noelle, a rare visit. 5am for school sounds pretty early. Of course, when I was young I would get up before I even went to bed...

Once in a while I descend from my lofty heights to grace the masses with my presence.

School wasn't at 5am, it was at 8am. I just got up really early. Kids don't seem to need much sleep.

Chris Russell

Wed Feb 27 2008, 07:59AM

... not Russel!
Registered Member #1 Joined: Thu Jan 26 2006, 12:18AM
Location: Tempe, Arizona
Posts: 1052

EastVoltResearch wrote ...

Of course, i can't seem to understand why the Star Trek Enterprise will jolt from a incoming phasor fire, yet will not budge an inch when accelerating from 0 to warp nine bazillion.

I can usually talk myself out of that by saying "oh, well, the inertial dampeners work on the warp drive/impulse engines because the direction of acceleration is known in advance, but not as well on weapons fire because it's not expected" or something to that effect. Not very good, but enough to shut up the critical part of my brain long enough to enjoy the show. What I don't get is why the control panels are always exploding or catching on fire. They really need to get some circuit breakers installed in that ship before OSHA finds out!

Did they say it was a Geiger counter? Or did it just look like a Geiger counter?

I ask, because we have lots of E-field and H-field sniffers which look very similar to Geiger counters, although they don't sound like Geiger counters.

Never explicitly said, but I am certain it was a CDV-700 or something damn close. And they were definitely using the Geiger counter sound. Bringing it near light switches and wiring caused all sorts of clicking. Very silly stuff.

EDY19

Wed Feb 27 2008, 06:33PM

Registered Member #105 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 08:54PM
Location:
Posts: 408

Just thought I would mention that I actually went to one of the demonstrations/talk sessions that the Mythbusters did in Traverse City, Michigan (My home town)-I actually got to personally meet both Adam and Jamie

Although not everything (okay, probably less than half

) is not scientifically accurate, I think that we can all say that any explosion is fun to watch, and while the science may not be spectacular, it is good TV and it is fun to watch as long as you keep in mind it is 95% for entertainment value only. I always enjoy the part of the program where they try to replicate the myth, or go completely overboard, such as the episode when they filled a cement truck with high explosives. I don't think that anyone will disagree that the explosion was quite awesome!

Simon

Thu Feb 28 2008, 12:57AM

Registered Member #32 Joined: Sat Feb 04 2006, 08:58AM
Location: Australia
Posts: 549

Pop media is full of inaccuracies. Most of the physics stuff doesn't bother me much (I don't yell, "That hollow earth idea is flawed! Gauss' theorem shows they should be weightless!") but I admit some romanticised computer stuff almost makes me cry ("OMG! The firewall is under attack! ... It can't take it much longer! ... Oh no! The firewall is down; they've got the technocore surrounded!")

That stuff aside, what really gets me is the pseudo-science. I think it's great that the Mythbusters team gets up and actually tests things out - and who cares if their secondary aim is just to blow things up? I just hate it when they misrepresent science. Even if they don't go all technical, they should at least try to be accurate so they don't give people the wrong idea.

asabase

Thu Feb 28 2008, 01:10AM

Registered Member #1360 Joined: Thu Feb 28 2008, 12:55AM
Location:
Posts: 4

Mythbusters isn't nearly as bad as the new show called "Smash Labs." At least with Mythbusters they do episodes to revisit myths the viewers complained they messed up.

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