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Build Challenge: Mythbusters!


Weldun

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Re: Build Challenge: Mythbusters!

 

OK' date=' then...my own contribution is to mention Grant. We can't forget the mighty brain of the crew.[/quote']

If anyone is a gadgeteer it has to be Grant. He always has the hightech stuff. Just this past week I saw the episode where he broke out the magnetic actuator for the Tesla myth. That thing caused the bridge to vibrate, :shock: and was giving both Adam and Jamie pause.

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Re: Build Challenge: Mythbusters!

 

I just realized that they must have Persuasion to a high degree.

 

Mythbusters: "We want to blow up/ignite/drop from space a car/boat/giant pumpkin/monkey/ to see if there's anything recognizable at the end."

 

Everyone else: "Ok."

 

Do you really need Persuasion to get people to want to watch that? Especially with the popularity of reality TV! :P

 

I'm willing to bet that at least half the people who posted on this thread would eagerly watch the Mythbusters take on that challenge. (Self included.) Two thirds if the target of the experiment was Buster.

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Re: Build Challenge: Mythbusters!

 

Do you really need Persuasion to get people to want to watch that? Especially with the popularity of reality TV! :P

 

I'm willing to bet that at least half the people who posted on this thread would eagerly watch the Mythbusters take on that challenge. (Self included.) Two thirds if the target of the experiment was Buster.

I wasn't thinking so much of the audience (which would be Oratory anyway ;)) but the others that need to be convinced like producers, technicians, emergency medical technicians, the bomb squad...

 

edit: Did you see the one with the Chinese Water Torture? That's some persuasion!

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Re: Build Challenge: Mythbusters!

 

Actually, that was probably the most interesting experiment to date. It showed that not only could this torture work, but it even had an effect on somebody who new that at any moment, could just say "let me out" and it would be over. Not really all that enlightening when one takes S&M clubs into account, but this was with somebody who doesn't get off on this sort of thing. In terms of scientific method, it was sloppy, but it still illustrated the point.

 

But let's think about this. What would these people be doing in the CU? What myths do you test. What elements and resources are at their disposal, or at the very least obtainable, in this new environment?

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Re: Build Challenge: Mythbusters!

 

Basically it is a world where everything is now plausible at the very least, so there might not even be a show. However, it could be a show about "why" superpowers work or even what the strength levels are of various powers from various supers. Maybe that is where the Martinez scale comes from. :)

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Re: Build Challenge: Mythbusters!

 

THATS WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE! I've been wracking my brains, asking myself "what is it that I've forgotten to mention on these 'what would you like to see' threads that are stuck to the top of the boards?" I would like to see a more detailed description of the Martinez scale, and in real print, not digital hero.

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Re: Build Challenge: Mythbusters!

 

I think the Mythbusters crew could have a blast testing certain assertions from the supers world...

 

1) Is Captain America's shield really indestructible?

 

2) Is Thor's hammer really impossible to lift?

 

3) How many shades of yellow can get through a Green Lantern's force wall?

 

4) Can 'normals' (ie Batman or DD) swing on a line like Spider-Man?

 

5) Can anyone without Power Girl's strength support those breasts?

 

These are questions I want answered, dammit!

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Re: Build Challenge: Mythbusters!

 

Personally, I'd just have them still test urban myths.

 

As far as powers go, here's what I'd give them: Jaime, 5 rPD, Adam, nothing, Christine (shop assistant aka MythTern), heals slightly faster than normal, Tory (model maker and sculptor), luck, Scotty (metal work and car repair), LS vs illness, and Kari (electronics, gadgets, Tesla coils, and Van de Graaff generators), 10 rED vs electricity and INT in the high 20s.

 

Grant isn't part of the group and they're in their fourth season.

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Re: Build Challenge: Mythbusters!

 

However they get written up, I'd have to pretty much insist that they have no science skills past the 8- "Everyman" level.

 

Fun show, talented builders, but scientists they are most definitely not.

 

Eh, I disagree with branding them as not being scientists. They just have a different approah to science. They actually do experiments rather than just hypothesize, and they do them as thoroughly as time allows.

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Re: Build Challenge: Mythbusters!

 

Eh, I disagree with branding them as not being scientists. They just have a different approah to science. They actually do experiments rather than just hypothesize, and they do them as thoroughly as time allows.

 

I don't deny that those guys have some serious building skills, and saying that they have no science skills whatsoever is a little harsh, I suppose - but I still maintain that they are definitely not scientists. In most of the experiments I see them perform, I end up groaning a little bit when I start to pick them apart. They rarely seem to eliminate all the variables necessary to make it a valid experiment, and their research on the subjects in question is often paper-thin.

 

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the show - but their tests would usually have a lot more scientific merit with some consultants.

 

For example: the episode where they test the myth "are daddy-longlegs poisonous?" The myth is regarding "daddy-longlegs", aka harvestmen - arachnids related to spiders, but not actually spiders. They did all their tests with Pholcus phalangioides, the daddy-longlegs spider. Granted, testing actual daddy-longlegs would have been pointless (they have no venom glands whatsoever), but I don't recall them saying anything like "well, we know already that the daddy-longlegs the myth refers to are totally harmless, so we'll test the other option..." It just so happens that the spiders are more common in California than the harvestmen are, so they didn't really dig any deeper. I realize they have very limited amounts of time to work with, but that's fairly important info that anyone who knows a lick about arachnids could have told them.

 

None of the other episodes stick in my head like that one (my area of expertise, after all), but I've had similar quibbles with many of them.

 

How many times did they tackle the "ice bullet" myth? Each time, they had more feedback to work with that got rid of all sorts of potential problems with their methods. It's great that they paid attention to their fan mail that way and refined the experiments - but I think they could have saved themselves some time if they'd got some educated opinions to start with.

 

My two cents. Admittedly, things would likely be a lot less explodey if they weren't flying by the seat of their pants all the time!

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Re: Build Challenge: Mythbusters!

 

For example: the episode where they test the myth "are daddy-longlegs poisonous?" The myth is regarding "daddy-longlegs"' date=' aka harvestmen - arachnids related to spiders, but not actually spiders. They did all their tests with [i']Pholcus phalangioides[/i], the daddy-longlegs spider. Granted, testing actual daddy-longlegs would have been pointless (they have no venom glands whatsoever), but I don't recall them saying anything like "well, we know already that the daddy-longlegs the myth refers to are totally harmless, so we'll test the other option..." It just so happens that the spiders are more common in California than the harvestmen are, so they didn't really dig any deeper. I realize they have very limited amounts of time to work with, but that's fairly important info that anyone who knows a lick about arachnids could have told them.
Actually, the myth IS about the daddy-longlegs spider. You're gripe should be that they hadn't even mentioned the harvestmen.
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Re: Build Challenge: Mythbusters!

 

Actually' date=' the myth [b']IS[/b] about the daddy-longlegs spider. You're gripe should be that they hadn't even mentioned the harvestmen.
Where the heck are their daddy-longlegs spiders?

 

The only think I've ever seen called a daddy-longlegs have been what you seem to be calling harvestmen (a name I have never heard in my life)

 

There are daddy-longlegs all over Massachusetts/New Hampshire so I come from an area that actually has them.

 

TB

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Re: Build Challenge: Mythbusters!

 

LOVE the show.

 

It seems to me that if the Mythbusters existed in a classic comic-book superhero reality, most of them would certainly have acquired superpowers of one sort or another several times over.

 

Think about it. Consider how often they have been doing weird stuff involving chemicals, explosives, radiation, electricity, magnetism, unusual devices and so forth; usually in totally bizarre combinations. Add to that how some of them have led quite ... interesting lives prior to the show in any case (Jamie being the most obvious example).

 

Just a thought.

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