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Junkyard Wars Needs A Few Good Contestants
Andy B writes: "At long last, we have got an address for aspiring contestants to send their Junkyard Wars applications to (Slashdot slightly jumped the gun last autumn). Hurry to get you applications in, as the deadline for applications is Fri 16th Feb."
This is taken from the ITC website:
The main points in the new licence are:
I think it's not fully privatised either - doesn't the government still own a proportion of it and fund it a bit too?
Now robotics... There's something cool. A mixture of computing and mechanics. The software and the hardware, the virtual and the real, all blending together into one. You may think it's cool to make a few characters appear on your 31337 console, but that just can't come close to making a thinking machine that exists in reality, and that can directly have an impact on the real world. I say make a cross between Junkyard Wars and Battlebots, and have two teams with a bunch of robot parts, that have to build robots to do some task! WHOOO!!! (And none of this lame Battlebots crap. I don't care how well you make it, a machine that you completely control with remote controls is just lame. That's no "robot", that's a remote controlled car. WHERE IS THE REAL CHALLENGE?!?! WHERE ARE THE ROBOTS!?)
Ok, enough of my ranting for now.
The streets shall flow with the blood of the Guberminky.
The post said Nationalised. That is not the same as 'not for profit'.
Channel 4 was established as a not-for-profit business, paid for by skimming the budgets of the commercial ITV broadcasters in the UK.
The whole Channel 4 set-up is a complex arrangement - it is paid for by advertising revenues, has no shareholders, and a license that obliges (obligates?) it to carry out a public service remit.
This link explains it all in more detail. It's quite interesting, especially to open-sourcerers..
So, your uninformed commie is probably slightly more informed than you are.
You could argue thant 'nationalised' was probably the wrong word, but since channel 4 doesn't have shareholders, 'commercial' is equally inaccurate. It's a strange beast: there probably isn't one adjective to describe it...
I've never watched the show, but it sounded kind of interesting... until now.
Watch before judging. For example in the hovercraft episode, we got to watch someone make a roughly 4' diameter propeller from a block of wood and a chainsaw. The NERDS last year made a 3000rpm centrifugal water pump out of a brake rotor and some scrap metal. The Long Brothers invented the Styro-lathe out of a electric drill and a knife to turn the pieces for their rocket: 3 Revs a Minute fashioned up a hot-wire to cut their styrofoam into a proper airfoil for their bomber. And if you saw Bowser's walking table or the famous (albeit too fragile) Brick Muncher, you wouldn't believe that they were put together in 10 hours.
Yeah, some stuff is seeded. Go read the NERDS webpage for just how much work was involved in getting Frobette, their steam car running despite having a boiler and engine given to them.
Eric
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
Wow, that's some bad moderation...Golias's post marked as flamebait?
Fortunately, the show is basically about using actual junkyard parts to make stuff, even with the seeding. But there certainly is the potential for this to get out of hand if they keep on making episodes, and the challenges become more unrealistic without basically having the parts and the bluprints laid out in front of the contestants.
I for one would be happy watching simpler challenges (like the classic build-a-wrecking-machine) that don't require as much seeding.
But seeing cool complicated contraptions is fun too. I hope they manage to strike a reasonable balance.
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Make mine methylphenidate.
I don't agree with your post on any level - but it's actually wrong too.
Channel 4 show Scrapheap Challenge / Junkyard Wars. Yes, the government own them but no, they're not funded through tax. They carry adverts.
Now, I'd argue that the BBC produces substantially better programming (as a rule) than either ITV, Channels 4 or 5 or the various digital channels (and yes, I've had digital / sattelite TV for years) and is consequently well worth the license fee. But, even if you disagree with this on principle for whatever reason, _it_ _doesn't_ _apply_ _to_ _Channel_ _4_!
Greg
(Inside a nuclear plant)
Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!
Now, if I had been in charge of the show, I would have expected them to make the engines, too... A little bit of powerdered aluminium would not have been hard to dig up... finding magnesium might have been difficult, I wonder what else they could have used?
Remember, in the hovercraft episode, they found jet engine nacelles. That's a hell of a junkyard. And, uhhh, I don't think I'd try welding to those (though they did), if you know what I mean.
Lots of mid-80s Volvos have magnesium rims.
Even so, you could do a thermite with just powdered rust and powdered aluminum. In the 1800s, it was how large welding was done.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
While it's a great show, the participants who can enter the show are pretty limited. There are legions of us resourceful computer geeks out there who would be perfect for a sister-show to Junkyard Wars--based on computers. The contestants could be put in a warehouse filled with old 386's/486's and different obsolete software packages and the goal could be to assemble a specific type of computing system! (and perhaps to hack the opposing team's network!)
"Okay, I'll be P, you be Q, and Ray here will be the equal sign. Do you have the NOT? Who's got the not?"
!
"Oh, there it is. Roll camera!"
-Omar
And the old host was hilarious. He'd look at a teams work, crack a joke and laugh hysterically. It was great.
I agree. And I loved his ties.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
I agree, it's a pity that TLC felt the needed to Americanize the show and produce a version only for the US market. Don't they realize that the fact that it is distinctly british is one of the best things about the show?
The previous series with Robert Llewellen (Kryten) were made as "Scrapheap Challenge" only for the UK market, and were picked up by TLC and renamed for the US. My hope is that they continue to make the UK series with Kryten and these eventually find their way to our US screens.
The series starting this Monday is actually the first british series which hasn't been shown on US TV before. I've seen parts of it on the "Best of Scrapheap Challenge" VHS I ordred from Amazon.co.uk. (The channel4 website also carries the tape but it doesn't deliver internationally).
Yes, but it's gotten worse with each season. The very first season or two from England had much less obvious or near-nonexistent seeding. The seeding with the latest English and American episodes is going too far, and leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I can understand it a bit from the perspective that they've already built a lot of the things that one can build, and they always need to come up with something new..., but it's still gone too far. (And they never should have replaced Robert Llewellyn in the American series, good thing they kept whats-her-name, if they'd replaced her with some stupid blonde-bubble-gum girl, I'd have puked.)
Actually, checking out Channel 4's Scrapheap Challenge page, the poor brits are going to get the US series of Junkyard Wars. But at least they're telling their audience it's definitely not the same show, and there's a new series of "Scrapheap Challenge" in production at the moment, presumably with Llewellen.
Some one should get a slashdot team team together.
I can see it now, someone builds a computer with a full AI to control their machine out of old car parts.
_________________________________
It was me, I did it, I moved your cheese
It is then a good job that Nationalised television exists in Britain in a happy symbiosis with the private sector, and is therefore free to bumble along making programs for their own sake, for the love of it, and not because of what focus groups and market ratings say. Thats what happened with Monty Python - it was literally made in a fit of absent mindedness by the relevant authorities at the BBC. If only America had a similar system.
It would greatly improve American Television, IMHO, if they were to greatly increase funding for PBS, such that it would have money to not just show BBC reruns, but to make its own innovative programs for a variety of channels as well. The beauty of this is that it would force the commercial companies to stop making pap, and start focusing on making interesting programs for once. Things could only improve.
You know exactly what to do-
Your kiss, your fingers on my thigh-
You know exactly what to do-
Your kiss, your fingers on my thigh-
I think of little else but you.
The hosts clearly stated that the rockets were planted in the junkyard, as they knew that there would be no naturally-occuring rocket engines there, but they still wanted to make the contestants search for parts.
Now, if I had been in charge of the show, I would have expected them to make the engines, too... A little bit of powerdered aluminium would not have been hard to dig up... finding magnesium might have been difficult, I wonder what else they could have used?
At any rate, I'm sure that the show's producers thought it best to hide the rocket engines to guarantee a finale which made for good television.
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Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
The issue of "seeding" the yard has caused the most ire from JYW fans. Most times objects such as rocket engines, and steam engines are planted in the interest of safety laws and time constraints. Before the competition takes place, the expert submits a list of parts they would like and their preliminary plans for the build. The producers then decide what items will be hidden (such as mylar for the blimp in the bombing episode). It is not always as extreme as that--most times it's just throwing a few more old cars on the heap.
Also, the UK has very stringent laws about safety that the show has to obey. For example, every valve and connector for air, fuel, etc. has to be brand new and installed by a certified installer. It's all done for the safety of the participants. For a more detailed description check out the website of The N.E.R.D.S. at Answers to its fake, they seed the yard
Sorry, I'm paying more attention to Cathy Rogers. She's pretty hot.
I can't find a damn picture of her anywhere on the web though.
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python -c "x='python -c %sx=%s; print x%%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))%s'; print x%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))"
I am really disappointed with this aspect of the show, which seems worse this season. I remember one episode where they had two boats (one was a planing boat and one was a displacement boat). And they mentioned (more than once) that displacement boats go faster if they are longer. I wondered, "Why?" thinking that in a few seconds, they would cut to an animation that would show the forces and answer the obvious question. Instead, they skipped over it, and actually made a comment about not wanting to get into it because it was too technical. Too technical?!? Fuckin' A, I thought this was The Learning Channel. I guess not.
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As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
I remember one episode, he got a big oil/grease/dirt/etc stain on his tie. The very next episode it was obvious that it was the very same tie, it was tied up so much shorter so the stain would be under/in the knot.. Hilarious.. the end of the tie only reached mid-chest..
And every episode since...
It seems to me that (until the American episodes stupidly ditched him) the tie was always tied ridiculously.
Damn it.
Last night, I watched an episode that was on TLC a few weeks ago, and that I hadn't had time to watch until now: Hovercraft.
This morning, before leaving for work, I found myself rummaging around the garage, looking for an old horizontal crankshaft Briggs and Stratton engine and a couple of furnace blowers that I have kicking around.
Tonight, I guess I'll put aluminum wire into the MIG welder and throw together a lightweight frame...
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
Given how much code we have seen that shows just the opposite focus, I got to wonder how would this all work out.
Imagine a contest, for example, between the Microsoft team (the Shaft Warriors) and the "Penguinistas", or whatever.
what kind of designs would the various camps build?
the old satirical bits come to mind, "If OSs were airlines","if systems were beer", etc.
How would the different corporate teams refelct the philosophy of their companies, and how would this reflect in their success on the show?
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
I can see it now, someone builds a computer with a full AI to control their machine out of old car parts.
Ah, yes. A Beowulf cluster of fuel injection ECMs.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
Nationalized TV? (Score:1, Offtopic)
How the hell is the Russian National Anthem offtopic when we're talking about socialist government policies?
Read the thread; this springs from some uninformed commie suggesting that Junkyard Wars (or, Scrapheap Challenge in the UK) is a TV show produced by a not-for-profit TV system.
Imbeciles. Besides, I *still* have more karma than you, notice that I post at +2.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
Don't you mean his one tie? I don't know why, but for some reason it really annoys me that the hosts of the show never wear anything different from episode to episode..
I'm sure the costume department had several identical ties, just in case he somehow gets it caught in a naked fanbelt and survives.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
I was watching Junk-yard-wars the other day (the one were they built the rocket). THey pulled two brand-new rocket engines OUT OF THE BACK OF A TRUCK!!!! what kind of junk-yard is this?
It's a purpose built set. Also the contestants are probably issued with motor fuel, oil, hydrolic fluid, etc. But someone drew the line at issuing them with the chemicals to make explosives.
She's not that hot, in my opinion.
Well, you have to think about it in context. In the U.S., she might not draw a second glance, but for a Brit, she's pretty hot.
It might be that I'm fascinated by her shiny clothing though...
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python -c "x='python -c %sx=%s; print x%%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))%s'; print x%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))"
The old shows were great with the guy from Red Dwarf and old those silly British people. I've watched a couple episodes of the new season and its all a bunch of rednecks and the new host sucks. The British version is MUCH better. Brits are funnier in general. They have all these wierd little words and phrases that we don't say in English that make it fun.
Even the episodes with the American team were ok because they were reasonably funny as well. They were rednecks like this season. In one of the first episodes (drag racer or something) I saw TWO mullets.
And the old host was hilarious. He'd look at a teams work, crack a joke and laugh hysterically. It was great.
Oh well. so i don't make any sense.
Bloody Rednecks.
ANdrew