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Survivor Meets Junkyard Wars for Scientists
MyNameIsFred writes "Stepping back to Gilligan's Island, PBS has a new "reality" show Rough Science where "five scientists are challenged to put their collective scientific knowledge to practical use. Transported to isolated locations, they are presented with a series of tasks, with two notable restrictions: they must complete their work within three days and, with the exception of a rudimentary tool kit, must use only indigenous materials." Could the Professor really build all of those things? We'll soon know." Check out the Episode guide.
They start voting on which one to eat first within a week. Scientists weren't designed to survive outside of a lab. =]
Karma: Dyn-o-mite!(mostly affected by Jimmy Walker reading your comments)
"scientists"?
"practical use"!?
They're doomed.
But then again, I could be wrong.
... first aired a couple of years ago. It was a great idea and made for some good viewing. Can't remember which station it was on though :o(
Highlights for me included the making of photographic equipment and a compass.
- This and all my posts are public domain. I am a Physicist. I am not your Physicist. This is not Physically advice
This reminds me of the show they had last year called "Frontier House", where a family was put onto a 19th century homestead to see how they'd do. On hone hand that show proved very interesting, but on the other, the way it was made kind of emphasized scandal, and played down achievements of the more successfull family. I hope this doesn't happen with the new show, since PBS seems to be venturing into traditional network TV territory with these reality series, and I hope they don't sink to trash TV level while doing it.
Ñ'
Too bad Mary Ann won't be in it.
That said, its still worth catching if you've nothing else to do.
I mean, everyone forgets stuff! :)
I am the one who got rid of the fat guy.
Remember him? How annoying he was? How much food he ate? I'm the one who got rid of him.
You might not remember the fat guy. Do you know why? Because of me.
Isn't this the mandate of an engineer, not a scientist?
How about calling the show "Rough Engineering"?
OT VI Each of the following processes are run to a (1) Floating needle (2) Major cognition (3) Regained ability. (Preferably all three together as the ideal end. End Phenomena.) Be three feet in back of your head. Whatever you are looking at, copy it a dozen times, put it into you. Find the two back corners of the room and hold onto them without thinking for two minutes. Find two corners of the planet Earth, hold onto them for two minutes. Find a place where you are not. Spot three spots in your body. Spot three spots in the room. Be in the following places: The room, the sky, the moon, the sun. Locate an animal .. postulate him moving from one spot to another.
Observe him doing this.
(0110)
Find a walking man ... postulate his walking faster. Do this with
20 people.
Find a walking person .. postulate that he will stop, then
continue walking. Do this 20 times.
Find a person in a distant land. Notice the time of day. Notice
the terrain. Notice the general environment. Smell the air.
Locate a thought that is his. Locate a thought that is yours.
Continue until flat.
Notice differences between you and your body.
Create in your body a feeling of calmness; create in your body
sexual desire and turn it off. Continue that step until you feel
you have control over the sexual drives. Create in the body a
feeling of pain. Create in the body a feeling of serenity. Do
the above until flat. Create in the body a feeling of hunger and
turn it off. Continue this step until you are in control of
hunger drives.
The end result of these particular drills is the regained ability
to control the body and its sensations.
Now: Postulate anger, boredom, grief, cheerfulness and serenity -
in that order. This is continued until you are sure that you
can create any emotion.
(0111)
Finally, exteriorized visit a friend who lives in another state.
Greet him and flow affinity to him. Ask him to communicate to you
by letter.
End of OT VI
------------- El nino made me kick my neighbours dog
Judging by the web site, it looks like their "rudimentary tool kit" include things like strands of wire and 12 V car batteries (unless they found these growing on a tree...).
If only PBS would license The Adventure Game or Now Get Out of That
This was on the BBC here in the UK ages ago.. It's nothing like either of the others, can be boring and silly in places.. but - some of it is ok I guess.. I dispute the word 'practical'..
Al
Why not take the 'Gilligan's Island' concept to it's logical conclusion: put the scientists on a remote island, not knowing their location or how much ocean surrounds them, with no supplies, and leave them there (with a camera crew of course). The scientists would have two challenges: survive off rudimentary supplies and the island's natural resources, and eventually escape to the mainland. The first scientific team to find their way to a major city wins. Of course, you could add in interesting challenges along the way such as those in this show or in Survivor, where the scientists could complete some useful task (dye a flag, as mentioned in the episode guide) in return for a tool or supply. THAT I would watch.
The fact that PBS is sinking to the level of regular TV and airing 'Yet-Another-Reality-Series' or that it will probably work.
Are the scientists going to get voted off? Will they make alliances with each other and scheme to get the other scientists? Will they have to cook rats over their Bunson Burners?
Questions, questions.
The Anti-Blog
"Look guys! I made this helicopter entirely out of bamboo and coconuts!"
(I don't understand why Gilligan's Island went so long, I mean the Professor came up with these brilliant inventions every episode. Why couldn't they just make a raft and have the Prof build a small nuclear reactor to power it?)
Sheepdot: Open Source good, Closed Source baaaaaaad!
a la survivor, screw it. Otherwise I might give it a sporting chance.
7 scientists
3 male - bio, phy, chem
4 female - bio, bio, bot, phy
You think they could have picked a few more women to represent the harder sciences. Everyone complains that not many women go into the sciences and those that do often wind up in a biology type of field (3/4 here).
Being an engineering major, out of a 60 person class there are maybe 5 girls. I once took a microbiology class for the easy A and out of the 60 person class I was one of 5 guys.
It's numbers like these that a college needs to advertise. My odds of getting laid in Micro are a lot higher than in any engineering course.
there's nothing realistic about yanking scientists/engineers out of their normal habitats, putting them on an island somewhere, and having them build stuff.
Please, almost as realistic as the real world, or survivor. Reality tv? That would be too boring. Call it what it is:
What would happen TV TM
Sent from your iPad.
"Gee whiz, profesor, it's a good thing this moderately sized aircraft crashed in this remote location with key components intact! Now we can build our submarine!"
Wah!
Kate Humble may be a hottie, but there is a much better reality show coming your way: Bible Fear Factor
1. The First Challenge: Collect 200 Foreskins (1 Samuel 18:27)
Each Bible Fear Factor contestant will have 8 hours to collect two hundred foreskins with nothing more than a toenail clipper, a roll of paper towels, a Mason Jar, and 3 bus tokens....
"Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king's son in law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife." (1Samuel 18:27)
I hear that NBC is hopping mad over this blatant attempt by public television to cut off a slice of the network pie. So they're going to have a show next season that's exactly the same, only each scientist has a pet monkey with him, and each pet monkey has a typewriter.
The scientist CAN use the pet monkey in his experiments, either as a test subject or just for parts and labor, but can also gain bonus points (which can be traded for tools, water, Cheetos, etc) if the pet monkey is allowed to play at the typewriter long enough to type out Hamlet, Finnegan's Wake, or any short story by Mark Twain or Kurt Vonnegut.
However, if the monkey accidently produces a copy of any poem by Elizabeth Barring Brown or a Jane Austen novel, the monkey is shot between the eyes and dragged off to be made into soup.
It's a "fast paced game of cat and mouse!", according to the network insiders!
"Will they make alliances with each other and scheme to get the other scientists?"
They're academics, aren't they?
Steve
Ginger! Not Mary Ann!
Infuriate left and right
Dr. X: They mocked my research! But I'll show them, I'll show them all!
Announcer: Fascinating. What scientific principle have you applied?
Dr. X: Leverage.
Announcer: I see, and how are you going to use your invention... what's it called?
Dr. X: A big stick.
Annonucer: Yes, your stick. Dr. Sullivan has succeeded in making charcoal a furnace. How does your invention compare to that?
Dr. X: I will use it to leverage his cranium.
Announcer: That science-speak is too much for me.
Dr. X: Let me demonstrate. [Smashes announcer's head in.]
The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
we've had this in the uk since last year (i think). it's really good for nerdy types :)
one of the shows dumped the scientists in spain (they didn't know that), and they had to pinpoint out their location, iirc.
some other tasks have been to make ice(withough electrics, refrigerator etc), take a photo(using only natural substances etc.
enjoy!
i wish i was but oh well
Done by the Open University earlier this year.
.. start a fire or catch a fish, then they would have beaten every person that has been Survivor.
Every season of Survivor is the same with the same cast of idiots starving because all they can find to eat are coconuts that practically fall out of the trees and hit them on the head and maybe some snails that crawled into their sleeping bags.
Pick up the damn fishing pole and catch some fish!
Live web cams
Now most of you people talk about a show called "Junkyard" or something, I've never seen it, but the concept is marvelous. If this "Rough Sience" is what it claims to be and resembles "Junkyard" I personally would watch it. Why?
Because it actually sounds interesting, educational and hella cool
Another thing: IMO the producers also figured that there is an untapped resource of more intelligent and demanding viewers who don't like watching stuff like "big brother" (because it's stupid and mindless IMO) and they decided to put some effort into attracting these people.
Another interesting concept would be: a couple of teams who get a programming assignment and they get X hours to complete it. Afterwards (depending on the results) the winning team could choose some form of (computer related?) research which they can fund with the prizemoney.
And ofcourse the sourcecodes would be made publicly available and at the end of each season people would be able to vote online which of the codes of that season should get the award of "excellent fooness"
Hell.. I'd watch it
"The majority is always sane, Louis." -- Nessus
http://slashdot.jp
The professor has a pretty impressive list of scientific / engineering accomplishments - i doubt anyone can top him:
- a bamboo lie detector (hooked up to the ship's horn and the radio's batteries)
- a coconut shell battery recharger
- a bamboo telescope
- a Geiger counter
- jet-pack fuel
- a bamboo xylophone
- keptibora-berry extract to remedy Gilligan's double vision
- an assortment of tonics, antiseptics, poisons, "spider cider" (to kill off gargantuan morning spiders)
- soap made from plant fats
- shark repellent
- a pedal-powered bamboo sewing machine
- lead radiation suits and make-up (protection from a meteor's cosmic rays)
- a helium balloon (rubber raincoats sewn together and sealed with tree sap)
- a strychnine serum that temporarily paralyzes Gilligan
- an electrode linked to to a pedal-powered generator
- pedal powered washing machine
- pedal powered water pump
- pedal powered telegraph
- Mr. Howell's roulette wheel and pool table
PBS created the first reality show "An American Family" in 1973.
They aren't following anyone. You should also see "Frontier House," another PBS reality show. Nothing like the network stuff.
Yes, it's a blog. Sorry if that offends you.
Swedish television aired the series this spring. It was really fun to watch. In one episode they distilled etherical oils from plants for pharmaceutical purposes. They built the still from scratch using scrap. In the same episode they also built a wind turbine without proper tools and of course the generator to go with it. Survivors swedish version "Expedition Robinson" has nothing on this show. These people actually compete for fun, not to become class three celebrities. (famous for a short while due to bad behavior in public) See it ! Its really good! And yes, I like exclamationpoints!
Now the world has gone to bed, Darkness won't engulf my head, I can see by infra-red, How I hate the night.
We're all familiar with describing someone as a 'smoothie'. A person with a certain amount of charm, or who at least thinks he has charisma. A related term is 'smooth operator'. Such people might typically be working in marketing or public relations, or perhaps as politicians or a certain type of PHB.
It doesn't take much thought to realize that the word 'smooth' comes from an association with being clean-shaven. After all, it is applied only to men. If you want more evidence, how about the epithet 'smoothychops'.
Now consider a theoretician or a Real Programmer. Surely the first image that comes to mind is the possibly-overweight and heavily bearded man in loosely-fitting clothes. In a typical technology company, these people are at the opposite end from the marketroids; but despite their strong technical knowledge they may not always be able to apply it practically (to the end of making money, at least).
So we have at one end the clean-shaven, 'smooth' but superficial and essentially useless marketing half of a technology company. At the other, the -bearded but also somewhat unrealistic technical side. But in the programme 'Rough Science', competitors are expected to have theoretical knowledge and also to apply it successfully. The title refers to the several days' stubbly beard growth a typical male scientist will get after a few days stranded on the island. This 'rough', newly-grown beard is a blend of the two facial hair types.
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
Sounds like TLC's Junkyard War's spinoff Escape from Experiment Island.
hehehehe
and ontopic, yeah baby!
I've always wanted to see a futuristic version of Survivor where they're placed in a postapocalyptic environment (think Mad Max, Waterworld, etc.) where they have to build the same sort of contraptions as Junkyard Wars, all the while battling for food and clean water, fending off pirates and thieves, and whoever doesn't make it off the island or outside the perimeter before their machines break down loses.
...or does this sound like reality-MacGyver? Oh yes with this shoestring, hydrosulfid and my pocket knife(tm) I can solve this problem in a pseudoscientific way. Good luck, but I think I'll stick to the notsoreal version, at least there things "work".
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
What did you expect? Nova? Talk about preaching to the choir.
As part of my work I have:
Slept in a snowbank (ambient temp -30C)
Advanced course on thermodynamics.
Scaled ice covered rock faces with 30 kilos of equipment
Laboratory assignment on mechanics for post-graduate students.
Faced bears and wolves unarmed.
Armed with Occam's razor -- survival course for graduate students.
Hiked alone in the Amazon rain forest.
General relativity theory, and how amazons manage to procreate anyway.
"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them." -- George H. W. Bush
Anybody else find it disturbing that the task of making soap only comes in at the last show?
Stinky scientists...
You can't take the sky from me...
A year ago, in post http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=9q8np4$7t7@ne taxs.com , someone asked
"Meanwhile, does anyone think that Survivor could be improved by combining it with Junkyard Wars?"
Would be great if it were a Scientist, Engineer and Economist.
With the economist running around with crackpot assumptions that have nothing to do with reality and the Engineer to save them all!*
*adapted from an old joke
Eve Fairbanks says I drive a hybrid!LOL
No no... he said _scientists_.
Not _Scientologists_.
I looked over the episode guide and there is
clearly no reference to when the Harlem
Globetrotters arrive.
What gives?
Sure, he's a moron for not filing a cruise plan (er, the boating equivalent of a flight plan...whatever it's called) with the Coast Guard (but then, who really wants to voluntarily tell the gov't their every move?), or telling friends where he was going and when he'd be back...but he was a true survivor.
And,. although he was very happy to see the US warship, he wasn't looking for a free ride home: he asked them to repair his mast and he would sail home on his own. That's freakin' impressive.
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
I wonder why the biographies vaguely mention degrees without being specific.
Does this make anyone else think of one of the books from the old Danny Dunn series, where the trouble-bound kid is nephew of a brilliant scientist? I loved these books when I was a kid! The one titled Danny Dunn on a Desert Island tells of Danny, his best friend, his uncle, and one of his uncle's peers, getting caught on a desert island.
They turned being stranded into a competition and distributed points for whoever made the most useful inventions, such as a hot-water bath and homemade soap.
Punctanym: alternate spelling of words using punctuation or numerals in place of some or all of its letters; see 'leet'
Has anyone found it? When will it be aired in your area?
Why scientists? We should be sending politicians, lawyers, CEO's, and telephone sanitisers to these islands. I bet they would accomplish a whole lot more than scientists would...
<CEO> ever since we adopted leaves as legal tender we've all become immensely rich.
I would think that a team of engineers would be more interesting than scientists. Who knows.
metric
"This is not news!!"
No sig for the moment.
The sales pitch sounds nice, but the programme's pretty boring. They don't actually sleep on the island or anything, they just try to do neat little examples, like making shampoo out of seaweed or building a music instrument.
You have done poolboy work, havent you?
No sig for the moment.
Clearly the physicists and botanists will be the most valuable people to have - Physicists seem to generally have the most broad based practical knowledge of how things work, as compared to say engineers, chemists, etc.
Botanists certainly will have a more specialized knowledge, but I think their knowledge of the composition of indigenous plants would be crucial.
Trapped somewhere with nothing but nature -- and a TV crew?
Within a day, there would be a broadcast showing the crew tied up in the background with the 'subject' announcing to the network that they have 24 hours to get them out of here.
A physicist, a chemist and an economist are stranded on an island, with nothing to eat. A can of soup washes ashore. The physicist says, "Lets smash the can open with a rock." The chemist says, "Lets build a fire and heat the can first." The economist says, "Lets assume that we have a can-opener..." Paul Samuelson
FreeSpeech.org
And why were the Howells, a couple rich enough to buy the Eastern seabord, sharing a crummy little boat to begin with?
C - A language that combines the speed of assembly with the ease of use of assembly.
The list of necessary tools:
-hair gel to keep from looking like einstein
-a fancy dancy supercomputer in a calculator.
-someone who is actually strong,capable in the woods
-their favorite books on different algerian ant-eaters to put them to sleep
-a phase inverter
-a hydrogen fuel cell
-some liquid NI3 to pour on the portable toilet seats of the producers. That would be funny!
-A buntzen burner as a source of fire
Just to let you guys know, this show has been on the BBC for at least 2 years...possibly more.
Its quite interesting to see how things can be done with everyday stuff (on one episode they made a radioreceiver and transmitter out of junk, for example).
I think its aimed more at the younger viewers - say 7-12 years - dunno about Americans, but I'm told your education system sucks so some of you uni students might be watching it!
This is /. for crying out loud - where's the open source angle?! Are the scientists going to build a cocunut PC running FreeBSD or something??
I repeatedly uttered "fascinating" while watching this episode from the viewscreen on the bridge.
I did read about this. He spent alot more time seeing how much he could eat than getting his ass back to land. Catalina Island is only 25 miles out and he drifted 2500 miles to Costa Rica without getting back to land. If your going to blue water sail, you have to learn how to survive dismasting and by survive I don't mean drifting into the southern ocean.
I am not a number! I am a man! And don't you
Unfortunately, The Great Egg Race wasn't presented by Kate Humble, so Rough Science wins.
Create weapons and turn on the film crew, using their tents, electrical equipment and food to effect their escape to the mainland.
All kings is mostly rapscallions. -Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
"Martin, draw a plan for a coconut radio, and if possible, a coconut Nintendo system." --Bart, "Das Bus"
Have not seen the show, but... I just looked at the bios (pun intended) of the mostly biologists that make up the cast. It's no real surprise that they are either rabid environmentalists or mostly biologists. These fashionable scientists make a young and photogenic crew with neat CVs that sound cool to many folks that watch PBS. Surely there are more qualified candidates... since usually engineers solve applied science problems... and engineers usually have backgrounds in physics, which only two of the seven appear to have, and normally physics (and it's application in mechanical engineering) is pretty important in solving the types of problems one would encounter if stranded in the middle of nowhere... you know like building shelter, water transport, and using mechanical advantage whenever possible. Don't get me wrong, I recognize that often mechanical engineers (in particular academics) are not always great at solving practical problems, but come on PBS!!!
Welcome to Stranded! We've stranded each of our six scientist on a pre-technical planet full of hostile savages that eat organics and use atmospheric pressure oscillations to communicate! The scientists will have to deal with environmental disturbances such as open bodies of liquid dihydrogen monoxide, variable illumination levels, a dangerously oxidizing atmosphere, and omnivorous bio-forms! Each scientist will have to build the tools they need to survive and escape (like subsurface metal miners, autorepair nandroids, vacuum energy converters, and a working D'Drribsky shunt) using only native equipment (like iron-carbon alloy, polymerized pthalates, contaminated silicon aggregates, and osseous material from the bio-forms themselves.) They have only twelve teracycles to escape before we 'help' their sun go nova! The winner will be granted regenerative immortality by the Regulatory Council, and the losers will be vaporised into oblivion! Be sure to watch, won't you?
My wife works for DuPont. This is their press release which gives information about where it will be aired:
Rough Science - DuPont will be the corporate sponsor of the BBC production "Rough Science" in which 5 scientists on a remote island are challenged to solve science problems through their collective wits, scavenged items and the natural resources of their surroundings. The program will air on PBS stations in many of the top markets including LA, NYC, Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas & Washington D.C. Air dates and times vary by market. Major funding for the program is provided by the National Science Foundation. DuPont is the only corporate sponsor and our 15 second messages will appear at the beginning and close of each segment.
Remember... ZG9uJ3QgZm9yZ2V0IHRvIGRyaW5rIHlvdXIgb3ZhbHRpbmU=
Cool. I can't wait to see who hooks up with who because I'm sure that will be the angle PBS takes on it. I mean, why else would anyone watch a show like this?
I was on Carriacou whilst they filmed this (which is the second series of an english program). The first series, the last four episodes, was filmed some time ago, whilst the third is being filmed in New Zealand on top of a mountain at the moment. (or has just been filmed.. I'm not sure of the timescale).
:)
Having had a somewhat unique perspective in watching the scientists film much of the Carriacou series, there was actually quite a lot of interesting stuff going on, and far from being "a science lesson made interesting" as one member has posted, the series actually challenged the scientists a great deal, and I can vouch for the frustration experienced by all with regard to more than one of the challenges.
Whilst what they do in the programs could be touted as little more than reinventing the wheel in the image of the original prototype, some of the methods which they use to accomplish what they do are truly ingenious, and a lot of hard work went into the program. The science behind the series is (for the most part) good, and - even from the perspective of someone with a good working knowledge of physics and chemistry - the program is very interesting indeed.
Watch for the musical instruments, some of which I helped design.
So we have an island full of scientists with no engineers. These are people who spend their lives figuring out how the universe works. Engineers spend their lives fixing/building things after the scientists are done screwing with it. They'll need at least one engineer just to figure out how to put the ideas into practice.
Planetes
"One World, One Web, One Program" - Microsoft Promo Ad
"Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer" - Adolf Hitl
He was out there for 3.5 months and he didn't get scurvy?
I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing. -- Thomas Jefferson
Quite good, on one show they build a record player and found their latitude and longitude. The last one interested me as it's what any castaway would need to find (if all other instruments are lost).
Regards Sinesurfer A Nerd is someone who lives for technology, A Geek is someone who lives for technology and loves it
Thank God it isn't an island full of marketing people with no engineers. At least scientists know how the world works. Marketers spend their lives figuring out what people want to buy:
"I just know I could sell people on the idea of a coconut radio to call for help. If I had a computer, I could write you an email with the spec... Wait. Radios are like the internet. Why not make me a computer that's linked to the internet! Out of palm leaves, sea shells, and bamboo. And make it black, black is the hot color for hard drives now. You will be able to match the Pantone number, right?"
That would be a good show, though. Strand the top 20 Scientologists on a desert island with no access to lawyers. You could have it sponsored by Google, The Wayback Machine and Xenu.net.
Click here if you just like to click on shit.
Lesley Judd was a FOX!!!
All things in moderation; including moderation
I've watched a few episodes that were broadcast at the 'bbc learning zone', nighttime educational programming, and in one of these they talk about disturbing the local island radio with one of their homebuilt devices. As far as I know this island was somewhere in the caribbean, but I forgot the name. I guess they had to drive at most a half an hour before hitting the first cocktail bar after taping an episode. That basically defies the entire survivor idea, right?
Don't diss it until you've seen it. It's a set of challenges like finding their approximate position on the earth, and creating a photograph of the place and it's a fun, geeky half hour in the sun on an old prison island.
JAT
Rooster - A friend. "Anyone's friend in particular or just generally well disposed to people?"
Send the folks from the "Tonight Show" segment called "Jay Walking"... NOW THAT's entertainment! Remember these are the folks who when asked who the first man in space was answer, "Buzz Lightyear?"
I say stick these folks on an island and ask them to do something practical like catch fish, or build a shelter, or make a flashlight from scrap materials. Want some real fun? Give 'em a Lobster and tell them to make a hat out of it.
I wonder what a kind of civilization would be created by these folks if left alone on a planet in sector Zed Zed triple Zed Alpha for about two million years. Oh wait. Already seen it... then boom! Hyperspace by-pass.
[signature]
... Jesus cried with a loud voice: Lazarus, come forth; the bug hath been
found and thy program runneth. And he that was dead came forth...
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