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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.
"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!
"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)
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.
Another Ginger vs. MaryAnn debate? I say - what's wrong with Mrs. Howell? Sure, the other two are cute. But Mrs. Howell has experience, and she's rich! :)
What kind of scientists do you suggest?
Psychologists - Starve to death, but leave excellent documentation of the experience.
Organic Chemists - build homemade reactor to convert tree sap into TNT, cause large periodic explosions until they are rescued.
Nuclear Physicists - Would cause even bigger explosions, but lack the proper infrastructure.
Theoretical physicists - dismiss building a raft as trivial.
Software Engineers - Useless without coffee. In fact, useless altogether on desert island.
Evolutionary Biologists - Decide to stay and watch the ants.
.. 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
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
I repeatedly uttered "fascinating" while watching this episode from the viewscreen on the bridge.
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"