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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.
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.
It was on the BBC and had two series.
http://www.open2.net/science/roughscience/
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.
"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!
"Will they make alliances with each other and scheme to get the other scientists?"
They're academics, aren't they?
Steve
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.
.. 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
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
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
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 repeatedly uttered "fascinating" while watching this episode from the viewscreen on the bridge.
I'm in Southern California and have read and heard a lot of comments from seasoned sailors regarding Van Pham's plight. Nothing I've heard criticized him for failing to control his vessel--only failing to coordinate with others his sailing plans. Yes, these sailors may just be deciding to politely avoid embarrassing the gentleman for spending "alot more time seeing how much he could eat than getting his ass back to land," but it is more likely that you're just being hypercritical. Or, perhaps, you have special insight into sailing with damaged vessels... In any regard, you come off a tad bit insulting and arrogant.
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
Yes he cooked them - on a stove by burning bits of his boat. When the Navy found him they had to scuttle the boat because it was too damaged to tow.
Frankly, I'd love to know what the previous poster would do in the guy's situation - you're on a sailboat with no mast, no motor, and a dead radio. There are no ships in your vicinity for 3.5 months (yes, this is easily possible). Are you going to row back to shore? I don't think so.
For the record - one other ship did pass within visual range, but he was unsuccessful in signaling them. The Navy ship was only the second one he saw.