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MythBusters - Who Ya Gonna Call?
An anonymous reader writes "The currently-airing Discovery Channel show MythBusters has been profiled in a Newsweek article. Basically, the show takes two former Hollywood effects designers as they set out to prove or disprove various folklore myths that have come about over the years, such as the actual effect of a poppy-seed bagel on a drug test, or what effect a penny dropped from the Empire State Building observation deck will have on a human at ground level."
I wonder if there is any way of "busting" urban myths. Even after I send people to various urban legend sites to combat the more annoying email variety, it seems some people are just credulous or just want a good story to tell. I suspect that the reality of it is irrelevant, and busted or not, the same stories with be with us for a very long time.
Sig under construction since 1998.
They will explore whether or not a webserver can melt as a result of something called "The Slashdot effect".
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. -Frederick Douglass
It's one of my favorite shows. Three thumbs up on the TiVo. For those interested here is a list of some of the topics they covered.
1. coke's ability to remove blood stains/rust/etc
2. do piercing's make you more susceptible to lightening
3. ice bullets (CIA myth)
4. the JADO rocket on the car in the desert
5. the weather balloon lawn chair story
6. running in the rain keeps you drier then walking
7. eel skin wallets erase credit cards
8. smoking on the toliet can kill ya
9. poppy seeds can make you test positive on a drug test
10. peeing on the third rail will kill ya
11. tree canon
12. ways to beat a breathalyzer
13. dropping a hammer in the water before you fall in will break your fall
14. penny off the empire state building
15. exploding cdrom drivers
16. breast implants explode in airplanes
anyway - good show... no answers listed - watch the show to find out.
When they checked out the "Buried Alive!" urban legends by burying one in a metal coffin to see how long the air lasted, they didn't have all the information they needed.
The funeral home was happy to sell them a metal coffin but didn't tell them they bury coffins inside a concrete burial vault.
When the Mythbusters dumped several tons of dirt on the coffin with the tester inside the coffin began to collapse from the load.
They never did explain why they had that problem - A modern coffin can't be - and isn't buried by itself.
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Cecil at Straight Dope (http://www.straightdope.com) has answered these and many other thousands of questions over the past 20-30 years. There is an archive with several hundred questions including the three in the parent.