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Archimedes Death Ray

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the take-that-mythbusters dept.

Werner Heuser writes "Ancient Greek and Roman historians recorded that during the siege of Syracuse in 212 BC, Archimedes (a notably smart person) constructed a burning glass to set the Roman warships, anchored within bow and arrow range, afire. The story has been much debated and oft dismissed as myth ... Intrigued by the idea and an intuitive belief that it could work, MIT's 2.009ers decided to apply the early product development 'sketch or soft modeling' process to the problem."

3 of 584 comments (clear)

  1. Why is MIT doing this? by jessecurry · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Didn't they already hear about it here or maybe even here?? Don't they read /. ?

    --
    Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know. ~Lao Tzu
  2. Re:Mythbusters by DDLKermit007 · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    When did Mythbusters ever matter btw? ;)

  3. Mythbusters is a joke by glesga_kiss · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    I'm a huge urban-myth fan, and I'd seen Mythbusters mentioned all over the web for several years. I finally got round to downloading the first series. Boy was I disappointed.

    The show itself is dreadful. The editor is useless, the crew likewise. They show fuck ups and dialog that any self-respecting director would yell "cut" and redo. It's almost as though they just don't care about style. Looked like a cable-access show.

    The guys themselves were hicks. I really took an instant dislike to them. They conducted the "experiments" with no professionalism or insight. If they were just blowing stuff up, I wouldn't mind, but they tried to present themselves as some sort of authority on whatever subject they are doing.

    I never did finish watching the show. I wouldn't put faith in any of their conclusions.