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President Obama On Mythbusters Tonight
elrous0 writes "As was previously reported, President Obama mentioned back in October that he would be appearing on an upcoming episode of the popular Discovery Channel series Mythbusters. Well, the episode is finally airing tonight. In the episode, the President helps Jamie and Adam test the 'Archimedes Death Ray' myth for a 3rd time (the myth having been 'busted' the first time, and that bust surviving a challenge from MIT students the second time out). Though the President only appears in a couple of brief scripted segments, the actual test (using 500 schoolkids doubling as mirror-bearing soldiers) is purportedly pretty interesting."
Unless those mirrors have flamethrowers attached, it still won't work.
but maybe now I'll skip it.
Does anyone find it odd that in a so-called democracy (or yes, even a democratic republic), our president is treated like a king? Why do we call him "Mr. President," when we then go adoring him like our beloved benefactor and glorious ruler? Who cares if he appears on TV? He's just a bureaucrat, isn't he?
Still waiting for the slashdot community to figure out that they have the power to make real, workable democracy without devolving into mob rule.
So do they test it on him ?
They should have shown him blowing up something instead. It'd have been more entertaining.
Granted it is probably a long shot to get the "death ray" to kill anyone. It might be good enough to light sails on fire, though. And at the very least, I suspect it could blind the shit out of someone approaching, and that's not a bad way to gain the upper hand, not a bad way at all.
I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
The real myth that should be tested is that President Obama is actually a progressive or a liberal kind of a politician.
I am a libertarian and I can't stand any other approach - socially liberal and completely free market fiscally, but to me it is obvious that Obama is actually not very socially liberal and definitely not free market oriented at all (*I think he has no clue about economics, period), but so many people believe that he is actually a liberal and yet so many believe that he is the Devil, etc. that there seems to be a good bunch of myths that could be busted about this guy, while some may just be confirmed. Maybe he is a Muslim/atheist/communist/fascist/Maoist/devil worshiper born in Kenya, I kind of hope he is all of those things at once, at least that would be interesting.
You can't handle the truth.
I like Obama and love Mythbusters (or used to). What a lame duck of a Myth. That Myth wasn't even very exciting the first time they did it, let alone the second, and now a third time?! If they're going to have Obama on it then why can't we see him getting his hands dirty? What better way to get people excited about science by showing a man a lot of people respect excited about it?
Busted!
Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
So what's the myth that he's helping bust?
That America is the land of the free?
That the US government believes in free speech and a free press?
That the US Government never ignores or actively goes against the US constitution and follows the 'rule of law'?
That when politicians talk about democracy, behind closed doors, they don't roll around on the floor in hysterics?
Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
The united states has any respect for human rights.
BUSTED
hey you look at this, look here, la la lalala ... there's nothing to see over there, look here I'm gonna make a funny face!
Do they bust the myth Obama is the Messiah?
Hey! I'm kidding! Calm down. Put down those DDoS scripts!
Seriously, though, do they bust or confirm he's Kenyan? :-D
Hey! Still kidding!
President Obama Tests Death-Ray on School Children
This article is about how wonderful it will be to see the glorious president appear on a television show.
It is completely off-topic for you to comment on the silliness of worshiping the president by, say, dedicating an entire article to the fact that the glorious president is appearing on a television show.
I find it odd that The Discovery Channel would get access to the President and use their huge publicity opportunity to... rehash a myth they've already debunked twice. What?
The only possible reason to use this particular myth is so you can get 500 kids involved, each holding a mirror, and maybe involving the kids directly in the science, plus a little time with a few celebrities, will help associate science with coolness. I mean, it's an easy and pretty safe myth from the kids' perspectives. Hold a mirror, aim reflection at ship a safe distance away, hope for it to start smoking and burst into flames.
I dunno, though, it just seems like they could have done something new (at least new to the show) that would be just as engaging. Like debunking the professor's use of coconuts to power a radio on Gilligan's Island or something.
Adam: "So, as you can see, stirring the solution in 5 coconuts didn't work. Busted."
Jamie: "Agreed. Busted. So what are we testing next?"
Barak: [walks on stage]"Wait a minute. We can't stop here, can we? Don't we need to scale it up?"
Jamie: "Sure, normally, but how do we scale this one up?"
Adam: "It'll take the output of 500 coconuts! Where are we going to find enough people to build and operate hundreds of coconut batteries? It's impossible!"
Barak: "Fortunately, I brought a few friends along to help out. C'mon out, kids!"
[cue 500 schoolkids]
Barak, Jamie, and Adam: "SCIENCE!"
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
I've always thought that the only way the "Archimedes death ray" would be even remotely plausible would be to shine enough light in the eyes of the crew that someone knocks over an open flame. Or maybe disorient them enough that the flaming oil catapult could get a good shot in.
But the fact that the story only appeared over a thousand years after the lifetime of Archimedes or any possible eyewitness pretty much tells us everything we need to know.
So that's what kids' science education is boiling down to? Standing still and holding a mirror?
Would have been much more awesome, and effective in encouraging science interest, in my opinion, if the kids had a hand in making something go boom.
Unless they have a major reversal of the busting of the myth, a kid would interpret this as "This is stupid. Science doesn't work. Let's go play Xbox."
More Twoson than Cupertino
Who cares, wheres Kari?
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Maybe he uses his teleprompter. Israel does not even use lasers on its sharks
Home of The Suki Series
Archimedes Deathray?!
goldurn'd boob-tube never gets it right when dealing with the inter-tubes.
It's Archimedes Plutonium , you dolts!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Now, if only he could bust the myth that he's too weak to stand for his own principles, that would be great.
// file: mice.h
#include "frickin_lasers.h"
I still want to see a MythBusters special on transportation security myths, especially after Adam's recent knife incident. Can someone with an account on their forums post the suggestion (preferably more than one such someone)?
Supply side economics.
I was hoping that the episode would revolve around busting myths about bread and circuses.
Time to test the myth of whether Mythbusters has jumped the shark.
When they tested the "myth" about surfboards going thru a windshield, they forgot it was originally a myth about Longboards and Waterskis in the 60s.
They used modern cars with curved and hardened glass windshields, not vertical 50s windshields that beach bums had, and didn't use either a 60s heavy longboard (which was a lot heavier and not as curved) or a 50s waterski (which used to have metal trim and were made out of heavier woods).
What reminded me of this was during the 80s I used to downhill ski on some old wood skis with metal trim, with leather boots, and they weren't as light or shaped like modern skis and could easily go thru windshields.
When testing any myth, you need to test the original myth, not the current version. Old cars didn't used to have seatbelts that people would use and were made out of heavier steel, for example.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
They were waiting for left-wing nutjob flamebait.
How does it feel to be a liar with pants constantly on fire?
...will you please don the velcro suite we have thoughtfully provided for this next experiment..."
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
Hitler!
It's a troll fest against the President. Anyone want Bush back? As to the actual story I have my doubts about proving it for a number of reasons. Part of the problem is gettting a bunch of school kids to line up mirrors on a single fixed point. To ignite a ship they might actually have to hold it for several minutes. The other issue is the quality of the reflective surfaces at the time. There's no doubt enough modern mirrors aimed properly would work so the theory was sound it's the limitations of the soldiers and the materials. Tesla and Da Vinci came up with devices that worked in theory but the materials of the time weren't up to the task.
BUSTED! Obama is actually a Kenyan-born Muslim, and therefore a terrorist.
Of all the myths they've 'busted', this is the one I most wanted to see revisited.
Survival kits have signal mirrors with a sighting mechanism and no moving parts that allows the user to shine the sun's reflection directly onto the target (even a distant moving airplane). A mechanism Archimedes could have fashioned onto a shield for instance.
The Mythbusters claim the myth was 'busted' not because enough heat couldn't be generated, but because an individual soldier would be unable to distinguish his particular 'reflected spot', and therefore be unable to focus it onto the target. A simple sighting mechanism like those found on signal mirrors solves this problem, allowing an entire group to focus on one point simultaneously.
The government has a defect: it's potentially democratic. Corporations have no defect: they're pure tyrannies. -Chomsky
they can do that or go for the big boom or fireball and any ways this is mythbusters and not E-com 101
That would require science, not politics. Good luck with that!
Life is not for the lazy.
Test if a wooden gun can get past like in the line and if one can work like in the line of fire.
Perhaps the "science" that is being taught is that, despite the fact that your research has reached the same conclusion on 2 separate occasions, you need to keep yourself open to the possibility that you might just have been wrong twice. When other people provide evidence you are wrong (I don't recall where it was, but I saw a tv show or webpage in the last few months that demonstrated the death ray does work), you need to examine that evidence, revisit your study, and see if you reach a new conclusion. That's a quality that a lot of people lack these days (they will insist they are correct even when showing them clear and concise evidence they are wrong).
1) I don't care for career politicians, regardless of the label they wear. Having any political idiot come out and do a talking-head segment adds absolutely nothing to the program.
2) Testing this myth yet again is just f'ing stupid.
I wonder how many people will avoid watching it just because of obama's appearance, and how many will skip this one because of the repeated subject.
One day, some old-timey soldier noticed that he could reflect the sun off his shield if he polished it real good and it made it hard for the enemy to see if he reflected the sun into the eyes of enemy soldiers. Same way we used to reflect the sun off our watches and shine it in people's faces when we were kids. So a few soldiers started doing this when the sun happened to be at the proper angle and, presto, we've got a death ray. 'cause the enemy has to come up with some reason to explain why they got their asses kicked so easily. "It was a death ray, majesty! It burned the eyes of our soldiers and set ships on fire!"
I honestly think the best parts of my education involved things blowing up, or combustion. Potassium bars being dropped into water. Baking soda and vinegar. Seeing pretty colors when you burn different chemicals. Welding in shop. Hell, even blasting ants with magnifying glasses during recess. Hopefully they do learn something at least... burning stuff is fun and educational!
What I don't get is why people expect to raise the temperature all the way up to 300C so the ship will burst into flames, when 50C is enough to scald human skin and would likely get an invading army yelling and jumping into the water. Not to mention the brightness of the light would be enough to temporarily blind and disorient them.
The first person to write about this alleged incident was Lucian who merely mentioned *fire* (and since he wrote about it 3-4 hundred years after the fact, it's already not a credible source of information) while the second one, who came another 2-3 hundred years later (Anthemius) was someone who investigated "burning glasses" (lenses) and so he just MIGHT have had a bit of an agenda there.
They listen to the fans and if the fans find fault with their logic they call them on it. The boys have the moxy to admit they might be wrong and retest it under the new paramters the fans say should be added. I think its great that they want to revisit previously busted myths. Thats just my opinion I could be wrong.
When you dislike the human race as much as I do, Karma:Bad is inevitable lol.
appearing on Different Strokes. Painfully lame. Politicians can't make science cool because kids don't think much of politicians. If they do, then I'm afraid you are likely preaching to the choir.
46 & 2
Hmm, good point. I suddenly have an interest in watching it again, just to see how they manage to reverse their own findings. Their testing on this one has been fairly thorough and relatively rigorous given the slapdash quality of most of the science on the show (which of course is its popular appeal - they aren't going for accuracy as much as they are reasonably plausible tests that look good when filmed, scientific rigor doesn't sell, but at least they pay it lip service).
In retrospect, given the real goal of this episode, it's almost a given that the myth at least get a promotion to PLAUSIBLE, if not a big fat CONFIRMED.
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
Silly - they don't watch science shows.
Following the trend of headlines around here I'd almost expect to see "Man Who Admitted Bypassing TSA Security Tries To Assassinate President with Death Ray."
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/11/24/001249/TSA-Saw-My-Junk-Missed-Razor-Blades-Says-Adam-Savage
Extreme? Sure. So's calling Wikileaks a terrorist organization. At least this one's entertaining.
What's so funny about the whole controversy is that it doesn't matter where he was born. His mother was a citizen, he's a citizen, end of story.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
In the high school I attended in the 80s, there was no money for chemicals in chemistry, so we used water and food items. "See, kids, if that half-gram of salt had been pure sodium, the water would have fizzed, so write "SAW FIZZING REACTION" in your books." Quickly put the lids we're calling stoppers over the paper coffee cups we're pretending are beakers, and do you remember what would happen if we had lit the end of the straw we're pretending is a glass tube protruding through the imaginary stopper? Jimmy? That's right - flame, because the result is, Jane? Yes, that's right, hydrogen. Excellent. Now rinse out your cups and set them back on the towel over by the radiator so I can reuse them for test tubes tomorrow." I'll say one thing, they did teach us imagination.
I don't know what level the kids will be involved in. If they're old enough, maybe they'll work in the metals shop cutting or at least polishing their own shield? Maybe some of them will work in the wood shop helping to build the ship, and get involved in tarring the joints and other parts of the project?
And given the purpose of this episode, I'll be deeply, utterly surprised if I don't see a "CONFIRMED" sign at the end of the episode.
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
Unlike you highly intelligent leftists who don't require any substantial evidence/proof, we "Tea Party Republitards" await something more than what's been provided to establish place of birth. So far, we have:
1. Laser printed document NOT from his time of birth
2. Newspaper article
3. Ridicule of anyone who questions the above two items.
Agreed. When I was in high school, my chemistry teacher, Jim Fixx, let me try running a bunsen burner on gas generated by flasks of zinc and HCl.
Once.
What I learned was that there is a good reason for flashback preventers. A splendid time was had by all.
Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
So that's what kids' science education is boiling down to? Standing still and holding a mirror?
I suppose if they turned it into an analysis of ADHD medication tested by trying to hold a mirror still...
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
The president appears very weak on his job now. Showing up on a TV show at this point doesn't help that image at all. And he'll deserve it. Don't tell me this is part of his job, that he's doing this to promote science. That's just incredibly retarded.
Survival kits have signal mirrors with a sighting mechanism and no moving parts that allows the user to shine the sun's reflection directly onto the target (even a distant moving airplane)
Not really. The sighting mechanism is not a "sight" in the sense of one found on rifles, etc. Its not accurate enough to hold on a target, at best it can help you get into the general area so you can sweep around this area and accidentally hit the aircraft from time to time. You may look through the sight but you still often need to hold out your free hand and form a V with your fingers. You put the target inside this V and sweep the mirror back and forth. You look for the reflections on your two fingers to make sure the line formed by these points crosses the target.
:-)
Signal mirrors are cheap. Get two, one for your backpack, boat, aircraft, etc and a second one to peal off the protective tape and play with. They are simple devices but they take a little practice, try it out with a friend in a neighborhood park, football field, etc.
Then again, perhaps I missed some great breakthrough in signal mirror technology since I was in the scouts.
They should have had him on with his long-form birth-certificate to bust the myth that Obama is not a citizen! I would pay to see that one!
ROFL!
Ever since they elected a terrorist anchor baby to the senate they pretty much had to leave that pole alone. It is like when they elected the first divorced man as president. What was surprising is when they elected an adulterer as Speaker, they continued to condem adultery.
The Professor was a genius in the coconut-engineering arts, and I will not stand idly by while his good name is besmirched.
I challenge the Mythbusters to debunk that myth without resorting to pedantry.* Coconut milk is mildly acidic electrolytic solution. If you can power electronics using lemons and potatoes, you can power a radio using coconuts. Frankly, I don't think that it even constitutes a good challenge. Scale it up to charging the battery for the engine(s) on the S.S. Minnow and you might have something Mythbusters worthy.
*The power in these batteries comes from a redox reaction between the anode and cathode materials, rather than the food. You could power your radio with electrodes placed in saltwater rather than any of the lemons, potatoes, or coconuts and there's not going to be any make-it-or-break-it difference. However, coconut-engineering skills would have been more uniquely marketable to the likes of Tina Louise and Dawn Wells. Engineering might and business acumen all in one. Hail Roy Hinkley!
Like..uh huh
We already know the President likes a human backdrop: soldiers, doctors, union members... you get the idea.
Wouldn't a backdrop of 500 kids be great? 500 kids holding mirrors, cackling gleefully as they accidentally ignite the President and his teleprompter.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
The implication in the Constitution is that you must be physically born in the U.S. The irony of that, however, is that this is a problem for John McCain *WAY* more than for Obama. McCain was born in Panama (no controversy about it). It's only by the somewhat dubious argument that "Well, *technically* a military base is considered U.S. soil" that he got around that issue to argue he was born in the U.S. I'm not so sure Panama (or any other country where we have bases) would be so quick to agree.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Obama on Mythbusters! Har. Who's next, Sarah Palin? Hillary Clinton? Glenn Beck? GW Bush? Meg Whitman? Tim Geithner? Ben Bernanke? That all-time favorite Milton Friedman (George Lucas could make a special CG puppet of him)?
There should be a "Dipshit Busters" or "Gullible Moron Busters" for rank and file Democrat or Republican activists. The inaugural episode could feature leading Teabaggers.
So you need 500 extras to hold mirrors...
Why start your recruitment with the President? Wouldn't any junior high science teacher from So Cal be just as effective in obtaining bodies?
Show up on any College campus (bring Kari) and you will easily get 500 volunteers far more likely to be able to follow directions than school kids.
It seems a thin excuse for Obama to get some face time with an educational ruse. Which way did the money flow?
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Last time they "debunked" it, they used 127 square feet of mirrors. If they use 500 typical hoplite shields (~24" diameter), that's 1,570 square feet. Even if the kids all have a 1 sqft mirror, that's quadruple the intensity the mythbusters debunked last time, or roughly equivalent to Ioannis Sakkas's experiment which set the wood on fire in mere seconds.
The implication in the Constitution is that you must be physically born in the U.S.
I'm sorry, but that's just not correct.
There's no such stipulation in the US Constitution.
It's not a problem for McCain. It's not a problem for Obama. Whether he was born in Hawaii, Kenya or on the moon. The only way to constitutionally disqualify him is to prove that someone else was his mother.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
All they'll prove is it's nearly impossible to get 500 kids with mirrors to simultaneously focus on the same thing. Hell, it'll be tough enough to get 500 kids to stand still at the same time. the reality is it's nearly impossible for more than a couple of people to focus reflections on the same spot because there's no visual reference to the point of aim once the target area is light saturated.
Perhaps the "science" that is being taught is that, despite the fact that your research has reached the same conclusion on 2 separate occasions, you need to keep yourself open to the possibility that you might just have been wrong twice. When other people provide evidence you are wrong (I don't recall where it was, but I saw a tv show or webpage in the last few months that demonstrated the death ray does work), you need to examine that evidence, revisit your study, and see if you reach a new conclusion. That's a quality that a lot of people lack these days (they will insist they are correct even when showing them clear and concise evidence they are wrong).
They also have some new material to work with, what with that Hotel cum Death Ray story from a few months back.
A wooden gun cannot withstand the forces generated by a pistol. They have already tested similar myths, mostly involving cannons, and they either explode (harming the operator more than the target) or perform extremely poorly (i.e. non-lethal).
Hell, even iron isn't very good, have you seen how thick the barrels have to be on old iron cannons? They are huge.
Today we use steel, which is much stronger than unalloyed iron, which is much stronger than the strongest hardwood.
Now, you might be able to make a gun out of composite materials (carbon fiber and ceramics, probably) that could withstand the forces generated yet make it through security, but why do that when you could probably find a way to hide a real gun in your carry-on. All you have to do is fool the screener, it would be a lot easier than developing a gun that could pass through a metal detector.
The full body X-Ray would catch such a thing anyway.
Security is mostly a superstition... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. - Helen Keller
If they think they're learning science from mythbusters, they've already got problems.
Unix is user friendly, it's just selective about who its friends are.
Well if they bust the myth that President Obama is pro-applied science (see just about everything he's done relating to science), or President Obama uses this myth as a chance to change is position of the AirBorne Laser program then I'll be happy.
Couldn't they have investigated the myth that Obama deserved the peace prize ?
Well, if you need 500 people working together for the common good of the state, isn't the Socialist president the perfect fit?
PlusFive Slashdot reader for Android. Can post comments.
The President's appearance in media would be more appropriate in "Jackass 4: The Movie" rather than "Myth Busters (The Myth Busted For the Third Time).
Be More, Be Manly, The Manly Geek Ubergeek Extraordinaire Blogger: www.manlygeek.com/blog Podcaster: podcast.man
Healthcare, economy all mere distractions until he can get his hands on a Death Ray. Following in the steps of Ronald Ray-gun?
Neither of you are correct. The short answer is, we’re just not sure.
Birthright citizenship in the United States#Eligibility for office of President:
According to the Constitution of the United States only natural born citizens are eligible to serve as President of the United States or as Vice President. The text of the Constitution does not define what is meant by natural born: in particular it does not specify whether there is any distinction to be made between persons whose citizenship is based on jus sanguinis (parentage) and those whose citizenship is based on jus soli (birthplace)
As a result, controversies have erupted over the eligibility of a number of candidates for the office. These questions arise particularly when a candidate is an American citizen by jus sanguinis birthright, but was born outside of the territory of the United States.
Distributed Denial of APK: It takes 15 seconds to reply to him anonymously, but wastes tons of his time if we all do it.
My girlfriend was born in Hawaii. She has the same birth certificate as Obama.
Barrack Obama has the birth certificate that Hawaii uses for all official reasons.
This nonsense about whether or not President Obama was born in the USA incredibly stupid. Generally, the people who push or believe it are themselves fairly stupid.
90% of the time people who question the validity of President Obama's birth certificate are expressing coded racism.
"He's from Kenya." - Racist Slave State Republitard Tea Bagger
"You are either racist, retarded, or more likely both." - Common Sense
One day, some old-timey soldier noticed that he could reflect the sun off his shield if he polished it real good and it made it hard for the enemy to see if he reflected the sun into the eyes of enemy soldiers. Same way we used to reflect the sun off our watches and shine it in people's faces when we were kids. So a few soldiers started doing this when the sun happened to be at the proper angle and, presto, we've got a death ray. 'cause the enemy has to come up with some reason to explain why they got their asses kicked so easily. "It was a death ray, majesty! It burned the eyes of our soldiers and set ships on fire!"
The siege of Syracuse was NOT an easy engagement - for either side. Marcellus was a battle proven commander, having already handed Hannibal his first defeat at the Romans' lowest point of the war. After the young Sicilian king Hieronymus' assassination, Syracuse was in the hands of Carthaginian defectors, who knew their treachery left little hope for a truce. The city itself, even today, has an exceptionally well-formed harbor for defense against naval attacks. Archimedes had constructed other military technologies which relied on torque and leverage to destroy ships by literally grasping and hoisting them out of the water only to drop them into the shoals, and some type of catapult which could hurl stones probably capable of smashing a hull.
http://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Siege/Livy.html
Give Archimedes a little credit for applied science. The screw-pump and the forensic use of density to assay gold are worthy historical accomplishments. I don't think it's at all out of the realm of possibility that this court scientist had the resources, talent, and authority to experiment with and contrive a crude laser.
That's assuming they manage to get the same concentration on the targeting.
Remember, attacking warships are going to be moving. Still, I'd imagine that a city might be about to come up with more than 500 soldiers, and they'll be a little more dedicated to practicing their aim than kids.
After that, though, you're back to the attackers wetting their boats down first, using their own shields as mirrors, and having multiple boats.
I wouldn't be surprised if it'd been used as a blinding/harrassing tactic though. Even getting the attacking boats to lose synchronization on their landing could make a big difference in the fight.
I don't read AC A human right
I had a similar experiance in high school, only I had 2 flasks stacked one on top of the other and I was using the gas to blow the top beaker into the air. Mr. Ericson threw down the gauntlet and said if I was going to do that in his lab, I'd better produce a calibration curve to maximize the explosion.
The only confusion is on the part of those who wish to subvert the obvious meaning of the text of the constitution. I find it amusing that both the left and the right engage in this activity.
The left acted like they were genuinely surprised when the SCOTUS decided that the Second Amendment actually means what it says it means. Now, the hard right is making a fool of itself over this birther nonsense.
Whether you're a citizen by geography of your birth or your lineage, if you're a citizen on the day of your birth, you're clearly a natural born citizen.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
I think that Lord Kano is still more right though. It says 'natural born', being born a citizen is good enough for me. Whether it's in country or out of country to a US Citizen parent.
I personally think it's funny that for all the Birther's ranting, if you DQ'd Obama you'd logically have to DQ McCain.
I don't read AC A human right
If they don't then who watches science shows? ;-)
We know libs don't care about FACTS
I guess that leaves ohh Hmmmmm INDEPENDENTS Who freaking ROCK!
I see you've done a good job proving his point (the ridicule part.) That's really all you've got.
Neat. I liked calcium carbide in water. Or chlorine gas bubbled under water with acetylene also bubbled under water.
Of course the best was soaking a small piece of balsa wood broken of something in the lab in liquid oxygen we made with a test tube,balloon, and some liquid nitrogen... then tossing a lit match into the beaker. Turns out soaking wood in liq O2 makes it explode with a serious bang.
They also have some new material to work with, what with that Hotel cum Death Ray story from a few months back.
Thank you. That's exactly the example I was trying to remember.
Wow, it's so annoying to hear Obama-teleprompter jokes. Especially since they're from formerly disinterested morons who never realized that all politicians use them for speeches anyway. "But-but-he stutters and sounds like an idiot without one!" Remember the Presidential debates where he kicked the crap out of McCain 3-0 without one, or the open questions session with the House Republicans where he made the whole caucus look like buffoons (enough so that they publicly wished they hadn't done it)? After listening to polished PR-approved answers that provide no insight, I at least appreciate a President who tries to answer questions however much I might disagree with him.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
What I don't get is why people expect to raise the temperature all the way up to 300C so the ship will burst into flames,
Hell.. remember that Hotel in Las Vegas that did it accidentally?
With the limited accounts to be had and limited info about the circumstances, there are so many possibilities that the myth is impossible to "bust"; without trying to tie the concept down to something specific that was never really claimed.
Perhaps a much lower temperature would suffice, if there were flammables on deck, such as parafin oil, kerosene, alcohol, or paper.
Perhaps the assumption the "death ray" is one device is an unreasonable assumption. As far as I know "death glass" translates to "glass", not "mirror". A child can produce the experiment using a simple magnifying glass and a sheet of paper.
e.g. What happens when you have multiple devices concentrating sunlight and shining it on another device on a lens?
Perhaps the assumption the death ray concentrated sunlight is an unreasonable assumption. chemicals that could have been burned or reacted to produce higher energy light
Who's to say Archimedes wasn't using a lens to focus the beam of a high-powered laser he had somehow come up with? :)
This myth using signal mirrors but they probably won't. (Because from what I remember the problem was aiming them and a signal mirror would make aiming it easier.)
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
On the one hand I love Myth-busters ..... it's my kind of recreational science (yes, they make huge mistakes at times ... but it's fun and talks about science)
On the other hand I hate Obama and his squad. I didn't vote for him, but he is our president. I had hope that he would uphold some of his promises, not spend like there's no tomorrow, and cram healthcare down our throat. I could go on but... I'm too tired from working all day.
So my dilemma is do I watch or not.... does my love of mythbusters outweigh my hate for Obama. ... nope. sorry.
I just did this quest! Now all Obama has to do is find Euclid's C-Finder and...
Wait, this isn't Fallout: New Vegas?
That's what you got from the post? Teleprompter jokes? Are you 'disinterested' in the rather poignant insight to Obama's repeated tactic of gathering a group of 'X' people who appear to support him with unwavering resolve? You didn't happen to note the manipulation of perceptions? And it didn't even cross your mind that this is occuring in the middle of several national crisis which one might think would warrant greater attention from our President than a rather transparent publicity stunt?
"But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,..." - Nancy Pelosi
When other people provide evidence you are wrong (I don't recall where it was, but I saw a tv show or webpage in the last few months that demonstrated the death ray does work), you need to examine that evidence, revisit your study, and see if you reach a new conclusion. That's a quality that a lot of people lack these days (they will insist they are correct even when showing them clear and concise evidence they are wrong).
Indeed. This is exactly what is wrong with Mythbusters and the attitude surrounding scientific criticism and debate.
Rather than getting people to think about it and perform things themselves the central premise of that show is that they come up with some contrived situation that is quite often questionable and then tell everyone that the 'myth' is busted. No debate about it. I remember them doing a moon landing one a while back that I don't think actually helped the cause of debunking moon landing accusations. The guy in it had an astronaut figure that he confidently told us was Neil Armstrong because he had the orange flashes on his suit, but that's inaccurate because those only came in in later missions when they realised they had an identification problem. Little things like that tend to propogate from this kind of stuff - "We've proved it, we're right, anything we say goes, no fact checking or revisiting necessary. If you disagree with us it's a conspiracy theory".
Funny headline
The only possible reason to use this particular myth is so you can get 500 kids involved, each holding a mirror,
So that Obama can see his own smiling face beaming back at him from atop 500 kids' necks? Now that's Narcissism.
They also have some new material to work with, what with that Hotel cum Death Ray story from a few months back.
Thank you. That's exactly the example I was trying to remember.
I'm glad you clicked on that link for us. I didn't want to.
That was a teleprompter joke?
I thought the joke was the fact that out of nowhere the poster went from a rather typical PR performance to 500 school children setting the president on fire with mirrors. Maybe I missed the joke.
Will he bring his Birth Suffaticket? :-)
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
How about busting the myth that dumping stimulus money into the economy is the best way out of a recession?
I don't know... in Australia worked pretty good actually. Perhaps because the level of toxic home loans wasn't at all that high as in US.
I reckon... "Plausible".
I don't have a document from my birth. It's been long since lost. Instead, I have what most people have, a reprint from the official record holder, the State government.
My confusion is why the birthers think the Republicans are in on this. As the records were verified by the Republican governor of HI. So why are the parties that can't agree whether a lightbulb is on working together so well in this conspiracy with nary a leak?
If you want to prove him not a citizen, show the document from Mars (or wherever you are asserting he was born) to prove he's an alien. If you can't, then why should we believe the lying sacks of shit who won't believe anyone else?
Learn to love Alaska
Yeah, if they manage to get the president, they should have tackled some tougher myths. Like does trickle down economics actually work.
Well, maybe your solution would appear too much like Obama was attempting to bring back child labor. Wait a minute, it said school children will be holding the mirrors- maybe that is the point, to get kids back into the work force so America can start being competitive in the manufacturing industry like china.
Nah.. That can't be it.,
The myths that I would like to clear up are:
- The new 2000 page health care system(really health insurance system), will pay for itself, lower our costs, and raise quality.
- Trickle down economics works! Tax cuts to the rich and all those bailouts/payouts to big companies help everyone.
- The best way to achieve peace is with war.
- Large collections of government secrets are the best way to promote peace and diplomacy. The truth is harmful to the public.
- Corporations look out for our interests, that why lobbying is needed.
--
disclaimer
my voting record:
Bush (regret)
Perot
Perot
Nader (wanted other. regret should have picked Gore)
Kerry (wanted Edwards)
Obama (wanted Gore, wanted "change", disapointed)
Other
What do you want me to do?
The clown I'm replying to won't accept a valid birth certificate.
He's retarded.
The state department accepts Obama's valid birth certificate. Hawaii has provided and verified his valid birth certificate. The courts have all confirmed that Barrack Obama's birth certificate is valid.
But Johnny Retard over here is still too dumb to accept reality. Do I really have to ignore the fact that this guy and everyone like him is obviously an idiot?
Yeah, you retards love ignoring reality.
Then again, perhaps I missed some great breakthrough in signal mirror technology since I was in the scouts. :-)
Ummm, yes you did. All of them these days have a retroflective aiming hole in the middle. Only one hand is needed to aim them, and it's really quite accurate.
"rather poignant insight" Lol. This isn't "Obama's repeated tactic," every president has done this kind of thing. And every president does media events, makes appeals, etc. And the fact that you think for the 120 minutes he spent on set, there was no one behind the wheel (so-to-speak) of the country, shows just how ignorant you are. Ugh, these Fox News talking points have spread way too far.
"2. Newspaper article"
What newspaper article might this be then?
The birth announcements in the local newspapers at the time?
The birth announcements that the NEWSPAPERS at the time ONLY got from the HAWAII DEPT. OF HEALTH?
That the "newspaper article" you're citing as some half-assed "evidence" against President Obama being a natural born American citizen?
Teabaggers: A never ending source of natural born idiocy.
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"Mirrors should reflect a little before throwing back images. -- Jean Cocteau"
Is this about Obama, or the Myth Busters? I'm confused...
Can't find my ID so you'll probably miss this, but I used survival kit signal mirrors in the Navy and they had a hole in the middle with some kind of grating across it. The grating created a bright spot which showed the line of sight of the sun's reflection from the mirror. Don't know how it worked but it did. This was in the 80's.
If obama wasnt black he wouldnt be on the show at all.
Thats not be dissing him, hating him, being racist or whatnot. Its strictly because he is the first black president. If he wasnt black he wouldnt be on myth busters, he wouldnt have his own comic book, action figures, tshirts, lunchboxes, bobblehead figures or anything else. If mccain won we wouldnt be having this discussion.
I wish we never had a black president, just so I dont have to see dumb shit like this. Really now, what the hell does myth busters have to do with president obama?
Feeling bitter that your hero has worse ratings than Bush or something? Well I understand. But you miss the numerous jokes that are made at his expense by people when he uses a teleprompter and fails miserably at it.
Back to your koolaid.
Om, nomnomnom...
they aren't going for accuracy as much as they are reasonably plausible tests that look good when filmed, scientific rigor doesn't sell, but at least they pay it lip service
My understanding is that they do a lot more testing than what makes it onscreen (I seem to recall an interview saying they turn in 25-30 hours of footage for each show), and they just grab the cool parts for the show (because.. um.. I wants my booms?)
I've never had any major complaints about the "science", considering that most of the premises are fairly loose to begin with. It's not like they're trying to unravel the mysteries of the universe or anything.
We already know the President likes a human backdrop: soldiers, doctors, union members... you get the idea.
Is there a politician alive who doesn't prefer a backdrop of "supporters" whenever they can arrange one?
I was wondering if that's why they were going for it a third time - they haven't managed to hit the usual finisher of "what would it take to make it work?" that they like to have. (i.e., they haven't managed to build a solar-powered death ray). Five hundred kids isn't going to make it "plausible" though, since five hundred archers would be far more effective.
Trust a Teabagging know-nothing to assume that I consider President Obama my "leader".
But then, the Randroid/Teabagger lives in a world of simplistic assumptions and willful ignorance.
Speaking of "uses a teleprompter and fails miserably at it"
“There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on, shame on you. Fool me, you can’t get fooled again.” —President George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002
Refudiate that, Teabagger.
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"Loosely" based on English common law? Our law and English law in 1781 were roughly identical. In fact, believe it or not, there are still times -- such as determining when a jury trial is necessary -- that the correct question to ask is, "What would the proper answer to this question in 1781 be?"
Obviously, we've diverged greatly in the intervening years, added new territories previously governed by Spanish law and continental civil law, made constitutional changes, and many new statutes of positive law -- but English common law is where the 13 colonies wholly started out.
Randroids/Teabaggers with modpoints don't like it when their fantasies about teleprompters get shattered by reality.
Speaking of reality:
“There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on, shame on you. Fool me, you can’t get fooled again.” —President George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002
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While this isn't impossible, in the time period of this myth the idea of atmospheric distortion of light wasn't even thought of. Currently even military jets that use lasers to eliminate a target have to compensate for distortions in the atmosphere otherwise most of the lasers power is lost.
I believe it was Thomas Edison (or at least attributed to him) who said, "I have not failed. I have merely found 10,000 ways that don't work."
Have you seen the show? You're giving more credit than is due in suggesting any intent to teach or learn anything at all, let alone science. 500 bored, unfocused child volunteers as an analogue for an experienced, disciplined military unit? It's entertainment, not science. The goal is never really to prove or to disprove anything, it's to destroy stuff. The *cough* science *cough* is there to provide an excuse for destroying it. That's why when a few ounces of some common household substance doesn't blow something up you find them substituting 400 pounds of high explosive before show's end.
Making the world a better place, one psychotic episode at a time.
They had a NASA guy who created a focusable parabolic mirror out of materials that Archimedes would have had, but it broke when they tried to ship it to San Francisco. So get that guy to build it again on site. That seemed to have the best chance of confirming this one...
... the Myth that being popular, makes you talented? ;-)
+++OK ATH
So when anyone disproves the points you make, you just dismiss it as nothing more than substanceless ridicule?
Karie is obviously trying to bust that myth, but I think she's about to deliver the results proper as to how albino mexicans have so many babies: they're born pregnant, on burrito power.
How is he going to be of any use figuring out this problem? Hmm... "If I send 1 trillion dollars into the pockets of people claiming to be broke, where will that money come from?" We still haven't answered that brilliant question...
But it needs some explosions for mythbuster... I am sure if you include the military or NASA in your quest for truth, you can add some literal fireworks.
It didn't need to work, the enemy just needed to think it did
If you don't risk failure you don't risk success.
So that's what kids' science education is boiling down to? Standing still and holding a mirror?
I dunno, I think having Mythbusters successfully "busting" themselves would be a worthwhile education for most kids who don't realize how authoritative Mythbusters should be (not much to not at all).
They're mainly about entertainment, much like Top Gear is mainly about entertainment.
Woah! So you have to be at least 223 years old?
"The Milliard Gargantubrain? A mere abacus - mention it not."
How about Obama making a cameo appearance with Julian Assange at a Wikileaks press conference once Julian is sprung? The old Mythbusters is getting repetitive. The new reality show version of myth busting is more exciting and has more real drama. Julian can introduce Obama in case people have forgotten who Obama is. :-)
I was hoping they were going to Mythbust "Obama was born in Kenya", "Obama is a Muslim", or even more laughably, "Obama is a Socialist".
Keep in mind too that the hotel in Las Vegas actually had an anti-reflective coating, while available technology of the day would produce the opposite.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I hope Adam took the opportunity to tell him the TSA's procedures are a bad joke, and ask him to commit to doing something about it.
All presidents in living memory have used (and depended on) teleprompters. Can we stop pretending this is something new or meaningful?
Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!
You obviously don't watch the show very regularly. They FREQUENTLY revisit myths they had previously "busted," and have proven remarkably open to criticism of their tests. This is, after all, the third time they've revisited this particular myth. The first time, they busted it. But when students at MIT complained that they didn't do it right, they not only agreed to revisit it, but also flew said students out to San Fransisco to test it in person.
They've even been known to reverse themselves on numerous occasions (though not on this particular myth).
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I don't believe for a second that the three of them were in the same room for that whole conversation.
Technoli
I wouldn't expect so ... there's prior art on that.
"Good news, everyone!"
Remember, attacking warships are going to be moving.
They were anchored according to Lucian.
After that, though, you're back to the attackers wetting their boats down first, using their own shields as mirrors, and having multiple boats.
Wetting them down first is exactly what they did, and that kept flaming arrows from burning them, but focused light can dry ships out. Focused light that can light wood on fire in seconds can dry wood out pretty damn quickly. I'm not quite sure what your point is about multiple boats.
Even getting the attacking boats to lose synchronization on their landing could make a big difference in the fight.
Landing? Syracusae (at least the core of the city, Ortygia) was an island surrounded by huge walls. There was nowhere to land. Besides, Archimedes also built long, medium, and short rang artillery ensuring that by the time any attacker got to the walls, they were pretty much already defeated.
since five hundred archers would be far more effective.
Sure, if the ships are in arrow range, and they haven't wet everything down first.
Ot maybe the President wasn't happy with the previous tests and left it up to the mythbuster to choose a new method.
Oh wait, that is it exactly.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
a) he didn't gather the kids, or even say they should use them
b) every politician surrounds themselves with people who agree.
c) in this case he DIDN'T do that.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
since five hundred archers would be far more effective.
Sure, if the ships are in arrow range, and they haven't wet everything down first.
My understanding was that the mirrors weren't effective at a significantly greater range than archers. And wetting down the ship won't protect you from puncture wounds, even if you're protected from the fire.
You're pretty good at the insults, especially when you have no idea that you're talking to a Canuck. What's to refute? Other than you're a blind partisan hack, frothing wildly at the mouth.
Om, nomnomnom...
YOU WIN!
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Personally, I think the point that every attempt at this so far has missed is this: what would happen if bows and arrows were mythical? I'm picturing an episode where they have some vague myth about a weapon made from a curved stick and string that hurls straight sticks with sharp metal points on the end. I'm picturing them making an attempt at replicating bows and arrows based on that info and inventing arrows with no fletching, poorly balanced, insufficient tension on the bows, etc. but making them good enough to work, just not 1/10th as good as the bow of a professional archer in Ancient Greece. Then I'm picturing them spending a few hours learning how to fire, then "busting" the myth that bows could be an effective military weapon. It would be like when my high school gym class did archery for a week. By the end of the week we were pretty consistently missing the targets entirely about every 29 shots out of 30. Some things are not easy to pick up and become skilled in quickly, archery is one such thing. Sure, you can pick up a bow and fire it first try, but that doesn't make you an archer. A real archer would have been hitting the target 29 times out of 30 at three times the range my high school class was practicing at. The mythbusters crew and any volunteers (university students or middle school students, or what have you) would end up reporting that arrows can barely hit a nearby target, don't penetrate to any depth and twist sideways in flight so that they just bounce off the target.
The same thing is true of this mirror experiment. They're throwing together unperfected equipment. If this was actually done by ancient greek soldiers, their shields probably would have been perfectly polished bronze (not the irregularly shaped bronze colored mylar they used on the show, although they did also test with modern glass mirrors on the other side) and probably designed through a careful series of tests to be flexed to adjust focal range and equipment. Maintenance of the mirrors would have been done by professional soldiers trained to believe their lives rely on their equipment and belonging to the kind of army that executes its own soldiers for dereliction of duty. Those guys were _dedicated_. And they would have trained and drilled and trained and drilled and trained and drilled until they could focus the suns rays down to the tiniest point you would imagine in a coordinated smooth maneuver that makes the mythbusters effort look like a bunch of unpracticed school kids trying it for the first time. To go back to the arrow analogy again, I once saw an archer on tv demonstrating how he could put something like ten arrows through an arrow slit of a castle (from a courtyard outside) in about a minute. Hand the same bow and arrows to the kids the mythbusters had trying this sun weapon myth and they wouldn't have been able to hit the castle wall at that range.
The same goes for many of the myths they test. In this same episode, for example, they tested flipping an oncoming suv with a super-powered downwards punch as was done in the first _Hellboy_ movie. Frankly, it is impossible for it to happen the way it was shown in the movie with, for example, as little damage to the vehicle and so forth. On the other hand, the mythbusters experiment didn't actually prove that because it ignored so many of the forces involved. Most significantly, it ignored the fact that, as physically impossible as it might be, in the move Hellboy not only provided a downward force on the very front of the car, he also acted as a pretty much immovable object and redirected the cars forward momentum, which is totally ignored in the experiment. Many other times, they've tested things that were admittedly one in ten-thousand chances and concluded, after trying quite a few less than ten thousand times, that it's impossible.
All that said, they do some pretty cool stuff. Their experiments are, also, valid experiments, I don't dispute that. It's the conclusions that are drawn from the experiments that I take issue with.
It doesn't have a damn thing to do with the 120 minutes and thinking no one was at the helm. It has to do with perceptions.
We're in a financial crisis and our economy is hangin on by fingernails. We're in two wars. North Korea as sunk a warship of our allies and now lobbed artillery into civilians of that same ally. Iran is likely pursuing nukes, and half a million classified documents are being used to blackmail world governments, and this guy thinks its even remotely appropriate to go to a TV show and act like it's Mission Impossible?
How do world leaders look upon us when we're in deep shit and our President is playing around with completely inconsequencial crap like Myth Busters? He's got better shit to be doing and his most fervent supporter should be able to recognize that.
That's nice. Now maybe you can have a cookie, nom on it. While the adults go back to discussing things.
Om, nomnomnom...
YOU WIN!!
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