We were watching Mythbusters last night. At the beginning of the show there is a preview of all the myths that are going to be tested. Jeff paused and asked us what we thought the overall outcome would be of the myths presented and we proceeded to discuss the various scientific ramifications that could apply to each test. So, before we had even really begun the show, we spent about 20 minutes talking about what was to come.
Jumping back into the show, we began to watch the first test (creating a stun gun that shoots electrified water instead of the typical wires). Roughly every 5 minutes we had to stop and discuss more. Sometimes one of us would pose a question to the others. Other times we might just be indignant about how the Mythbusters were going about their testing.
Cut over to the other Mythbusters who were checking to see if a fire extinguisher could smother a fire when placed into a fire (causing the extinguisher to burst, spewing its contents). More discussion on the science of fire and the chemical process of creating a fire. We then continued to watch the show.
Back to Adam, Jamie, and their testing of the stun gun. More discussion.
On to Kari, Tory, and Grant, finished with the fire extinguishers (I won't give away the results). They were now testing the process of walking barefoot on hot coals. We stopped again to discuss this.
We continued trading off watching Adam and Jamie, discussing and complaining, watching Kari, Tori, and Grant, discussing and complaining, and finally the show was over.
This one-hour show (only around 42 minutes by skipping all the commercials with TiVo) had become a two-and-a-half hour show. We could have watched a movie for less time than we spent on this one show.
Amused by how long this took, we talked about that for a few more minutes. Then Jordan decided to go to bed (now that we had eaten into his entire evening with one show). I proposed to Jeff that we watch one more, thinking that it would be faster. He agreed.
We started the new show (testing of whether NASA actually went to the moon) and then proceeded to discuss the scientific theories presented.
All in all, our two television shows (one hour each) took almost five hours to watch. We could have been a good portion of the way through the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy in that time!
I enjoy watching Mythbusters because they get me thinking. Whether I agree with how they test a myth or not, my mind is actively working to test the myths in another way. I realize that it is an entertaining science show on Discovery and that they do have to cater a bit to the audience, but I am often miffed that they don't show more of a test. A lot of the time it seems to me that they performed one test, and then jumped the scale to an outrageous test, completely avoiding any tests of the middle range (the stun gun myth is a good example of this). I don't know if they really do the more painstaking testing and it just doesn't make the cut for television or if they are not quite the thorough scientists that I believe they should be. All I know for sure is that I'd better clear my schedule better if I want to continue watching the show.
Jumping back into the show, we began to watch the first test (creating a stun gun that shoots electrified water instead of the typical wires). Roughly every 5 minutes we had to stop and discuss more. Sometimes one of us would pose a question to the others. Other times we might just be indignant about how the Mythbusters were going about their testing.
Cut over to the other Mythbusters who were checking to see if a fire extinguisher could smother a fire when placed into a fire (causing the extinguisher to burst, spewing its contents). More discussion on the science of fire and the chemical process of creating a fire. We then continued to watch the show.
Back to Adam, Jamie, and their testing of the stun gun. More discussion.
On to Kari, Tory, and Grant, finished with the fire extinguishers (I won't give away the results). They were now testing the process of walking barefoot on hot coals. We stopped again to discuss this.
We continued trading off watching Adam and Jamie, discussing and complaining, watching Kari, Tori, and Grant, discussing and complaining, and finally the show was over.
This one-hour show (only around 42 minutes by skipping all the commercials with TiVo) had become a two-and-a-half hour show. We could have watched a movie for less time than we spent on this one show.
Amused by how long this took, we talked about that for a few more minutes. Then Jordan decided to go to bed (now that we had eaten into his entire evening with one show). I proposed to Jeff that we watch one more, thinking that it would be faster. He agreed.
We started the new show (testing of whether NASA actually went to the moon) and then proceeded to discuss the scientific theories presented.
All in all, our two television shows (one hour each) took almost five hours to watch. We could have been a good portion of the way through the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy in that time!
I enjoy watching Mythbusters because they get me thinking. Whether I agree with how they test a myth or not, my mind is actively working to test the myths in another way. I realize that it is an entertaining science show on Discovery and that they do have to cater a bit to the audience, but I am often miffed that they don't show more of a test. A lot of the time it seems to me that they performed one test, and then jumped the scale to an outrageous test, completely avoiding any tests of the middle range (the stun gun myth is a good example of this). I don't know if they really do the more painstaking testing and it just doesn't make the cut for television or if they are not quite the thorough scientists that I believe they should be. All I know for sure is that I'd better clear my schedule better if I want to continue watching the show.
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