Obama to Appear on Mythbusters, Bolster America's Giant-Mirror Capability

Time Magazine's Tuned In Blog ^ | October 18, 2010 | James Poniewozik, TV Critic

[2ndDivisionVet]

President Obama and Discovery Channel announced today that the chief executive will appear on the Dec. 8 episode of Mythbusters. And surprisingly, the myth being busted has nothing to do with either Islam or Kenyan birth certificates.

On the episode, Obama will ask Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman to test whether it was possible for the Greek scientist Archimedes, as told in story, to have set fire to an invading fleet using a giant mirror and the reflected rays of the sun. Which forces me to ask: What the hell is the government secretly planning to do with a giant mirror weapon? And does this mean there are no hard feelings between the White House and Discovery Communications for giving Sarah Palin a show?

The Discovery announcement, after the jump:

Today at the White House Science Fair, President Obama announced his participation in an upcoming episode of Discovery Channel's popular series, MYTHBUSTERS.

Said President Obama from the White House, “I'm pleased to welcome Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, known as the MYTHBUSTERS. I can announce today that I taped a special guest appearance for their show, although I didn't get blow anything up… I was a little frustrated about that.”

The President will be featured in the December 8 MYTHBUSTERS episode, Archimedes Solar Ray, during which he challenges hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman to revisit an ancient and somewhat controversial myth: Did Greek scientist and polymath Archimedes set fire to an invading Roman fleet using only mirrors and the reflected rays of the sun? Prepared to test this myth in a way they've never been able to before, will Adam and Jamie be able to pull it off, or will they have to report back to the President that they failed?(continued)

[prophetic]

Oh great - since when did our guys at the show need another CRASH DUMMY!!??

[Jedidah]

So he’s probably got a shovel-ready job for you.

[Braak]

Ok, so here it is...the shovel ready jobs? Death Rays! Yeah TOTUS, that was a plan, I don’t think that’s going to work any better than it did for the Japanese.

[prophetic]

I've heard that he's a mega narcissist and I've seen a few pictures floating on the 'net about how he just LOVES to see himself in the mirror.

However I think that this is mostly self serving and is appealing to 1) seeing himself in a bigger mirror and 2) trying to use a popular show to reach out to the masses.
He should be careful that he dont crack & break the mirror.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks 2ndDivisionVet. Additional:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2609736/posts

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

• Tests of Fabled Archimedes Death Ray Fail
• Study: Archimedes Set Roman Ships Afire with Cannons
• Obama To Appear On Episode Of 'Mythbusters'
• Obama to Appear on "Mythbusters"

sidebars:

• 13th century text hides words of Archimedes
• Syracusia [Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia]

[WaterBoard]

[BruceS]

I think the Mythbusters need to work on that Keynesian economics thing. See if they can find any evidence that it has ever worked, anywhere.

[martin_fierro]

[Constitution Day]

I am so stealing that. I was trying to make that same point on another site, dontcha know. ;)

[r9etb]

The mirror idea didn’t appear until Medieval times.

Not true. Polished metal mirrors were available thousands of years ago.

More to the point, parabolic "burning mirrors" were described by the Greek mathemetician Diocles in the second century BC.

The difficulties of using such a mirror in combat are significant, but probably not impossible to overcome.

[r9etb]

lol.... look at Adam Savage’s cross-dressing double off in the right background...

[Gondring]

I meant that no contemporary account says that Archimedes used mirrors. The idea that mirrors were used was a later idea—same with lenses—despite Diocles’ commentary on Archimedes’ work. Remember that it was the satirist Lucian of Samosata who wrote of the fleet-burning hundreds of years later, not Archimedes himself.

[r9etb]

Ah ... I see that I misunderstood/misread your comment. My bad.

[Gondring]

No problem...I see now that I wasn’t clear.