Posted on 03/26/2009 4:54:43 AM PDT by Abathar
YOLO COUNTY, Calif. -- A big explosion, in the name of science, scared a lot of people in a small California town.
It all began with a test from by the crew of the TV show Mythbusters, but their test produced a bigger bank than they expected.
"It was a boom that was just -- I had never heard anything like that before, it was really wired," Sherril Stephens told TV station KCRA.
The explosion was so big, Stephens said it knocked her off the couch and broke her front window. Nearly the entire town of Esparto, Calif., poured into the streets to see what had happened.
"Course all the neighbors ran out into the street. We didn't know what was going on," said Paul Williams, who heard the explosion.
Some people said they thought it was a plane crash, others, a house explosion. All they could see was smoke and dust rising into the sky about a mile from town.
"It felt like a house blew up, straight up," said Williams.
Residents later found out that the Discovery Channel show was trying to literally "knock the socks off" a mannequin with explosives. The 500 pounds of ammonium nitrate was bigger than they expected.
Chief Barry Burns, of Esparto Fire Department, had several firefighters on hand for the explosion. He said he made the decision not to notify anyone in town for safety sake.
"Mythbusters is supposed to be a really popular show. Everybody would have been out there. We would have had to cancel it because it would have been too dangerous," Burns said.
Stephens' window was replaced that same day, compliments of Mythbusters.
(Excerpt) Read more at theindychannel.com ...
Maybe they should go help Turbo Tax Tim in DC.
And hold our beers.
Ah mythbusters. Hubby’s favorite show. Guys blowing stuff up. Still. Things never change.
Nope, things going "BOOM" attract men like flies to a bug zapper...
A friend of mine bought a house where the water heater exploded and caused all sorts of damage. It blew a huge hole in one of the sides of the home.
Que Billy Saul Huroc and Big Jim McBob!
I think you misunderstand just who the target audience is. It's not the guys at NASA.
I had a keen interest in that episode because I drive a concrete mixer, the hours and days immediately after 9/11 I carried my Beretta 92 with me when I made deliveries because we were advised of a possible threat of truck hijacking to use a mixer for truck bombs.
The trucks I drive are 10-12 cubic yard capacity, that translates to 40-48,000 lbs. of material they can haul.
That much explosive in a single mixer truck would be the size of a small tactical nuke.
Thanks for that link.
Then I went to the “Shoot the pig (carcass) with chain out of a cannon” associated link.
Cool
I like the shows where they blow stuff up; I don’t like the shows where they try to cure bad breath or stinky feet.
I’m a parent too, and one of the things I teach my 3 kids is “If you do something, do it right”. My problem with the show isn’t the technical level, it’s that they consistently make factual mistakes.
Mmmmm......males age 7+ ? };^)
That’s the other reason guys watch the show, besides blowing things up. ;-)
I don’t think they were expecting it to be that big. Usually when they’re going for big booms they go out to a former quarry in the middle of nowhere. They really do try not to annoy the neighbors or destroy property that’s not theirs.
And above par engineers invite them over for lectures.
From time to time watching the show I see some clues that they're on a pretty tight budget. Also, there's the matter of permits and licensed explosives experts necessary for these kinds of stunts. They don't want to have to start from scratch getting experts, permission, etc., in another state.
Or the clowns at ICR.
...plus wasting vodka on feet is just wrong.
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