Myth Busters Mis-Fired

[JohnBoucher]

OMG... Cannon Ball get away from them

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/12/06/tv-experiment-goes-awry-sends-cannonball-rocketing-through-homes/

[JesseK]

Interesting commentary:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3323853

I don't believe it. If only there was a group of people that could test the plausibility of this story...

[Billfred]

OMG... Cannon Ball get away from them

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/12/06/tv-experiment-goes-awry-sends-cannonball-rocketing-through-homes/

Are they still what you call "experts" after this?

I'm just glad nobody got hurt.

[Ian Curtis]

Grant and Tori just tweeted apologies at the same time, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say they just got out of a meeting with the lawyers. ;)

Seeing as they did shoot a cannonball into a residential area, no injuries is a lucky break. At the same time definitely an unlucky bounce for them, but I imagine in the future they'll be shooting big guns at firing ranges instead of bomb ranges, as when your projectile weight is measured in pounds or tens of pounds 700 yards just really isn't that far.

[DonRotolo]

I imagine in the future they'll be shooting big guns at firing ranges instead of bomb ranges, as when your projectile weight is measured in pounds or tens of pounds 700 yards just really isn't that far.Um, it IS a "Firing Range" and not a bombing range 1/4 mile from a residential area.

The newsies did get a little overenthusiastic there, though.

[Ian Curtis]

Um, it IS a "Firing Range" and not a bombing range 1/4 mile from a residential area.

The newsies did get a little overenthusiastic there, though.

Alameda County refers to it as a Bomb Disposal Range, does someone else have a firing range in the same area? According to the AP (http://hosted2.ap.org/CARIE/7f780b0f92634e54be4b48f9179deaa4/Article_2011-12-07-Errant%20Cannonball/id-12ea23e7ecee44178505c0b0a3685b0f) it only traveled 700 feet (apparently I misspoke when I said yards) before bouncing in front of a house -- I get farther away from my camp with fireworks!

If you look on Google Maps (search Santa Rita Jail, Dublin CA), you'll see that the area is largely ringed with residential zones. It is pretty big area, but it isn't clear to me what portion of the empty zone is a bomb range, and what is empty/used for other things as they are a few structures dotted throughout it. I would imagine the errant bounce was probably a factor in how immediately it got to the houses, as I would hope the cannon was pointing towards a whole lot of nothing.

[Joe Ross]

Alameda County refers to it as a Bomb Disposal Range, does someone else have a firing range in the same area? According to the AP (http://hosted2.ap.org/CARIE/7f780b0f92634e54be4b48f9179deaa4/Article_2011-12-07-Errant%20Cannonball/id-12ea23e7ecee44178505c0b0a3685b0f) it only traveled 700 feet (apparently I misspoke when I said yards) before bouncing in front of a house -- I get farther away from my camp with fireworks!

If you look on Google Maps (search Santa Rita Jail, Dublin CA), you'll see that the area is largely ringed with residential zones. It is pretty big area, but it isn't clear to me what portion of the empty zone is a bomb range, and what is empty/used for other things as they are a few structures dotted throughout it. I would imagine the errant bounce was probably a factor in how immediately it got to the houses, as I would hope the cannon was pointing towards a whole lot of nothing.

Looking at google maps, the first house was about 700 feet from the edge of what could be the range. Presumably, the cannon was fired from much further. http://www.perceptionbuilder.com/mythbusters-cannonball-map

[DonRotolo]

Alameda County refers to it as a Bomb Disposal RangeMy bad. I got confused with Bomb Range and Bombing Range. The latter implies bombs being dropped from an aircraft:eek: , often needing a LOT more space than available there.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Some days I am thankful you don't work for the Air Force, Don. This is one of them.

[Billfred]

Some days I am thankful you don't work for the Air Force, Don. This is one of them.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Al Skierkiewicz again.

[DonRotolo]

Some days I am thankful you don't work for the Air Force, Don. This is one of them.
Ouch!

But yeah, you're right.

[Brandon Zalinsky]

If someone could get the tapes of this, it'd get a kajillion views on youtube.

[mdiradoorian]

I am sure that it could have hurt many people. :ahh: Thank god it didn't though.

I agree with you 100% Flak-Bait