President Obama On Mythbusters Tonight 416
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."
Re:Real myth busted (Score:0, Interesting)
No, Obama is a moderate - both fiscally and socially. Of course, to Sarah Palin, anything other than a full-on Nazi industrialist seems "too liberal." On the other hand - Libertarianism? Really? Libertarianism is what ignorant, selfish people who know nothing about economics or politics like to call themselves because "ignorant and selfish" sounds so crass. Oh, you don't believe me? Re-read your posting.
How does an airplane see a signal mirror? (Score:5, Interesting)
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.