Mythbusters cannon accident

[Floyd]

I was going to post this elsewhere, but I figured it was benign enough since no one was hurt.

Early this morning, a number of internet news sites reported that the M7 team of Tory Belleci, Grant Imahara and Kari Byron were performing Mythbuster related tests of canon shot.

No one has confirmed which of the two cannons they had on site was used for this particular test. But I suspect it was the one featured in the third video I linked to.

ABC San Francisco news broadcast of accident

Here is unrelated footage of one of the two cannons they had at the bomb range the day of the accident.

Homebrew cannon with cheese ammo test

Here is a clip featuring the other cannon they had borrowed before and photographed on set, then removed the photo from their Twitpic account after the accident.

Pirate cannon chain against pig test

Now for the final damning bit of foreshadowing, here's an older video of Adam and Jamie playing with a homebrew cannon in what is most likely the same position used by the M7 crew. Watch what happens in the high speed replay and listen to the narrator's summary of how far their bowling ball projectile went.

Ouch.
Matchhead Cannon test  

[spoonz mcdoogle]

I laughed. They're in deep s**t now eh?  

[Floyd]

Adam Savage just tweeted about the accident.

The damage to the show has yet to be calculated. No one in any of the news broadcasts were angry on camera. But I kind of think their insurance company won't clear any gun related myths in California ever again.

I'd also guess that the Alameda County bomb range won't let them back in for any further myth tests just because it's getting too risky. They always have other facilities that will welcome them, but those will be out of state and more expensive to transport their equipment to.  

[Floyd]

Well, the public face of Mythbusters seems to be Adam Savage at the moment. He's given several new tweets on the accident. The best article on the hours after the accident are summed up in this quote:

Quote:

'MythBusters' Hosts, Adam Savage and Jamie Hynerman, Visit California Home Damaged by Cannonball
Published December 08, 2011

DUBLIN, Calif. –  "MythBusters" hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman made a visit Wednesday to a home in Dublin, California, damaged a day earlier by a cannonball fired as part of an experiment for the TV show.

The miscued cannonball was fired at Alameda County bomb range about 1,000 yards (915 meters) away from the property on Tuesday afternoon.

It flew out of the range, crossed several roads and tore through Hitha Shetty's home -- leaving two gaping holes -- before bouncing off a second home and coming to rest in another family's minivan, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The cannonball exited Shetty's house through an upstairs bedroom where his wife and infant son were sleeping.

Hyneman and Savage were not present at the range when the ill-fated firing occurred, but as the faces of "MythBusters," they visited the Shetty family to offer apologies. Both are locals of California's Bay Area, where Dublin is located.

The pair said the cannonball was accidentally fired into the residential area as their crews were calibrating a homemade cannon. They promised the footage of the incident would never be screened.

"It's a wake-up call," Savage said. "Honestly, the feeling of embarrassment is not something we're indulging in right now. We feel for the families and the people affected by this."

The "myth" their crew was working on either proving or debunking related to the ability of stone cannonballs to break through a castle wall.

"The myth was whether or not a stone cannonball could actually breach a castle's walls," Savage said.

"When you start to look into the data of what cannons can actually do, it's actually quite shocking," he said. "They're very efficient projectile-hurling weapons. It's a lot of power, and the power got away from us."

The dumbest quote from this event comes from Secret Agent Walrus via his twitter account (JamieNoTweet):

Quote:

Loose cannon: glad no one was hurt. Won't happen again.

So, in short, it was Tory's homebrew cannon that fired the errant round. We'll never see the footage. Pity.  

[Requiem ex Inferni]

Floyd

Well, the public face of Mythbusters seems to be Adam Savage at the moment. He's given several new tweets on the accident. The best article on the hours after the accident are summed up in this quote:

Quote:

'MythBusters' Hosts, Adam Savage and Jamie Hynerman, Visit California Home Damaged by Cannonball
Published December 08, 2011

DUBLIN, Calif. –  "MythBusters" hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman made a visit Wednesday to a home in Dublin, California, damaged a day earlier by a cannonball fired as part of an experiment for the TV show.

The miscued cannonball was fired at Alameda County bomb range about 1,000 yards (915 meters) away from the property on Tuesday afternoon.

It flew out of the range, crossed several roads and tore through Hitha Shetty's home -- leaving two gaping holes -- before bouncing off a second home and coming to rest in another family's minivan, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The cannonball exited Shetty's house through an upstairs bedroom where his wife and infant son were sleeping.

Hyneman and Savage were not present at the range when the ill-fated firing occurred, but as the faces of "MythBusters," they visited the Shetty family to offer apologies. Both are locals of California's Bay Area, where Dublin is located.

The pair said the cannonball was accidentally fired into the residential area as their crews were calibrating a homemade cannon. They promised the footage of the incident would never be screened.

"It's a wake-up call," Savage said. "Honestly, the feeling of embarrassment is not something we're indulging in right now. We feel for the families and the people affected by this."

The "myth" their crew was working on either proving or debunking related to the ability of stone cannonballs to break through a castle wall.

"The myth was whether or not a stone cannonball could actually breach a castle's walls," Savage said.

"When you start to look into the data of what cannons can actually do, it's actually quite shocking," he said. "They're very efficient projectile-hurling weapons. It's a lot of power, and the power got away from us."

The dumbest quote from this event comes from Secret Agent Walrus via his twitter account (JamieNoTweet):

Quote:

Loose cannon: glad no one was hurt. Won't happen again.

So, in short, it was Tory's homebrew cannon that fired the errant round. We'll never see the footage. Pity.

Are they gonna still air the myth itself? Because I've seen what rifled guns can do to the walls of a Civil War-era fort, but I'm interested as to what an old cannon could do to a Dark Ages castle wall.  

[Floyd]

Sadly, either Jamie or Adam told the neighbors affected by the accident they will not show any more myths involving cannons on the show.

Sucks. Adam commented on his Twitter account that he felt this was unfair, then went quiet.