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Crimes and Mythdemeanors Part I |
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Written by Rogue Spidor
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Saturday, 19 August 2006 |
Crimes and Myth-Demeanors
Episode#54
Original Air Date: July 12, 2006
The Myth: The team attempted to re-create various high-tech cat-burglar techniques, including ventilation shaft climbing, safe-cracking, and laser networks.
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Adam- “Why… Thor, the God of Thunder, is trying to enter my building!"
Jamie: “Heh… I’m okay!”
Action/Results: The build team assembled a mock-up of a secure area, complete with alarm systems. Grant had established the maze and the prize. Two teams, one composed of Adam and Jamie, the other of Tory and Kari, must bypass these high-tech obstacles.
First, Adam and Jamie must develop a method for scaling the inside of a ventilation shaft, and silently enough to prevent detection by security guards. Jamie’s method: magnets that have a pull strength of 500-1000 lbs each. Adam’s method: suction cups on hands and feet, with release valves, powered by a portable vacuum system. Conclusion: the magnets are far too loud to be used with any stealth whatsoever. The metal of the ventilation shafts is far too thin to provide strong support for the magnets. The suction cups fare better, as far as noise is concerned, but the flexibility of the shaft prevents proper grip, and the noise is still too loud. Conclusion: Busted.
Next, Tory and Kari attempt to bypass a network of laser beams rigged to the alarm system. Methods to detect them include using face powder and infra-red goggles. Unfortunately, this type of alarm system does not exist outside of the movies. Grant used a system composed of infra-red lasers pointers instead. The first attempt by Kari to reveal the lasers was to blow powder into the area. This worked with small amounts of powder, but too much tripped the beams. Also, she could not see the lasers once she’d slipped past some of them, and needed to use the powder again. This was too difficult, and the myth was busted. Infra-red goggles did not show the beams, only where they were hitting, busting this method as well. Tory attempted to use his own infra-red laser to bypass the system, and after a failed attempt, succeeds. The laser system is defeated. However, the infra-red still tripped the alarm system. Bypassing the infra-red lasers proved impossible; only using powder along with the infra-red goggles allows a momentary ability to see the beams, but they cannot bypass them. Conclusion: Busted.
Next, cutting a hole in glass soundlessly. While they found it was possible to cut a hole out of the glass, it was not possible to tap it out silently enough to prevent tripping the sound alarm. The next attempt was to drill a hole in the glass. This caused the tempered glass to crack all through the window, and Jamie could pick fragments of glass out of it until he could reach in and open the door, silently, from the inside. They succeeded, but Adam stated that the myth of being able to cut a circle out of glass and remove it with a suction cup was Busted.
The next myth was that, using a knife and chewing gum, it was possible to defeat a pressure switch. Kari’s first effort set off the alarm just by squeezing in the knife. So did the second. The third effort worked, but the gum could not be placed soon enough and the alarm sounded. However, on their next attempt, they used that old stand-by: duct tape. Using duct tape, they could keep the pressure switch down, and make off with the goods. Conclusion: Busted as presented by the myth of using gum, plausible with duct-tape.
Cracking a safe using a stethoscope and amplification system took far too long for Adam to complete. Plan B was to disassemble the dial of the safe, drill into the mechanism, and use a boroscope and piano wire to crack the safe. It took him over 45 minutes to crack a safe rated to require only 5 minutes for a professional safe-cracker to open. He was attempting to be more silent, and for his first attempt, he did very well. However, the length of time required to do it silently results in a conclusion of: Busted.
Finally, Adam needed to climb to the top of a building using his suction cup rig. The building was 23 stories. The physical demands of the effort were more than Adam could withstand, though, and the equipment was not up to the challenge as well. Adam managed over 4 stories, and then he decided to stop before exhaustion made the climb too dangerous. In 1981, Dan Goodwin scaled over 100 stories using only steel hooks and suction cups with no safety backup. However, he was prepared physically and had a better climbing system. Adam declared that it was plausible, but it was not a viable means of getting into a building, unless you’re an Olympic-class athlete. Conclusion: Plausible, but impractical. Take the elevator.
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Episode Descriptions 