Alaska Myths

Original Air Date: 4-23-08

Episode #101 

Alaska Special

Dynamite Dog

The Myth:
A group of drunk friends decide to go duck hunting, and drive out to a lake in a new SUV.  The lake is frozen over, which means there won't be any ducks landing here – they need open water.  One friend produces a stick of dynamite with a 20 second fuse, lights it, and throws it out onto the ice.  Their dog then runs after the dynamite, fetches it, and runs back to the SUV.  The dynamite explodes and blows an SUV-sized hole in the ice, sinking it.

The Experts:
Frank Doyle provides the explosives.
Rudy the black Lab helps the guys test canine reaction times.

Memorable/Quotable Moments:
The frost buildup on Adam's and Jamie's mustaches.

Adam: Well, it's clear from the hole pattern I see around the car that we've got a nasty case of ice gophers.  These little varmints will bore their way around any vehicle they find on the ice to chew on it underwater.  There's only one way to take care of them, and that's high explosives.

Jamie: Three.  Two.  One.  Bye-bye!


The Action/Results:
Adam and Jamie head out to Fisher Pond in Alaska.  It's a manmade lake, so it's safe to use explosives out there – there's no fish that might be killed.  It also has a good solid 18 inches (almost 46 cm) of ice, easily strong enough to support the test SUV.

The first question is how far the duck hunters could have thrown the dynamite.  Jamie and Adam both take test throws with a simulated stick of dynamite.  The average throw distance is 125 feet (roughly 38 meters).

Next, could a dog have made it back to the SUV with the dynamite before it blew?  Jamie and Rudy play fetch, while Adam times each of Rudy's runs.  Rudy gets a consistent 16 seconds to run out 125 feet, grab a rubber ball, and run back to Jamie.  The myth calls for a 20 second fuse, so it is possible that the duck hunter's dog could have made that run.

Frank Doyle produces a stick of dynamite, which is placed on the ice under the SUV.  Everyone retreats to safety, and the dynamite is set off.  The blast shakes some loose stuff off the SUV and puts a dent in the ice, but the ice remains solid and the SUV remains dry.  This myth is BUSTED.

The team then drills several holes around the SUV, and 24 pounds (almost 11 kilos) of dynamite packed into directional cones go in the holes.  This time, when the dynamite goes off, the ice shatters and the SUV sinks.  The ice also refreezes fast enough that a second batch of explosives is called for before the guys can get the SUV back out of the lake, leaving it as they found it.

Moose Mayhem!

The Myth:
If you're driving and realize you're about to hit a moose, you should speed up rather than slow down.  If you do, the moose will go sailing over your car and save your life.

Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Grant: I'm not sure what's weirder, that the moose is in the middle of downtown at a bar, or that it's only, like, 1:30.

Rob: Will speeding up or slowing down reduce the carnage?  And just how many cars can we afford to wreck in the cause of sensible driving?

The Action/Results:
Kari, Grant and Tory decide to start with a meet-and-greet with some moose, so they can get their “moose simulaid” as accurate as possible.  After petting some moose at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, they cross ballistics gel off the list of construction options.  The gel will be too soft for this test, they all agree that rubber will copy the feel of moose muscles better.  They head back to San Francisco and the resources of M7 to start work.

Kari finds a thesis online that describes a crash-test moose made from sheets of rubber, and with permission from the author they use a modified version of this design.  Tory heads off to H2O Precision, where the sheets of rubber forming the moose body are cut.  Kari makes some sleeved cables to hold the moose together, and Grant uses a similar technique to make the moose legs.  The legs aren't meant to be load-bearing, test moose “Lucy” will be supported until the moment of impact by a pair of wooden cradles.  The cradles will be knocked away by the crash, and Lucy will flop the way a real moose would after being hit.

Lucy and the team head out to E-Tech Testing Services for the crash tests.  For the first test, a car “driven” by Buster is towed into Lucy at 45 MPH (a little over 72 KPH).  Everything works fine, and Lucy caves in the car like a real moose would.

For the second test, Grant rigs a remote control brake on a new test car.  The brake will be triggered 30 feet (just over 9 meters) from Lucy, as if a driver had tried to avoid the crash.  The car takes a lot of damage, but less than in test one.  However, Lucy hit the second car lower than the first ... so there might be something to this myth.

Next, after the reset, the tow driver is told to start at 45 MPH, but accelerate 30 feet from Lucy.  She does hit higher on the car, but not high enough – the roof is peeled back, and the side pillars crushed.

But all their test cars to this point have been sedans.  They try a final test with a lower-profile coupe, and ask the tow driver to go as fast as possible.  He reaches 75 MPH (over 120 KPH), and caves in the entire roof of the coupe.  Grant does some research, and the only way a car could speed under a moose as per the myth would be if it were a Formula One racer going over 97 MPH (156 KPH).  This myth is BUSTED.

Cabin Fever

The Myth:
If you are snowed in (or otherwise stuck) in a small place with nothing to do, you can go nuts from boredom.

The Expert:
Hap Wurlitzer, owner/manager of Hatcher's Pass Lodge, discusses the signs of cabin fever with Kari.

Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Kari: I think Jamie has reached full Buddha.  He has not moved in an hour.

Jamie: Oh great, we've got a yeti outside.

The Action/Results:
Kari will be supervising the attempt to inflict cabin fever on Jamie and Adam.  The test will take place in some one-room cabins at Hatcher's Pass Lodge.  Two cabins are prepared for the guys – Kari's “Big Sister” surveillance system is set up, and all other electronics or potential distractions removed.  A third cabin is used as Kari's monitoring station.

Jamie and Adam each have a journal, plus a small video camera to use as a video diary.  They have no other reading material, phones, watches, or anything else that might stave off boredom.  They will be taking regular tests throughout the experiment.  A saliva test will measure stress levels, and cognitive tests will see if the experience has any effect on their mental acuity.  Kari will also be watching for the behavioral signs of cabin fever: edginess/irritability, forgetfulness, angry-looking eyes, and excessive sleeping.

At the beginning of the test, neither Jamie nor Adam think the other will be able to cope with this.  Kari suspects she might flip out first from having to watch the guys be bored.

By the morning of Day Two, Kari is already noticing some of the symptoms.  Jamie is normally an early riser, but sleeps very late that morning.  Adam is “a beehive”, fidgety and restless.  He finally grabs a wire coat hanger left on the rack, breaks out his multitool, and makes a little desk toy.

Day Three is more of the same.  Jamie (who complains that he'd be more active if there was coffee in the cabins) spends a lot of time relaxing, while Adam is pacing and irritable.  For today, Kari has lined up a prank for the guys – a person in a yeti costume will be prowling outside their windows.  Jamie gives it his best “Not Amused” look, but Adam cracks Kari up when he hides in the bathroom.

On the evening of Day Three, Kari ends the test.  Adam admits to having been very lonely during the test, and is ready for it to be over.  Jamie was just starting to get into the solitude.  The results from the cognitive tests were steady throughout the experiment, proving nothing.  Both guys forgot that the spit test had to be done fasting, which trashed the data from those.  However, from observation, Adam exhibited all four signs of cabin fever.  They agree this myth is PLAUSIBLE.