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Written by river95
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Saturday, 15 November 2008 |
Idiom Special
Episode #112
Original Air Date November 12, 2008
Idiom Special
The Myth: You can’t polish poop.
The Expert: Jason Arnold is an expert in a Japanese art form in which you make shiny balls out of dirt and water.
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Adam: (while mixing dirt and water) Y’know, usually in the show I am connecting to my 14-year-old self – the pyromaniac. Now I am connecting to my 4-year-old self!
The Action/Results:
First, the guys had to collect as many different kinds of poo as possible, so they did a field trip to the San Francisco Zoo. They collected fecal material from horses, elephants, rhinos, grizzly bears, giraffes, lions, warthogs, ostriches, and koalas. Then, they brought it all back to the shop and cooked in a big oven for 6 hours at 300 degrees, so that it would be dried out, and easier to work with.
Once the dung was dried, then they had to decide which kind to work with first. They decided that the horse, elephant, rhino, and grizzly scats were too crumbly to work with, so that left five types to choose from. Jamie started working with the giraffe droppings – wetting one slightly, and then rubbing it in circles on a metal table. Meanwhile Adam was polishing a lion dropping by sanding it, and then buffing it on a jeweler’s wheel. He was not pleased when he saw Jamie using furniture polish to further polish the giraffe pellet – saying that Jamie was cheating by using something to cover the pellet in order to make it appear shiny. Jamie pointed to the word “polish” on the can, and pointed out that he was, indeed, polishing the pellet.
However, after a while, Adam perked up when he learned about an ancient Japanese art form in which dirt and water is worked into a shiny ball, with no other additive except hard work. Adam learns this technique from Jason Arnold, and he produces a shiny ball of dirt in due time. Jamie sees this and agrees with Adam that this is the technique that they need in order to produce polished poop. So, Jamie uses some lion stuff, while Adam uses ostrich, and they produce two shiny balls in a few days time. They measure the shininess of the balls with a glossmeter, and both Jamie’s and Adam’s balls rate highly on the gloss scale (anything higher than 70 is a high gloss, and Adam’s ball of poo is 106, whereas Jamie’s is 183). In the end, the myth of not being able to polish poo is BUSTED.
Hit the Ground Running
The Myth: Will hitting the ground running actually make you go faster?
The Experts: Eric, from Trapeze Arts, helps the team to test this myth safely.
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Grant: Setting new standards in coolness!
Kari: (after hearing the explanation of the tests they will do) Wait a minute – that sounds like we’re all getting hurt – not just Tory!
Tory: (laughing) Welcome to my world!
The Action/Results:
First, Tory, Grant, and Kari went to Trapeze Arts to test the first part of this myth. They timed themselves running a 30-yard dash from a standing start, and then after pumping their legs as if they were running, while hanging from a trapeze. Surprisingly, the drop from the trapeze did yield a slight increase in speed. They decided to test again, this time pumping their legs as if they were running, while hanging from a zip line. Grant commented on this process, saying, “It wasn’t really like hitting the ground running so much as it was hitting the ground stumbling.” The other members of the team felt the same way, and the numbers bore that out, showing that they were running a quarter of a second slower overall when dropping from the zip line than when starting standing still.
Tory then suggested trying the same myth with a bike, instead of running.
Tory took the bike that he used to unsuccessfully jump the little red wagon, and modified it so that Kari could pull a trip line and release it, as he was pedaling up to speed. As before, they did some time trials with the bike from a standing start first. Then they put the bike on the quick release rig. Tory pedaled furiously, and Kari pulled the release…and Tory hit the ground and almost fell off the bike. Each time they tried it, it was the same result, and so the team declared it busted for bikes and moved on to cars.
This time, Kari was in the driver’s seat. As before, she did several test drives to establish a baseline. Then they hoisted the car’s front wheels up in the air, she gunned the engine, and they dropped the car when she was up to speed. The car’s tires didn’t pop, and Kari said, “That was so awesome! The redneck in my – screaming the whole way! I love a good burnout!” Grant crunched the numbers, and the final numbers proved that starting from a standstill was still faster than hitting the ground running. This myth is BUSTED!
Better to End with a Bang!
The Myth: It is always better to end with a bang!
The Experts: J.D. Nelson and Frank Doyle Jr. were there to keep everyone safe.
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Adam: The goal is to make Jamie’s moped go away.
J.D. and Frank: Det cord!
The Action/Results:
Adam and Jamie decided to do two fiery finishes – one explosive and one not – to decide if it was always better to end with a bang. For the explosion, they chose to use Jamie’s moped. They wrapped it in detonation cord and set it off.
Then, as a comparison, they made over one thousand pounds of thermite. They placed the thermite on top of an SUV, and set it alight. It burned almost all the way through the top of the SUV, and nearly cut the SUV in half. In the end, Jamie liked the thermite better, and Adam liked the explosion better. They asked us, the fans, to decide which one we liked the best.
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Episode Descriptions 
