Mythbusters

As we all learned in grade school, the world's greatest thinkers each spent time engaged in pursuits that might seem childish to outsiders. Galileo threw stuff out windows; DaVinci put hidden messages in his paintings (like the "find the fish" games you see in dentist office magazines, and Einstein experimented with hairstyle ideas with one of those "Hairy Harry" iron filings & magnetic pencil novelty games. Weird Al Yankovic read Spiderman comics, and if I'm not mistaken, Sir Isaac Newton spent countless hours playing "Skee-Ball".

Now I'm not trying to imply that I'm of the same calibre as these history-changing intellects -- all I'm saying is that it's not necessarily a bad thing to mix in a little fluff along with your serious educational pursuits. I mean, if you watch serious brainiac shows like Jeopardy, Nova, and those specials where Geraldo digs up buried stuff, well...it's OK to throw in a little Simpsons, Family Guy, or South Park along with it. I don't think that watching SpongeBob necessarily taints my credibility as a deep thinker; that's all I'm saying.

Fortunately, there's one show that combines science and entertainment in a most pleasing fashion -- Mythbusters. They perform serious experiments, examine the evidence of cause and effect, and also blow stuff up and chuck dummies out of airplanes. What more could you want?

The concept appeals to nearly everyone. We've all heard tales that sound outlandish, but may or may not be true, and we'd all like to know which are true and which are sheer baloney. Some of the "truths" I doubted, even as a kid, include "you must wait an hour after eating before you swim" and "you'll get a better tan if you get sunburned first". Another one that my mom firmly believed (but always seems a bit iffy to me) was that hot water freezes faster. I never did understand where that one came from.

[Note to self: send an email to the show asking them to explain the myth that "bologna" is an acceptable spelling for baloney. I'm not sure how they'd attack that theme, but I have a feeling there's an explosion in there somewhere.]

Those myths (and countless others) have been thoroughly busted, but there are still plenty more out there. I saw a particularly satisfying episode the other night -- they took on the conspiracy theory that the moon landings had been faked.

That has special significance for me, because I work in the aerospace industry, and because my son and I have had some very stimulating discussions on that very topic. And of course, because of the movie "Capricorn One", which starred the guy who's married to Barbra Striesand (one of Al Gore's chief science consultants), and O.J. Simpson, who has been proven in court to tell nothing but 100% of the truth. Anyway, it's been a few years now since it happened, but there was a time when Tanner's school buddies stumbled onto the "moon landing conspiracy" idea and were able to quote the arguments about the anomalies in the photos, videos, and news reports.

I tried to explain to the boys that for one thing, there are too darn many people in the aerospace business to keep such a conspiracy quiet, and besides, I have actually worked with the folks who design and build the machines that travel into space. These are really smart guys, and it doesn't take long in the business to become absolutely convinced that they can do what they say they can do. After all, if there wasn't a successful space program, how would your GPS and satellite TV systems work? Huh?

Of course, the kids didn't listen to me, because after all, I'm a part of the "establishment" (ie, I have a job), and am therefore part of the conspiracy. (I've hung out with Buzz Aldrin, after all.) But when Mythbusters takes it on, the kids'll actually pay attention. And thank goodness, the show hit every single one of the points that were part of the conspiracy theory, and debunked them all. It's an excellent episode, and I'd recommend that you watch it if you get the chance.

And watch the other episodes, too. Even if the myths they're exploring aren't very compelling, the chances are pretty good that the Mythbusters crew is going to blow something up in spectacular fashion, and that beats the heck out of watching Desperate Housewives, doesn't it?

And you just know that one of these days they're going to reveal whether you really need to get out of the swimming pool in a lightning storm, and will give us the real scoop on what happened in Roswell in 1947. I can't wait to see that one!