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[nenjin]

"Next week on Mythbusters, we'll calculate the odds that we could have obliterated between 2 and 10 children with a cannon ball!"

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/06/BA1D1M99V5.DTL

DUBLIN -- One of the zany experiments staged by the "Mythbusters" television show nearly turned into a suburban tragedy Tuesday afternoon in Dublin when the crew fired a homemade cannon toward huge containers of water at the Alameda County Sheriff's Department bomb disposal range.

The cantaloupe-sized cannonball missed the water, tore through a cinder-block wall, skipped off a hillside and flew some 700 yards east, right into the Tassajara Creek neighborhood, where children were returning home from school at 4:15 p.m., authorities said.

Spoiler: The logisitics, which I'm sure their fans on the forum will use to ream them. (click to show/hide)

I'm glad no one was killed or even injured. Say what you will about the show, they're nice guys and no one would want that on their conscience.

[Necro910]

"Ugh, I got fired, my wife left me, and it's going to rain. Well, it can't get any worse than thi-"

[kaijyuu]

Damn.


That's both awesome and unfortunate.



Seriously though; tore through their barrier, flew 700 yards, through a house and into a truck before stopping? Overkill much?

[ToonyMan]

Ahh, at least the cannonball didn't hit anybody.  This is why experiments must be controlled!  Make doubly sure next time.

Oh man what if a cannonball flew through my room, that would be amazing.

[Aqizzar]

MythBusters: Ruining property values for science.

Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.

But yeah really, what the heck happened with that cannonball?  Surely they'll mention it on the episode.  Waitaminute.

There, the 6-inch projectile bounced in front of a home on quiet Cassata Place, ripped through the front door, raced up the stairs and blasted through a bedroom, where a man, woman and child slept through it all - only awakening because of plaster dust.

The ball wasn't done bouncing.

It exited the house, leaving a perfectly round hole in the stucco, crossed six-lane Tassajara Road, took out several tiles from the roof of a home on Bellevue Circle and finally slammed into the Gill family's beige Toyota Sienna minivan in a driveway on Springvale Drive.

Man, fuck whatever experiment they were working on, they've found a cannonball made of flubber.  The damn thing went on a rampage.

[nenjin]

It's not that surprising actually. Those things are essentially giant high velocity ball bearings, originally designed to bounce and roll through ranks of massed infantry.

What's surprising is the charge they used, at least I would think so. How far, ideally, was that cannon ball supposed to go? Because after hitting that water tower, I don't know it would have slowed down that much. People are also questioning why the cannon wasn't pointed at that huge expanse of nothing to the NW.

[SirAaronIII]

According to the San Jose Mercury News, the owner of the minivan was in it 5 minutes earlier with his kids. Oh man if he had stayed in there longer...

[Duke 2.0]

What's surprising is the charge they used, at least I would think so. How far, ideally, was that cannon ball supposed to go? Because after hitting that water tower, I don't know it would have slowed down that much. People are also questioning why the cannon wasn't pointed at that huge expanse of nothing to the NW.

Presumably there is a pretty hefty hill in that general direction that would absorb most blasts which would be done on that range.

Although I can't confirm anything.

[ToonyMan]

There, the 6-inch projectile bounced in front of a home on quiet Cassata Place, ripped through the front door, raced up the stairs and blasted through a bedroom, where a man, woman and child slept through it all - only awakening because of plaster dust.
The ball wasn't done bouncing.
It exited the house, leaving a perfectly round hole in the stucco, crossed six-lane Tassajara Road, took out several tiles from the roof of a home on Bellevue Circle and finally slammed into the Gill family's beige Toyota Sienna minivan in a driveway on Springvale Drive.

Man, fuck whatever experiment they were working on, they've found a cannonball made of flubber.  The damn thing went on a rampage.

Holy shit that's amazing.

[Jackrabbit]

What the hell, that thing played pinball with a suburb.

[Itnetlolor]

Sounds to me that the neighborhood got themselves one hell of a souvenir to be autographed and put on display. That, or sold for a fortune.

Must've tried to see if they could fire a cannonball with AMFO charges.

[EveryZig]

I would have thought a bomb disposal range would have stronger walls 

What's surprising is the charge they used, at least I would think so. How far, ideally, was that cannon ball supposed to go? Because after hitting that water tower, I don't know it would have slowed down that much.

I am just guessing, but the article implied they were trying to shoot it into a row of very large water containers to see how far it would travel through water.

An "X" marks the spot where Jasvir Gill's van was struck when the "Mythbusters" TV show accidentally shot a cannonball through a house in Dublin, CA Tuesday December 6th, 2011.

For a moment I read that as "where Jasvir Gill's van was struck down". Too many DF combat reports for me.

[nenjin]

I am just guessing, but the article implied they were trying to shoot it into a row of very large water containers to see how far it would travel through water.

Which means they didn't really have a practical idea of how far it would travel....especially when it missed the target completely.

[Duke 2.0]

I would have thought a bomb disposal range would have stronger walls 

Generally they don't have walls, just fences to keep people out. Their 'walls' are surrounding hills as the site is situated in a small gully.

[EveryZig]

I would have thought a bomb disposal range would have stronger walls 

Generally they don't have walls, just fences to keep people out. Their 'walls' are surrounding hills as the site is situated in a small gully.

So the cannonball bounced/rolled up a half a mile of dirt hill? That would seem strange, but I don't actually know that much about cannonballs.