Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
On occasion, we at 'MythBusters' come across stories we want to test that require using a pig carcass to simulate human physiology.
After working as a charter boat captain and dive master in the Caribbean for a number of years, I decided it was time for a change.
In my case you can pretty well figure that you can put a beret and a mustache on just about anything you want and it looks like me.
I'm developing some new kinds of robotic firefighting vehicles to help with the massive forest fires we're dealing with in the West.
I would love to have access to a company like Caterpillar. I would make all their stuff remote controlled and work ten times as fast.
I grew up on an apple orchard with a lot of surrounding wooded area, and I ran everywhere. I was outside all the time climbing trees.
I've ended up water skiing behind the Stanford rowing team as well as water skiing behind an excavator while it swung around in a circle.
An indispensable tool is a pair of diagonal cutting Knipex pliers. There isn't any other hand tool of any other brand that stands up to it.
Science isn't just for guys in lab coats, you know? It's for anybody who wants to do a good job of understanding and investigating the world.
Duct tape is not a perfect solution to anything. But with a little creativity, in a pinch, it's an adequate solution to just about everything.
We're not too out there to educate people about any specific thing necessarily so much as we are to encourage critical and scientific thinking.
Over the years, we've developed a respect for each other in the roles that we play and we rely on that difference to recreate clarity for the audience.
We're constantly pushing these materials and processes to the extreme to see what will happen. It's an insight into things that you don't normally see.
As far as I'm concerned, raising the bar or encouraging kids in large numbers to be interested in science, I can't think of anything I'd rather see happen.
We are seeing robotics creep into all areas and become accessible, where it used to be something tedious that only the most persistent people could access.
Occasionally, you know, a myth is specific with a certain model of car, you know, like a Corvette or whatever. And so we end up spending some cash on those.
The core of what we're doing is, we're playing with the world. And our curiosity in doing that is what we are most proud of and what we like to put out there.
We have relatively little time and a whole lot of curiosity, so the most efficient way to get there is what we do, and that often happens to be some form of science.
We should point out that if we feel like we've upset somebody and they're vitriolic, if people are actively pursuing some sort of complaint, then we've done our job.
I've learned that I can pretty much do anything I've wanted to as long as I was methodical and diligent about it. It may not sound very exciting really, but it works.
You know, when you look carefully at stuff that you deal with everyday, applying a little creativity to it and thinking outside the box, it's amazing what you can do.
We may not have a sample size larger than one, or we may not have unlimited resources - it's a TV show, and we generally turn these things around in about a week or so.
I was approached to do 'MythBusters' in 2002. I didn't think it would go anywhere, but I guess anything can happen if you wear a funny hat and have lots of facial hair.
We seriously irritate each other and don't want to spend any time together. And yet we have a profound respect for the partnership. We're like a couple of dogs with a rag.
I always telling people to "not try this at home," because most of what we do on MythBusters is really dangerous. Consequently, we can't encourage people to try that stuff.
I didn't do the engineering, and I didn't do the math, because I thought I understood what was going on and I thought I made a good rig. But I was wrong. I should have done it.
We couldn't be happier that the show has encouraged kids to have an interest in science and math, but we don't try to do that. We just have fun, which is its own bold statement.
If you get the question right, if you really define it, then the answers are just sitting there waiting for you. And it's something a little different than people usually think.
Over time, shop classes sort of disappeared or got marginalized in the states. I don't really know why. Now with tech like 3-D printers and CNCs, shops have acquired a new shine.
A lot of mythology surrounds British inventor Geoffrey Pyke. He supposedly made people come to his bedside to see his designs because getting up and getting dressed took too long.
I really didn't think this was going to be a success. We did the first three episodes and I said to Adam, 'I can't see this going anywhere. I've already used up all my urban legends.'
When I watch a movie I don't really care too much about the plot - not that it isn't important, but what I remember is the visual imagery, something that happens in an individual scene.
In my case, the only thing to note is if I show up at home at an unusual time, it's cause for raising my wife's blood pressure because it only happens if... usually that involves stitches.
Neither Adam or I are scientists, we're not engineers or anything of the sort. We just have a lot of fun and the thing is, fun for us happens to involve science and satisfying our curiosity.
Sometimes the best people to be around are not exactly like you - because if they were, what is the point? If they contribute something different than you can, that is when they are valuable.
We got a lot of gay fan mail when the show first started. Something to do with being in San Francisco and being a big, burly guy with a big moustache. But we're both happily married. To women.
One of our neighbors is a salami distributor, and they pretty well - I mean, we used their salami to make a rocket engine out of. They just look at us and they're amused, they're fine with it.
Dealing with effects, as a job it's great, but with Mythbusters, the stuff we've seen, the stuff we've absorbed over the years, has just been fantastic, and I wouldn't change it for the world.
I think 'MythBusters' is a step up from special effects because we not only have to make things look like they work, they actually do have to work. It's more challenging and even transcendental.
I think when you do stuff in a computer people tend to dismiss it. It also allows you to make a lot of stuff totally not connected with reality because you're not limited by any kind of reality.
I think "MythBusters" is a step up from special effects because we not only have to make things look like they work, they actually do have to work. It's more challenging and even transcendental.
We're fond of pointing out that we've known each other for over 25 years now and not once sat down alone to have dinner together. We pretty much avoid spending whatever time together that we can.
We're not friends - in fact, we pretty much as a rule irritate each other. But we've learnt to embrace it and use it as a strength... the other guy's always seeing something from the opposite pole.
There's no director who wants to portray cheese puffs with a certain color that's going to make or break the commercial, in his opinion. We don't have to do that, so I don't miss it at all, really.
Miles Flannery - he's a beast. Very talented, but a brute. He's one of three guys who help us keep the shop maintained, help us set up on location and assist in building something if time is short.
I wouldn't spend five minutes with Adam outside work if I didn't have to. But yet I feel somewhat displaced without him in the workplace... destroying my tools and leaving messes everywhere he goes.
You know, dealing with effects, as a job it's great, but with 'Mythbusters,' the stuff we've seen, the stuff we've absorbed over the years, has just been fantastic, and I wouldn't change it for the world.
Neither of us were experienced hosts on television. But the show seemd to moved in the direction of our characters, the way we approached things. It evolved around us and the things we think are interesting.
The only way we can fly planes and use computers is because people were curious about their world and also skeptical about the things they were told to be immutable, so they figured out other ways of doing things.
It's the results that are surprising, even results where we've totally screwed up, and then learned something in the process, are the ones that stand out. Having our preconceptions overturned is actually thrilling for us.