You all have to see what mythbusters has to say about police

[vaporfx]

ok i just watched this a second ago and i couldn't believe it (as in the myths were so lame they almost dont even need to be tested, none the less it should be tested), im pretty sure the Califnoria State Troopers wernt surprised at all by the results.

was the girl misusing the Stalker ATR by waving it around trying to pick up the speed?

[thestaton]

shhh. i'm glad the world thinks this stuff don't work.

[Orbital75]

I remember at the beginning of the program they stated that they were not
going to use commercially purchased Jamming devices.

Well, I wish they would have and Used one of those great
Rocky Mountain Radar Jammers or KATs.....

I tested one out in 1997 and came to this conclusion.

[xrs9430]

ok i just watched this a second ago and i couldn't believe it (as in the myths were so lame they almost dont even need to be tested, none the less it should be tested), im pretty sure the Califnoria State Troopers wernt surprised at all by the results.

was the girl misusing the Stalker ATR by waving it around trying to pick up the speed?

ya that episode was on at 3pm today, i was laughing because they kept calling this one stalker a lidar, the episode was also titled "beat the radar detector" it had nothing to do with an RD, i think they where talking about the radar guns

[Doc What, son?]

Acknowledged that Mythbusters initially "defined their terms." A corner stone of the scientific method is to "operationally define" your variables. Then make your method explicit, regalur, repeatable. Then controlled observations are taken, and conclusions are drawn.

MB starts out oh so scientific-like. Here they defined what they'd do and not do.

One part of the trouble is they take too few sample observations under conditions that are not well controlled.

It's their business if their test conditions are contrived, but too often they are down right preposterous. They don't give the common myth a fair shake.

Then they quickly jump to conclusions, ti seems to me, that sweep, overgeneralizingly, beyond the parameters they set for themselves.

They put on aires of scientific sophistication, but their methods are so shoddy, they may as well revert to the pseudoscientific approaches of yester year, and let astrology answer the questions for them.

Let's just say their methods lack rigorous controls, are highly prone to error variance that overwhelms the ability to accurately separate signal from noise, and to decide which is which.

FWIW

[jdong]

This is surprising how? That's classic Mythbusters style:

(1) Start out scientific, plan well
(2) Get sidetracked
(3) Do a very rudimentary set of tests, very few retrials, very few attempts at investigating anomalies
(4) Blow stuff up, set stuff on fire
(5) Draw extremely dramatized conclusions (TOTALLY, ABSOLUTELY, DEFINITIVELY BUSTED)
(6) Profit from show ratings due to #4.

[Doc What, son?]

This is surprising how? That's classic Mythbusters style:

(1) Start out scientific, plan well
(2) Get sidetracked
(3) Do a very rudimentary set of tests, very few retrials, very few attempts at investigating anomalies
(4) Blow stuff up, set stuff on fire
(5) Draw extremely dramatized conclusions (TOTALLY, ABSOLUTELY, DEFINITIVELY BUSTED)
(6) Profit from show ratings due to #4.

Myth Busters is to Science what TV Wrestling is to:
a) The Tour de Farce,
b) A cheesy morality play in speedos
c) Any legitimate athletic endeavor
d) "Honey, where's my fnuckin STEROIDS? Where jah PUTTEM? I'm GETTIN' REALLY TICKED NOWWWW!"

[polakatl]

few people would watch the myth busters if they were really scientific about their experiments. Sometimes they do pretty interesting things, and other times they bust stupid myths that need some common sense. Beating the radar gun was a good example of a pointless show. They could have made it interesting by actually using technology, but that wasn't the point of that episode. On the other hand beating motion sensors and finger print readers was educational.

[Phillip559]

I remember when some guy at work was talking about this.

Lol, i just let him think that what he wanted about the "ineffectiveness" of laser jammers.

haha

[jdong]

few people would watch the myth busters if they were really scientific about their experiments. Sometimes they do pretty interesting things, and other times they bust stupid myths that need some common sense. Beating the radar gun was a good example of a pointless show. They could have made it interesting by actually using technology, but that wasn't the point of that episode. On the other hand beating motion sensors and finger print readers was educational.

I agree. Some of their shows are fantastically educational. I'd say the fingerprint/motion sensor one is one of their best episodes.

Most of the time, it's great entertainment -- lots of blowing stuff up, building outrageously absurd machines. Stuff that I want to see happen but don't have the resources to do.

Yet a few times, the show is amazingly frustrating to watch because they seem to completely screw science in the names of voicing their own opinions on things.


Another factor... I'm SURE on the radar show they were pressured by the cop allies they were working with to bias the show towards the cops. If they tested even a $150 Whistler detector and showed it picking up Ka from 2 miles away, I'm more than willing to bet every show watcher will be heading out and buying a radar detector