March 2006 Archives

Lost Recap: Lockdown

A strange lockdown was in effect in the hatch this week, with the living quarters sealed off from the rest of the hatch. Locke let ‘Henry’ out of the armory to help him, then relied on him to reset the countdown after getting stuck under one of the doors when it came back down partway.

Meanwhile, the flashbacks were of another experience with Locke’s father, showing how things apparently ended - with Locke’s father faking his own death to get away with a large con, and Locke also losing Helen in the process. As this was happening, Jack was taking on Sawyer in a card game to try and get the medical supplies (and soundly whipping him), and Charlie, Kate and Sayid returned from their expedition across the island to find the balloon.

The good news is that they found it. The bad news is that they dug up the grave of Henry’s wife - only to find a man buried there. A man with an ID card identifying him as Henry, and the picture doesn’t match the guy in the hatch. Not looking good for the captive.

Ghost Whisperer Recap: Fury

After a couple weeks off for the NCAA tournament, we get back to some new new content. I don’t know if it’s because of the break, or in spite of it, but this episode was actually pretty good.

The ghost this time around was from 30 years ago, a black man who died in a fight with a white man, and of course racial overtones polarize the sides, and no one can see which side is in the right, as both sides seem to make their points well.

As luck would have it, another ghost comes to the rescue (this is the nurse from a prior episode, who Melinda owes a favor - she was in the hospital the night of the incident and knows the truth) and everything turns out as well as it can.

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Dirty Jobs Recap: Alligator Farmer

Sugar Processor. I love this show. Who would think that making sugar is a dirty job? I sure wouldn’t have. My wife didn’t. But it is. Perhaps one of the dirtiest. Sure, you have the machinery, which can get dirty anywhere, and it’s no exception here. But the actual sugar is nasty - when pressing the cane to create the juice it’s like dirty runoff water, and it doesn’t get any better as it goes through the plant.

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Survivor: Exile Island

The premise of the newest round of Survivor is rather interesting, in that one person can be exiled to another island, entirely separate from the rest of the group. Even more interesting is that person then has a chance of finding an immunity idol on the island, which they can hang onto and then use when needed. But when the idol is found early on, and the island doesn’t really figure prominently? It’s been a bit boring.

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Mythbusters Recap: Killer Brace Position

Killer Brace Positions? The title myth checks out the airline’s “brace position”, where you are told to position yourself in the case of a crash, which has been rumored to be done only because it is more likely to kill you quickly. Are airlines thinking that it’s cheaper to pay out for a wrongful death suit than for years of rehab?

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Mythbusters Recap: Pingpong Rescue

Ping Pong Salvage. Lifting the idea from a comic book, the crew decides to sink a boat to the bottom of Monterrey Bay and then fill it with ping pong balls to lift it again, with the idea that each ball will displace a certain amount of water, replacing it with air.

The only problem? Getting all those balls, then getting them down to the boat on the bottom. By the time they are delivered, the crew has a device to get the balls to the boat - and it’s not too different than the one used in the comic, either, pumping them down a giant funnel powered by a water pump and into the belly of the sunken boat.

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Mythbusters Recap: Paper Crossbow

Paper Crossbow. Once again we have a myth I hadn’t heard previously, this one about a story from a California prison where an inmate built a lethal crossbow and bolt from paper and underwear, then used it against a fellow inmate. In busting this myth, Adam and Jamie took different approaches, so they built their own crossbows out of newspaper and underwear, then compared the results.

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Barrel of Bricks. If you’ve never received the Barrel of Bricks email (or seen it elsewhere), you’ve been missing out. Luckily, this episode is for you, as good old Buster is put through the ringer. In the end? Buster ended up completely broken, and while the myth was proven to be possible, the source was claimed to be from a 1918 joke book.

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Mythbusters Recap: Exploding Jawbreaker

Exploding Jawbreaker. Before tonight, I had never even heard of this myth. I guess I’m just not the jawbreaker type. In any case, apparently the problem is that some of these beasts are known to explode in certain instances, causing severe burns - often to the face, since that is where the jawbreaker is headed. Since there are reported cases of this actually happening, the team set about finding ways that this could actually happen, as opposed to trying to determine if it could happen or not.

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The Amazing Race Recap: Segesta, Italy

The lead we saw from last week wasn’t as large as expected, but it was long enough to make a difference. The always entertaining team of BJ and Tyler continued to stretch that lead by jumping onto an Internet terminal to book their flight, rather than continuing to wait in line at the desk.

Strangely, the husband and wife team of Lake and Michelle couldn’t accomplish this task, and by the time Eric and Jeremy decided to try it, the window was open. Unfortunately, all the seats were sold out, so it seemed as if BJ and Tyler were the only ones on the earliest flight. Alas, Eric and Jeremy managed to get on as standby passengers, so somehow Lake and Michelle missed out and made the next flight.

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