Boom-Lift Catapult. As this myth, goes, apparently someone was using a boom-lift to, uh, lift an engine out of their car when suddenly it snapped, sending them flying over their house and into a tree on the other side – a ride of some 80 to 100 feet. Sounds like one that needs busting!
So after checking out a couple of boom-lifts, the team decides on a 60-footer that should do nicely. The only problem is that, well, it doesn’t. After strapping Buster in, and hanging an engine from the boom and dropping it, the boom moves about as much as that pig did when they shot it to test Blown Away in Brown Note. Busted.
Of course, the myth doesn’t stop there. They rig up Earl the Caddy (from Scuba Diver, Car Capers and later destruction in Cooling a Six-Pack) to the boom and try again. Buster barely moves. So the team puts together a bigger device using shipping containers. This time Buster flies – straight into the ground. Now it’s really busted, and so is Buster.
Even though Buster 2.0 didn’t come about until the Cooling a Six-Pack episode, airing 7 episodes later, it was probably this episode that made that happen. He received new shoulder and hip joints which might have helped him make it that far, but it was his ride in the Boom-Lift Catapult that really messed him up.
Windows Down vs. Air Conditioning. Do you wonder if you get better gas mileage if you drive with the air on or the windows down? In this day and age, with gas at the price it is, you just might. Me, I like the air, especially in the summer. So this is a pretty good myth to see. If you believe the people who tell you that the computer models say it’s about the same, you may want to stop reading. If you want to know real-world performance, you may want to keep going.
Adam and Jamie loaded up identical SUVs and sucked out all the gas, then filled them up with the exact same amount of payload and the same amount of gas and went around the same track and the same speed. Guess who ran dry first?
Jamie, in the air-conditioned vehicle. The test was run at 45mph, which may or may not matter to you if you can’t drive 45, but consider that Adam ran for an extra 30 laps, so it wasn’t even close. Of course, Adam may have been a whole lot less comfortable, too, since he didn’t have the air on. Your own mileage may vary. Literally. Busted.
