Shark, jumping the

[kirisutogomen]

OK, I'm no cultural authority on precisely what constitutes jumping a shark, but I just watched a Mythbusters episode where they rigged a machine to drop eggs into boiling water in a random sequence (with randomized time delays so the eggs couldn't anticipate when the next one would drop) and hooked a houseplant up to a polygraph to detect emotional disturbances in the plant as it mourned in sympathy for the eggs.

It was very scientific, as they made sure to put the plant on foam to reduce vibration and inside a shipping container for electromagnetic shielding, and the human crew left the area to let the plant focus on the feelings of the eggs.

(Actually it wasn't really very scientific. They didn't even specify whether the eggs came from free-range chickens or if the plant and the eggs had been given the opportunity to interact in social situations in order to strengthen the emotional connection. Seriously, you expect a plant to give a flying crīsāre about a dozen eggs straight from the supermarket shelf without even a passing "How do you do?"?)

Comments

[mathhobbit.livejournal.com]

How long did you watch, and why?

[kirisutogomen.livejournal.com]

I watched the whole episode; the bit with the eggs playing Russian Roulette was right at the end, and the psychic plant stuff was alternating with a gripping investigation into shooting bits of straw into the trunk of a palm tree. They usually have at least two parallel storylines going, one with the two principals, and one with Kari Byron and a couple of annoying guys who occasionally obscure my view of Kari Byron.

I watched the whole thing because Mythbusters has historically been a frequently enjoyable and occasionally worthwhile show, so I was willing to cut it some slack, and I have an irrational aversion to giving up on things partway even if I'm not enjoying them.

Usually they do a passable imitation of the scientific method, varying one variable at a time -- first they shoot straw at a pal tree, then they shoot straw at a different species of palm tree, then they shoot stiffer thatch at a palm tree, then they shoot straw at a bent palm tree, etc. The psychic plant project made a mockery of that, starting with hooking up a philodendron to a polygraph and spraying it with a fire extinguisher, and rapidly moving through hooking a philodendron to an EEG and thinking angry thoughts at it, into hooking up a polygraph to some yogurt and pouring boiling water on some other yogurt within line of sight, and then having a guy wash out his mouth with salt water and monitoring the salt water for emotional responses to zapping the guy with a stun gun.