The 'Mythbusters' cannonball run as seen on a map
To get (and give) some sense of perspective, reader Matt Pressnall creates a map that traces the route taken by the "Mythbusters" runaway cannonball.
While some were still dazed by the news that a cannonball could still endanger life in this era of Kalashnikovs and stealth bombers, others were re-plotting its course.
Should have spent the last 24 hours hiding from errant missiles, you might have missed that a cannonball fired in the name of science by the folks from "Mythbusters," mythed its target and flew into a suburban house and then a minivan.
No one was hurt. But Matt Pressnall, a tech consultant from Seattle, decided to dramatize the course of the cannonball in order get a sense of perspective.
So, armed with Google Maps, Photoshop, and a delicate sense of privacy, he created this map that shows just how far the cannonball traveled in Dublin, Calif., in its uncontrolled quest for news headlines.
Pressnall, who says he's a fan of the show, manages to convey a little of the cannonball's entirely insane journey as it wreaked the havoc of many a bad B-movie.
From the map, it appears that the cannonball didn't even hit the first houses it encountered, managing, presumably to bounce over or around them until it smashed through a wall and toward a sleeping family's bedroom.
It also managed to clear a four-lane road, a couple of other smaller roads and flew over at least three or four more houses before coming to rest in Jasbir Gill's Toyota Sienna.
I wonder if someone at Toyota is considering making an ad that suggests the Sienna is so well built that it can even contain a cannonball. Perhaps Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage might provide a voiceover.