Internet Fans make the difference

According an article in the Hollywood Reporter, Paramount based in release of MacGyver (among other titles) on the strong online fan community. So people, I guess all this blogging and forum posting and fansites pays off. Thank god. Since I don't get much feedback, I sometimes don't feel like blogging. Thus the paltry amount of posts in the last month or so. I'll try and get back on the horse. The sucky thing is that most MacGyver news tends to be in reference to homemade bombs in the midwest. Not too interesting from an ingenuity point of view nor from a show point of view.

Oh well. Thank god for the Simpsons and the Season 3 release on Sept. 6.

MacGyverism of the week

Stranded researchers on an Arctic Island used spark plugs to start a fire. That's pretty ingenious if you ask me, and definitely worthy of MacGyver. Extra point for danger since they were surrounded by polar bears at the time, and teh fire was the only thing that kept the bears away. And an additional 5 points for being rescued by a helicopter in the nick of time. MacGyver would be proud.

MacGyver in the Lab - Accidentally creating waterproof paper

Recently, I read a really good book called Serendipity: Accidental Discoveries in Science by Royston Roberts. It's fairly old, published in 1989, I found it on a friend's bookshelf. Basically, it's a historical survey of important discoveries made by accident, with a hefty portion devoted to chemistry. As a MacGyver geek, I love chemistry and as a former English Lit major, I don't know enough about it.

Anyway, I bring it up because recently a scientist discovered a process for making paper waterproof. She described the discovery as the result of some MacGyver-like ingenuity, and thus I bring it to you, the reader. Enjoy.

http://news.com.com/Making+paper+waterproof--and+writable/2100-7337_3-5823337.html