WEBVTT - How Human Cannonballs Work 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.920 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.560 It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff you should know 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:16.919 from house toff works dot com Kaboom and welcome to 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:21.080 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:24.440 What are you doing now? You're doing the cheeks? Huh? 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:27.000 Have you ever captured that? Yeah? We did it once 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:29.920 and then people have asked occasionally liked the cheek thing again? 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:31.760 And I don't want to. I want to do it 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:35.199 like once every hundred and fifty shows. Literally that's a 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:37.400 good that's a good pace. I don't want to overdo that. 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:40.879 So that's that'll be the third time soon coming up, 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:44.120 I think so. Yeah, sure, four fifty right around the 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:48.120 corner head around company. Um, chuckers, have you ever had 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:54.160 kaboom cereal? No, dude, that was such a thing good? Um, No, 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:56.880 it wasn't good. The marshmallows were good. They it was 0:00:56.960 --> 0:00:59.880 basically like Lucky Charms. I don't know who ripped off who, 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:03.920 but it was clown themed rather than you know, Irish themed. 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:07.640 That's genius. Yeah, But there was a clown on front 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:09.399 and he had a cannon and that's where the name 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:12.320 came from. Kaboom. It was a circus clown circus cannon. 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:16.639 But then they realized clowns where scary as heck most people, 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:19.520 so it failed miserably. I wrote this blog post recently. 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:22.759 Did you read it about it? Yeah, the clown giving 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:26.039 clown therapy. People seem to like it too. Yeah. I 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:28.640 thought it was a nice one. Um, that wasn't my intro. 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:32.880 My intro was about hunter te. Oh, well, let's hear it, 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:35.760 do you remember? Well, sure, you're probably gonna reference his 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:39.320 death wish. Yes, so he you know, he comes down 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:42.400 with the cancer and um shoots himself in the head. 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:45.760 And regardless of how you feel about suicide, what happened 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:48.840 next was his um As you said, I guess his 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:52.920 death wish, which you made in life. Ironically. Yeah, there's 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:55.440 two kinds of death wishes. There's a wish that you 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:58.360 make upon your death that you would like for things 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:01.160 to happen after you die, and then there's the jolly 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:05.440 Brunson death wish. Nice. That's good, good, Chuck bron Well, 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:09.000 that's a Simpsons character too, But it's the Simpsons character, right, 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:16.359 the mustachioed sales clerk yes, but he clearly references Gerald's Brunson. Um. Anyway, 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:21.520 what happened to Hunter T was he Um, he he 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:26.120 was cremated and he had his remains shot out of 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:29.120 a cannon. Have you seen it? Yeah? Thanks to Johnny 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.440 Depp helped that dream come true because he has tons 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:34.280 and tons of money to make that happen. Yes, he does. 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:37.880 It is quite a cannon too. Um. And we've talked 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:40.079 before about how I want my dead body shot out 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:43.280 of a cannon. We have indeed, Um, I'm not so 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:46.400 sure anymore. Maybe who knows? It would be after reading 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:49.360 this article and the physical requirements, it would be kind 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:52.760 of gruesome. It wouldn't be like unless they stiffened you 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:55.560 up somehow, you would come out in a big like 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:58.320 a dead body would. That's what I've always imagined though, 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:01.040 that's what I see flying through the air. I thought 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:04.680 you saw yourself like shooting through a rocket towards the storm. No, 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:07.920 like flopping like through the air and doing like half 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:12.320 somersaults and twists. Think it's gonna be naked too. I 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:14.960 was gonna land on the Kansas Prairie and let the 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:20.520 vultures finish me off. All right, We'll see idea, bring it. 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:22.680 I got a backyard for you. I think that's how 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:25.720 we met coop um he he offered. He was like, hey, 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:29.919 I I live in Kansas and I can get this done. Yeah, alright, 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:31.919 so we'll see. But I think that that's an image 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:33.720 that people can have in their head while we talk 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:37.320 about how human cannonballs work, right, because like you said, 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:39.760 there's a lot to it, but one of the things 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:42.360 that's not to it. And I think it's funny that, 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:47.080 um people wonder how this how you can shoot somebody 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:49.600 out of a cannon and the gunpowder doesn't blow them up. 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:53.280 There's no gunpowder, of course there's not. I don't understand 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:57.720 how someone cannot understand that intuitively. Yeah, because I think 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:00.640 people want to believe that they're being fired out of 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:06.080 a cannon instead of a a long piston enclosed in 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:09.920 a in a tube with a fake boom in a flash. 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:13.240 Yes for effect. Okay, so I guess it's the fake 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:16.080 boom in the flash they're they're buying it. Yeah, Well 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:18.920 that's the idea from the beginning. That was the idea, 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:24.880 so yes, and it has long roots back to the 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:27.520 nineteenth century, back to the UK which by the way 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:30.600 I've noticed. Did you notice from like this article in 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:34.760 doing any supplementary research, the UK is big into human cannonballs. 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:37.520 I think they're big one, just this whole circus experience. 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:41.760 They were the original showman. Yeah. Sure, they own the world. 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:45.640 Yeah that's true, you know, and they sold it. And 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:47.440 when you own the world, you have an obligation to 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:52.480 entertain the world, and they did so by human cannonballs. Specifically, 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:56.400 something called the projector is the is the I guess 0:04:56.400 --> 0:05:00.520 grandfather of the human cannon ball cannon right, the Ferini 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:06.200 project Or seventy one, George Farini. Basically it was like 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:11.120 a we're like a catapult, like a spatula that would 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:15.520 just flip people and stop day and people would go 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:19.279 flopping and flying through the air. Yeah, oh god, I 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:25.560 regret this. Yeah. Uh. Specifically Lulu Um, who was a 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:28.919 man dressed as a woman, because that always adds to 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:32.480 the comic effect, right, put a dude in address and 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:37.360 he was the first person in America to get flapjacked 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:41.560 with Ferini's contraption. There. Yeah, and not only did he 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:46.320 do that, he was he sailed thirty ft into the 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:50.120 air and Um was caught by someone on a trampieze. 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:53.720 So as we go through this, I don't want any 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:57.800 just think about my dead body being shot onto the 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:02.679 Kansas Prairie. Uh. I want you to think about how 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:08.480 difficult it is to catch somebody on a trapeez who's 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:10.760 just been shot out of a cannon. While you're on 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:13.680 a trapeeze. You're swinging it just the right point, hitting 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:16.120 him just the right way, and then taking their for 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:20.040 momentum and yanking him another way on the trapeez. Yeah. Well, 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:23.280 this um, in fairness, Lulu wasn't caught by someone. She 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:27.680 he just actually grabbed hold of the trapeeze. But there 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:29.479 are people later on in this article who were caught 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:31.800 by people on the trampez. I just want to get 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:34.440 that so someone out there was like, no, no, Lulu. 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:37.720 I wonder there'd be one person who knew that. Um 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:41.479 so uh. The Farini projector was invented in eighteen seventy one. 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:44.200 It was obsolete by eighteen eighty because this is the 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:47.600 year that a fourteen year old girl named Rosa Marie 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:51.880 Richter whose stage name was Zazzle. All right, great great 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:58.240 grandmother to Andy Richter. No, I'm just kidding, um, great 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:02.120 stage name though, right Zazz. She's fourteen um and she, 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:05.800 at the behest of one P. T. Barnum climbed into 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:10.800 the first cannon human cannonball cannon um that that is 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:16.200 designed like today's modern cannons, and she was shot out 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:20.120 of it and um shortly after that, within a few performances, 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:23.640 she broke her back and was the first casualty of 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:27.560 the human cannonball in this first the first cannon used 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:30.960 the springs, and they employed the blast the fire in 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:34.120 the in the boom to make people thinking back then, 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:37.240 they probably really bought it. Oh how bad? You know, 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:40.080 people are so dumb back then. Uh. And there's a 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:43.400 very famous picture of her climbing into the cannon. It's 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:46.720 called like beautiful girl and huge gun or something like that. 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:51.440 I thought that our fore fathers like invented everything and 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:54.480 like built the world, and we're like, they're so dumb 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:57.920 stupid people. Yeah, well, it's harder and harder to build 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:00.600 and discover new things now because they're all that was 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:02.920 all the easy stuff, Like you and I could have 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:06.480 discovered all this stuff right now, it's just more and 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:10.080 more difficult. You have to really look for subtlety, right, 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:14.520 So we say, thanks to no one Um. So the 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:19.200 the late nineteenth century, is this the human cannonball idea 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:23.320 just takes off? Right, thanks to Dazzle, thanks to George Loyal. 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:25.400 He was the one who was shot out of a 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:27.360 cannon and would be caught by a woman on a 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:32.840 trap at the Yankee Robinson Circus. Right, Yes, that's incredibly difficult. 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:34.880 It is, And you think about it, like, I think 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:37.559 I've even seen that before, like in person, at at 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:41.600 a circus when I was a kid. Um. But now 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:45.360 that I've researched and read this, I'm like, I can't 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:48.319 imagine how difficult that has to be, how everything has 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:51.600 to be totally precise, and that these circus performers must 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:56.840 spend like all day practicing every day just to make sure. Yeah, 0:08:56.840 --> 0:08:59.120 and not just the to the timing. There's a lot 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:02.760 of other stuff that you have to take into account. Right, 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:05.240 It's not just get in this cannon. We're gonna push 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:08.480 you out, no, Josh, Because the little sled that you're 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:11.679 basically in goes forward at a force of three thousand 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:16.120 and six thousand pounds per square inch of pressure. Right 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:19.440 that we should say pressed air is now the the 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:23.560 preferred means of shooting that little piston forward right, and 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:27.160 you're in a little capsule like imagine um Mark's egg, 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:31.160 but with the top cut off, so you're not you're 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:34.120 in the in the barrel in what amounts to a barrel, 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:36.760 a bullet in the barrel, a bullet with the top 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:40.680 cut off, and um that bullet is attached to the cannon. 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:43.800 So when the when the compressed air shoots it out, 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:46.680 the cannon stops, but you keep going, that's right, But 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:48.920 it shoots you out at a what did you say, 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:51.400 like three thousand to six thousand pounds per square inch 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:55.360 of pressure. Yeah, that produces some some force. That's a lot. 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:58.400 And that's why you can't just be like all limp. 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:01.880 You know, that would crush you. You know, you have 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:05.920 to be extremely strong and rigid, and your legs have 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:08.040 to be taught. Like. You can't just be like all right, 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:10.679 shoot shoot it off, or like your dead body. That's 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:13.400 why it would be so gruesome. I wonder if I 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:15.600 just explode in blood at the end of the can. 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:18.640 I don't know. Maybe, but with with the big daddy 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:23.559 cannons these days, you can go horizontally about two hundred 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:27.240 feet or vertically, which they say that's where the ooz 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:29.800 and ods come from as high as two hundred feet 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:35.000 uh and then speeds up to sixty to seventy. Right, 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:39.000 So you're hauling, you are hauling. Um, you're also under 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:44.360 some tremendous force, right, oh yes, so yeah, you've got 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:48.320 about nine ges during launch and twelve jess and impact 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.800 and we'll talk about that later. But chuck the dodoon 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:55.520 paw right, it's a roller coaster in Japan. It has 0:10:55.559 --> 0:11:02.480 the highest acceleration. UM. It's a two point seven geezez. Yeah, 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:06.560 so imagine nine right, Yeah, this is a this is 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:09.600 a this is you're putting this human body under a 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:12.000 lot of stress, right then, yes, and you fly out 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:13.520 a long way. And that's why you have to take 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:16.760 into account the things we briefly mentioned like wind speed, 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:20.120 body weight, obstacles like the guy wires and the tent 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:22.640 for the net and the poles for the for the tent, 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:26.280 and we also we mentioned that in Sniper. Remember, yeah, 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:29.079 we're talking about the bullet trajectory, and they have to 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:32.360 take into account like humidity. So do people who set 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:35.280 up human cannonball cannons. And usually I get the impression 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:39.160 the human cannonball is the manager in charge of this 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:40.960 whole act. They don't just come out and they're like, 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:43.520 all right, I'll get in it already, did it right? Yeah, 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:45.720 And some carnie like puts out a cigarette's like it 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:48.880 looks good to me. Uh no, that's not the case. Um. 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:50.959 A lot of planning goes in because they make a point. 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:53.360 It's pretty easy to get into a cannon and get 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:55.760 shot out, although, like we said, you gotta be really 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:59.640 strong and stuff. But the landing part is the crucial part, obviously, right, 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:04.240 because of fifty byt net look pretty big when you're 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:07.000 standing on it, but when you're two hundred feet away 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:09.200 and two hundred feet up, it might look like a 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:13.120 postage damp to you. And I mean, this is a 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:15.640 big deal, and you want to hit that net. You 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:17.800 you want to hit it in just the right place 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:20.840 to sure. Um. Yeah, So to make sure that the 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:24.599 person hits the net, um, test dummies are used. The 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:28.080 test dummy is a human cannonball's best friend because you 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:29.880 can shoot a test dummy out as much as you 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:32.160 want until you figure out whether or not you've got 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:36.040 the barrel trajectory just right that the temperature is a problem. 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:39.560 What have you adjustments early, right, And so they just 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:41.880 shoot a test dummy at the net until they have 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:44.520 it just right, and then they I guess they feel 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.520 that they're confident they're going to try their luck at it. Yeah, 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:49.040 and like you said, you gotta hit the net at 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:51.679 the proper place too, which is generally the rear third, 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:54.000 because when you hit something going down in an angle 0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:57.680 like that, you're gonna bounce backwards, not like pop straight 0:12:57.760 --> 0:12:59.760 up or go forward. So you don't want to hit 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:02.079 it on the first third because then you'll bounce backwards 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:05.120 off the net. So yeah, it's pretty specific. It is 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:12.440 um So Chuck, who does this crazy circus people, circus families. 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:16.440 It's always families. Yeah, you know, like once you get 0:13:16.480 --> 0:13:19.520 into circus then you've almost guaranteed that your kid is 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:22.720 going to do that. So you want to talk about 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:25.200 some of them, Well, yeah, the one I think I've 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:30.200 heard of these people even before this um this article, 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:35.959 But the Zucchini family Zacchini zucchini zucchini zacchinis have been 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:39.160 doing uh while, They've been performing in circuses since the 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:42.760 nineteen twenties, and apparently they stopped in the nineties They're like, 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:45.600 seventy years is enough for us. The Zipchinis are hanging 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:50.079 up our little fancy shoes right. Uh. And in that time, um, 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:53.640 there were seven brothers in the family. Five of them 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:57.599 became human cannonballs. And that's just the brothers. There was 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:01.439 also a sister to who human cannonballing. Yeah, I'm just 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:03.760 dying to know what those other two dudes. It's like 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:09.960 Eli and Peyton Manning's brother that most people go, there's 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:13.479 another brother, right, like, well, what does he do? He 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:16.040 he's the oldest budn't he And he's like he was 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:18.199 like a big man on campus at Old Miss, but 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:20.920 that was it. He didn't he just parted. Doesn't play 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:28.720 football though, so he's not beloved by his father Archie. Yeah, 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:33.080 so not true probably. Uh. They worked with the Ringling 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:36.080 brothers that the Zucchini's did, who obviously a big name 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:39.520 in circuses, and uh, they sort of pushed the envelope. 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:42.720 Hugo and Victor the brothers did a little double barrel 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:48.600 gag that went over pretty well, and Mario would get 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:53.160 shot over Ferris wheels, like two Ferris wheels, Mario Zucchini 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:56.440 two Ferris wheels, not on top of one another, No, 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:00.320 one after the other. That's quite a weird quite a beat. 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:06.480 And then um, John Weiss human bullet. Yeah, he started 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:09.240 out as a clown apparently, really, he did five years 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:13.360 as a clown and then made the very rare jump 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:16.760 to human cannonball, from clown to cannonball this year and 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:25.520 apparently his first first shot sent him six ft really, yeah, yeah, 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:27.520 that was his first Did you do it as a clown? 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:30.400 You know? I think that that would have been a 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:35.480 mockery to the human cannonball um tradition. Okay, yeah, I 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:38.080 don't want to do that. And then there's the Smith family, 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:41.200 also a very popular circus cannonball family. Did you talk 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:44.360 about John Weiss, Well, he was. He was one of 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:47.720 the most prolific cannonballers. Did he die doing it? No? 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:51.680 Did you mention how many times he's done it? Five thousand? 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:54.640 That is a lot of time to be shot out 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:56.360 of a cannon. I did just kind of breeze over 0:15:56.400 --> 0:16:01.280 that five thousand times. And he started in nine teen seven. Yeah, 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:03.360 so he was doing it for a little while there. 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:06.400 For years, I guess he was doing it once a day, 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:09.680 six days a week, fifty weeks a year. Yeah, you're right, 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:11.640 that's a lot of blasts. There is a lot. That's 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:14.120 a lot of I mean, especially what we know about 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:18.440 what the pressure and it exerts on a body. I mean, 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:21.720 that's that's rough work. Yeah, and it's uh, I mean 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:24.640 we've pointed out how it is safe. But more than 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:27.480 thirty people have died doing this over the years. Okay, 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:30.480 so the that that that pops up in this article, 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:34.680 thirty people have died as human cannonballs. There's a British 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:38.240 historian who died a few years back. His name is A. H. Cox. 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:43.160 He Um says that there's been only about fifty people 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:48.560 to ever be human cannonballs. Thirty have died. Really, yeah, 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:51.200 I thought that's kind of significant enough to be put 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:55.120 into this article. Ward me off of human cannonballs. So 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:58.160 thirty out of fifty have died, and that's just who 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:03.560 died others, you know, like back, Zazzle broker back, Um, Yeah, 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:12.280 we'll get into that gruesomeness soon, zazz Alright, So back 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:15.800 to the Smith family. They are the modern um cannonball 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:19.600 family that are pretty awesome. Um. David Cannonball Smith Jr. 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:23.080 Has spent much of his life inside of a cannon. Yes, 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:26.800 have you been on their website? Pretty funny. He just 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:31.240 he's described as having a dynamic personality. I like that. 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:33.960 It's better than saying he has a dynamite personality to 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:38.919 be pretty bad. But David the Bullet Smith Jr. Is 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:42.040 a son and I'm sorry, he's the one with the dynamics. Okay, 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:44.840 his dad was a real snooze. I don't know. Uh, 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:48.879 he bested his dad's record of by flying a hundred 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:54.560 ft Yeah, but his dad still holds the highest. I 0:17:54.560 --> 0:18:00.280 think two hundred and three two and that's friends outside 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:03.440 of America. That's one of those over two Ferris wheels. Yeah, 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:06.560 that's crazy. Yep. Oh, should you mention the DARPA thing. 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:09.240 I thought that was completely stupid and ridiculous. Did you 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:13.280 think so? Yeah? I think it's kind of cool. I 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:16.520 think if DARPA could perfect this, then it could take 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:20.000 the human cannonball art to a whole new level. Spill it. 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:25.080 But basically, DARPA the Defense Research Project, Right, there's an 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:30.080 a in there somewhere. Yes, thank you, Um they were 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:33.879 looking at I think they filed the patent for a 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:38.680 basically human cannonball cannon that has like a sled chair 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:43.200 right that shoots you up. I think they said they 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:47.639 can get a first responder special ops a firefighter on 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:50.919 top of a five story building in two seconds. So 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:53.920 basically their idea is to take the human cannonball concept 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:56.399 and just shoot people on top of buildings to go 0:18:56.520 --> 0:18:59.239 fight fires or to go snipe people or whatever. So 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:01.560 I get that. It's the landing thing that they say 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:04.000 is the hardest part in real cannonballing. So what what's 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:05.399 going on there? Well, that's what I'm saying. I have 0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:07.480 no idea. I don't know if they were like, well, 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:09.399 we've got this part, now, let's go figure out the 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:12.880 other part. But that's that's kind of the big um 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:18.040 joke or the big underscore among human cannonballers is it's 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:20.800 not a problem shooting somebody out of a cannon. It's 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:23.879 the landing that's the important part. Yeah, right, Or in 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:27.119 this case, if you're shooting someone on a building, if 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:28.959 you're off there, then it's all of a sudden, you're 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:32.360 a cartoon and you smack into the building and then 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:35.960 slide very slowly down, except unlike a cartoon, you leave 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:38.560 a trail of blood when you slide down. Yeah, And 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:41.040 you slide down fast and then there's more blood and 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:44.800 body parts on the street. Yes, which has happened. I'm 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:47.320 sure it has. There's there's been a lot of accidents. 0:19:47.359 --> 0:19:51.800 As we've said, out of fifty, uh thirty human cannonballs 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:56.320 have died, right, it's a lot and um to to 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:59.960 prevent this. You know, these people stay in tiptop shape, 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:03.320 right Um. You have to work out your core. You 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:04.960 have to have a strong back. You need to be 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:07.679 able to brace yourself like you said, and really just 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:10.520 go totally rigid so when you're shot out, you don't 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:13.440 just you're not crushed. You need to become a projectile, 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:15.920 right um, because all you're wearing a helmet, maybe a 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:19.320 little padding. Yeah, but Alma's not gonna do much if 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:22.879 you miss your net, no, um, and the net is 0:20:23.040 --> 0:20:25.920 very important. A lot of people use air bags as well, 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:30.719 right um. There was a guy who's named Elvin Bale 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:35.640 and it's the human Space Shuttle. He used air bags 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:38.560 and he is a victim of circumstance if there ever 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:41.240 has been one. Right. He was big in the seventies 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:48.160 and eighties until I believe seven, when he went through 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:53.440 all the the tests shot his crash test dummy out. Um, 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:57.159 it landed fine in these air bags where he calculated 0:20:57.200 --> 0:21:00.280 they should be. And um, what he didn't know is 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:03.880 that his crash test dummy had gotten wet, which made 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:08.320 it much heavier, which completely changed the dynamics of its 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:12.919 test run. So when he shot himself out, he missed 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:16.520 the air bags right, he did, He was he sailed 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:19.159 right over him. This is in Hong Kong. And he 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:21.720 said that he knew quote, I could see where I 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:24.040 was going and that it was too far, too fast, 0:21:24.640 --> 0:21:27.720 so he knew in mid air he was conscious enough 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:30.360 to be like, oh crap, I'm not going to hit 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:33.520 the air bag and apparently the dummy, because when I 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:34.919 read that, I was like, well, how does this happen 0:21:35.560 --> 0:21:37.399 when that's the only safety thing you can do. How 0:21:37.400 --> 0:21:39.920 do you have a soap dummy? Apparently it was left 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:42.960 in the rain and they're filled with sand, and so 0:21:43.640 --> 0:21:46.240 the outside of it dried, and but the sand was 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:48.280 still wet on the inside, so it didn't like feel 0:21:48.280 --> 0:21:51.160 wet to the touch when they were testing it, And 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:53.639 he said he remembered it feeling like it was in 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:58.000 slow motion and that his brain actually thought he could 0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:02.359 solve this problem in mid airrow aerodynamically like do something 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:05.399 like I can do this and shorten the trip and 0:22:05.480 --> 0:22:08.480 land upright, which might save me. But instead he overshot 0:22:08.480 --> 0:22:12.000 it by just a few yards and slam feet first 0:22:12.040 --> 0:22:15.480 into the floor, shattered his ankles, knee, a leg in 0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:20.040 his spine, and he's paralyzed from the moist down and 0:22:20.080 --> 0:22:25.679 that is very sad. Uh. He mentions the aerodynamics right, like, 0:22:25.760 --> 0:22:28.480 there is a specific way you want to land. Yeah, 0:22:28.520 --> 0:22:31.200 you want to do that little easy somersault and land 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:36.040 on your back, which is that's the way to land. 0:22:36.680 --> 0:22:40.560 But you also said something, um, that brought to mind 0:22:40.600 --> 0:22:43.040 the idea that this the g force that we talked 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:46.560 about earlier that's been shown to produce a loss of 0:22:46.600 --> 0:22:50.760 consciousness and people. So that's another danger that you you know, 0:22:50.800 --> 0:22:53.080 when you're sailing, you want to like stay like a 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:56.679 projectile and if you're blacked out, you're gonna be like 0:22:56.720 --> 0:23:02.960 a dead body like you yes, um. And Elvin Bell 0:23:03.040 --> 0:23:05.800 is not the only person that something horrible has happened 0:23:05.800 --> 0:23:11.440 to obviously, Yeah, Matt Cranch just this year a month 0:23:11.680 --> 0:23:15.760 in April. Yeah, he and this is just a nightmare scenario. 0:23:15.840 --> 0:23:18.320 He got blasted off and right after he blasted off 0:23:18.440 --> 0:23:21.280 the net collapsed. Yeah, so how does that happen? I 0:23:21.320 --> 0:23:24.639 don't know, that's probably what he's asking. Well, he died, 0:23:24.880 --> 0:23:28.040 He landed on his head and died. He did die, 0:23:28.119 --> 0:23:29.960