WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: How Human Cannonballs Work 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.760 Hi everyone, it's Saturday and it's Chuck with a little 0:00:03.760 --> 0:00:07.120 Saturday Select episode for you. I dug deep in the archives. 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.520 Everyone to talk about human cannonballs. That's part of our 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:14.360 Circus Suite Circus Arts, sweet rather and uh it's good 0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:17.720 stuff How human Cannonballs Work from July two thousand eleven, 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:23.720 an only bit of goody. Welcome to Stuff you should know, 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:33.080 a production of My Heart Radios How Stuff Works Kaboom 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:37.000 and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, There's Charles W. 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:41.240 Chuck Bryant. What are you doing? How you doing the cheeks? Huh? 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:43.800 Have you ever captured that? Yeah? We did it once 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:46.200 and then people have asked occasionally like dude, the cheap 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:48.400 thing again? And I don't want to. I want to 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:50.800 do it like once every hundred and fifty shows. Literally 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:53.720 that's a good that's a good pace. I don't want 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:56.840 to overdo that. So that's that'll be the third time 0:00:56.920 --> 0:01:00.400 soon coming up, I think so. Yeah. Sure for fifty 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:03.760 right around the corner had around a company. Um, chuckers, 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:08.480 have you ever had kaboom cereal? No, dude, it was 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:11.440 that was such a thing good. Um, No, it wasn't 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:14.600 good the marshmallows were good. They it was basically like 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:17.400 lucky Charms. I don't know who ripped off who, but 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:20.760 it was clown themed rather than you know, irish themed. 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:24.440 That's genius. Yeah. But there was a clown on front 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:26.240 and he had a cannon, and that's where the name 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:29.199 came from. Kaboom. It was a circus clown circus canon. 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:33.440 But then they realized clowns were scary as heck most people, 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.319 so it failed miserably. I wrote this blog post recently. 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:39.200 Did you read it about it? Yeah, that's the clown 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:42.759 giving clown therapy. People seem to like it too. Yeah, 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:45.039 I thought it was a nice one. Um, that wasn't 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:49.200 my intro. My intro was about Hunter te. Oh well, 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:51.840 let's hear it. Do you remember, well, sure you're probably 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:55.240 gonna reference his death wish. Yes, so he you know, 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:58.560 he comes down with the cancer and um shoots himself 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:01.240 in the head and we're ardless of how you feel 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:05.280 about suicide. What happened next was his um As you said, 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:09.520 I guess his death wish, which he made in life. Ironically. Yeah, 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:12.120 there's two kinds of death wishes. There's a wish that 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:14.960 you make upon your death that you would like for 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:17.560 things to happen after you die. And then there's the 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:22.280 jolly Brunson death. Wish nice good good Chuck Fron, Well, 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:25.480 that's a Simpsons character too, but it's the Simpson's character, 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:33.200 the mustachioed sales clerk. Yes, but he clearly references GERALDS Brunson. Yeah. Um. Anyway, 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:38.400 what happened to Hunter T was he Um, he he 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:42.960 was cremated and he had his remains shot out of 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:45.960 a cannon. Have you seen it? Yeah? Thanks to Johnny 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:49.280 Depp helped that dream come true because he has tons 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:51.119 and tons of money to make that happen. Yes, he does. 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:54.720 It was quite a cannon too. Um. And we've talked 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:56.880 before about how I want my dead body shot out 0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:00.080 of a cannon. We have indeed, Um, I'm not so 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:03.239 sure anymore. Maybe who knows? It would be after reading 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:06.200 this article and the physical requirements. It would be kind 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:09.560 of gruesome. It wouldn't be like unless they stiffened you 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:12.360 up somehow, you would come out in a big like 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:15.160 a dead body wood. That's what I've always imagined though, 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:17.839 that's what I see flying through the air. I thought 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:21.480 you saw yourself like shooting through a rocket towards the storm. No, 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:24.760 like flopping like through the air and doing like half 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:28.280 somersaults and twists where you think it's gonna be naked too. 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:31.680 I was gonna land on the Kansas Prairie and let 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:36.800 the vultures finish me off. All right, we'll see an idea. 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:39.200 Bring it. I got a backyard for you. I think 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:42.000 that's how we met coop um he he offered. He 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:44.960 was like, hey, I I live in Kansas and I 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:47.440 can get this done. Yeah, alright, so we'll see. But 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:49.480 I think that that's an image that people can have 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:52.720 in their head while we talk about how human cannonballs work, right, 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:55.880 because like you said, there's a lot to it, but 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:57.760 one of the things that's not to it. And I 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:02.839 think it's funny that um people wonder how this how 0:04:02.880 --> 0:04:05.040 you can shoot somebody out of a cannon and the 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:08.920 gunpowder doesn't blow them up. There's no gunpowder, of course, 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:13.800 there's not. I don't understand how someone cannot understand that intuitively, Yeah, 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:16.880 because I think people want to believe that they're being 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:20.000 fired out of a cannon instead of a a long 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:25.120 uh piston enclosed in a in a tube with a 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:29.080 fake boom in a flash, Yes, for effect. Okay, so 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:31.400 I guess it's the fake boom in the flash. They're 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:34.799 they're buying it. Yeah, well that's the idea from the beginning, 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:41.200 that was the idea. So yes, And it has long roots, indeed, 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:43.920 back to the nineteenth century, back to the UK, which, 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:45.960 by the way, I've noticed, did you notice from like 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:50.160 this article in doing any supplementary research, the UK is 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:52.880 big into human cannonballs. I think they're big on just 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:57.600 this whole circus experience. Okay, they were the original Showman. Yeah, sure, 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:01.760 they own the world. Yeah, it's you know, and they 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:03.479 sold it. And when you own the world, you have 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:06.720 an obligation to entertain the world, and they did so 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:11.839 by human cannonballs. Specifically, something called the projector. Is the 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:16.800 is the I guess grandfather of the human cannon ball cannon, right, yeah, 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:22.400 the Farini project or eight seventy one, George Farini. Basically 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:26.479 it was like a more like a catapult, like a 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:32.000 spatula that would just flip people and stop and people 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.919 would go flopping and flying through the air. Yeah, and 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:40.960 they oh god, I regret this. Yeah. Uh. Specifically Lulu 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:44.400 Um who was a man dressed as a woman, because 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.680 that always adds to the comic effect. Right, put a 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:50.640 dude in address and he was the first person in 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:57.080 America to get flapjacked with Farini's contraption. There. Yeah, and 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:01.520 not only did he do that, he was he sailed 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:05.840 thirty ft into the air. And um was caught by 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:09.800 someone on a trapeeze. So as we go through this, 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:12.560 I don't want any just think about my dead body 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:17.960 being shot onto the Kansas Prairie. Um, I want you 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:23.479 to think about how difficult it is to catch somebody 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:26.800 on a trapeez who's just been shot out of a cannon. 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:29.279 While you're on a trapeeze. You're swinging it just the 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:31.720 right point, hitting him just the right way, and then 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:35.720 taking their for momentum and yanking him another way on 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:38.880 the trapeeze. Yeah. Well this um, in fairness, Lulu wasn't 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:42.440 caught by someone. She he just actually grabbed hold of 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:45.440 the trapeeze. But there are people later on in this 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:47.960 article who were caught by people on the trampeze. I 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:51.239 just want to get that. So someone out there was like, no, no, Lulu. 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:54.560 I wonder there'd be one person who knew that. UM, 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:58.280 So the Ferini projector was invented in eight seventy one. 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:01.039 It was obsolete by eighteen eight. Because this is the 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:04.440 year that a fourteen year old girl named Rosa Marie 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:08.679 Richter whose stage name was zazzle a right, great great 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:13.760 grandmother to Andy Richter. No, I'm just kidding, okay, um, 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:18.960 great stage name though, right, she's fourteen. Um, and she, 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:22.640 at the behest of one P. T. Barnum climbed into 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:27.640 the first cannon, human cannonball cannon um that that is 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:32.480 designed like today's modern cannons. Well yea, and she was 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:35.920 shot out of it and um shortly after that, within 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:38.480 a few performances, she broke her back and was the 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:43.520 first casualty of the human cannonball in this first the 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:46.960 first cannon used the springs, and they employed the blast 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:50.320 the fire in the in the boom to make people 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:53.400 thinking back then they probably really bought it. Oh yeah, 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:56.520 how bad. You know people are so dumb back then. Uh. 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:59.280 And there's a very famous picture of her climbing into 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:02.520 the cannon. It's called like beautiful girl and huge gun 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:05.000 or something like that. I thought that our fore fathers 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:10.560 like invented everything and like built the world and we're like, 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:13.280 they're so dumb. What a bunch of stupid people. Yeah, 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:15.560 well it's harder and harder to build and discover new 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:18.600 things now because they're all that was all the easy stuff, 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:21.040 Like you and I could have discovered all this stuff 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:24.360 right now, it's just more and more difficult. You have 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:27.880 to really look for subtlety, right yea, so we say, 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:31.880 thanks to no one. Yeah, um, so the the late 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:36.720 nineteenth century, is this the human cannonball idea just takes 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:40.679 off right thanks to Dazzle, thanks to George Loyal. He 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:42.600 was the one who was shot out of a cannon 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:44.480 and would be caught by a woman on a trap 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:49.680 at the Yankee Robinson Circus. Right, yes, that's incredibly difficult, 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:51.679 it is. And you think about it, like, I think 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:54.400 I've even seen that before, like in person, at at 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:58.440 a circus when I was a kid. Um, But now 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:02.160 that I've researched and read the some like, I can't 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:05.160 imagine how difficult that has to be, how everything has 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:08.439 to be totally precise, and that these circus performers must 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:13.640 spend like all day practicing every day just to make sure. Yeah, 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:16.080 and not just to the timing. There's a lot of 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:18.760 other stuff that you have to take into account. Right, 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:21.559 It's right, it's not just get in this cannon. We're 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:25.000 gonna push you out, no josh, because the little sled 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:27.800 that you're basically in goes forward at a force of 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:32.959 three thousand and six thousand pounds per square inch of pressure. Right, 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:36.240 that we should say, compressed air is now the the 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:40.400 preferred means of shooting that little piston forward. Right, and 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:44.000 you're in a little capsule like imagine um Mark's egg, 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:47.960 but with the top cut off, so you're not you're 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:51.040 in the in the barrel in what amounts to a barrel, 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:53.600 a bullet in the barrel, a bullet with the top 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:57.520 cut off, and um that bullet is attached to the cannon. 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:00.920 So when the when the compressed air shot shots it out, 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:03.520 the cannon stops, but you keep going, that's right. But 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:05.720 it shoots you out at a what did you say, 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:08.240 like three thousand to six thousand pounds per square inch 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:11.920 of pressure? Yeah, yeah, that produces some some force. That's 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:13.760 a lot. And that's why you can't just be like 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:18.320 all limp. You know, that would crush you. You know, 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:22.280 you have to be extremely strong and rigid and your 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:24.320 legs have to be taught. Like. You can't just be 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:26.920 like all right, shoot shoot it off, or like your 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:29.000 dead body. That's why it would be so gruesome. Yeah, 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:31.840 I wonder if I just explode in blood at the 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:34.600 end of the cannon. I don't know. Maybe, But with 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:38.600 with the big daddy cannons these days, you can go 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:43.080 horizontally about two hundred feet or vertically, which they say 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:45.600 that's where the ooze and odds come from, as high 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:49.600 as two hundred feet uh and then speeds up to 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:54.160 sixty to seventy right, So you're hauling, you are hauling. Um, 0:10:54.240 --> 0:11:00.720 you're also under some tremendous force, right oh yes, so yeah, 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:04.280 you've got about nine g s during launch and twelve 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:07.160 jeez an impact and we'll talk about that later. But 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:11.680 chuck the dodon paw right, it's a roller coaster in Japan. 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:15.720 It has the highest acceleration. Um, it's a two point 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:22.840 seven geesez yeah, so imagine nine right, Yeah, this is 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:25.520 a this is a this is you're putting this human 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:28.320 body under a lot of stress, right then, yes, and 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:29.920 you fly out a long way and that's why you 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:32.280 have to take into account the things we briefly mentioned 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:36.440 like wind speed, body weight, obstacles like the guy wires 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:38.360 and the tent for the net and the poles for 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:41.360 the for the tent, And we also we mentioned that 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:45.520 in Sniper. Remember we're talking about the bullet trajectory, and 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:48.440 they have to take into account like humidity. So do 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:51.280 people who set up human cannonball cannons. And usually I 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:55.200 get the impression the human cannonball is the manager in 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:57.440 charge of this whole act. They don't just come out 0:11:57.480 --> 0:11:59.480 and they're like, all right, I'll get in it. Alreadys 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:02.160 did it? Yeah, And some carnie like puts out a cigarette. 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:04.800 It's like it looks good to me. Uh now that's 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:06.800 not the case. Um. A lot of planning goes in 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:09.319 because they make a point. It's pretty easy to get 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:12.000 into a cannon and get shot out, although like we said, 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:14.080 you gotta be really strong and stuff. But the landing 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:18.959 part is the crucial part, obviously, because of fifty byt 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:22.320 net might look pretty big when you're standing on it, 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:24.400 but when you're two hundred feet away and two hundred 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:27.040 feet up, it might look like a postage stamp to you. 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:31.080 And I mean, this is a big deal, and you 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:33.160 want to hit that net. You you want to hit 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:36.280 it in just the right place to sure um. Yeah, 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:38.960 so to make sure that the person hits the net, 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:42.360 um test dummies are used. A test dummy is a 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:45.640 human cannonball's best friend, because you can shoot a test 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:47.720 dummy out as much as you want until you figure 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:50.559 out whether or not you've got the barrel trajectory just right. 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:55.600 The temperature is a problem, what have you adjustments early? Right? 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:57.960 And so they just shoot a test dummy at the 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:00.000 net until they have it just right, and then they 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:02.760 they I guess they feel that they're confident they're going 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:04.880 to try their luck at it. Yeah, And like you said, 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:06.800 you got to hit the net at the proper place too, 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:09.559 which is generally the real third because when you hit 0:13:09.600 --> 0:13:11.920 something going down in an angle like that, you're going 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:15.760 to bounce backwards, not like pop straight up or go forward, right, 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:17.480 So you don't want to hit it on the first 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:20.520 third because then you'll bounce backwards off the net. So yeah, 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:53.199 it's pretty specific. It is things like so, Chuck, who 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:59.960 does this crazy circus people? Circus families. It's always families. Yeah, 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:03.360 you know, like once you get into circus, then you've 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:05.360 almost guaranteed that your kid is going to do that. 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:09.120 So you want to talk about some of them, Well, yeah, 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:11.600 the one I think I've heard of these people even 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:18.320 before this, um, this article. But the Zucchini family Zacchini 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:22.680 zucchini zucchinis, Zacchinis have been doing uh while They've been 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:25.920 performing in circuses since the nineteen twenties and apparently they 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:29.160 stopped in the nineties. They're like, seventy years is enough 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:32.640 for us, the Zacchinis are hanging up our little fancy shoes, 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:36.680 right uh. And in that time, um, there were seven 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:40.560 brothers in the family. Five of them became human cannonballs. 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:43.920 And that's just the brothers. There was also a sister 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:47.120 to who did human cannonballing. Yeah. I'm just dying to 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:51.160 know what those other two dudes. It's like, yeah, Eli 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:57.040 and Peyton Manning's brother that most people go, there's another brother, right, like, well, 0:14:57.080 --> 0:14:59.920 what does he do? He he's the oldest, whdn't he 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:01.760 and he used to like he was like a big 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:04.080 man on campus at Old Miss. But that was it, 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:07.720 he didn't he just parted then play football though, So 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:14.840 he's not beloved by his father Archie. Yeah, so not true. 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:19.760 Probably Uh, they worked with the Ringling brothers, the Zucchini's did, 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:23.560 who obviously a big name in circuses, and uh, they 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:26.760 sort of pushed the envelope Hugo and Victor. The brothers 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:30.680 did a little double barrel gag that went over pretty well. 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:35.720 And Mario, uh would get shot over Ferris wheels, like 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:40.280 two Ferris wheels, Mario Zucchini, two fairest wheels, not on 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:44.320 top of one another, no one after the other. It's 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:51.120 quite quite a feat. And then um, John Weiss human bullet. Yeah, 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:54.040 he started out as a clown apparently really he did 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:57.840 five years as a clown and then made the very 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:01.480 rare jump to human cannonball. From clown to cannonball this 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:06.800 year and apparently his first first shot sent him six 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:11.960 ft really yeah, yeah, that was his first one. Did 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:13.840 you do it as a clown? Do you know? I 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:16.320 think that that would have been a mockery to the 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:21.240 human cannonball um tradition. Okay, yeah, I don't want to 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:24.280 do that. And then there's the Smith family, also a 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:28.200 very popular circus cannonball family. Did you talk about John Weiss, Well, 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:31.680 he was he was one of the most prolific cannonballers yeah, 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:34.520 did he die doing it? No? Okay, did you mention 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:37.480 how many times he's done it? No? Five thousand. That 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:40.000 is a lot of time to be shot out of 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:41.800 a cannon. I did just kind of breeze over that 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:47.000 five thousand times and he started in seven. Yeah, so 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:49.440 he was doing it for a little while there. For years. 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:52.000 I guess he was doing it once a day, six 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:55.000 days a week, fifty weeks a year. Yeah, you're right, 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:56.960 that's a lot of blasts. It is a lot. That's 0:16:56.960 --> 0:16:59.440 a lot of I mean, especially what we know about 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:03.720 what the pressure it exerts on a body. I mean, 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:07.000 that's that's rough work. Yeah, and it's uh, I mean 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:09.920 we've pointed out how it is safe. But more than 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:12.760 thirty people have died doing this over the years. Okay, 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:15.760 so the that that that pops up in this article 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:19.960 thirty people have died as human cannonballs. There's a British 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:23.560 historian who died a few years back. His name is A. H. Cox. 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:28.479 He Um says that there's been only about fifty people 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:33.840 to ever be human cannonballs. Thirty have died. Really, Yeah, 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:36.439 I thought that's kind of significant enough to be put 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:40.280 into this article. Ward me off of human cannonball and 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:43.199 so thirty out of fifty have died and that's just 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:48.879 who died others, you know, like broker Back Zazzle broker Back. Um, yeah, 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:57.240 we'll get into that gruesomeness soon or Zazzle Zazzle. Okay, alright, 0:17:57.280 --> 0:17:59.600 So back to the Smith family. They are the modern 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:04.080 um cannonball family that are pretty awesome. Um, David Cannonball 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:07.320 Smith Jr. Has spent much of his life inside of 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:11.399 a cannon. Yes, have you been on their website? Funny 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:16.040 he just he's described as having a dynamic personality. I 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:18.560 like that. It's better than saying he has a dynamite 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:24.080 personality than be pretty bad. But David the Bullet Smith Jr. 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:25.919 Is his son, and I'm sorry he's the one with 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:28.680 the dynamics. Okay, his dad was a real snooze. I 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:33.520 don't know. Uh. He bested his dad's record of by 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:37.960 flying a hundred ft Yeah, but his dad still holds 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:43.679 the highest I think two hundred and three sixty one 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:46.479 two and that friends outside of America. Yeah, that's one 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:50.600 of those over two Ferris wheels. Yeah, that's crazy. Yep. Oh, 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:52.439 should you mention the DARPA thing? I thought that was 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:56.399 completely stupid and ridiculous. Did you think so? Yeah, I 0:18:56.480 --> 0:18:59.960 think it's kind of cool. I think if DARPA could 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:03.680 perfect this, then it could take the human cannonball art 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:06.440 to a whole new level. Spill it. But basically DARPA 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:10.920 the Defense Research Project, Right, there's an a in there 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:16.160 somewhere advanced. Yes, thank you um they were looking at. 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:20.359 I think they file the patent for a basically human 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:25.520 cannonball cannon that has like a sled chair right, that 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:28.920 shoots you up. I think they said they can get 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:33.399 a first responder, special ops, a firefighter on top of 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:36.840 a five story building in two seconds. So basically their 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:39.679 idea is to take the human cannonball concept and just 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:42.439 shoot people on top of buildings to go fight fires 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:45.120 or to go snipe people or whatever. So I get that. 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:47.399 It's the landing thing that they say is the hardest 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:49.920 part in real cannonballing. So what what's going on? Well, 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:51.800 that's what I'm saying. I have no idea. I don't 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:53.679 know if they were like, well we've got this part, now, 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:56.440 let's go figure out the other part. But that's that's 0:19:56.560 --> 0:19:59.800 kind of the big um joke or a big unders 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:04.399 or among human cannonballers. Is it's not a problem shooting 0:20:04.440 --> 0:20:07.119 somebody out of a cannon. It's the landing that's the 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:09.919 important part. Yeah, right, Or in this case, if you're 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:13.320 shooting someone on a building, if you're off there, then 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:15.960 it's all of a sudden, you're a cartoon and you 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:19.240 smack into the building and then slide very slowly down, 0:20:19.560 --> 0:20:22.159 except unlike a cartoon, you leave a trail of blood 0:20:22.440 --> 0:20:24.919 when you slide down. Yeah, and you slide down fast, 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:27.760 and then there's more blood and body parts on the street. Yes, 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:55.359 which has happened, I'm sure it has. There's there's been 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:57.920 a lot of accidents, as we've said, out of fifty 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:02.359 uh thirty, he mean cannonballs have died, right, it's a 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:07.080 lot and um to to prevent this, you know, these 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:11.080 people stay in tiptop shape, right. Um. You have to 0:21:11.200 --> 0:21:13.320 work out your core. You have to have a strong back, 0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:15.480 You need to be able to brace yourself like you said, 0:21:15.960 --> 0:21:19.000 and really just go totally rigid so when you're shot out, 0:21:19.080 --> 0:21:21.600 you don't just you're not crushed. You need to become 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:24.560 a projectile, right, um, because all you're wearing a helmet, 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:27.800 maybe a little padding, Yeah, but helmet is not gonna 0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:30.359 do much if you miss your net. No, um, and 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:33.879 the net is very important. A lot of people use 0:21:33.920 --> 0:21:36.960 airbags as well, right, yes, um, there was a guy 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:42.440 who's named Elvin Bale. It's the human space Shuttle. Poor 0:21:42.440 --> 0:21:45.720 Elvin Bale. He used air bags and he is a 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:48.560 victim of circumstance if there ever has been one. Right. 0:21:49.000 --> 0:21:51.879 He was big in the seventies and eighties until I 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:59.280 believe seven, when he went through all the the tests, 0:21:59.320 --> 0:22:03.440 shot is cry test dummy out. Um, it landed fine 0:22:03.480 --> 0:22:06.640 in these air bags where he calculated they should be. 0:22:07.280 --> 0:22:09.840 And um, what he didn't know is that his crash 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:13.880 test dummy had gotten wet, which made it much heavier, 0:22:14.200 --> 0:22:19.000 which completely changed the dynamics of its test run. So 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:23.280 when he shot himself out, he missed the air bags. Right, 0:22:24.080 --> 0:22:26.480 he did. He was he sailed right over him. This 0:22:26.520 --> 0:22:29.080 is in Hong Kong. And he said that he knew 0:22:29.440 --> 0:22:31.440 quote I could see where I was going and that 0:22:31.560 --> 0:22:34.320 it was too far, too fast, So he knew in 0:22:34.400 --> 0:22:38.159 mid air. He was conscious enough to be like, oh crap, 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:41.960 I'm not gonna hit the air bag and apparently the dummy, 0:22:41.960 --> 0:22:43.119 because when I read that, I was like, well, how 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:45.840 does this happen when that's the only safety thing you 0:22:45.840 --> 0:22:48.280 can do. How do you have a soaked dummy? Apparently 0:22:48.320 --> 0:22:50.879 it was left in the rain and they're filled with sand, 0:22:51.480 --> 0:22:54.760 and so the outside of it dried and but the 0:22:54.800 --> 0:22:56.760 sand was still wet on the inside, so it didn't 0:22:56.760 --> 0:22:59.159 like feel wet to the touch when they were testing it. 0:22:59.840 --> 0:23:02.320 And he said he remembered it feeling like it was 0:23:02.440 --> 0:23:06.600 in slow motion and that his brain actually thought he 0:23:06.640 --> 0:23:10.800 could solve this problem in mid arrow aerodynamically, like do 0:23:10.960 --> 0:23:13.639 something like I can do this and shorten the trip 0:23:14.240 --> 0:23:16.840 and land upright, which might save me. But instead he 0:23:16.880 --> 0:23:20.560 overshot it by just a few yards and slam feet 0:23:20.600 --> 0:23:24.280 first into the floor, shattered his ankles, knee, a leg, 0:23:24.320 --> 0:23:27.560 in his spine, and he's paralyzed from the moist down 0:23:28.840 --> 0:23:34.600 and that is very sad. Uh. He mentions the aerodynamics right, like, 0:23:34.640 --> 0:23:37.400 there is a specific way you want to land. Yeah, 0:23:37.440 --> 0:23:40.120 you want to do that little easy somersault and land 0:23:40.160 --> 0:23:44.960 on your back, which is that's the way to land. 0:23:46.359 --> 0:23:49.600 You also said something um that brought to mind the 0:23:49.640 --> 0:23:52.760 idea that this the g force that we talked about earlier. 0:23:53.560 --> 0:23:56.600 It's been shown to produce a loss of consciousness and people. 0:23:57.240 --> 0:24:00.520 So that's another danger that you you know, when you're sailing, 0:24:00.560 --> 0:24:03.960 you want to like stay like a projectile, and if 0:24:04.000 --> 0:24:05.960 you're blacked out, you're going to be like a dead 0:24:06.000 --> 0:24:12.119 body like you. Yes, um, and Elvin Bell is not 0:24:12.160 --> 0:24:16.200