CSI Miami throws science out the window, again

"RichA" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Oct 31, 7:25 am, Thanatos wrote:
In article ,
Richard Evans wrote:





Thanatos wrote:

In article ,
"Mason Barge" wrote:

Don't doubt, however, that a bullet fired into the air,
especially at an angle, can kill someone.

That's actually how extreme long-distance snipers hit their targets.
For
all intents and purposes, they lob the round in an arc, like a
high-velocity mortar, and the bullet comes down on the subject from
above rather than hitting him straight-on.

That's how *any* marksman hits a target. Gravity starts to drag on a
bullet fired from a gun the instant the bullet leaves the barrel. A
bullet fired dead level and a bullet dropped at the same instant hit
the ground at the same time. All bullets follow some sort of arc to
hit a target.

Yes, but if you shoot a pistol at someone from 25 yards, that arc is so
negligible at that distance that the bullet doesn't arc down on them
from above.

Hitting a target with a rifle at 4000 feet is an entirely different
skill set than hitting a target with a revolver at 15 feet.- Hide quoted
text -

- Show quoted text -

A Canadian sniper this year hit a guy (thought a metal sheet,
apparently) in Afghanistan at 2100 yards with a Barrett 0.50cal
sniping rifle. I have no idea what the drop would be at that
distance.


Ignoring wind, other atmospherics, and other variables, a 2000 grain 50 cal.
bullet fired with a muzzle velocity of 2900 fps would drop around 230 inches
at 1000 yards from the sight point with a total drop of 257 inches.
Obviously the drop would be considerably larger at 2100 yards. My hunting
ballistics calculator only goes to 1000 yards. I'm sure there are programs
on the web that go higher.

In article ,
"Mike Minor" wrote:

"Thanatos" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Chris L Peterson wrote:

On Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:17:07 -0700, Larry Bud
wrote:

A pretty good job? I mean, I like the show. Pretty graphics, cool
special effects, but science? No way.

I disagree. I rarely see serious scientific errors on CSI (Las Vegas).

Are you kidding me? They've done the "infinite zoom" thing repeatedly on
the Vegas show, just like the other two CSI shows, where they take some
grainy security camera footage and zoom in to read a clothing label or a
note in a person's hand or some other ridiculous thing.

And the Las Vegas Crime Lab seems to have a database for everything. I
about fell off my couch laughing one night when Stokes took a sofa upon
which a body was found and ran it through their "furniture database",
which not only instantly told him the exact make and model of the sofa,
but the exact store it was sold out of, when it was sold, and to whom.

But the real inaccuracies in the Vegas show (as well as the NY and Miami
shows) comes not in the science but in the law. The 4th, 5th and 6th
Amendments to the Constitution apparently do not exist in the world of
CSI.

They use the right techniques, and they
use the right equipment.

Not really. For example, they put all their evidence in see-through
plastic bags. That's not a good way to, for example, preserve
fingerprint evidence:

The use of clear envelopes is forbidden because plastic
can have an adverse affect on the future development of
latent prints on items of evidence. The introduction of
excessive heat and humidity and the friction of evidence
against the clear plastic can have an adverse affect
on latent print development. Light, which permeates the
clear plastic, can also result in the degradation of
latent prints. Additionally, the American Society of
Crime Laboratory Directors / Laboratory Accreditation
Board requires that latent print evidence be stored
in paper envelopes (as is the generally accepted method).

I feel your pain. As a someone in law enforcement, I'm sure
that the show eats at you from the inaccuracies that are
constantly perpetuated.

The worst ones are when goofballs like Horatio Caine raid a home or an
apartment. Everything from the way Caine *reduces* his visual acuity by
donning sunglasses right before kicking a door and moving from bright
sunlight into a dark apartment to the way these idiots peek into room
for a half a second and declare it "clear". They don't look under beds
or in closets or anywhere someone could be hiding. I've personally found
someone hiding in a kitchen cabinet over a sink on a raid-- what looked
like an impossibly small space for a person to occupy. They also like to
cross in front of each other's guns with frightening regularity. You
never point your gun at a fellow officer or move into a fellow officers
line of fire.

Conducting raids the way Horatio and his crew does is nothing more than
an express ticket to the grave.

In article ,
"windowwasher" wrote:

"RichA" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Oct 31, 7:25 am, Thanatos wrote:
In article ,
Richard Evans wrote:





Thanatos wrote:

In article ,
"Mason Barge" wrote:

Don't doubt, however, that a bullet fired into the air,
especially at an angle, can kill someone.

That's actually how extreme long-distance snipers hit their targets.
For
all intents and purposes, they lob the round in an arc, like a
high-velocity mortar, and the bullet comes down on the subject from
above rather than hitting him straight-on.

That's how *any* marksman hits a target. Gravity starts to drag on a
bullet fired from a gun the instant the bullet leaves the barrel. A
bullet fired dead level and a bullet dropped at the same instant hit
the ground at the same time. All bullets follow some sort of arc to
hit a target.

Yes, but if you shoot a pistol at someone from 25 yards, that arc is so
negligible at that distance that the bullet doesn't arc down on them
from above.

Hitting a target with a rifle at 4000 feet is an entirely different
skill set than hitting a target with a revolver at 15 feet.- Hide quoted
text -

- Show quoted text -

A Canadian sniper this year hit a guy (thought a metal sheet,
apparently) in Afghanistan at 2100 yards with a Barrett 0.50cal
sniping rifle. I have no idea what the drop would be at that
distance.


Ignoring wind, other atmospherics, and other variables, a 2000 grain 50 cal.
bullet fired with a muzzle velocity of 2900 fps would drop around 230 inches
at 1000 yards from the sight point with a total drop of 257 inches.
Obviously the drop would be considerably larger at 2100 yards. My hunting
ballistics calculator only goes to 1000 yards. I'm sure there are programs
on the web that go higher.

At that distance, even the rotation of the earth becomes a factor.

"Anim8rFSK" wrote in message
...
Our 7th grade science teacher taught us that the rotation of the Earth
is what held people down.

That's funny! Although, to be fair, we still don't exactly know what is
holding us down but planetary rotation does seem a poor candidate. ;-)

RichA wrote:
On Oct 30, 3:49 pm, "Rick Evans" wrote:
"RichA" wrote in message

ups.com...

I love it. SNIP predictable Rich rant
You watch a T & A show for science? Sheesh!


CSI Miami is "T & A?"

Brainy chicks that don't take crap off anyone and have rather nice T's
and A's to boot? (nicer than I have ever seen on a Real World cop...)

Yeah, sometimes I have to put CSI:M on mute while I am watching, but the
scenery is nice....

aem sends....

In article ,
"Victor Velazquez" wrote:

"Anim8rFSK" wrote in message
...
Our 7th grade science teacher taught us that the rotation of the Earth
is what held people down.

That's funny! Although, to be fair, we still don't exactly know what is
holding us down but planetary rotation does seem a poor candidate. ;-)

If anything, planetary rotation is trying to toss us off. :\

--
Jitterbug phone works! (Third time's a charm!)

"Anim8rFSK" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Victor Velazquez" wrote:

"Anim8rFSK" wrote in message
...
Our 7th grade science teacher taught us that the rotation of the Earth
is what held people down.

That's funny! Although, to be fair, we still don't exactly know what is
holding us down but planetary rotation does seem a poor candidate. ;-)

If anything, planetary rotation is trying to toss us off. :\

Heh, I thought it was the drinking!

Thanatos wrote:

snip

The worst ones are when goofballs like Horatio Caine raid a home or an
apartment. Everything from the way Caine *reduces* his visual acuity by
donning sunglasses right before kicking a door and moving from bright
sunlight into a dark apartment to the way these idiots peek into room
for a half a second and declare it "clear". They don't look under beds
or in closets or anywhere someone could be hiding.

Anyone who saw "Silence of the Lambs" knows you check the corners!

I've personally found
someone hiding in a kitchen cabinet over a sink on a raid-- what looked
like an impossibly small space for a person to occupy.

Just like Charlie Manson - found in a cabinet under the sink when LAPD
raided the Spahn ranch. heh

Mason Barge wrote:
"Rich" wrote in message

I had a physics teacher that told us if a 1" ball bearing were dropped
off the Empire State building it would go 7 feet into the ground. He
didn't understand the concept of terminal velocity.


I used to hear the same sort of rumors about a penny dropped edge-first. In
truth, it might bend the penny, although I don't think a steel ball bearing
would be damaged.

Don't doubt, however, that a bullet fired into the air, especially at an
angle, can kill someone. Hmm, possibly even the ball bearing could do it;
it'd sure smart like hell. I'm guessing 200 fps plus. And what, 120 grams?
(Anyone know the density of steel off the "top of your head"?hahhaha)


MythBusters debunked the bullet idea. They shot several bullets into
the air, and found the bullet will quickly lose velocity and start
tumbling through the air. Thus it will fall back to the ground at a
much slower rate.. too slow to kill anything.

On Thu, 01 Nov 2007 01:08:22 GMT, aemeijers wrote:

RichA wrote:
On Oct 30, 3:49 pm, "Rick Evans" wrote:
"RichA" wrote in message

ups.com...

I love it. SNIP predictable Rich rant
You watch a T & A show for science? Sheesh!


CSI Miami is "T & A?"

Brainy chicks that don't take crap off anyone and have rather nice T's
and A's to boot? (nicer than I have ever seen on a Real World cop...)

Yeah, sometimes I have to put CSI:M on mute while I am watching, but the
scenery is nice....

You should have watched that reality TV show they had last summer (I
think) where they had some b-list (maybe d-list) celebrities work as
cops, like Latoya Jackson and the guy that played Ponch from Chips. In
any case they had one female police officer (a real cop) that looked
quite lovely the few times I saw her. Certainly the best looking real
cop I have seen.