RR Goof on "Burn Notice"

The show "Burn Notice" on USA Network revolves around an agent of one of those security agencies that has been "burned", or stripped of his job, had his clearances revoked, his assets frozen, and been dumped in Miami to more or less fend for himself. He makes money using his skills to help out people in tight binds. In the episode Thursday night he's mixing up a batch of thermite, while his voice-over is explaining that it burns at very high temperatures, so hot that it's used to weld railroad ties together. Excuse me? Weld railroad *TIES*? A bit of a faux pas by the scriptwriter there. :-{D

Reply to
Rick Jones
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On 8/25/2007 6:09 PM Rick Jones spake thus:

Don't forget, these are the same yahoos who made people believe back in the 1970s that images from any video camera placed anywhere could be magically zoomed in to show the writing on the book of matches (or whatever) that gave the killer away. (And other nonsensical takes on technology.)

Reply to
David Nebenzahl

Considering how badly TV and movies mangle every other technical detail of just about everything, this one isn't that far off.

Considering the agency that's been hounding him lately (CSS - at least they got a correct expansion for the organization) doesn't do field work, much less assasination, what's with a minor gaffe?

Val

"Rick Jones" wrote in message news:Hp4Ai.21415$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr13.news.prodigy.net... The show "Burn Notice" on USA Network revolves around an agent of one of those security agencies that has been "burned", or stripped of his job, had his clearances revoked, his assets frozen, and been dumped in Miami to more or less fend for himself. He makes money using his skills to help out people in tight binds. In the episode Thursday night he's mixing up a batch of thermite, while his voice-over is explaining that it burns at very high temperatures, so hot that it's used to weld railroad ties together. Excuse me? Weld railroad *TIES*? A bit of a faux pas by the scriptwriter there. :-{D

Reply to
Val

However, according to MIT folklore, it CAN be used to weld a PCC car's wheels to the tracks, or weld shut one of Harvard's gates.

Reply to
Steve Caple

"Rick Jones" wrote

As it happens, I once owned a push-train set that was composed of a large steel Pacific type loco, it's tender, a gondola, and about 100' of track that measured somewhere around 5" (?) between the rails. The rails were steel, as were the ties, and each tie was indeed welded to the rails if not to the other ties.

Probably didn't use thermite for the welds, though.

Pete

Reply to
P. Roehling

Steel sleepers were/are commonly used in Europe and Africa - however I've never heard of them being welded together. That would tend to defeat the possibility of changing worn rails!

Regards, Greg.P.

Reply to
Greg Procter

Silly me, I use GOO to weld my ties .........................

Reply to
the OTHER Mike

In all fairness, the poor scriptwriter probably lives in L.A. - the city where it seems nearly everyone believes things like shooting a person with a .45 makes them fly back 30 feet, crash through a plate glass window, and land in a swimming pool.

Welding wood shouldn't be a problem in a city where the laws of physics are based on artistic license.

Reply to
Spender

An episode of the Six Million Dollar Man comes to mind. Steve is rammed against a wall with a truck. So he just braces his back against the wall and kicks off on the bumper with his bionic legs. The fact that his hips, back, etc, were not bionic was never a problem.

Reply to
Spender

belongs to the same cohort as the E-Bay sellers who advertise "steam locomotive with coal car, . . . "

Reply to
Steve Caple

Concrete ties have rebar in them.

Reply to
Big Rich Soprano

In spite of having a bionic leg, I find that back and hip exercises like picking up a dropped drill bit from the floor tire me to the point of needing a lie down with a model railway magazine.

Greg.P. AKA the six dollar man.

Reply to
Greg Procter

"Big Rich Soprano" wrote

Ever try to weld next to a piece of concrete?

Having done this once as a youth, the words "explosion" and "shrapnel" come to mind.

Pete

Reply to
P. Roehling

Why no i haven't...

eww... ok...

Reply to
Big Rich Soprano

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