Penn Teller: BullSh!t

Thanks! I'll be watching to see the, umm, hybrids.

 

When Penn & Teller pontificated that the link between second-hand smoke and illness is bullshit, I decided that Penn & Teller's show, Bullshit, is bullshit. They pretend to be scientific, but they just promote their own eccentric prejudices. Angry crackpots.

They'll probably rant and rave about how you can't "save" money on a hybrid, as if you could "save" money on any car.

I can't imagine what they might have to say about lesbianism. Supposedly their show debunks popular myths. What is there to say about lesbians? Some women like women. Are they going to debunk that?

They'll probably say that radioactive waste is good for you.

I don't have a TV so unless someone posts a summary here, I will remain happily ignorant of what they say.

 

Dont Forget Penn & Teller are performers from Vegas LOL I know I trust what they say ( NOT)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priussoris @ May 15 2007, 09:53 PM) [snapback]442932[/snapback]</div>

Actually, isn't it what Penn says? I think Teller is the one who doesn't talk.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(larkinmj @ May 15 2007, 05:55 PM) [snapback]442934[/snapback]</div>

You're correct, Teller doesn't say anything (at least normally).

I went to their show in Vegas and had a good time (and got them to autograph my Bullsh*t Season 1 DVD box). Just a note for fans: If you go to their show at the Rio, they always hang around in the Lobby just outside the theatre to chat with people, sign stuff, and generally be sociable (and Teller will talk to you there). I thought it was pretty classy - they'd hang around until the entire audience had left.

That said, they're entertainers, and opinionated ones at that. I have no particular problem if they complain about hybrids, I'm more than happy with my purchase, and plan on purchasing more hybrid vehicles in the future!

 

They're libertarians with a great (albeit sick) sense of humor. They DID give a half-hearted retraction of their second-hand smoke story, but yeah, anyone looking to their show for "facts" is better off watching Fox News, or better yet, just reading the Weekly World News.

I saw their show in Vegas, though, and highly recommend it if you're in town. Before the show, listen to the great jazz piano player, and get a good look at the guy playing the bass.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Stev0 @ May 15 2007, 07:43 PM) [snapback]442961[/snapback]</div>

I never see the Weekly World News here. I guess the grocery store I shop at doesn't carry it. But in Fargo I always looked at the neadlines. "Noah's ark discovered on Mars." "George Bush and Osama bin Laden gay wedding." "Fat wife sits on husband's lap and kills him." What I'd rally like to know (out of sociological curiosity) is whether people believe that stuff, or whether they read it as a comic book.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ May 15 2007, 09:44 PM) [snapback]443072[/snapback]</div>

For some <strike>of us</strike> people, it is the only news that <strike>we</strike> they get.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ May 15 2007, 10:54 PM) [snapback]443107[/snapback]</div>

And some of "these" people were/are/will be governing "us" :angry:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ May 16 2007, 12:44 AM) [snapback]443072[/snapback]</div>

So that explains why Bush wanted to spend billions of dollars to send a manned expedition to Mars! He wanted to find Noah's Ark!

 

So did anyone watch it?

I watched part of it last night. Like anything they do, they tend to focus on what they need to in order to make a point. Some points are a bit valid, but others just aren't. I also think the Prius was a poor choice for them to use. A gas vehicle turned hybrid (ala Camry or HCH) would have been a much better choice.

Prius is just unique... It gets the most mileage and you don't have to sacrifice space. Other cars they compared mileage too were a Harley (not a car obviously) and a corolla. There's a BIG difference between what a corolla can do and what I Prius can do. I'd probably still have my Jeep or some other SUV if it wasn't for the Prius.

 

I watched it. It's a show I normally watch so I was expecting them to rip apart the Prius. Their arguments were pretty weak though. When I was a child, we didn't have any large cars and we managed to pack our car for road trips just fine. We couldn't take everything with us, we took what we had room for and chose wisely.

Maybe they don't really hate Hybrids that much. Their heart wasn't in it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(theforce @ May 18 2007, 07:30 PM) [snapback]445437[/snapback]</div>

The advocates of nuclear power leave out one very important point: More than half a century after the beginning of the nuclear age, we still have no place to store the waste that will remain highly radioactive and toxic for a quarter of a million years!

As for the Prius luggage space: Any car can be packed so full of stuff that you cannot close the doors. Sounds like they are badmouthing it for not being a moving van.

Like I said above, Penn & Teller's show is bullshit.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ May 19 2007, 12:08 AM) [snapback]445508[/snapback]</div>

I have to say I like P&T and their Showtime show. most of the time.

I chose the Prius for many reasons but drag racing was not one of them. It was my choice not theirs.

As far as the lack of space did anyone else notice that the Penn said he drives a Mini-cooper and gave it as an example?

I would challenge him to load the same amount of crap into his mini as they attempted to in the Prius on the, Lesbians included!

He made his chose about one of his cars for specific reasons and so did we.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ May 19 2007, 12:08 AM) [snapback]445508[/snapback]</div>

We could just put it all in gas form and dump it into the atmosphere. Seems to be working fine now with coal and oil.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Army5339 @ May 21 2007, 05:31 AM) [snapback]446563[/snapback]</div>

Some wag once suggested putting it in soda pop.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ May 21 2007, 08:12 AM) [snapback]446587[/snapback]</div>

Yeah! Put it in some "Energy Drink" and you'd make millions!

 

I watched the episode too. I agree with what everyone here is saying... they basically stacked the deck against the Prius to make a point.

When they were focusing on 0 to 60 acceleration, they compared it to the latest and greatest Corvette, a motorcycle and a Cooper S... none of those cars are in the same class as the Prius at all.

When tackling cargo space, they tried to fill the Prius with enough crap that would probably barely fit into a minivan.

When they got the gas mileage, they again compared it to a motorcycle and a bunch of cars again not in the Prius's class.

I think the real meat of their disdain for the Prius has little to do with the car itself... it's that last part at the end when they mention the tax credit. Penn & Teller, being the Libertarians that they are, railing against a perceived government interference in our car culture.

The fact that they made a not-thinly-veiled joke out of the whole thing by bringing in two lesbians to test drive the car clearly shows they were grasping at straws, and just latched onto the hybrid myths.

I found it really ironic at the end when Penn was talking about how new technologies (speaking of nuclear energy) would save us from certain death by suffocation, but in the same breath said that hybrid technology is one of those forces destroying us.

I usually find Penn & Teller's show pretty interesting, but this was a pretty cobbled together mess. The episode before last about Patriotism, was much better organized and clearly argued.