How many ways does MacGyver use a map that you’ve never thought of before?
It’s an old campy TV spy show from the early 1980’s about this guy who goes on these wild spy missions armed with only a Swiss army knife and a roll of duct tape. The interest was that he could fix anything, build anything, or create chemical concoctions to do anything using only household items or what he could find laying around. He once took some drain cleaner, a brillo pad, a fan belt, the titanium shavings from an old bicycle frame, a broom handle, a piece of pipe, and some goat’s milk and built a rocket launcher that defeated the Russian army. He once had NASA track a kidnapped girl by using NAVSTAR to home in on her transistor radio – once she twisted two wires together and had it send out a beacon at 283 Mhz. He once escaped from prison by convincing the warden that a helicopter was going to come in and fly him away – then recorded a rubber spatula thumping in a ceiling fan, and played that over the PA system and while everyone was looking up for the helicopter he walked out the back gate. He once built a hang glider out of a crashed satellite and a roll of duct tape. Later he topped that by building an ultra-light airplane with bamboo poles, trash bags, duct tape, and the engine from a portable cement mixer – he carved the propeller with his Swiss army knife from a 2 by 4. That barely scratches the surface of the first season. (I’ve been re-watching the old episodes on Amazon Prime and I’ve seen 20 of the 139 episodes) The map gambit really stuck home – they should play it at the UC plenary session during breaks.
In the early 2000’s there was a show called Junkyard Wars where they put people in a junkyard and they had to build improbable things using only what was found in a junkyard. They would often reference MacGyver, but if you put MacGyver in a junkyard he could build a jet airplane and fly everyone home, and defeat the Russian army along the way.
Because of MacGyver I always have a Swiss army knife and duct tape handy and if you think I’m kidding go look in the toolbox in the trunk of my car!
How many ways does MacGyver use a map that you’ve never thought of before?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOY4BnsddKE
David W. Allen, GISP
City of Euless
(817) 685-1633
Posted on GIS Colorado list serve 01/29/2014