With a minimum of effort Mike found the range that was most likely used near the Alameda County Sheriff's Jail facility. This suspected range is over 700 yards to the first house impacted. Three blue plastic barrels of the same type used in previous experiments are immediately in front of a sloping dirt embankment at the end of this range. Compared to other terrain features and building heights, the embankment appears to be less than 30 feet high. The angle is difficult to judge, but is likely between 45 and 60 degrees from the horizontal. The "unusual trajectory" mentioned in various reports seems to have more to do with a divergence from a down-range direction after either the target of barrels and concrete blocks or the dirt bank previously mentioned was hit. Simply using a protractor on the google earth image, we find the angle of divergence to be between 40 and 45 degrees. A line was drawn from the butts to the second house hit, breaking numerous roof tiles, the address of which was reported. It's difficult to guess who will bear the Lion's share of responsibility here, but there's no doubt which entity the lawyers will be targeting. Their heavy artillery will be pointing squarely at the Myth Busters production company which has the "deep pockets" in this case.
Mike and Tracy
