I don't know about outside of the U.S., but here "Mythbusters" is a huge success with us science geeks and a lot of other folks, too. The popularity can be explained by this exchange between the hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman​:

Savage: "Jamie, when we're all done making 'Mythbusters', how would you like us to be remembered?"Hyneman: "How about for our promotion of critical thought."Savage: "And how do you think we will be remembered?"Hyneman: "For blowing crap up."Savage: "Yep"

For all that everyone likes seeing them "blow crap up", there is a lot of science (and writing it down) involved. Personally, I really like that part, too. Not only do I learn cool things, but it some odd way it feels like it justifies the explosions because, you know, science!

What about in real life, outside of "Mythbusters" or a science lab? I've had this experience of debugging something where the final solution is something that I really thought I had tried previously. Since I obviously had not done so, writing down more things would have been very helpful in my process.

Probably a lot of things that we do, cooking, working on a car, woodworking, gardening, etc., could benefit from keeping track of what works and how well. I can highly recommend it.

Happiness from Knowledge

“There is nothing which can better deserve our patronage than the promotion of science and literature.
Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.”

George Washington​

The more I learn about George Washington, the more I respect and admire him. Living somewhat near his estate of Mt. Vernon, I have had the opportunity to tour it a number of times and I've found that:

• He could have been crowned King of America, but wanted something better for the new American republic
• He was keenly aware that everything he did would set a precedence and conducted himself accordingly
• He had to be worked on to take a second term in office
• He left Washington after his second term in office so that the country would be forced to work with the next president, rather than continuing to come to him
• He planted trial crops from seeds collected from all over to see how they would do
• His sincerest belief was that one should come to Washington to serve, and then go back home to work at a real job

Frankly, were he alive today I believe he would be appalled at our current crop of professional politicians.