And that, boys and girls is using "this stupid math homework in real life".

A real life where people shoot cannonballs in your backyard.

Well, there is that. But if a math teacher said "you will need to know [insert complicated math here] in real life to calculate how far away the cannonball was shot" I may have paid more attention.

No farther down than that. Though it is amazing how close you can live to a federal prison and have no real awareness it is there. The county jail next door is a more obvious presence.

There's a juvenile detention center near us. It's very large and very obvious. Across the way is some other facility that is clearly also some sort of jail. The only reason I know it exists is because I got turned around one day looking for the entrance to a golf course in the are (the entrance is surprisingly well hidden) and ended up at a dead end, a driveway, and a pair of very stern looking officers. "Ummm, no, this is not the golf course." I still don't know exactly what it is, it's not identified on any map I've ever seen. The only time I can actually see any part of the facility is during my bike rides, from down in the Santa Ana "River" (aka drainage channel). It's gotta be something that's pretty high security.

ETA: Heh, nevermind. That prompted me to do another round of looking, and it actually is related to the juvenile detention across the way. It's specifically their youth drug rehab facility.

I'm from Prison Town USA. And they just built a county jail next to the cemetery. So my parents have a view of the prison basketball court for eternity. I also sadly know where most of the state prisons are, a lot of people I know were guards, or their parents, so I knew from where they'd lived before.

And for an unknown reason. Maddie thinks it's funny that the big juvenile facility here is right next to Children's Hospital. I'm not sure why she thinks it is but she does.

My bro lives just across a road from a prison medical facility. Lots of cops live in his neighborhood. Pretty dang safe place :) Also keeps the sightlines nice and clear beyond his back fence, which is kind of nice.

huh. and folks give me sh!t about my neighborhood. we dont have the jails, just the released prisoners

We just have porn studios, 7-11s and a donut/liquor store.

FWIW, the episode they were filming was shown on 11/11/12. It is titled "Cannonball Chemistry." They were testing stone cannonballs vs iron. We're watching it now.