Darwin award nominee

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O_P_T said:
:shrug_n:

There are plenty of career choices that entail significant risk.

I'm not sure a test pilot is any safer than what those guys did. Or any of the various "X games" athletes. A commercial fisherman, etc.

Yet I think they all share a common theme.

The individuals have confidence in their ability to avoid the "problem" that always seems obvious after the fact.

Edit: Heck, I've worked doing inspections at nuclear power plants for 30 odd years and have gotten my share of radiation exposure in the process. I'm sure that plenty of people think I'm nuts for doing it, but I don't. For me the risk is quite quantifiable and acceptable. If I end up getting a cancer down the road, it won't change my opinion.

And for the record, the only place I've ever worked that I had the slightest concern about my life was a chemical plant. I've worked on off-shore oil platforms, Prudhoe Bay Alaska, loaded solid rocket motors for the Shuttle and Titan rockets, submarines, various air force aircraft, as well as nuclear power plants and I never had any real concern in those locations.

The difference was that the latter had the appropriate respect for the dangers involved and took the necessary precautions. Chemical plants were a little more "cowboyish".
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I don't disagree, and I'm being overly harsh and somewhat unfair, since presumably the common link for real "Darwin Awards" is stupidity. These people are educated, motavated and intelligent in all likelihood. But driving under a tornado and getting tossed a half a mile? There's still some serious what was he thinking involved.

Cheers
 
BostonTim said:
I don't disagree, and I'm being overly harsh and somewhat unfair, since presumably the common link for real "Darwin Awards" is stupidity. These people are educated, motavated and intelligent in all likelihood. But driving under a tornado and getting tossed a half a mile? There's still some serious what was he thinking involved.
Cheers
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Ever talk to a test pilot?

They make fighter pilots look like pussy

What do they do for a living?

They take up an experimental airplane, push it to the point to identify it's limits.

How do they know where those limits are?

When they've exceeded them, and things get "interesting".

Every single one will tell you that the guys who died did so because they made some sort of mistake, one that they would never do. This is the source for the phrase "screw the pooch" that I've used before.

So I have no doubt that these storm chasers thought they knew what they were doing, that they had positioned themselves in a position relative to the storm, that the risk was acceptable and that they were not going to die.

Did they "screw the pooch"?

I don't know. I don't know where they were driving, what choices they had, and which ones they made.

Maybe they made a bad choice, maybe it was simply a case of excrement happens. Maybe they just pushed that envelope a little too far and couldn't bring it back under control.

Hindsight is 20-20, so it seems obvious now that they made a bad choice. The reality is that they could have been positioned, relative to the storm, that 99 times out of 100 would keep them perfectly safe, based on the normal behavior of these storms, and they had the bad luck to get that 100th event. The tornado made an atypical move and they had nowhere to go.

BTW, not only have I met test pilots through work, where our systems were involved in inspecting their equipment, my Dad was one.

He was involved in the program right after WWII where we took all the different aircraft from all sides and did a fly-off to baseline their capabilities and feed our design teams. His roommate at test pilot school was a guy named Allan Shepard, you might have heard of him. :coffee:

He was one of two guys to survive flying the manned version of the V-1. About 10 guys didn't make it. eeek
 
I'm a Darwin Award aficionado. I've searched back here and find numerous different Darwin threads and I'm right in there in most of them. Some aren't really Darwin qualified (when the moron lives for example) and I get called out for not being in the true Darwin spirit.

I kinda think this is a good nominee right here. It's not a spectacular demise. But it's sure good and stupid.

http://www.fauquier.com/news/culpep...cle_4bf5a480-81b7-11e6-a0d4-2741d1de79c9.html


Cheers, BostonTim
 
Golf and Darwin Awards do go together sometimes

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i was in line to get gas at Costco today. I get out of the car and smell smoke. the guy in front of me is smoking a fucking cigarette in front of the gas tank while he's filling it up .i would have wished for darwinism but I was too close to him. And I was too afraid to say anything to anyone at Costco
 
HSanders said:
i was in line to get gas at Costco today. I get out of the car and smell smoke. the guy in front of me is smoking a fucking cigarette in front of the gas tank while he's filling it up .i would have wished for darwinism but I was too close to him. And I was too afraid to say anything to anyone at Costco
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This is why there should be a law that requires all smokers to drive electric vehicles.
 
HSanders said:
i was in line to get gas at Costco today. I get out of the car and smell smoke. the guy in front of me is smoking a fucking cigarette in front of the gas tank while he's filling it up .i would have wished for darwinism but I was too close to him. And I was too afraid to say anything to anyone at Costco
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Wait, you'll tell a lady with a poodle in a restaurant what a c*** she is, but not this guy? C'mon!!!
 
TipRoast said:
This is why there should be a law that requires all smokers to drive electric vehicles.
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Years ago as a kid I worked at a gas station filling cars. This was before the days of self service. 46 cents a gallon BTW.
In any event there was a regular, an old timer named Elmer, who was way past 80, a crusty old bastard who insisted on filling his own car. He'd squeeze that nozzle and make sure that gas was practically overflowing. One day I saw him doing that, literally peering down the fuel fill on the car, with a lit stogie in his mouth. Ever have an instance where you started to warn someone and before your mouth opened something happened? Well, I was standing nearby, saw him do it, thought "oh shit" and just then the side of the car erupts in flames. Ol' Elmer jumps back and I ran over and put the fire out by slapping the gas cap on the tank, singed my hand pretty good doing it.
My boss ran out and cursed out Elmer who had no eyebrows left. After that Elmer let us pump his gas.
Good times!
 
patswin said:
Years ago as a kid I worked at a gas station filling cars. This was before the days of self service. 46 cents a gallon BTW.
In any event there was a regular, an old timer named Elmer, who was way past 80, a crusty old bastard who insisted on filling his own car. He'd squeeze that nozzle and make sure that gas was practically overflowing. One day I saw him doing that, literally peering down the fuel fill on the car, with a lit stogie in his mouth. Ever have an instance where you started to warn someone and before your mouth opened something happened? Well, I was standing nearby, saw him do it, thought "oh shit" and just then the side of the car erupts in flames. Ol' Elmer jumps back and I ran over and put the fire out by slapping the gas cap on the tank, singed my hand pretty good doing it.
My boss ran out and cursed out Elmer who had no eyebrows left. After that Elmer let us pump his gas.
Good times!
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Elmer's.... Blew?

:coffee"
 
patswin said:
Years ago as a kid I worked at a gas station filling cars. This was before the days of self service. 46 cents a gallon BTW.
In any event there was a regular, an old timer named Elmer, who was way past 80, a crusty old bastard who insisted on filling his own car. He'd squeeze that nozzle and make sure that gas was practically overflowing. One day I saw him doing that, literally peering down the fuel fill on the car, with a lit stogie in his mouth. Ever have an instance where you started to warn someone and before your mouth opened something happened? Well, I was standing nearby, saw him do it, thought "oh shit" and just then the side of the car erupts in flames. Ol' Elmer jumps back and I ran over and put the fire out by slapping the gas cap on the tank, singed my hand pretty good doing it.
My boss ran out and cursed out Elmer who had no eyebrows left. After that Elmer let us pump his gas.
Good times!
Click to expand...
I deliver propane tanks for forklifts and this obnoxious asshole starts running his pissflaps at me because one of the tanks he was using had a minor leak. I said to him just throw the tank back in the cage if he has any issues. I also said that’s why the tanks are outside in a locked cage with a sign that says no smoking or anything that can cause a spark inside of 50ft. 🤷‍♂️ About one minute later I look over and he is driving a forklift with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Natural selection should eventually take course.
 
patswin said:
Years ago as a kid I worked at a gas station filling cars. This was before the days of self service. 46 cents a gallon BTW.
In any event there was a regular, an old timer named Elmer, who was way past 80, a crusty old bastard who insisted on filling his own car. He'd squeeze that nozzle and make sure that gas was practically overflowing. One day I saw him doing that, literally peering down the fuel fill on the car, with a lit stogie in his mouth. Ever have an instance where you started to warn someone and before your mouth opened something happened? Well, I was standing nearby, saw him do it, thought "oh shit" and just then the side of the car erupts in flames. Ol' Elmer jumps back and I ran over and put the fire out by slapping the gas cap on the tank, singed my hand pretty good doing it.
My boss ran out and cursed out Elmer who had no eyebrows left. After that Elmer let us pump his gas.
Good times!
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that was you? thanks
 
HSanders said:
i was in line to get gas at Costco today. I get out of the car and smell smoke. the guy in front of me is smoking a fucking cigarette in front of the gas tank while he's filling it up .i would have wished for darwinism but I was too close to him. And I was too afraid to say anything to anyone at Costco
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The other day I did some googling after your post .
Each year there are over 4000 gas station fires in the USA.
There has never been a fire at a station that uses those vapor recovery system, you know those plastic hose thingy everybody hates.

"Typically the fuel tank fill opening is located opposite of the car"s exhaust pipe because it could be hot."

Main cause of fires is electrostatic spark near gas vapors, which makes me think I should change my technique of leaning against the car while filling.
 
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