Author Topic: Darwin Awards  (Read 43368 times)

Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #125 on: 21 September, 2019, 08:55:38 pm »
Man drowns during underwater marriage proposal.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-49783851

"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #126 on: 21 September, 2019, 11:24:07 pm »
Extraordinary!
It is simpler than it looks.

Redlight

  • Enjoying life in the slow lane
Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #127 on: 16 October, 2019, 07:24:56 pm »
A very sad story - but clearly a contender.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-50067073
Why should anybody steal a watch when they can steal a bicycle?

Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #128 on: 25 October, 2019, 01:45:55 pm »
This guy?  Maybe some kind of Schadenfreude award?

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #129 on: 27 January, 2020, 12:24:43 am »
The first time a Darwin Award has been given to an entire country - even though only 52% earned it.

https://www.lcdviews.com/2020/01/18/united-kingdom-wins-darwin-award/?fbclid=IwAR3nDEl4cKClZalbEbOZeyZjhPCvWR9tBTX0_3-bjj1RVhIyMmUuMR1e85w
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #130 on: 27 January, 2020, 11:50:40 am »
The first time a Darwin Award has been given to an entire country - even though only 52% earned it.

https://www.lcdviews.com/2020/01/18/united-kingdom-wins-darwin-award/?fbclid=IwAR3nDEl4cKClZalbEbOZeyZjhPCvWR9tBTX0_3-bjj1RVhIyMmUuMR1e85w

Bzzt.  Satire.  (I know it's hard to tell these days.)

Also, while Brexit is clearly stupid, I don't think it directly removes anyone from the gene pool.

caerau

  • SR x 3 - PBP fail but 1090 km - hey - not too bad
Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #131 on: 27 January, 2020, 02:10:31 pm »
The first time a Darwin Award has been given to an entire country - even though only 52% earned it.

https://www.lcdviews.com/2020/01/18/united-kingdom-wins-darwin-award/?fbclid=IwAR3nDEl4cKClZalbEbOZeyZjhPCvWR9tBTX0_3-bjj1RVhIyMmUuMR1e85w

Bzzt.  Satire.  (I know it's hard to tell these days.)

Also, while Brexit is clearly stupid, I don't think it directly removes anyone from the gene pool.


Quite the opposite.  I was going to point this out earlier, but seeing as someone has mentioned it - sadly this type of politics is very much multiplying around the globe currently :-(
It's a reverse Elvis thing.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #132 on: 27 January, 2020, 05:10:55 pm »
You can't get a Darwin award for removing *other people* from the gene pool, thobut.

caerau

  • SR x 3 - PBP fail but 1090 km - hey - not too bad
Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #133 on: 29 January, 2020, 08:53:20 am »
Not really what I meant - I was thinking more that it's actively breeding.
It's a reverse Elvis thing.

Steph

  • Fast. Fast and bulbous. But fluffy.
Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #134 on: 23 February, 2020, 08:22:08 am »
Mike Hughes and his home made steam rocket had a mishap in California. I guess that he has a well-earned Darwin award, unforunately. The world needs more like him - passionate about what we do.

BBC article

I noted the comment from a friend about the Flat Earther

"When God made Mike he broke the mould. The man was the real deal and lived to push the edge. He wouldn't have gone out any other way! RIP"

Edge duly pushed...
Mae angen arnaf i byw, a fe fydda'i

Giraffe

  • I brake for Giraffes
Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #135 on: 23 February, 2020, 08:29:41 am »
Fitting end for a flat-earther - push the edge too hard and fall off.
2x4: thick plank; 4x4: 2 of 'em.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #136 on: 23 February, 2020, 08:33:06 am »
How many plane tickets could he have got for his $14k?
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #137 on: 23 February, 2020, 08:56:09 am »
I just love people like that, as said above we need more of them.

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #138 on: 23 February, 2020, 09:35:04 am »
I see that the take off was near Barstow. Maybe the drugs had begun to take hold.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #139 on: 23 February, 2020, 11:51:10 am »
Nutter learns that the earth is not only not flat but it's also very hard.
“There is no point in using the word 'impossible' to describe something that has clearly happened.”
― Douglas Adams

Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #140 on: 23 February, 2020, 12:10:09 pm »
What's that big thing coming towards me very fast ?/  It's big and round and ... it needs a name ...

(From memory.)
Rust never sleeps

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #141 on: 23 February, 2020, 12:34:02 pm »
At 64 I suspect that he isn’t eligible for a Darwin Award, however the article doesn’t mention any grieving offspring so I might be wrong.
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #142 on: 23 February, 2020, 01:14:28 pm »
Basic 'Darwin' idea is to self-eiiminate before acquiring reproductive fitness, so not pass on genes.

At 64, he's grandparently age.

Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #143 on: 23 February, 2020, 01:14:40 pm »
At 64 I suspect that he isn’t eligible for a Darwin Award ...

I didn't realise that there are qualifications or conditions other than death through heroic (or naive) misadventure. Do tell.

It's an award for people removing their stupidity genes from the pool. At 64 he's past breeding age.
“There is no point in using the word 'impossible' to describe something that has clearly happened.”
― Douglas Adams

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #144 on: 23 February, 2020, 01:19:23 pm »
Hence you can also qualify by rendering yourself sterile, rather than dying.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #145 on: 23 February, 2020, 01:21:07 pm »
At 64 I suspect that he isn’t eligible for a Darwin Award ...

I didn't realise that there are qualifications or conditions other than death through heroic (or naive) misadventure. Do tell.

It's an award for people removing their stupidity genes from the pool. At 64 he's past breeding age.

My word, sir, you are a pessimist.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #146 on: 23 February, 2020, 01:26:49 pm »
At 64, a chap has had around 50 years of breeding potential.

The chances are that some genes may have been passed on...

Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #147 on: 23 February, 2020, 01:29:38 pm »
Did he not think that if a steam powered rocket was viable then the Nazis, Russians, USA etc would all have tried it. Also how can people believe the Earth is flat? Do they think there is a map saying 'here be dragons?

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #148 on: 23 February, 2020, 03:46:15 pm »
Did he not think that if a steam powered rocket was viable then the Nazis, Russians, USA etc would all have tried it. Also how can people believe the Earth is flat? Do they think there is a map saying 'here be dragons?
Flat Earthers seem to fall into three distinctive camps, the crooks, the self deluded and the stupid. The crooks are purporting to believe in a flat earth as part of a scam to make money from the gullible, they _may_ also fall into,the second camp but rarely the third. The self deluded will deny the science or evidence until they are blue in the face, whether they are stupid as well or just stubborn is often hard to tell; many of this group are religious as well and earth at the centre of everything point of view fits well with their narrative.  The stupid just don’t understand the science and are the main target of the crooks. For this last reason alone we should always challenge a flat earther because some people are being robbed.
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

Re: Darwin Awards
« Reply #149 on: 23 February, 2020, 07:34:15 pm »
Did he not think that if a steam powered rocket was viable then the Nazis, Russians, USA etc would all have tried it.

The Germans did use steam powered rockets in a manner of speaking, but where the late Mr Hughes was effectively using a pressurised kettle, they instead used high test peroxide (HTP, which the Germans called T-Stoff).

The first method was a so-called "cold engine" where the T-Stoff was decomposed with an aqueous catalyst to produce a stream of superheated steam and oxygen to provide thrust. This type of rocket engine was used to power take-off assist packs and boosted glide bombs.

The second, "hot engine", method was to use T-Stoff as an oxidiser for C-Stoff fuel (a blend of methanol, hydrazine and water). T-Stoff and C-Stoff were hypergolic - that is, they reacted violently on contact without the need for an ignition source: 

Quote
The violent combustion process resulted in the formation of water, carbon dioxide and nitrogen, and a huge amount of heat sending out a superheated stream of steam, nitrogen and air that was drawn in through the hole in the mantle of the engine, thus providing a forward thrust of approximately 17 kN (3,820 lbf).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_HWK_109-509#Design_and_development

This type of rocket motor was used in the Messerschmitt Me 162 Komet and Bachem Ba 349 Natter interceptors.

The British used the "cold engine" type of HTP-fuelled rocket to power a scaled-down model of the cancelled Miles M.52 to test a number of concepts for supersonic flight. In doing so, it was proved that officialdom's fears about the safety of the M.52 - one of the excuses given for the project's cancellation - were unfounded.

Not propulsion in a direct sense, but a number of rocket engines have used decomposing HTP to generate steam to drive the fuel and oxidiser turbo-pumps*, and the X-15 hypersonic rocketplane used HTP "cold engines" for its reaction-control system, which controlled where the plane pointed at altitudes where the air was too thin for aerodynamic control surfaces to be of use.

* So in a sense they are "steam powered" on the basis that if the pumps "run out of steam", the rocket engine stops working from fuel starvation.
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche