OT: How About A You Can't Fix Stupid Thread

[RockyMTblue2]

I'll go first. The whole state is a tinderbox with fires burning all over and this:

"A trash fire in a burn barrel east of Huntley grew out of control Friday afternoon, leading the man who law enforcement believe started the fire to try and move a nearby car, which in turn started a grass fire.

The two fires converged on the vehicle while the man was still inside it, leaving him with burns that required hospitalization, according to Lt. Dan Paris with the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office."

billingsgazette.com/news/local/fire-burns-cars-structures-east-of-huntley-sends-to-hospital/article_cb92f879-a053-5467-a642-b3e2594d164c.html#utm_source=billingsgazette.com&utm_campaign=%2Femail-updates%2Fdaily-headlines%2F&utm_medium=email&utm_content=107A452A417A9C0EAF380018F8464B566FECE84D

A burn barrel in a prolonged drought/heat wave with etc. etc.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Similar story a bit further west. A teenager threw a firecracker over a cliff a few miles up a trail in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge, east of Portland. The ensuing wildfire he started is ravaging the area.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Not in the same degree - but from a friend of a friend on Facebook (happened here in Tucson) - a woman hit a cyclist and then tried to blame the cyclist (even though there were witnesses). And then said she was going to move her car and took off, even though police had been called. Went from (most likely) a rather minor ticket to a much more significant penalty. The person who reported the incident posted today that the woman was caught by the police and received a selection of tickets as expected.

 

[Huskee11]

Marvin Barnes was quite a character. He starred at Providence with Ernie D in the early/mid seventies and later played in the ABA and NBA, most notably with the Spirits of Saint Louis.

One story has him showing up for a Spirits game shortly before gametime with his uniform on under a big fur coat, discarding the coat on the bench and walking out on the court for the tipoff. The ABA back then was kind of nutty like that, but that league had some incredible talent.

He did a lot of bad things, like attack one of his Providence teammates with a tire iron.

While at Central High in Providence, he was part of a gang that attempted to rob a bus. Only problem for Marvin, he was wearing his State Championship jacket with his name embroidered on it.

Yep, you can`t fix stupid.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Similar story a bit further west. A teenager threw a firecracker over a cliff a few miles up a trail in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge, east of Portland. The ensuing wildfire he started is ravaging the area.

The stupidity never ceases to amaze. Much of a very scenic stretch of the lower Madison, Bear Trap Canyon area, was put to the torch by people holding sparklers out their car window around July 4th a few years ago.

 

[BigBird]

I may have posted this before, but a licensed guide at Gettysburg National Military Park told me someone actually asked him why, if a battle was really fought there, there are no bullet scars on the monuments. Yikes.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Well I thought this would have better traction, but you never know. Here's one in the national news today (warning stupid in this case means dead):

Two killed during Dodge Challenger Hellcat test drive on airport runway

I have a friend with one of these cars, but he knows what it is and how to drive it, Still don't know why you'd put anything like it on the road, but ....

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Sadly, truly stupid often means dead. Lots of examples (not all dead) in the various click-bait stuff I read linked from Facebook. I also don't believe everything I read is true, but some include screen-shots - like the fellow complaining that men have paternity tests and wondering why women don't have to take maternity tests.

Of no consequence - except to illustrate the point - I was on a subway train in Manhattan with a co-worker who wondered both why the island didn't tip over (due to the tall buildings) and wondered who "steered" the train.

 

[meyers7]

Sadly, truly stupid often means dead. Lots of examples (not all dead) in the various click-bait stuff I read linked from Facebook. I also don't believe everything I read is true, but some include screen-shots - like the fellow complaining that men have paternity tests and wondering why women don't have to take maternity tests.

Of no consequence - except to illustrate the point - I was on a subway train in Manhattan with a co-worker who wondered both why the island didn't tip over (due to the tall buildings) and wondered who "steered" the train.

There is stupid all over.

 

[Ozzie Nelson]

Only other people are stoopid.

 

[JS]

Then there was the Iowa City burglar who stole a wallet and the next night showed up at a nightclub flashing the bouncer's driver's license as a form of ID.

 

[BigBird]

... Still don't know why you'd put anything like it on the road, but ....

Ideally, a high performance car should, up to a point, become more stable at high speed, as the aerodynamic forces push the car more firmly down onto the track. The Dodge Hellcat isn't a fabulous example of this principle.

The C7 Stingray, on the other hand, handles quite well at high speed because it was from square one designed for it. Having taken mine to a couple of tracks, and satisfied myself that it does so, I then reverted to driving the highway speed limit or a just tad more. I am very opposed to street racing,

Cramming a monster powerplant into a pony-car or sedan that isn't aerodynamically designed for it is the real idiocy here. The ultimate example was created by Ford, who came up with the acme of kid-killer cars: A 500 horsepower Focus. Yes. A sub-compact Focus.

There's no shortage of car geeks who get caught up in the horsepower game. But when the road curves, as roads sometimes do, they come to realize that their horsepower is fine, but handling and aero matter - quite a bit.

That these two old chaps met their end (literally) on a straight course is a bit puzzling. A blown tire? Maybe. In such cases, one cannot effectively steer nor stop.

Rocky, I really dig high-performance cars and driving them. But as you said, one has to have the discipline to manage the risks.

 

[borninansonia]

Most stupid: young man from Oregon wanted to show his girl friend how tame his rattlesnake was. So he put the head of the rattlesnake in his mouth, and, of course, got bit. Was in a coma for 3 weeks +; I hope no tax payer money went to his care. I think he won the Darwin award that year.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Ideally, a high performance car should, up to a point, become more stable at high speed, as the aerodynamic forces push the car more firmly down onto the track. The Dodge Hellcat isn't a fabulous example of this principle.

The C7 Stingray, on the other hand, handles quite well at high speed because it was from square one designed for it. Having taken mine to a couple of tracks, and satisfied myself that it does so, I then reverted to driving the highway speed limit or a just tad more. I am very opposed to street racing,

Cramming a monster powerplant into a pony-car or sedan that isn't aerodynamically designed for it is the real idiocy here. The ultimate example was created by Ford, who came up with the acme of kid-killer cars: A 500 horsepower Focus. Yes. A sub-compact Focus.

There's no shortage of car geeks who get caught up in the horsepower game. But when the road curves, as roads sometimes do, they come to realize that their horsepower is fine, but handling and aero matter - quite a bit.

That these two old chaps met their end (literally) on a straight course is a bit puzzling. A blown tire? Maybe. In such cases, one cannot effectively steer nor stop.

Rocky, I really dig high-performance cars and driving them. But as you said, one has to have the discipline to manage the risks.

Totally agree with all of the above. My one sports car extravagance had an adjustable suspension and if you went over x mph it automatically hunkered down. Yes, my friend is one of those totally enamored of Detroit Big Iron, but now he's old enough to treat it with respect. He'll drive it a few times and put it in the garage where the classic car he sold to buy it use to sit.

 

[ctfjr]

Ideally, a high performance car should, up to a point, become more stable at high speed, as the aerodynamic forces push the car more firmly down onto the track. The Dodge Hellcat isn't a fabulous example of this principle.

The C7 Stingray, on the other hand, handles quite well at high speed because it was from square one designed for it. Having taken mine to a couple of tracks, and satisfied myself that it does so, I then reverted to driving the highway speed limit or a just tad more. I am very opposed to street racing,

Cramming a monster powerplant into a pony-car or sedan that isn't aerodynamically designed for it is the real idiocy here. The ultimate example was created by Ford, who came up with the acme of kid-killer cars: A 500 horsepower Focus. Yes. A sub-compact Focus.

There's no shortage of car geeks who get caught up in the horsepower game. But when the road curves, as roads sometimes do, they come to realize that their horsepower is fine, but handling and aero matter - quite a bit.

That these two old chaps met their end (literally) on a straight course is a bit puzzling. A blown tire? Maybe. In such cases, one cannot effectively steer nor stop.

Rocky, I really dig high-performance cars and driving them. But as you said, one has to have the discipline to manage the risks.

Maybe the first thing to do if you want to be a HP hero is learn to drive - the track is the ONLY place for that:

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

Several years ago during January in New Haven, a person robbed a Cumberland Farms, breaking in through the glass front door, cutting his arm and hand badly! Leaving the scene before the police showed up. The police saw the blood from the cut in the freshly fallen snow and followed it 4 blocks to a house right up to the front door! When the guy came to answer the door bell holding a blood soaked towel on the fresh cut, asking the officers, "How did you find me?" They arrested him right there!

 

[meyers7]

Then there was the Iowa City burglar who stole a wallet and the next night showed up at a nightclub flashing the bouncer's driver's license as a form of ID.

That's probably more unlucky than stupid. I mean of all the gin joints...he had to walk into that one.