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The Darwin Awards

kesavaross said:
I wonder when and why he came up with the idea to do that. A sort of eureka moment perhaps as in, 'Ah ha, I've got it, I'll throw myself at this window on the 20th floor.... that'll impress them'.
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Misplaced bravado is probably behind most of these Darwin awards.
 
Mad dogs ..... and US tourists?

"at least four people have died this year from heat-related causes across the 424 national park sites. That includes a 65-year-old man from San Diego who was found dead in his vehicle at Death Valley "

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-66229286
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
Mad dogs ..... and US tourists?

"at least four people have died this year from heat-related causes across the 424 national park sites. That includes a 65-year-old man from San Diego who was found dead in his vehicle at Death Valley "

View attachment 67906
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-66229286
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The hottest I've ever experienced was in Sydney in 1988 where it reached just over 40C. I was working in a thick-walled warehouse and it wasn't until I went out at lunchtime and was hit by a wall of heat that I realised how hot it was.

I've also cycled in Asia in the mid-30s with very, very high humidity. And until then I'd always said it was never too hot to ride - well, I changed my mind that day! Luckily I was riding to a waterfall and was straight off the bike and into the water...

There's no way I'd actively seek out temperatures in the 50s!
 
Thought I had a photo from our holiday to Rhodes showing the temperature. Found it and realised it was 6 years ago to the day.
On 18th July 2017, we visited Faliraki and, after an hour or so on the beach, retired to a nicely air-conditioned bar.
I took this photo of a digital thermometer outside, showing 41 C. Think it hit 43 or 44 at the peak.
It was gorgeous!
But going out of your way to seek temperatures of 56 degrees is insane!

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I'm a big lover of the heat. On a trip down the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia, the temperatures were hitting the mid 40s and I was practically the only person who was enjoying it. But there's a world of difference between being able to get into an air conditioned building or car straight afterwards and having to work outdoors in it all day.
 
I used to be a great heat lover (my tolerance seems to have waned a bit lately though to be honest, having not been anywhere hot for years now), but having spent time in Israel and Egypt where the temperature is in the 40c's for months, and the nighttime temp is around 26-30c I never found it a problem.

48c was/is nothing unusual and I've seen it at 50c.

I will say though that the very low humidity was a major factor in making it more bearable.

I will also say that it is not a good idea to wear a polyester shirt in a Cairo summer.
 
That's a nice Crusader tank! At least they had the cold of the desert nights.

I love being hot, but appreciate that there is such a thing as too hot. It's great when you have a choice, and can find ways of cooling down, but pity the poor workers etc. who have to labour in the sunshine; the emergency service worker who have to wear all their clobber, especially the firemen who'll be kept busy thanks to the temperature.
Including in the deaths caused by the heatwave in Europe was a street engineer. It's not only the frail or health-compromised.
 
When you drive through Death Valley, there are signs that say turn off your A/C in the car. Most explanations say that is to prevent your car from overheating. But I had heard that the temperature difference between the interior and the outside sun will crack your car glass. I used it anyway. If I recall, it was only 101 that day.

[Note: The "Darwin Awards' are an incredibly awful, mean, and inaccurate framing. Loads wrong with it. Some people are dumb their whole lives, that's human nature. I've probably expressed my disgust with the concept earlier in this thread.]
 
The hottest I've experienced was only about 110 degrees but here in the Great Plains we can get dew points up over 80 degrees fahrenheit. These kinds of dew points are brutal because sweat won't evaporate and the heat becomes stifling. It feels like you're drowning. Throw in temperatures above 98.6 and the heat is driven into you.

Back in the '90's there were hundreds of deaths in Chicago because not only was it very hot but the dewpoints were high and it was very windy. The wind blew the heat into buildings and indoor temps soared.

Now almost everyone has air conditioning but the AC's are so shoddily made 100's of thousand would break down in a real heat wave so they'll be caught by surprise again.

On the bright side we've had cool summers and warm winters for 15 years here. Our luck probably won't hold and I'm expecting some hot days early next month. All the heat in the SW is going to come this way eventually.
 
Sharon Hill said:
[Note: The "Darwin Awards' are an incredibly awful, mean, and inaccurate framing. Loads wrong with it. Some people are dumb their whole lives, that's human nature. I've probably expressed my disgust with the concept earlier in this thread.]
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I tend to agree. Everyone does some dumb things and I just pray I'll live through mine.

Some of the award "winners" are rather humorous though.
 
The second hottest summer in Chicago last century was 1988. It was over 90 most days and over 100 about 15 times. For some reason the weather service has omitted most of these from the records. 1935 was much hotter but in Chicago it rained. It didn't rain in 1988. I was surprised that almost no trees died. Even most of those with shallow roots did fairly well.
 
Sharon Hill said:
[Note: The "Darwin Awards' are an incredibly awful, mean, and inaccurate framing. Loads wrong with it. Some people are dumb their whole lives, that's human nature. I've probably expressed my disgust with the concept earlier in this thread.]
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So why post on here then?
Just ignore the thread if you don't like/agree with it.
I personally think it's hilarious when someone who decides to juggle with a chainsaw cuts his arm off.
 
Floyd1 said:
So why post on here then?
Just ignore the thread if you don't like/agree with it.
I personally think it's hilarious when someone who decides to juggle with a chainsaw cuts his arm off.
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Because I had something to say regarding the specific topic being discussed. Just because I don't like the packaging doesn't mean I'm going to ignore it. Personally, I don't find it hilarious when someone tries to marginalize a commenter by making an inappropriate analogy suggesting they omit themselves from the discussion.
 
Sharon Hill said:
When you drive through Death Valley, there are signs that say turn off your A/C in the car. Most explanations say that is to prevent your car from overheating. But I had heard that the temperature difference between the interior and the outside sun will crack your car glass. I used it anyway. If I recall, it was only 101 that day.

[Note: The "Darwin Awards' are an incredibly awful, mean, and inaccurate framing. Loads wrong with it. Some people are dumb their whole lives, that's human nature. I've probably expressed my disgust with the concept earlier in this thread.]
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It is because of cracking your windshield. My friend and I went to Chaco Canyon and it was very hot (don't remember the temperature, maybe 105). When we got back I got in the car and turned on the ac and the windsheild cracked. It wasn't bad enough that I couldn't drive.

And I agree the "Darwin Awards" is a stupid idea. The origninal book that was written had a lot of strange deaths, usually based on the ignorance of the person. Ignorance is fixable, idiocy isn't.
 
JahaRa said:
It is because of cracking your windshield. My friend and I went to Chaco Canyon and it was very hot (don't remember the temperature, maybe 105). When we got back I got in the car and turned on the ac and the windsheild cracked. It wasn't bad enough that I couldn't drive.
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Thanks for confirming!
 
Sharon Hill said:
Personally, I don't find it hilarious when someone tries to marginalize a commenter by making an inappropriate analogy suggesting they omit themselves from the discussion.
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Your point about being able to contribute to a discussion, without liking the title, is well made.
However ...
Being told that your point of view in re not liking the title of the thread, is a personal choice. It is not trying to be hilarious. Nor is it trying to marginalise you.
Add to the discussion or not - your choice. It's not being cancelled, ignored or marginalising you. It's called 'make your own choice'.

Anyhow, back to news items and stories of folks who are dim and apparently so dim that they endanger their own existence.
Which isn't snappy but sums it up.

Please note: I am not a mod but an ordinary contributor presenting their own opinion. The official moderators don't need me to adjudicate, help or hinder. Carry on, number one.
 
I've got to admit, building a city in the desert doesn't bode well for low temperatures.
 
Stormkhan said:
I've got to admit, building a city in the desert doesn't bode well for low temperatures.
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Taking the example of Las Vegas, a BBC reporter announces here that the city has just ended a 260-day run of record low (for Las Vegas…) temperatures, “…a cool record for Las Vegas…” in her words:


(5:10 onward)

Amazingly, this was not featured on worldwide news.

maximus otter
 
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