Darwin Awards

[1DC]

He started in Calais,probably cursing cos they pulled him out just before he finished..

[barkingmad]

What was his real country of origin?

Did he get a plague test, followed by a coach to a 4* hotel and some pocket money as per normal Channel fishing?

[ricardian]

Trying SO hard!

[G-CPTN]

Why the warning?
If people are so stupid (or adventurous) why should we stand in their way?

[Boac]

There might be another Darwin candidate standing under the cliff? We wouldn't want to ......... would we?

[ricardian]

Perhaps removing all the warning signs would speed up the process of evolution?

[TheGreenGoblin]

These people are simply idiots, not least because they have conceived, and therefore are not eligible for Darwin Awards, which was the basis of this disaster...

A California forest fire that has destroyed thousands of acres of land resulting in hundreds of residents being evacuated from their homes was started by a firework used at a gender-reveal party, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) has said.

In a statement released late on Sunday evening, Cal Fire said the blaze tearing through El Dorado and the surrounding areas was caused by a smoke generating "pyrotechnic device", used during “a gender reveal party”.

Gender-reveal parties are events where parents who are soon to have a baby announce whether they are expecting a boy or a girl. The parties have become increasingly popular in the US in recent years.

The fire began on Saturday morning at El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa, about 72 miles (115km) east of Los Angeles, Cal Fire said. It has since spread north to Yucaipa Ridge, prompting local officials to issue evacuation orders in the surrounding areas of Oak Glen, Mountain Home Village, and Forest Falls.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 04913.html

[Karearea]

^ 12:32 video showing some of the consequences.
God speed the fire-fighters.

[Pontius Navigator]

7,000 acres I hear.

So we had Christening, but we need more excuses for a party. Let's have a birthday party. We coukd have a baby shower as well.

Then someone thought of a gender reveal party.

Only a matter of time we have a pregnancy confirm party.

Heaven forbid we have a f*ching party too.

[G-CPTN]

Reminds me of the story of a chap who "went to a wedding church service and afterwards, the conception."
"Don't you mean the reception?"
"I guess I must have gone to the wrong room . . . "

[PHXPhlyer]

G-CPTN:


PP

[Hydromet]

Only a matter of time we have a pregnancy confirm party.

How about a pregnancy establishment party?

Come to think of it, I've been to parties that probably fit that description.

[Rwy in Sight]

7,000 acres I hear.

So we had Christening, but we need more excuses for a party. Let's have a birthday party. We coukd have a baby shower as well.

Then someone thought of a gender reveal party.

Only a matter of time we have a pregnancy confirm party.

Heaven forbid we have a f*ching party too.

And with all the discussion about gender issues and the right of a person to re-assign his/her/they sex I am concerned how many re-assign parties we are going to see in the future.

[llondel]

Just wait for the lawsuits associated with loss and damage from that particular fire. It was a boy, in case anyone's interested, although as above, that could change in the future.

[ExSp33db1rd]

Darwin Award candidate - Me ?

Decided to clean the M/bike spark plugs. This entails removing the fuel tank to get at them. Usually take it right off, but yesterday it was recently refuelled and very heavy, syphon tube chose not to play ball, and disconnecting the feed to the carbs. underneath the tank, so just unbolted it and slid it back sufficiently to get box spanner onto plug heads. Removing the second plug caused a spark, followed by smoke ! Still in the garage so ran away and looked for fire extinguisher not seen for many years. Returned to find all quiet again, no evidence of problem, no bare wires etc. so finished the cleaning, replaced the tank. Engine wouldn't start.

Battery voltage zero. Jump start from car got bike engine running. My man wot does suggested that these new no-spill sealed batteries have some sort of fuse installed, and shorting them ruins it, no repair available, he also advised that had it been one of the old lead acid type, it might have exploded ! Suggested that I had moved the tank back on to the positive battery terminal, then the end of my spanner crank had touched it and earthed it to the chassis ?

Bought new battery, all OK.

If the petrol in the tank had ...... well you know ! Lesson learned, getting too old for this malarky.

[Pontius Navigator]

ExSp, on the basis that your dead battery can't get any deader would it be worth while breaking in to it?

Allowed my garage to save £1000 breaking in to a broken hydraulic pump. Washer changed, job done. Also several sealed electronic components changing the 'no customer accessible components' fuse.

Remember the battery toothbrush thread a while back?

Thinks, I have a Sanitas blood pressure monitor, powers up but then powers down. As it is defunct I can't make it worse.

[Boac]

I have a Sanitas blood pressure monitor, powers up but then powers down.

You sure it is the monitor?

[G-CPTN]

Darwin Award candidate - Me ?

Decided to clean the M/bike spark plugs. This entails removing the fuel tank to get at them. Usually take it right off, but yesterday it was recently refuelled and very heavy, syphon tube chose not to play ball, and disconnecting the feed to the carbs. underneath the tank, so just unbolted it and slid it back sufficiently to get box spanner onto plug heads. Removing the second plug caused a spark, followed by smoke ! Still in the garage so ran away and looked for fire extinguisher not seen for many years. Returned to find all quiet again, no evidence of problem, no bare wires etc. so finished the cleaning, replaced the tank. Engine wouldn't start.
Battery voltage zero. Jump start from car got bike engine running. My man wot does suggested that these new no-spill sealed batteries have some sort of fuse installed, and shorting them ruins it, no repair available, he also advised that had it been one of the old lead acid type, it might have exploded ! Suggested that I had moved the tank back on to the positive battery terminal, then the end of my spanner crank had touched it and earthed it to the chassis ?
Bought new battery, all OK.
If the petrol in the tank had ...... well you know ! Lesson learned, getting too old for this malarky.

A couple of decades ago I was living in a property with 2½ acres of land, most of which was laid to grass (tenniscourt, lawn, orchard and rough grass paddocks).
I had a ride-on garden tractor to manage grass-cutting and it regularly required a booster battery before it would start.
One day I had the tractor with a partially-charged additional battery - and a battery-charger.

As I attached the croc-clips of the charger to the partially-charged battery, there was an explosion.
Pieces of the battery were subsequently found 50 feet away.
I immediately went indoors and took a shower, thankful that I had avoided acid in my eyes.

My grandfather was a mechanical entrepreneur and charged batteries in the days when people used 'accumulator' batteries at home to power their 'mains' radios (before houses had fully-wired electricity) with carboys of acid in his workshop and he (and my father) had lectured me about the dangers of hydrogen explosions from 'gassing' batteries - so I knew what was likely to happen - but it never had over my decades of battery abuse.

Familiarity breeds . . .

[Pontius Navigator]

At the age of 7 I used to take our neighbour's accumulators across the road to the bike shop be recharged. He used to sell acetiline too for bike lamps

[ian16th]

The 'Radio Relay' shop was where we swapped our batteries.

Aviation content:

On Lincoln's the Intercom batteries were changed weekly!