Man Dies Inside Spanish Dinosaur Statue After Trying To Retrieve His Phone (theguardian.com) 215
According to The Guardian, a man in Catalonia died after becoming trapped inside a large dinosaur statue while trying to retrieve his smartphone. From the report: Officers were called to the statue in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, a satellite town of Barcelona, after a man and his son noticed something inside the papier-mache stegosaurus on Saturday afternoon. A spokeswoman for the regional police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra, said the death of the 39-year-old man was not being treated as suspicious.
"A father and son noticed that there was something inside and raised the alarm," she said. "We found the body of a man inside the leg of this dinosaur statue. It's an accidental death; there was no violence. This person got inside the statue's leg and got trapped. It looks as though he was trying to retrieve a mobile phone, which he'd dropped. It looks like he entered the statue head first and couldn't get out." "We're still waiting for the autopsy results, so we don't know how long he was in there, but it seems he was there for a couple of days," she added. Slashdot reader shanen submitted this story with the following commentary: Not sure what the technology link is. Smartphones make people stupid? Dinosaurs are scientific, but this is ridiculous? It would be funny, but it's too gruesome. But I guess I'll go ahead and submit it in the Darwin Awards category. Maybe a better title is man kills himself with dinosaur and smartphone? Death by paper mache?
"A father and son noticed that there was something inside and raised the alarm," she said. "We found the body of a man inside the leg of this dinosaur statue. It's an accidental death; there was no violence. This person got inside the statue's leg and got trapped. It looks as though he was trying to retrieve a mobile phone, which he'd dropped. It looks like he entered the statue head first and couldn't get out." "We're still waiting for the autopsy results, so we don't know how long he was in there, but it seems he was there for a couple of days," she added. Slashdot reader shanen submitted this story with the following commentary: Not sure what the technology link is. Smartphones make people stupid? Dinosaurs are scientific, but this is ridiculous? It would be funny, but it's too gruesome. But I guess I'll go ahead and submit it in the Darwin Awards category. Maybe a better title is man kills himself with dinosaur and smartphone? Death by paper mache?
Har har (Score:3, Insightful)
Are we supposed to laugh at this? Darwin Award? Someone did something stupid that cost them their life and we are supposed to laugh at it? What is happening to your souls? You bunch of sadistic clowns.
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Definitely not a funny ha-ha story, and I did mention the Darwin Award. I guess it's a human interest story for extremely sad values of human interest, but such levels of stupidity still dazzle me. And caught my attention.
What was he thinking?
"Too embarrassing to tell anyone I dropped my smartphone? I'll just crawl in here and get it out."
Maybe he was trying to take a selfie from some weird angle?
Possible <spoiler alert> for Artemis by Andy Weir. Does it remind you of the scene where one character w
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He might have been holding his phone inside to take a picture of it to see what it looked like inside, or using it as a flashlight to look around as he leaned inside, and dropped it.
Although at that point I have to assume he was drunk to try climbing in head-first to retrieve it..
Re:Har har (Score:4, Insightful)
Are we supposed to laugh at this? Darwin Award? Someone did something stupid that cost them their life and we are supposed to laugh at it? What is happening to your souls? You bunch of sadistic clowns.
What's wrong with seeing humor in a tragedy? Do we need to be tuned to maximum empathy all the time?
Re:Har har (Score:5, Funny)
What's wrong with seeing humor in a tragedy? Do we need to be tuned to maximum empathy all the time?
Exactly. People who live in dinosaur houses, shouldn’t throw phones.
reminds me of this old punny story (Score:5, Funny)
The King and the Thrones
Once there was a king- his kingdom was made up of houses made from the hay, mud and reinforced by waterproof grass fronds from the riverbanks. The king, naturally, had the biggest house, his being the only one in the kingdom to have two floors; a tricky bit of engineering for an all natural structure.
Each year the king, on his birthday, would receive a new throne from his people - the first year they made him a wooden one from the finest trees in the forest. The year after, they had managed to find some tin and bronze, so made him a very happy king. Each year, the old throne would get taken upstairs to the storage as the king liked to walk amongst the collection and reminisce over years gone by.
So ten years had passed, and by now the nation of hut dwellers had become rich enough to buy gold. So this year, the king received a mighty throne. So his old one was taken away upstairs, the huge gold throne hauled in, and another year in the kingdom commenced.
This eleventh year however, was a tough year for the harvest. The sun belted down on the blacksmiths as they made swords and shields for the loyal warriors that protected the realm. They worked tirelessly for a month to make the biggest and most lavishly adorned throne anyone had ever seen.
So the king had his party, the new throne was presented. The grand entrance was only just big enough to get the throne through- but the skill and knowledge of the smiths made it possible.
The golden throne was taken upstairs to join the other nine from years gone by.
That night there was a tragic disaster- the whole royal family was killed as they slept, the whole place collapsed around them. The queen was dead, the heirs were crushed, and a new king was needed for the country. It was a sad night.
What is the moral of the story?
Those who live in grass houses shouldn't stow thrones.
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I threw my phone because it was a dinosaur.
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Someone should hack slashdot to allow just your comment to be modded up to 11. One day there will be papier-mache statues of you to celebrate one of the great humourists of the 21st Century.
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What's wrong with seeing humor in a tragedy? Do we need to be tuned to maximum empathy all the time?
Or you could maintain both perspectives; they're hardly mutually exclusive regardless what the spineless ones say.
Re:Har har (Score:5, Interesting)
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I think we would have a better society if we did try to empathize more, and take less pleasure in other people's suffering.
We used to feed Gladiators to lions, and call everyone to the town arena to watch that entertainment. That was "barbaric".
Then we became civilized and started cutting off heads in the town square. A quicker death. And yet people complained. Too grisly.
So then came the firing squad. Still too much blood. Then came the noose. That was better.
Then came gas chambers and ol' Sparky. And yet, the sympathizers still said that was too cruel for someone guilty of raping and murdering children.
And now, we bare
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That's an oversimplification.
There's a difference between laughing at someone's highly irregular death and deriving pleasure from the suffering of others. No one here is laughing at the exposed ribs of starving children. They're laughing at the situation wherein a man died in the leg of a papier mache stegosaurus because he was attempting to retrieve his smartphone. That's such an irregular mish-mash of terms that's comical for many. You don't need to find it funny and those that do are certainly allowed to
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What's wrong with seeing humor in a tragedy? Do we need to be tuned to maximum empathy all the time?
"What's wrong with with blinking an eye while reading the article, should we flatten a fifty mile radius around every faux dino?"
Don't you see the massive amount of space between "seeing humor in tragedy" and "maximum empathy all the time"?
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Do we need to be tuned to maximum empathy all the time?
When the story is nothing more than a person falling into a hole and dying, yes.
He didn't fall into a hole, he fell into a DINOSAUR..
Wind your neck in Mother Teresa (Score:2)
Yes, if stupid people do really stupid things why not laugh? Its not like he was forced to do it or had to do it to try and save himself or someone else, he's no hero , just clueless gimp who clearly valued his phone above his own safety.
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So everyone whose taken their eyes off the road for a second doesn’t value their safety? It’s called a mistake, asshole, and you make them too. Good thing we don’t know all the stupid things you’ve done. Life is complicated, and it’s unli
Re:Wind your neck in Mother Teresa (Score:4, Insightful)
Life is complicated, and it’s unlikely that you know all the factors that went into his state of mind, there’s decades of back story factored in. Neither do you care, using someone's unfortunate death to make you feel better about you is who you are as a person.
The guy who died may be stupid, but you’re evil. Evil is worse than than stupid.
If my last act before expiring brings a smile or chuckle to people, I would consider that an apt exit.
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Re: Wind your neck in Mother Teresa (Score:2)
Re: Har har (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm very confused how any of this happened looking at the photos.
Like how could someone see something in the leg? How could someone drop a phone into it? How could one themselves get into it? And how could it take 3 days to notice, the noticing happening after death not during struggle.
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I was similarly puzzled. Details are a bit scarce. I found this from some other article "The father then spotted the corpse through a crack in the dinosaur’s hollow leg.". So it's possible that the phone fell through that crack, then he somehow entered end ended up there. It still doesn't make much sense as he would be able to breathe through the crack and shout, although if he was upside down and he was there at an unpopular time and fainted before anybody went nearby, well that would be a hell of a
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There was that guy who died upside down in a narrow cave section he was exploring. He was never missing as he had people with him (never explore alone) but it was almost impossible to extract him. Iirc he lasted about 10 hours upside down. Anyway you can't survive indefinitely.
Re: Har har (Score:4, Informative)
You are thinking of John Edward Jones who died in 2009 after falling and getting stuck upside down in Nutty Putty Cave in Utah.
Re: Har har (Score:2)
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https://powdercanada.com/2020/... [powdercanada.com]
Re: Har har (Score:4, Insightful)
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The crack developed probably days later - due to his weight and beginning decay/aka moisture - otherwise he just had reached inside and got the phone.
It happened in Sant Coloma de Gramenet, the Spanish news paper El PaÃs wrote about it, that might help your google fu :D
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Are we supposed to laugh at this? Darwin Award?
Yes! It is really soothing to confirm that there exist dumber people than me.
Re:Har har (Score:5, Insightful)
Are we supposed to laugh at this? Darwin Award?
Yes! It is really soothing to confirm that there exist dumber people than me.
People have always turned uncomfortable subjects into humor. This morning on the way ot breakfast, I listened to Jim Breuer doing a standup about nursing homes. He's also done them about the Death of his father.
Both bits are riotously funny.
Uncomfortable topics are so often approached with dark humor. This helps people cope. It's a good thing. But we live in this weird time where humor about most things is looked at overly seriously. The people pulling the strings are weak, and so trapped within their insecurities that they whimper and cry in th eface of difficulties, not laugh at them.
It is a time where comedians like Bill Maher, Larry the Cable Guy and Chris Rock cause demonstrations and won't do their act on campuses any more. So what the kids are left with is Amy Schumer telling us how her vagina smells.
As Maher noted: "When a Jew, a redneck, and a Black guy agree that campuses are toxic, they're on to something"
And there is a meme going around - "When young Amy Schumer told people she was going to be a comedian - the laughed at her. Well, no one's laughing now!"
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Nelson Muntz would laugh at it.
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He starved himself by not swallowing his pride.
Re: Har har (Score:2)
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We don't really know how stupid the man's actions actually *were*. He almost certainly didn't intend to end up head down inside the statue's leg, which is obviously impossible for him extricate himself from. He probably started with something that seemed less dangerous, like climbing into the belly to see if he could reach the phone, then found himself trapped like a bug in a venus fly trap.
There's a reason that utilities and industrial facilities are requited to give their employees confined space traini
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I am a play it safe type of guy, however they were number of times, where I narrowly escaped getting seriously injured or death, just because I was lucky. They are a lot of conditions where we may think something is safer than it really is, and we decide to risk it. The ground seems solid while it was ready to break off, the item seemed to be light enough to lift... If you are driving there is an unexpected stop sign that you may run past.
A good number of these times, when we make a mistake, we can avoi
Thank God Someone Was Offended (Score:2)
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With a 5-digit ID#, one would expect that you've read the many Darwin Award stories on Slashdot over the last 20+ years.
Are we supposed to laugh at this?
You don't have to, but if you find it funny, you're encouraged to laugh. Laughing is good for you.
Someone did something stupid that cost them their life and we are supposed to laugh at it?
Again, laughter is not compulsory. Partake only if you find it funny. Is your problem that you think that every joke requires every person to laugh?
What is happening to your souls?
Nothing detrimental. We're just laughing at people doing stupid things. If that's so horrible, you certainly don't want to know goes on in video g
Re:Har har (Score:5, Funny)
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If it was in the US, I'm pretty sure the family would've consulted a personal injury attorney already, somewhat ameliorating their pain with a financial cushion to "prevent anyone else from suffering this tragedy."
It's in Spain, though, so not certain if similar.
Re: Har har (Score:3)
Not the first time somebody died from positional asphyxiation and had it broadcast all over the media
https://www.firstcoastnews.com... [firstcoastnews.com]
Though in this case they were making a stink about missing organs, and it turned out that the funeral home the family hired were the ones that used newspaper to fill the body cavity. The family ended up getting sued for libel and (rightfully) lost.
Wrong headline (Score:5, Funny)
"Dinosaur kills man in present times!"
Now, that's better...
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"Hey, people dying tipped down a dinosaur gullet -- not over just yet!"
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"First dinosaur kill of the year".
To get the most important question out of way (Score:5, Funny)
Where did he enter?
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Darwin award (Score:5, Insightful)
Sorry, the Darwin award of 2021 already goes to people who are eligible for vaccination, refuse it, and end up in the hospital.
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People who win the Darwin Award are to be celebrated.
They saw they didn't belong in the gene pool (OK, maybe I made that part up), and they did something about it.
Usually in a way that was spectacular, and fatal.
Pieces of shit who can be vaccinated, but choose not to, and then end up in the hospital will probably live.
A few of the people they end up infecting may not.
Some of the people who needed their spot in the hospital may not.
These people aren't eligible for Darwin Awards.
They should be fo
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These people aren't eligible for Darwin Awards.
People who don't remove themselves from the genepool are not eligible for a Darwin award, but people who do are eligible, even if they are pieces of self-centred shit who infect others on the way.
Darwin award eligibility (Score:2)
even if they are pieces of self-centred shit who infect others on the way.
Nope.
From rules of Darwin Award: [darwinawards.com]
Infecting others who might subsequently die of the disease is definitely a form of injuring bystanders.
---
Even more so specifically in the case of COVID-19 (a disease that kills roughly ~0.5-1% of cases and is severe in somewhere [I forgot the exact fi
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Except they've never applied that rule strongly and there are several examples (especially from the nuclear industry) where Darwin awards have been awarded where multiple people have died, to say nothing of the fact that proving a direct death from passing on a COVID infection isn't directly possible.
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Isn't the entire virus situation itself an evolutionary process?
Aside from possible nature as a man made disaster, accidental or deliberate.
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Darwin awards are by definition removing yourself from the gene pool (via death or castration) by pure stupidity rather than conscious decision or improper judgment.
Re: Darwin award (Score:2)
Re:Darwin award (Score:4, Insightful)
paper mache? (Score:2)
Re:paper mache? (Score:4, Insightful)
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... then simply calling it paper mache is sort of deceptive
Re:paper mache? (Score:5, Informative)
papier mache is literally solidified glue, you would have a hard time tearing apart such a structure that was meant as an outdoors installation.
on top of that, cramped upside down inside a tube you will be unable to exert any force at all, possibly your own body will muddle any sound of you crying for help, and your best bet is to be found fast by chance or else loose consciousness the sooner the better. an ugly way to die.
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thanks, noted.
Re:paper mache? (Score:5, Informative)
then simply calling it paper mache is sort of deceptive
Paper mache is nothing more than paper pulp bound together with adhesive. That you made it using sheets of crappy paper and a mixture of corn starch or water isn't the fault of the definition. Paper mache is still very much paper mache when made with an industrial strength epoxy. Paper mache can not only be insanely strong, but we have examples sitting in museums of items made of paper mache surviving since the Han Dynasty 2200 years ago.
It won't be just paper mache (Score:3)
Paper mache isn't strong enough to stand up on its own like that. It almost certainly has some kind of structure the mache was put on to, probably a metal/plastic mesh or similar and no one is getting through that with just their bare hands.
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Paper mache isn't strong enough to stand up on its own like that. It almost certainly has some kind of structure the mache was put on to, probably a metal/plastic mesh or similar and no one is getting through that with just their bare hands.
It's probably made of fiberglass and whoever wrote the story doesn't know the difference.
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i would have kicked a hole in the side of it, paper mache is not all that strong, no more strength than corrugated cardboard, unless they used something to enhance and reinforce the paper mache like portland cement or epoxy resin and steel rebar, then simply calling it paper mache is sort of deceptive
Yeah, yeah. Let me put you upside down in a tight papier mache tube and let's see how hard you can kick...
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He probably counted on someone showing up at some point in time. He probably died from dehydration.
It's a weird story, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. I remember a similar story that took place in Africa where several people got killed when they tried to retrieve some girl's smartphone falling into a cesspit / septic tank. They all suffocated.
I hope he at least... (Score:2)
More (recent) Darwin Award jokes (Score:2)
http://smbc-comics.com/comic/l... [smbc-comics.com]
https://www.gocomics.com/nonse... [gocomics.com]
A bit odd to see two on the same day?
Open mic night (Score:3)
Slashdot reader shanen submitted this story with the following commentary:
Not sure what the technology link is. Smartphones make people stupid? Dinosaurs are scientific, but this is ridiculous? It would be funny, but it's too gruesome. But I guess I'll go ahead and submit it in the Darwin Awards category. Maybe a better title is man kills himself with dinosaur and smartphone? Death by paper mache?
Slashdot reader shanen should not quit his day job.
So many questions... (Score:2)
Apart from the goulishness of the subject ... I've smelt a couple of days-long-dead animals (no H. sapiens thankfully), and I'm just wondering how on earth this could have been missed for the days until the corpse was discovered...
Maybe it is a testament of all the preservatives we put in our foodstuffs these days.
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It takes a few days for a corpse to start to break down and start to smell, and the rate it happens depends on humidity and similar. A room with a paper mache dinosaur would probably be kept as dehumidified as possible. Prior to death however humans give off slightly rancid/overripe scents (if you've ever gone on a keto diet it's like that) which is something people will notice but not bother thinking about, and simply pass it off as a rotten fruit or spilled nail polish.
And the relationship to news for nerds is? (Score:5, Insightful)
What is this even doing here? Is slashdot starting a tabloid section?
So some unfortunate guy dropped an expensive device into a weird location, thought he could get it out, and apparently died a very unpleasant death. Okay, I can see this being news in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, maybe Catalonia. But what's it doing on slashdot? What's the "technology" or "news for nerds" angle? Is it that a cell phone is involved?
And what's there to discuss? Are we supposed to laugh at this guy? But there's nothing really to laugh at. Yeah, maybe it was a stupid idea in retrospect, but there's plenty such weird industrial/construction settings where danger isn't obvious.
Re: And the relationship to news for nerds is? (Score:3)
It's sort of a terrifying story to me.
Like it seems like a not entirely unreasonable risk (climbing and reaching in a public place without a huge drop), and it not only lead to death, but to a slow and unpleasant one.
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Unfortunately I think that's exactly why it was posted here. Over the past few generations we've drummed respect for the sanctity of human life out of the human population and now we're seeing the results in responses to stories like this.
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> And what's there to discuss?
Back up your phone frequently, encrypt the device, set a strong passphrase, and if you drop yours into a dangerous situation, write it off and restore from backup.
I'm typing this on a new-to-me $117 phone and it's totally fine. You can't show up at a hospital for less than that.
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What is this even doing here?
I clicked the article because I wanted to know if it was an Android or iPhone. But not one mention. Half assed reporting, if you ask me.
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Maybe in a weird way it's a testimony to just how important technology is to us that it may cloud our judgement. First is any phone important enough to die for? Could this phone have been retrieved in a safer manner? Could one simply write it off as a loss and get another one?
Safety net (Score:3)
I guess the moral of the story is that anything with holes big enough for a person (or child) to enter, but not for them to leave, are traps and should have, at the very least, safety nets on their openings so that no one enters them.
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The hole is big enough to leave (obviously), but the issue here is something which precludes the ability to turn around or back out of. Stick a fat guy head first in a garbage bin and the effect is the same, that doesn't mean we need to put safety nets on every garbage bin.
Sometimes we should let Darwin do his thing. It serves as a good reminder for the rest of the species. Rather than a net maybe instead put up a sign, "don't stick your phones in the dinosaur anus".
Re: Safety net (Score:2)
That's not a good analogy. A garbage bin would topple, allowing the person to leave, or even if not, they'd still be seen by someone who'd be able to help or call for help.
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Ok, how about a fat man jumping head first into a washing machine to retrieve something? Yes, it won't topple as easily. Having said that, it's hard to find a good analogy for diving inside a sculpture.
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My perception is someone who does these things has a child-like mentality. That's why my first thought was of safety nets, because of the nets used in apartment windows to prevent children and pets from falling out.
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A garbage bin would topple
You're making assumptions based on the exact nature and contents of a garbage bin.
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Sometimes we should let Darwin do his thing. It serves as a good reminder for the rest of the species. Rather than a net maybe instead put up a sign, "don't stick your phones in the dinosaur anus".
Search YouTube for "antique flywheel log splitter" [youtube.com]. This is why our parents and our parents' parents had more common sense than we do today. Nowadays you have to warn people to not put construction adhesive in their hair [vox.com].
TIL that Gorilla Glue Girl is pregnant. That's like a reverse darwin award. /Facepalm
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I was thinking about this [dailystar.co.uk]. Sometimes you just don't know what lies ahead and how you might get into trouble.
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The moral of the story is "Don't climb into something not meant to be climbed into"
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Well Macrophillia [wikipedia.org] wouldn't be a thing then.
Death.. finds a way (Score:4, Funny)
This is not even a particularily worth entry for a Darwin Award, simply tragic. But I do like mis-quoting my favorite film of all time, so here goes:
"Death.. finds a way."
NOT funny you POS. Delete this shit! (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously this post is so sadistic. Just edit that shit off the front page will you? No it is not Darwin award. Replace man with child or animal. The statue obviously had a horrific design flaw that made it relatively easy to drop things or explore it with no chance of getting out. I'm sure the man was trying to reach his phone and dial for help at the end too. Ouch!
El Dinosaur (Score:2)
I'm not sure why the nationality of the dinosaur mattered to the headline writer, or why the man was trying to retrieve the dinosaur's phone.
Also, what does a Spanish dinosaur look like? I want to imagine a cross between a velociraptor and Antonio Banderas in Expendables 3.
Thinning the herd (Score:2)
"Stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death, there is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity.".
-Lazarus Long-
Hit me with a downmod (Score:2)
"Steposaurus I'm stuck!"
Should have caught this in acceptance testing (Score:2)
What a terrible, tragic story, If anything useful can be learned from this, maybe it's don't let your users get themselves in a bad situation they can't get out of. Obviously the implementation of this varies between software and statues. I try to design with the idea that if something stupid can be done, it will be done. As far as I know my users have not been more stupid than me emulating them. I don't think the designer is at fault here (occupancy was not intended), but a little forethought could have pr
The mob is getting more creative (Score:2)
Instead of concrete shoes, now the mob is putting people in dinosaurs.
This is COVID-inspired crafting gone wrong.
Must have not seen the movie (Score:2)
Must have not seen the movie. I thought everybody had seen Danny Trejo in Mache Kills!
The Burning Question Is... (Score:2)
Was he the first human to be killed by a dinosaur?
Needs a better title (Score:2)
Needs a better title: First man in 65 million years to be eaten by a dinosaur
(yes yes yes, I know the genus Homo is only about 2myo)