Extremely Dangerous Activities - While driving to mine office this morning, I encountered a young man who was car surfing(1) atop a Ford pickup that had a hideously elevated suspension and enormous wheels and tires. This young man was apparently entertaining a group of young men and women traveling in a rice-burning SUV that followed behind the pickup. The passengers in the SUV were cheering loudly and encouraging the car surfer to perform increasingly dangerous stunts from his lofty stage. They appeared to consider the actions of the car surfer to be courageous. I have a label for such as he: I call them "organ donors."
(1) The term "car surfing" describes an activity in which passengers of moving vehicles perform various stunts (also known as urban surfing or ghost riding), including hanging out of the car or "surfing" on the hood, trunk, or on the roof of the vehicle while it is in motion. Car surfing has been popularized by the hyphy movement and is similar to ghost riding except that the vehicle remains under the nominal control of another person. Car surfing has caused several people to be killed during the course of such stunts. A 2008 study by the United States Centers for Disease Control identified 58 newspaper reports of car-surfing deaths and 41 reports of nonfatal injury from 1990 through summer 2008. Most reports of injury were found in U.S. Midwest and Southern newspapers (75%), largely involving males (70%) and youths aged 15-19 (69%). A majority (58%) of reported car surfing incidents ended in death.
My personal opinion of those who engage in car surfing or other extremely dangerous activities is they are direly in need of psychological counseling and are not operating on a sane level. Above all, they should not be encouraged!
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Extremely Dangerous Activities
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Busted!, Mommy Dearest, -and- Outsourcing the Picket Line
Busted! - Lindsay Lohan arrested for DUI, cocaine
Mommy Dearest - mom accused of hitting kids on flight
Outsourcing the Picket Line - union hires homeless for protest
On this day in history: July 24, 1999 - Former Guns N' Roses guitarist "Slash" is arrested in West Hollywood for allegedly beating his girlfriend at the Le Parc Hotel five days prior.
Born on this day in history: July 24, 1898 - Amelia Earhart (1898 - 1937) aviatrix She was the first woman to solo across the Atlantic and from Hawaii to California; mysteriously disappeared, 1937.
Today's Video: Ghost Ridin' Grandma
[While I slept] I was seated in the outdoor-dining area of a restaurant in Cabo San Lucas, conversing with a group of people who were sharing my table. I had just met them, and we were sharing our backgrounds. I felt something brush against my leg and looked down to see a small gnome-like boy crouching beneath the table. I remarked upon this, and a young woman seated to my right said, "Oh, that's just Bahia—Bahia the Crumbsnatcher. He spends his days scuttling about beneath the tables here in search of fallen morsels. Ignore him, and whatever you do, do not feed him."
I thought her warning odd, took pity on young Bahia, and secretly handed him a warm tortilla. He took it and devoured it greedily. I reached down to hand him another tortilla and felt great pain in my hand. I quickly brought my hand up from beneath the table and held it high, displaying to all a large Gila monster dangling therefrom, its sharp teeth tearing into the flesh of my hand. I screamed in pain and flailed my hand about.
The young woman sitting next to me grabbed my flailing hand and pierced the Gila monster's neck with a bamboo skewer. The Gila monster released its grip upon my hand. The young woman held the Gila monster for a moment, suspended by the skewer, then shook him loose from the skewer. It fell to the floor and scurried away.
"I cautioned you against feeding Bahia," she said, as she poured tequila on my wound and bound it with a linen napkin.