# Another candidate for a Darwin Award **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 4, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481 "2019-05-04T21:16:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481/1 "2019-05-04T21:16:36Z")
An idiot [fell](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kilauea-volcano-hawaii-man-survives-70-foot-fall-big-island-2019-05-03/) 70 feet into Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii. He was eventually rescued. Why is he an idiot? Because the fucking moron climbed over a barrier to get a better look, that’s why. They should have left him there until he was medium-rare. Tourists that pull this shit really piss me off, and I see it everywhere I go: people taking horrifyingly dangerous chances with their lives and the lives of others just to get a selfie. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2019, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481/2 "2019-05-04T22:09:12Z")
You can’t call him an idiot! He is a SOLDIER and therefore a HERO. Only his CO or his sergeant can call him an idiot. You should know, as a former HERO, that all we can do is kiss his boots and thank him for his service. Commie. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![I.Dunno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9f8e36/32.png) [@I.Dunno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I.Dunno)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2019, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481/3 "2019-05-04T22:39:17Z")
I’d like to think he was making a human (self-) sacrifice, probably for world peace, and should have been left there. Now of course, strife will continue. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2019, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481/4 "2019-05-04T23:31:07Z")
Surely he’ll have to pick up the rescue costs, yes? There should be an extra $1000 for any of this cross the barrier shit, automatic fine injured or not! ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2019, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481/5 "2019-05-04T23:37:31Z")
It’s worse than that! Pele has had her sacrifice stolen from her so, mark my words, there will be an eruption of Kilauea in the not-too-distant future. You don’t fuck with Pele. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2019, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481/6 "2019-05-04T23:37:32Z")
He was lucky. He could have fallen 300 feet. Did he ask anyone to hold his beer while he climbed the barrier? ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2019, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481/7 "2019-05-04T23:44:37Z")
Arizona has had a run on tourists falling into the Grand Canyon. Someone even fell off the Skybridge, but I think anyone even WALKING on the Skybridge would have to be demented. At the rate the tourists are falling in, the Grand Canyon will be filled up in no time! And then there is the lady who ducked under a barrier to get a better picture, at the tiger enclosure… the tiger got a taste, and she’ll have cool scars. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2019, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481/8 "2019-05-04T23:52:47Z")
I knew before I opened this thread what the story was about. On the one hand, glad he didn’t die. On the other, just how stupid do you have to be to climb over a physical barrier because you want a closer look into the caldera of an ACTIVE VOLCANO? I mean, can you imagine the conversation between him and a prospective spouse? PS: “Hey, how’d you get those scars. Pretty intense.” SS: “Oh, those? I fell into a volcano a few years back.” PS: “How does that even happen?” SS: “I wanted a better look. Can you imagine that I had to climb over a barrier?” PS: “You know … I think I’m going to call it a night. You are beyond stupid, and I don’t want someone with your profound lack of common sense anywhere near my ovaries.” ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481/9 "2019-05-05T00:12:41Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > It’s worse than that! Pele has had her sacrifice stolen from her so, mark my words, there will be an eruption of Kilauea in the not-too-distant future. You don’t fuck with Pele. Meh. Pelé is old. I’d take Ronaldo over him at this point. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481/10 "2019-05-05T01:35:17Z")
I saw that coming. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481/11 "2019-05-05T03:00:37Z")
And the Wapani Woo didn’t even make him do it! ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481/12 "2019-05-05T04:01:34Z")
Is his name [Joe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Versus_the_Volcano)? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481/13 "2019-05-05T05:48:14Z")
> [@I.Dunno](#): > > I’d like to think he was making a human (self-) sacrifice, probably for world peace, and should have been left there. Now of course, strife will continue. Probably still can’t get laid. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481/14 "2019-05-05T06:37:47Z")
I gotta be pedantic: it’s an award for removing your dumbass genes from the gene pool. That means death or castration. This guy is free to parlay his experience into mediocre sex. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481/15 "2019-05-05T12:41:28Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > I knew before I opened this thread what the story was about. On the one hand, glad he didn’t die. On the other, just how stupid do you have to be to climb over a physical barrier because you want a closer look into the caldera of an ACTIVE VOLCANO? Forget the volcano… I don’t want to fall 300 (or 70) feet! ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481/16 "2019-05-05T12:54:17Z")
I saw people climbing barriers at the Grand Canyon all the time. FFS, the place is dangerous enough when you start where the supposed to. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481/17 "2019-05-05T14:25:46Z")
Gotta admit that I did pretty much the same thing (minus the fall) some years ago, at Kilauea’s Pu’u O’o volcano vent (the active one at that time). I didn’t climb over any barrier - but I did hike several miles on a rain forest trail (said to be for the use of scientists studying the volcano), then over a lava field, past the point that was the obvious last sane place to stand, and up the slope of the crater itself. It was about 300’ deep and a quarter-mile across, with a lava lake at the bottom. The lip of the crater was definitely insecure and crumbly, and also littered with hardened lava globs up to the size of a tennis ball. The trade wind carried a cloud of nasty fumes away in a safe direction. Spent about 30 minutes there. The only other humans within miles were tourists in helicopters, one of which flew by every few minutes, giving passengers about a minute to snap photos. It was certainly a risky thing to do: If I’d fallen there would have been no way to notify rescuers (and no point to any rescue attempt - survival time would have been a few seconds). But the sight of that boiling red lava, fountaining up perhaps 100’, was easily worth it. I’d do it again (indeed, I did it twice - two years apart). At the Volcano Park visitor center the next day, I overheard a man asking the park ranger how he could hike to the volcano crater. After being told there was no trail within the park (true - the one I took was across State land until the last half mile) and how this was an exceedingly dangerous place to be, he said indignantly: “What kind of an operation are you running here? My wife and I were in a helicopter yesterday, and we saw a guy standing right at the lip of your so-called dangerous crater! We pay $200 each for a quick look, while he gets to stare away to his heart’s content?!” ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481/18 "2019-05-05T14:44:06Z")
When I lived near the Pacific Ocean there were rescues every single year of people who climbed the fence with the sign that said STAY BEHIND FENCE OCEAN WAVES ARE UNPREDICTABLE and got washed off the rocks into boiling surf. They were always from Fresno. In my forty years there I never remember this happening to a local. There is something profoundly irritating about the prevalent idea that nature is an amusement park. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481/19 "2019-05-05T15:19:01Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > You can’t call him an idiot! He is a SOLDIER and therefore a HERO. Only his CO or his sergeant can call him an idiot. You should know, as a former HERO, that all we can do is kiss his boots and thank him for his service. > > Commie. 😉 _Falling info active volcanos, when walking too close to caldera despite advice_, is a perfect metaphor for the US military for the last 17 years. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2019, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481/20 "2019-05-05T18:29:14Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Gotta admit that I did pretty much the same thing (minus the fall) some years ago, at Kilauea’s Pu’u O’o volcano vent (the active one at that time). > > I didn’t climb over any barrier - but I did hike several miles on a rain forest trail (said to be for the use of scientists studying the volcano), then over a lava field, past the point that was the obvious last sane place to stand, and up the slope of the crater itself. It was about 300’ deep and a quarter-mile across, with a lava lake at the bottom. The lip of the crater was definitely insecure and crumbly, and also littered with hardened lava globs up to the size of a tennis ball. The trade wind carried a cloud of nasty fumes away in a safe direction. > > Spent about 30 minutes there. The only other humans within miles were tourists in helicopters, one of which flew by every few minutes, giving passengers about a minute to snap photos. > > It was certainly a risky thing to do: If I’d fallen there would have been no way to notify rescuers (and no point to any rescue attempt - survival time would have been a few seconds). But the sight of that boiling red lava, fountaining up perhaps 100’, was easily worth it. I’d do it again (indeed, I did it twice - two years apart). > > At the Volcano Park visitor center the next day, I overheard a man asking the park ranger how he could hike to the volcano crater. After being told there was no trail within the park (true - the one I took was across State land until the last half mile) and how this was an exceedingly dangerous place to be, he said indignantly: “What kind of an operation are you running here? My wife and I were in a helicopter yesterday, and we saw a guy standing right at the lip of your so-called dangerous crater! We pay $200 each for a quick look, while he gets to stare away to his heart’s content?!” I don’t for a moment condone your behavior, but that’s a funny story. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-candidate-for-a-darwin-award/833481.md?page=2)