From CNN, it seems that a “17-year-old girl was killed after she tried to slide down the railing of a staircase inside a museum, lost her balance and fell, police and museum officials said.”
Ok, Jesus-fucking-christ, didn’t her parents teach her what you should and shouldn’t do in a museum (or in society in general). 5-year olds slide down banisters (ok, Indiana Jones does it when he is escaping from Nazis but that is understandable). Don’t 17-year olds know better?
And to make matters worse, “the Foucault’s Pendulum exhibit located in the stairwell was damaged.” - oh the humanity!!!
Please note, I do not wish to make light of the fact that somebody died. It sucks that she died and I feel for her family but I think she was an idiot.
Jesus-fucking-christ, of course her parents taught her, “Don’t slide down the banisters at the Museum.” Whaddaya think, that she grew up in a household full of chronic banister-sliders, that her parents taught her, “It’s okay, honey, slide down any banisters you find in Life”?
You never did anything totally dumbass when you were seventeen? You never did anything that made you look back and go, “Geez, was that ever a totally dumbass thing for me to do, why am I not dead?” You were a Perfect Teenager, a paragon who never ever showed off for your friends by doin’ something totally stoopid?
Somewhere in St. Louis on Sunday a mom and dad got a phone call to tell them that their daughter died while showing off for her friends on her school trip. I’m sure they’ll be glad to know that according to you, it’s apparently their fault she died. :rolleyes:
Haven’t been there for a while, but I think this was in the stairwell where they have the body slices.
In case you haven’t seen them, some guy and gal got put through a meat slicer (IIRC, him horizontally, her vertically) and are displayed in approx 1" thick slices.
Depending on how well she splatted, perhaps this teen genius could be slipped between two panes of glass as a supplemental exhibit.
Oh, that’s terrible! :eek: I’ll pray for her family and friends. I don’t understand what could have caused her to take such a dangerous risk either.
I saw the pendulem in the Smithsonian, and I thought it was one of the best exibits there. I hope they can fix theirs. I wonder what the museum is going to do to prevent that in the future?
Of course I did dumbass things when I was 17 but I didn’t do anything that made me look back and say “Gee, why am I not dead?” And I think there is a difference between being a dumbass (goofing around, pranks, etc.) and being a complete stupid fucking dumbass (sliding down a banister, dangling a baby from a balcony, etc.).
And where did it say anything about showing off for her friends. For all we know, she thought it was a fast way down.
And Dinsdale, a little gross but interesting.
And Zabali_Clawbane, most likely they will have to change the architecture to prevent others from being idiots, post signs saying “Don’t slide down the banisters”, and spend lots of money defending themselves in a lawsuit (but I could be wrong).
Fortunately no one has died, but I witness this type of behavior constantly in the museum where I work.
We had a teenage boy ride our Foucault Pendulum - bronco-busting theatrics and all. One charming parent put Junior on the apatosaurus display so he could take his picture. Junior broke off part the apatosaurus tail as a souvenir. Kids swim in the giant Gulf Coast fountain, attempt to balance on the 5000 pound Kugel ball, try to smuggle out butterflies from the rainforest.
I’m sorry the young woman died, but I’m not surprised a kid attempted the stunt. You see it all in a museum.
I’m just waiting for the lawsuit. The parents will sue saying that stairwells containing Foucault Penduli are inherently dangerous and there should have been safety nets or something to catch the adorable kids who think its a smart thing to slide down a banister in a museum stairwell.
People love to sue museums thinking that they have deep pockets, and of course the wonderful little tyke (17, yikes!) can’t be held responsible for her own actions. Bad, evil museum for having stairs anyway!
Between that and the kid who died at the Six Flags Great America (located just north of Chicago) theme park recently - having apparently choked on her gum while riding a roller coaster - I’m just waiting to see which family gets their lawyers on the case first. Hopefully both will realize that sometimes, all best attempts aside, people will occasionally manage to get themselves hurt through their own fault.
Yeah, I’m living the non-profit high life! We’re so freaking rich, that there is actual discussion that one day I’ll get a brand new office chair that is (honet-to-god) not broken!
We get 3000 school kids a day during the spring, and while I hope they actually learn something during their visit, the havoc that some of them can wreak is depressing.
I’m a 35 year old female who SO knows better about such things. However, that said, I, too, have slid down a banister in the last year. Now, I would never do so dangling three stories up, mostly because I’d be too afraid I’d lose my balance and fall. But I would definitely give it a half-hearted try where it’s just me above ye old stairs, like I do routinely. <insert sheepish grin here, I suppose> Oh, and before anyone yells at me too much, I never do so in the way of anyone else or where it might damage another’s property. Only thing potentially hurt will be me or my pride, of which there is none. So there ya go.
Why do I do this? Um, because I will forever be a kid at heart, I guess, That’s my best reasoning and I’m sticking too it. Mr. hopefool also always pushes me on the shopping cart leaving various stores too. Loads of fun. Life is too short not to get what little perks there are wherever they present themselves.
But, why am I sharing this here? I dunno. I guess my point is that she, obviously, wasn’t really thinking this out and deserves some slack cut. She was only 17, not always the best age for perspective. Hell, I’m waiting for mine to increase as it were. Perhaps that’s what 3 decades gives ya though… only try silly stunts when you’ll only marginally get hurt rather than killed.
Ok, so no real point after all. I just feel really bad for her, her loved ones/classmates and the museum. It’s a shame that anyone should die for lack of thought. How sad.
The metal plating between side by side escalators has those raised discs purely to keep people from using it as a slide.
Installing something similiar would be the cheapest, most effective, and least intrusive(you want folks on the stairs to be able to look down at the pendulum) way to prevent bannister sliding.
I’m not surprised that preteens and teenagers vandalize museums, cross barriers etc. But, a Foucault’s pendulum display gives a very good view of the floor below. Look up the word vertiginous. That she would slide down the bannister with such a long and obvious drop on one side is what surprises me.
:eek: I’ll pray for her family and friends. I don’t understand what could have caused her to take such a dangerous risk either.
Life is too short not to get what little perks there are wherever they present themselves.