# Vote here: Most Outstandingly Dumb and Dangerous Hobby **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 28, 2000, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505 "2000-12-28T14:14:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/1 "2000-12-28T14:14:18Z")
I thought freestyle rock climbing had this locked up, but I just found out, thanks to the Chicago _Tribune_, that there are people who think it’s marvelously entertaining to go snowmobiling on partially frozen rivers. I don’t mean as in, “Whoops, this river isn’t quite frozen yet”. I mean _on purpose,_ as in, “Hey, man, you gotta be going at least 70, then you can skid over the places where it isn’t frozen. Cool!” The mind boggles. [http://chicagotribune.com/news/metro/chicago/article/0,2669,SAV-0012270401,FF.html](http://chicagotribune.com/news/metro/chicago/article/0,2669,SAV-0012270401,FF.html) (Note: the Trib requires registration, so this link may not work–I’m including it mainly so you can see I’m not making this up.) > [@](#): > > The [Fox] river 23 miles south from the Chain o’Lakes to Algonquin is mostly frozen, but the thickness of its icy top varies. The river differs from the area’s lakes, said Frank Novak, lock master at the Stratton Lock and Dam, because the moving water freezes slower… > > But bone-chilling temperatures this season–Novak recorded a temperature of 19 degrees below zero at the dam on Sunday–have made for ideal snowmobiling conditions, officials said… > > Taking a break Tuesday after a morning of snowmobiling along the frozen Fox River…[t]hey didn’t blink an eye when one snowmobiler daringly sped up as he neared a patch of open water, skidded over it on his sled and landed again on a frozen surface. At least he was going fast enough, they said. > > “If you’re going 70 m.p.h., you’re not going to go down. It’s the law of physics…” At least leave a note with someone telling where you’ve gone, so the divers know where to look for your body. :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > Last week, emergency divers spent several hours searching for two people who may have fallen into the frigid water near the Stratton Lock and Dam in McHenry. They found nothing, and no reports of missing people have been filed, but police are leaving their investigation open. I understand that a river can move a body a considerable distance from where you actually fell in. Some bodies are never found… ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/2 "2000-12-28T14:25:33Z")
I would have to nominate those guys who juggle chainsaws. Sharp blades are one thing, and stupid in itself, but a running chainsaw? I can see it now… _chainsaw noises_ “Oops” _screaming of bystanders_ “Dang, Fred, that was my favorite chainsaw.” “and you hit two people this time! That’s better!” Oh well… ---
**Author:** ![Booker57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Booker57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Booker57)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/3 "2000-12-28T14:57:37Z")
I thought nothing of riding on top of speeding cars. “Urban Surfing” it was called. You have no idea how big a traffic light is untill you are eye to lens. Heavy to. Don’t try this at home.MTS ---
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/4 "2000-12-28T15:23:22Z")
Glue Sniffing Treppaning EndUping ---
**Author:** ![Needs2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5e925/32.png) [@Needs2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Needs2know)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/5 "2000-12-28T15:25:16Z")
I have never been able to understand an adrenaline junkie. Mountain climbing, bungee jumping, sky diving as sport has never made sense to me. A few months ago I was watching a TV news show that profiled those two guys that got stuck on Mt. McKinley (not sure of the mountain) for like 45 days during a big storm. One of the guys was the other guy’s auto mechanic. His regular partner had backed out on the trip at the last minute. Anyway the entire time I’m watching this show as they talked about being stuck in this tent while 50 mile an hour winds howled outside, winds that would “flash freeze” you like a piece of Tyson chicken if you stepped out into the storm…I’m thinking putz! Asshole! The guy had a wife and tree year old son back at home. I would have divorced this selfish jerk as soon as possible. How could a man with a family back at home risk his life just to be able to say he climbed the north face of some damned ice covered mountain and no one else had? I just couldn’t see it. Needs2know ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/6 "2000-12-28T15:47:02Z")
Most Outstandingly Dumb and Dangerous Hobby - Smoking crack ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/7 "2000-12-28T17:40:07Z")
Skydiving without a parachute, while wrestling an alligator and having unprotected anal sex with an HIV-positive partner and _no lubricants!_ ---
**Author:** ![Slartibartfastt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5e9695/32.png) [@Slartibartfastt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slartibartfastt)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/8 "2000-12-28T18:36:33Z")
In regard to the OP, I once saw a segment on the discovery channel on this sort of thing except they added a even more dangerous twist. They were riding the snowmobile across the open areas of water while pulling another person on snow skis. In this case the two men were brothers, I guess they were trying for a double darwin award. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/9 "2000-12-28T18:50:24Z")
We seem to have a few likely Darwin award candidates in the fair city of Kingston-upon-Hull in East Yorkshire. The kids have taken up train surfing and jumping from one moving train over to another in the shunting yards.They don’t always make it but so far there have not been any fatalities from train swapping like this. We had one child killed and aother very seriously burned when they tried to jump on the roof of a moving train from a bridge,not really a good idea around electric trains. ---
**Author:** ![AVSC916](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@AVSC916](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AVSC916)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/10 "2000-12-28T19:25:57Z")
Off road dirt biking in uncharted areas. Point one: I despise this because of the way these guys and gals screw up the wild lands for everyone else for miles. Point 2: Injuries are frequent, sometimes debilitating and sometime fatal but the darn idiots do it again and again. One guy zipped off of the edge of a 50 foot dune in the desert on his ATV, rigged to produce maximum noise at maximum speed. Hit the bottom and messed up his toy and broke his back. Not too bad if he was single, but he has a wife – young and cute – and two young kids. Went to the hospital and after a bunch of expensive surgery got all better, but had to wear a back brace for months to heal. Doctors warned him: no more off road jumping anything. Another wreck and he could end up paralyzed from the waist down – which not only means no more walking, but no more sex, wearing a piss tube and a diaper. Two weeks out of the hospital, with family in tow and still in the brace, he’s out at the dirt track, motocrossing. Family is all worried and his replies to why he is being an idiot get a tight lipped response of ‘cuse I like it and I enjoy it and it means a lot to me.’ Too bad his worried family means so little. Currently there are many, many permanent injuries from motocrossing, dirt riding and ATV off the road racing, along with many, many deaths. (If these were drugs, the FDA and government would have banned them by now.) Base jumping. (Idiots) Monster truck jumping. (Less idiotic, because the drivers are in roll cages but it’s stupid to spend $100,000 on a huge custom truck to just jump it over crushed cars, land it funny and get to spend another $20,000 putting it back together.) I used to figure that monster trucks were tuff! until I saw how easily they come apart, which indicated to me that they’re worthless for any form of off the road travel. Hard core skate boarding. After watching kids on a film splatter their nuts up around their shoulders trying to ride handrails with them, take serious leg breaking spills on cement, fall down concrete stairs and land on their necks while trying to do a loop, I figure the sport is idiotic. 10 or 15 years from now, those kids who repeatedly nut crushed learning to ride a hand rail will be wondering why they’re having sexual problems. (Bike riders learn of this. There’s a tube which passes up through the groin above the balls and carries sperm. Smash it a few times and it closes up some. This can result in low discharge. A nerve goes through there also, and smacking it a few good times can result in erection problems later on in life – before 40.) ---
**Author:** ![egkelly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/db5fbb/32.png) [@egkelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/egkelly)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/11 "2000-12-28T20:08:45Z")
How about deep sea scuba diving on air (to depths of \>240 feet)! According to afficianados, at these depths, the nitrogen in the air is like drinking 5 martinis! In addition, to stay at 240’ for around 20 minutes, means decompressing for at least 3 hours! What fun! I read of a bunch of these guys who dive to the wreck of the ANDREA DORIA (its’s fun to risk your life to find dishes, silverware, and other such worthless junk)-every year there are a few fatalities (drownings, or the guy is swept away by the currents). Plus, at this depth, the water is pitch black and freezing cold-why would anybody want to do this? ---
**Author:** ![Wildest\_Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Wildest\_Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildest_Bill)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/12 "2000-12-28T20:09:25Z")
AVSC916, Listen if you don’t want to a ride a dirt bike don’t. But don’t even start talking about that they should be made illegal. I have enough gov’t interference in my life as it is thank you very much. And unless you have jumped on a dirt bike you have no idea how fun it is. Also I do have to agree with you about the dude that got hurt his family should come first. Duck Duck, I have to admit the one you posted does sound like a dumb hobby. I mean even if you don’t drown you could still lose an expensive snowmobile. ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/13 "2000-12-28T20:32:06Z")
Damn, **tracer** , no lubricants? That’s brutal. And **xizor** , I’m not sure I’d call crack smoking a hobby. When done correctly, it’s really much more of a career. ---
**Author:** ![Fletch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/919ad9/32.png) [@Fletch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fletch)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/14 "2000-12-28T20:36:36Z")
“High Marking” People run their snowmobiles up a mountainside and see who can make the highest track mark before they start an avalanche. The results are multiple people with long poles moving along slowly in a line thrusting long poles into the snow to probe for the body or bodies of the participants. The police wait for the recovery of the body and inform the family not to set all the plates out on the table tonight. Sometimes, they can’t find the body and must wait for it to show up after the thaw. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/15 "2000-12-28T20:51:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wildest Bill \* > \*\*AVSC916, > > Listen if you don’t want to a ride a dirt bike don’t. But don’t even start talking about that they should be made illegal. I have enough gov’t interference in my life as it is thank you very much… \*\* Just as long as you’re in approved areas, sure. I think the remark was refering to (lemme check…) ‘uncharted areas’. I happen to like a good scary ride now and again, too, but those whom go about turfing up virgin wilderness for the dubious thrill of being there first/leading the pack/whatever are screwing up a non-replacable resource, not to mention, in many cases, breaking the law. If you (and all of the rest of us) wish less Gov’t interferance, we’d best start acting responsible. ---
**Author:** ![Wildest\_Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Wildest\_Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildest_Bill)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/16 "2000-12-28T21:03:03Z")
Hey Tranq, We are just making hiking trails for you nature lovers. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/17 "2000-12-28T21:41:43Z")
Um, Bill-there won’t be any nature there TOO enjoy! Sheesh! Not too mention that the wreck of the _Andrea Doria_ is inhabited by sharks, if I’m not mistaken. At least, there are sharks in the area. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/18 "2000-12-28T22:17:28Z")
Hey Wildest Bill, I don’t use trails: When I go hiking/camping, the only one who ever knows I was there is me, and maybe the fish I ate. I make a point of non-intrusive camping, which means I carry out everything I took in (including all forms of solid waste 😛 ). Leave the trail making to the Park Service: They get paid fer that. Here’s a thought: If you like riding off-road, become a ranger! You’ll get you fill of it (and Tourists, and Thrill Seekers, and so on…). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/19 "2000-12-28T22:22:09Z")
How about BASE jumping - parachute jumping off four different things to ‘collect the set’: a bridge, a mountain or cliff, a tower or mast, and a tall building. It’s undeniably very dangerous, with regular injuries and not a few fatalities. At most, you get a few seconds of ‘rush’ and then a rather brief and dodgy parachute descent. Plus it’s illegal (at least it is here in England. I believe it’s legal in Norway and some other places). Does anyone share my difficulty at getting inside the sort of mind that would say, “Of all the things I can do with my spare time, I’ll do something that is dangerous, deranged, illegal and at most provides about 10 seconds of the kind of excitement that comes from knowing I might die in the next minute”. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/20 "2000-12-28T22:49:35Z")
Here’s another I’ve just rmemebered. I’ve seen it on video’s and on tv and it is so mad that I figure that it must be popular with Americans, if not it will likely catch across the pond one day. All you do is ride a motorbike up the side of a bloody great hill/mountain.Preferably somewhere in Germany or France, they seem to have a thing for it. They have differant classes for this, from conventional trail bikes to unrestricted classes. The unrestricted bikes have large engines, often 1100cc with very long swingarms, sometimes with two driving wheels, and this might even be hinged in the middle. The hill is so steep that the moment you grind to a halt gravity takes over and prizes are awrded for the longest fall _down_ the hill. Unforunately the rider often falls, preceding the bike,which two may trade places a couple of times until one lands on top of the other. It adds a little extra to the event when the riders are the worse for wear, but you probably need a few drinks before you lose that sense of self-preservation. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505.md?page=2)