# 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:** 2
**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, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/21 "2000-12-28T22:56:55Z")
casdave, You’re talking about hill climbing. Awesome sport! I think they are crazy too but I LOVVVEE watching it might even try it if I didn’t have to pay for the damage to the bike. ---
**Author:** ![FallenAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/22 "2000-12-28T23:02:46Z")
While there is some truly dippy stuff in the above posts, I need to address a few things (and by “need” I mean “want”) I free rock climb. Sheer, solid rush. It’s absolutely amazing how far you can push your limits when you actually face them. Understand, I do not do routes that are nearly as difficult when free climbing as I do when trad or sport climbing. I like danger, not sheer balls-out stupidity. Anybody that can one-pitch free climb an 800 foot 5.10© tower is such a superior being to me that he / she/ it is entitled to the sexual favor of their choosing. BASE jumping: LOVE IT. Someone asked what’s the point of a dodgy 10 second ride that could kill you? First, if you’re smart and pick the place for your jump with some care, guage the conditions correctly, know how to pack your chute and when to deploy, it’s not much more dangerous than sky diving. It IS, however, a hell of a lot more intense. Yes, it’s illegal, but then again I’ve never been one for obeying a law intended “for my own good”. I think I’m a better judge of that than some lardass in a 3-piece suit juggling a vote between lobbyist meetings. Third, the deep sea scuba thing: The effect that was mentioned is called “narcing” because the nitrogen has a narcotic effect. Okay, that one I agree is nuts and not one I’ve ever tried on purpose, although as a young and inexperienced diver I did blow right past my comfort depth because I wasn’t paying attention to my gauge and ended up narcing pretty bad. One of those mistakes you don’t repeat twice. While I minimize the risks I take through training, estimating risk factors and being willing to back out if those factors are too high, I admit I take those calculated risks for FUN and adventure. To sum up the adrenalin junkie thing, from one who is to those who are trying to understand, there’s a line from a Jimmy Buffett song (I think): “I’d rather die while I’m living than live like I’m dead.” ---
**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, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/23 "2000-12-28T23:06:19Z")
Necros wrote: > [@](#): > > Damn, **tracer** , no lubricants? That’s brutal. You should see what happens when the alligator wins… ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/24 "2000-12-28T23:07:41Z")
**oldscratch** wrote > [@](#): > > Glue Sniffing > Treppaning > EndUping I looked up that second one: that’s a thread in itself. Pretty scary. Didn’t find anything in a search for the third; what is it? When I was younger, we’d climb to the top of a water tower, the type that looks like a big flattened sphere on legs many stories up. Then we’d lay down and scoot down the side to see who could scoot down the furthest before crawling back up. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/25 "2000-12-28T23:24:12Z")
> [@](#): > > 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? How about cave divers? ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/26 "2000-12-28T23:52:15Z")
Climbing (like in rock climbing) up an electrical tower. The honking, big electrical towers that are as big as huge skyscrapers and partially made of concrete. Some kids in Ventura, California were into that, unbeknownst to their parents, the cops, and the electrical company. One kid climbed up and fell against some lines and fried himself. He didn’t die right away, though; that happened after several days in a hospital bed and multiple skin grafts. ---
**Author:** ![Short](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Short](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Short)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/27 "2000-12-29T04:49:34Z")
Well, it isn’t really a hobby, but [cooking with liquid oxygen](http://ghg.ecn.purdue.edu/) is not always a good idea (you have to scroll down a bit). ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/28 "2000-12-29T13:03:40Z")
- - - The snowmbiling on the partially frozen river I hadn’t heard of, but somewhere there’s a site about a snowmobile club in Winconsin that races on lakes (water) in the summertime. Apparently you start on shore and gun the engine and away you go. They go out and do laps, just like regular motorboat racing. No modifications required. (Snowmobiles most certainly do not float, but as long as the engine is running they don’t have to) - As far as BASE jumping goes, there was a show on TLC or somewhere a couple weeks back, where these people went to a 1200 foot (IIRC) deep cave pit in Mexico to base jump _into_ it. The cave opening was as big as two football fields at the top and as big as five at the bottom and goes straight down. They’d fall for 20-25 seconds before opening their chutes. The idea of regular base jumping doesn’t impress me, but _this_ looked like it would be _tremendously_ cool to do. ---
**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 29, 2000, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/29 "2000-12-29T15:14:55Z")
I cannot find any links, but I remember watching Ripley’s Believe It or Not some time ago and seeing a festival in Japan (I think) where they cut down these huge trees and then rode them down the side of a hill, with the trees turning over and people getting crushed and thrown off. It seemed rather dumb to me. Has anybody else ever heard of this, and could maybe describe it better? Then, there is of course the running of the bulls… ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/30 "2000-12-29T16:01:54Z")
Let’s all not forget about this guy: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=28346](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=28346) ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/31 "2000-12-29T16:54:36Z")
The logs is the Onbashira festival (we’ve been here before). Happens every six years - the logs are used to refurbish a shrine. It is the tradition for the young men to ride the logs down the hill, it is extremely dangerous, and there are sometimes fatalities: [http://www.bridgewater.edu/~dhuffman/soc306/I98grp6/festival2.html](http://www.bridgewater.edu/~dhuffman/soc306/I98grp6/festival2.html) Would the cave in Mexico be Golindrinas? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/32 "2000-12-29T18:03:20Z")
Tie off your pants at the ankle. Drop in one or more ferrets. Pull your belt closed. Stand there as long as you can. Here is a quick quote from Outside Magazine contributor Donald Katz’s interview with 72 year old Yorkshireman Reg Mellor, the king of the ferret leggers. “Do they bite your – you know?” “Do they!” he thundered with irritation as he pulled up his pants. “Why, I’ve had ‘em hangin’ from me tool for hours an’ hours an’ hours! Two at a time – one on each side. I been swelled up big as that!” You can read an excerpt of Katz’s article at [http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/~mcm/ferret.html](http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/~mcm/ferret.html) or better yet, go pick up “The Best of Outside” ISBN0-375-50064-2 ---
**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 29, 2000, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/33 "2000-12-29T18:46:11Z")
I know it’s not a hobby as sorts, but what about snake handling? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/34 "2000-12-29T19:02:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MC \* > **a snowmobile club in Winconsin that races on lakes (water) in the summertime. Apparently you start on shore and gun the engine and away you go. They go out and do laps, just like regular motorboat racing. No modifications required. (Snowmobiles most certainly do not float, but as long as the engine is running they don’t have to)** I’d think this would only qualify as dangerous and stupid if they tied themselves to the snowmobiles… as it is, if they stop, they just let go and swim to shore. Minus a snowmobile, of course, but moderately expensive doesn’t mean stupid. This only costs a few grand a year. Try eventing sometime for an expensive hobby… ---
**Author:** ![Gazoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce73a5/32.png) [@Gazoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazoo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/35 "2000-12-29T19:51:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > \*\*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. > \*\* 😕 They spent several hours looking for two people who aren’t missing? ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/36 "2000-12-29T22:08:04Z")
Maybe if there were such lunatics in my family I would not want to report them missing either 🙂 ---
**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 30, 2000, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/37 "2000-12-30T14:24:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gazoo \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > > \*\*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. > > \*\* > > 😕 They spent several hours looking for two people who aren’t missing? \*\* I dunno, **Gazoo,** that’s all the Tribune article had. I presume it was a case of somebody expecting them, and then they didn’t turn up where he thought they would, so he assumed they must have fallen in, so he called 911, and they can’t take a chance on its not being true, so they called in the divers. And of course their bodies might still be down there (cheerful thought :rolleyes: ). Divers can’t search as long in very cold water as they can in warmer water, so they might have _missed something_. [cue the Stephen King novella…] ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2000, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/38 "2000-12-30T17:54:02Z")
In my spare time I like to genetically engineer new forms of viral diseases. I’ve recently been working on some interesting combinations that seem to have some remarkably high infection and fatality vectors. Unfortunately, my apartment is small so I’m constantly having to dump my old cultures outside to make room for new ones. Some people have told me that what I’m doing is dumb and dangerous but I don’t criticize their hobbies so they shouldn’t pick on mine. ---
**Author:** ![Skelji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2000, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/39 "2000-12-30T19:36:01Z")
Welcome to the Wide World of NYC Subway Surfing. [http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0032/duffy.shtml](http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0032/duffy.shtml) quote: “It got boring just riding in the car and bullshitting,” says DI, reflecting on the deadly art of subway surfing. “So it was like an adventure, like going on the ultimate adventure.” His partner Seec adds: “It’s as close as you can get to flying without taking drugs.” ( :rolleyes: Gee, every time I rode the subway, I had a destination in mind. And a book or a newspaper.) quote: If you are unlucky enough to fall or be struck, you’re probably dead. (Yup, that’s the part that would keep my ass _inside_ the car, thanks.) These idiots have been known to try this when the trains are actually underground, climbing on top while the train is stopped at a station. Pretty rude wake-up call when you head into the tunnel - usually there’s less than a foot of clearance on top. ---
**Author:** ![annalamerino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@annalamerino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annalamerino)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2001, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505/40 "2001-01-01T20:55:57Z")
I lost an uncle when I was young to ice fishing. He had his car with him out on the lake in the morning. Came back at lunch, and when he went for his car it started spinning its wheels in the afternoon mush and and broke through. It didn’t sink all the way, but half flooded the car with icewater. The others quickly pulled him out through a window, but he died that night. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-here-most-outstandingly-dumb-and-dangerous-hobby/47505.md?page=3)