What qualifies as the stupidest thing you've ever seen?

I know, it’s tempting to jump right into politics.

Mark Twain would have shouted out “Congress!” before I had the headline finished. Yet into everyone’s life falls things that are so frightenenly stupid that they defy all reason, all logic, and sometimes even we ourselves, otherwise normally sane, intelligent and rational people are guilty of them.

Perhaps that is not the case with these two clips.

Someone filming a fireworks factory explosion from a little too close?

and

Someone shaking up a chemical bomb they’ve made by hand?

both of which require Windows Media Player to play.

I can’t tell whether participants of either film survived with all parts intact.

In my own life I remember a fellow camp staff member come tearing out of his cabin tent after almost electrocuting himself. He had let the metal base of his cot press through the wires on his alarm clock…revolting!

Then there was the drunk girl on July 3rd one year after the fireworks were done, who decided to sit down while waiting for the Green Line Train, on the edge of the platform, her pretty little legs swinging over the edge of the platform, with the train only one station away…

Then there was they guy who decided to cut through traffic downtown - oh right - I didn’t see him, only saw the white sheet and the ambulance. He was only formerly stupid by the time I got there. Worse yet, there was a walkway right above the street just an escalator ride away. Guess he was just in too much of a hurry to take it.

Then there was this guy who thought that he could start a war based on a lie and get away with it. How dumb was that?

Maybe not as dumb as the lie his predecessor told about “that woman”. But then that lie didn’t get anybody killed. Just a lot of cold nights in the Presidential doggie house.

Oh, then there was that guy who sexually harassed his co-worker when he had a conservative radio talk show.

Naw, that was just expensive, I think the kid in the video may still win in the stupid category. What do you think? Have a stupider story? Mine excluded of course. :cool:

Peter

The Peter Files

In re talk show host. Forgot to mention. The stupid part was, wouldn’t 1-900 chat lines and private escort services been a whole lot cheaper in the long run.

Now that’s what made it stupid.

That would probably have to be my brother in law microwaving chili in a metal dish. And watching it with VERY closely with his two sons (aged 4 and 8) at either side of him. When I called him on it, he said "What, it isn’t sparking!" I just left and let him continue to keep a close eye on it. What can I say the guy is a total :wally

What did the guy shaking the bottle think would happen?

it would turn into a rabit?

they said this gonna be dangerous then every one stepped back.

I am at a loss on this one.

This seems more like a poll (unless someone thinks that they’re going to debate whose event was more stupid).

Off to IMHO.

[ /Moderator Mode ]

Could one of the Dutch dopers translate the end of the first video?

Combination of stupid and scary - my inlaws were getting ready to build a house in FL (literally build it themselves) and my FIL was manning the chain saw. MIL didn’t want to remove any more trees than absolutely necessary to preserve the proximity of nature. At one point, FIL was up the ladder against a very tall pine, reaching out with the chainsaw running, holding it with one hand in order to top a nearby pine tree. He was in his 50s at the time.

He accomplished what he set out to do, no bloodshed, no broken bones, but I still get the heebie-jeebies thinking about it. Had his grip on the ladder slipped ever-so-slightly… <shudder>

I watched a woman drive around railroad safety arms in an attempt to beat a train. She lost. Thankfully the 3 kids in the back seat weren’t injured too bad.

Any Kevin Smith film.

The Exploding Whale Yes, its real. BADDD smell…

At a run down highway gas station: a guy pouring gas from a full gas can onto an already burning trash fire. He actually looked surprised when the fire flared up in his face, and fortunately the gas can didn’t blow up.

Someone shoving their arm into a heated tank of sulfuric acid doesn’t count since I didn’t actually see them doing it. I just saw the aftermath. They were wearing gloves and supposedly had successfully done it before. The gloves melted this time.

Children swimming in the swimming pool during a thunderstorm.

It happens all the time.

I’m driving down the expressway when a guy on a “crotch rocket” motorcycle goes zooming by on the right shoulder. Then he decides to make a left turn directly in front of a fully loaded semi in the left lane. The truck was going faster than he thought. There wasn’t all that much left after the truck locked his brakes on the motorcycle.

Pretty common here to use the tornado warning sirens (in the city they are spaced about two miles apart and blow for the initial warning issued, then again continuously when a funnel is actualy tracking towards your area) as a signal to go outside and look at the pretty 'nado.
To the OP, a word of advice, many Dopers find the affectation of coloured posts to be annoying, distracting, or not worth the bother to read. Just a friendly heads up for ya.

Tube-feeding a comatose human being for 15 years.

NoClueBoy, we don’t say “coloured” any more, we say “African-American.” Just a little heads up for ya.

I kid, I kid!

U ziet de beelden nu vertraagd. En heel duidelijk is te zien wat de werkelijke kracht van de laatste explosie was. De daken worden letterlijk van de huizen geblazen.

Here is the footage in slow motion. And you can clearly see the true power of the latest explosion. The roofs are literally blown off the houses.

Steve Irwin dangling his baby infront of a aligator. All-time stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.

A video of a guy who agreed to take 25 roman candles to the chest. Actually, I’m sure I’ve seen stupider, but nothing comes to mind at the moment.

Oh, Most of Jackass (including the movie) is fairly stupid. But entertaining stupid.

I think the closest to near-death they came is when Knoxville flipped the golf cart.