natural selection failed

[speedyquad]

2 teen girls sunbathing on Pa. road struck by car - Yahoo! News

keeping up with the ideas of teens not being able to count back change and the basic lack of common sense. these two girls go in that category. i find it hard to feel sorry for these two, but do feel bad for the cousin. please no one swim in this gene pool, it's not very deep.

 

[VAdoublegunner]

And these are the folks that are supposed to be paying my social security and healthcare in a few years.....sigh.....

 

[Dennis The B]

Several weeks ago, there was a near-identical accident in Brownstown Township, in Michigan. Two teenage girls laid down on the highway, and an elderly man driving a van ran over them, never seeing them. It was near dark when the accident happened.
Tragic Accident Claims 2 Girls in Brownstown Township

 

[old bear]

Sad story...

 

[Denver Dick]

Actually, what you are seeing is natural selection in action. I'm old enough to remember the Bell Curve. Yep, back in the early 80s about 25%+ of the population was pretty stupid ("ain't too swift"). However, IQ testing fell out of favor (it's not PC, you know) in the late 80s/early 90s. Nonetheless, I would argue that for various reasons the "ain't too swift" crowd has grown to around 30-35%. Now, if you add to another of 10-15% of the "smarter crowd" that have addictive personalities, are lazy, or who've simply chosen to be ignorant, and almost half of the folks out there are severely endanger of falling prey to natural selection. JMHO

 

[COL Jagdog]

It was the driver's fault -- he ignored the sign that said "Bikini crossing".

 

[chud333]

Must have just ran over their legs or something as it sounds
like they will be OK.

chuck

 

[anglaispierre]

Maybe some country folk don't know the difference between a road and a beach

 

[m75rlg]

Much more common than you think.

I've arrested more than one "public drunk" lying in the roadway back in the '70's. In the early morning hours on a cool night that warm pavement is inviting to all kinds of critters!

 

[redlevel]

Actually, what you are seeing is natural selection in action. I'm old enough to remember the Bell Curve. Yep, back in the early 80s about 25%+ of the population was pretty stupid ("ain't too swift"). However, IQ testing fell out of favor (it's not PC, you know) in the late 80s/early 90s. Nonetheless, I would argue that for various reasons the "ain't too swift" crowd has grown to around 30-35%. Now, if you add to another of 10-15% of the "smarter crowd" that have addictive personalities, are lazy, or who've simply chosen to be ignorant, and almost half of the folks out there are severely endanger of falling prey to natural selection. JMHO

I gave IQ tests for a living for 15 years. While I tend to agree with your premise, these girls might very well have genius level IQs. They are 13 years old, which overrides any innate intelligence they might have. It affects both sexes, but it seems more obvious in girls. Their brains turn to grits when they hit 13. If they survive to about 20 or 21, their brains usually harden up very nicely and their natural intelligence kicks back in. This is Lewis Grizzard's Grit-Brain Theory.

I identified and taught Gifted Students for the last 15 years of my teaching career. It was amazing to me to watch the dumb actions and choices of people I knew had an IQ of 130 or better.

 

[JcMack]

Send me your 18 yr. old teenage girls. I have a large back yard perfect for sun bathing, and scampering around. It is not close to the road and I will fence it in if I get enough girls to keep them from wandering off into danger.

 

[brucev]

Sorry to read of this. It is easy to say caustic things about such incidents. With age sometimes comes maturity. Sometimes, with age there only comes mileage and wear.

Young people do not think like folks who have lived and experienced much. They do things that in retrospect are foolish. Years ago, there were those who enjoyed climbing into the very highest branches of the very highest trees. Years later there were those who took delight tin-can cars. Their children later would take cars and play "chicken." And their children would experiment with drugs and free love, etc. Of course they were right.

In the churches I've served we've had children, youth and even adults do things that in retrospect were "stupid." Three boys go out in a boat on Sunday afternoon. Horseplay results in an accident when the boat runs over one of the boys. It was a closed casket funeral. Two boys on the local H.S. football team go deer hunting early on a Saturday morning. For some reason known only to God, they lie down on the rail road tracks that are only infrequently used. The father of one of these boys goes looking for them after they don't return home. He finds them after a train has gone through. A wonderful ROTC boy takes his girl-friend out for a Sunday afternoon drive. The go around a long sweeping curve on a major city thoroughfare. There is almost no traffic in either direction. He hits a concrete power pole. The girl is wearing her seat-belt. She is not badly injuries. But the boy, his mind will be the mind of a young boy for the rest of his life. His parents will take care of him. And after them, someone else will take care of him. A man in the church heads into town with the top down on his Corvette. He runs off the road and crashes. Diabetics have problems. He had a problem. These are gross examples of what many would call stupid.

I hope the girls injured recover fully and completely. I hope the boy driving the car will get through this business and move on with his life. Sincerely. brucev.

 

[Straightshooter2]

It affects both sexes, but it seems more obvious in girls. Their brains turn to grits when they hit 13. If they survive to about 20 or 21, their brains usually harden up very nicely and their natural intelligence kicks back in. This is Lewis Grizzard's Grit-Brain Theory.

Yep. While I agree with Dr. Phil on almost nothing, I remember hearing him say one time that most teenagers have nothing working above the brain stem. That all higher brain functions turn off at puberty and turn back on around 23.

CW

 

[speedyquad]

natural selection failed because they are alive to do it again.

i was 13 once and knew enough to not lay on the road. i'm not saying i didn't do stupid things, especially with my atv's, but i didn't challenge a heavy moving mass of metal and plastic with a bikini as my only armor. there are differences in accidents that are accidents in the course of overdoing everyday activities and accidents that are a result of down right idiocy. this definitely falls under the latter.

 

[anglaispierre]

Yep. While I agree with Dr. Phil on almost nothing, I remember hearing him say one time that most teenagers have nothing working above the brain stem. That all higher brain functions turn off at puberty and turn back on around 23.

CW

You missed out a word before turn back - sometimes

 

[DCWilson]

And these are the folks that are supposed to be paying my social security and healthcare in a few years.....sigh.....

Well, no.

The people who will be supporting your social security stipends will never appear in news stories because they don't do anything dumb, tragic or criminal enough to constitute "news" in the minds of the potato heads who pump out the information they are certain we want to know. The future productive members of our society are invisible on a daily basis because they are focused, learning, and already forming the habits of self-reliance and responsibility that winners have always displayed. You know: the very qualities that are commonly taken to be devoid of newsworthiness.

Sometimes, and maybe even most of the time, we need to look at evidence backwards to see what it is we really need to understand from a situation. Remember Sherlock Holmes and the curious incident of the dog in the night.

"But Holmes, the dog did nothing in the night."

"That was the curious incident."


There's an old WWII story about an officer in a post-mission briefing who was talking to pilots about a study of damage on returned bombers and fighters. "Worry not," said this guy, who was clearly one of the first wartime statistics guys. "We have identified those areas of a plane where damage is most often observed, and we are going to be armoring and reinforcing those areas on all aircraft."

This prompted a question from one of the pilots: "But sir, wouldn't it make more sense to armor the areas where you don't see flak damage and bullet holes? Because that's where the planes were hit that didn't make it back."

I don't always live up to my own advice, but I try never miss a chance to question what I think I know.