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Everyone loves the thrill-seeking aspects of roller-coasters. But what if there were a roller coaster with actual risk? It'd have to be incredibly fun, of course, with loops and speed and what-not, but built to *just barely* outside tolerances, so that one out of every three or four thousand rides, a
single car might fly off the rails into a nearby canyon.
After riding the ride, riders (and ONLY riders) would be entitled to a machismo-proving souvenir. A t-shirt, maybe, saying "I rode the Roller Coaster of Death!" Clearly it'd need some sort of marker to prevent cheap knock-offs.
Funland At The Beach
http://www.azlyrics...landatthebeach.html
Dead Kennedys sing-a-long song [thumbwax, Jan 19 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]
Darwin Awards 1999: Roller-Coaster
http://www.darwinaw.../darwin1999-26.html
Two roller-coaster related deaths, a statistic of interest (42 deaths in 11 years). [jutta, Jan 19 2002]
dare you, [disbomber]
extreme_20banisters...perimental_20phase)
[po, Apr 05 2005]
Wikipedia: Euthanasia Coaster (art)
http://en.wikipedia.../Euthanasia_Coaster
Taking it one step further. [jutta, Nov 21 2011]
[link]
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Don't these actually exist? Mabe not as intentional design, but I know I've heard of the occasional roller-coaster related death. |
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I guess it would be a fun thing to do if you were suicidal, but I think the last thing society needs is something to encourage suicide. |
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Wouldn't it be cheaper just to build a revolver with a really, really big cylinder, and play Russian roulette? |
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Free if you use someone elses gun and bullet.
Ever seen what someones head looks like after a 357 Magnum has done its dirty work up close and personal? No longer a head - as gruesome an image as one could possibly conjure. |
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SOMEone's been spending time at rotten.com... |
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How bout instead of actual casualties, dummies filled with red die---fear factor...neutral... |
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Next time you go to an amusement park, bring a back of rusty nuts and bolts and quietly sprinkle them on the seat right before you exit. |
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It seems to me that you are taking away the one thing about rollercoasters as thrill experiences that is most compelling. The fact that you can experience thrill without the danger is what a rollercoaster is all about. If you add danger to it, then you might as well go skydiving, parasailing or base-jumping. |
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I suppose that you could have a ride like that, but I'm not sure that anyone would ride it. Here is the other problem. I can go skydiving (tandem) with the assurance that my jump master has been doing this for 15 years and has NEVER had a problem. That does not mean that there is not some risk involved, but I fully expect to walk away from the jump. |
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In your scenario, someone would randomly die. That would be guaranteed, so now you make it unsafe. Skydiving (if done correctly with a professional jumper) IS safe, riding a rollercoaster that must kill someone every X rides is not safe or smart. |
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This is why governments ought to be funding this site: to explore impractical but intriguing ideas like this. |
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What if the odds were much better (say 1 million to 1)? Now we have something the logic-lovers could handle, since that's safer than most normal activities...but there was still a virtual guarantee that say 1 rider every 5 yeras would be randomly but definitely killed? Sort of a reverse lottery. |
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you would have to be very specific in the ride's description- if it was the rollercoaster of death and in riding it you were only maimed, or as Unabubba suggested rollercoaster of GBH and you were actually killed - then you would have a lot of law suits on your hands. People who were determined to suicide in a seemingly accidental fashion would demand to get what they paid for. |
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[NeverDie], why shouldn't our society indirectly encourage suicide? Our world is wildly overpopulated, particularly by religions which eschew birth control but not death control (ie, don't do anything to prevent pregnancy, and make sure people live as long as possible). |
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Sounds extreme, and it is. But if someone really enjoys taking that risk, how is that different from doing other risky activities? Participants would sign a waiver saying that they understand that the ride can be deadly, and releasing the park from liability. If someone wants to take that risk, they can--it's not suicide, it's dying while having fun and taking risks, which I think is a beautiful thing. |
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[benfrost], I don't think that an idea like this implemented as assisted suicide would hold up in court. It'd probably work as simply a dangerous ride that people have to sign a waiver for, though. No company can sign people up in drug trials to help them commit suicide, but I'd bet drug trials work like this idea would--you have to sign a waiver saying that you understand you could die or develop Parkinson's Disease or somesuch. |
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It's like eating blowfish, but with more blood. |
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//I think the last thing society needs is something to encourage suicide.// |
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Society must have been drastically different in 2002... |
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