Crocodile stalks New Zealander for a fortnight

[Cormac]

Flares are something he should have anyway if he's going island hopping in his kayak.

I think his expedition was about as poorly organised as you can imagine.

Yep. He wasn't prepared, and he paid for it. "Babe in the woods." Up here we call it, "Suicide by Alaska".

Example:

Is that a picture of the idiot who walked off into the woods - and then died horribly?

Into The Wild is a good movie. It made me remember nostalgically and sympathetically what it was like to be young, dumb, and full of cum...

The book is filled with examples of people who came to Alaska feeling strong, but found out it was more important to actually be strong...Author Krakauer's example of learning this for himself is one of the most powerful bits in the book.

McCandless was still a severely deluded human being. I feel zero sympathy for someone who wanders off, completely unprepared for life in the wilderness.

[klr]

They usually get a terminal lesson as to why it's a bad idea.

[Cormac]

They usually get a terminal lesson as to why it's a bad idea.

Darwin Awards all round.

[klr]

They usually get a terminal lesson as to why it's a bad idea.

Darwin Awards all round.

Close enough ...

http://www.darwinawards.com/stupid/stupid2010-11.html

[Cormac]

They usually get a terminal lesson as to why it's a bad idea.

Darwin Awards all round.

Close enough ...

http://www.darwinawards.com/stupid/stupid2010-11.html

And it seems even Aussies aren't immune...

[piscator]

McCandless was still a severely deluded human being. I feel zero sympathy for someone who wanders off, completely unprepared for life in the wilderness.

The benefits of a liberal arts education...he was idealistic and into ascetic wanderers like Tolstoy who wrote joyously about laboring alongside the peasants. Probably into the Stoics too, and the cleansing qualities of suffering...
Then he was dumb enough to believe he was self reliant in all weathers. And young enough to be bulletproof, having never been confronted with his own mortality outside the abstract. He wasn't cocky, cynical, superficial, and stupid like Timothy Treadwell. He had those qualities to a much lesser degree.

I consider McCandless a tragic figure more than the emo-hero that stupid motivational meme pic makes him out to be.

[Cormac]

McCandless was still a severely deluded human being. I feel zero sympathy for someone who wanders off, completely unprepared for life in the wilderness.

The benefits of a liberal arts education...he was idealistic and into ascetic wanderers like Tolstoy who wrote joyously about laboring alongside the peasants. Probably into the Stoics too, and the cleansing qualities of suffering...
Then he was dumb enough to believe he was self reliant in all weathers. And young enough to be bulletproof, having never been confronted with his own mortality outside the abstract. He wasn't cocky, cynical, superficial, and stupid like Timothy Treadwell. He had those qualities to a much lesser degree.

I consider McCandless a tragic figure more than the emo-hero that stupid motivational meme pic makes him out to be.

Meh. I also have a liberal arts education - and I'd never do something as stupid as that tulip.

[piscator]

McCandless was still a severely deluded human being. I feel zero sympathy for someone who wanders off, completely unprepared for life in the wilderness.

The benefits of a liberal arts education...he was idealistic and into ascetic wanderers like Tolstoy who wrote joyously about laboring alongside the peasants. Probably into the Stoics too, and the cleansing qualities of suffering...
Then he was dumb enough to believe he was self reliant in all weathers. And young enough to be bulletproof, having never been confronted with his own mortality outside the abstract. He wasn't cocky, cynical, superficial, and stupid like Timothy Treadwell. He had those qualities to a much lesser degree.

I consider McCandless a tragic figure more than the emo-hero that stupid motivational meme pic makes him out to be.

Meh. I also have a liberal arts education - and I'd never do something as stupid as that tulip.

Are you an ascetic personality? Are you 23? Mix an education thin on technicals with an emphasis on literary answers, and you might generate a young person who thinks his character qualities will overcome mere technicalities.
"I've got a good book on indigenous plant lore written by a real anthropologist. I think there's a certain romance and personal benefit in measuring myself by the ancient ways instead of this degenerate modern culture of artifice. I'll just take this 10-lb bag of rice and rock out the wilderness like John Muir. There should be a good book in it when I'm done with the experience."


I can allow myself a little sympathy for the kid when I'm a little more aware of his story.

Timmy Treadwell? Not so much...

[Cormac]

McCandless was still a severely deluded human being. I feel zero sympathy for someone who wanders off, completely unprepared for life in the wilderness.

The benefits of a liberal arts education...he was idealistic and into ascetic wanderers like Tolstoy who wrote joyously about laboring alongside the peasants. Probably into the Stoics too, and the cleansing qualities of suffering...
Then he was dumb enough to believe he was self reliant in all weathers. And young enough to be bulletproof, having never been confronted with his own mortality outside the abstract. He wasn't cocky, cynical, superficial, and stupid like Timothy Treadwell. He had those qualities to a much lesser degree.

I consider McCandless a tragic figure more than the emo-hero that stupid motivational meme pic makes him out to be.

Meh. I also have a liberal arts education - and I'd never do something as stupid as that tulip.

Are you an ascetic personality? Are you 23? Mix an education thin on technicals with an emphasis on literary answers, and you might generate a young person who thinks his character qualities will overcome mere technicalities.
"I've got a good book on indigenous plant lore written by a real anthropologist. I think there's a certain romance and personal benefit in measuring myself by the ancient ways instead of this degenerate modern culture of artifice. I'll just take this 10-lb bag of rice and rock out the wilderness like John Muir. There should be a good book in it when I'm done with the experience."


I can allow myself a little sympathy for the kid when I'm a little more aware of his story.

Timmy Treadwell? Not so much...

I was his age when I qualified with my undergrad.

Mind you, my stupidity was some very hardcore boozing combined with very intensive martial arts training. I was most certainly a dumbass in many ways. I still am.