The first day, a family at a Dutch safari park gets out of their car to get a better look at a bunch of cheetahs. The cheetahs act a bit threatening. In fact, one of them gets into the car, sits next to the driver, and sniffs around. Fortunately, the driver sat there quietly. No screaming, sudden movements. Nothing that told the cheetah he was “prey.”

After that, the rest of the family got back in the car. The family had a conference. Lord knows what they talked about, but next thing you know, they get back OUT of the car — carrying the baby — I’m assuming to get a selfie with the big cats.

This time, the cats said “Hmm. Lunch? Dinner?” and they started to circle. By now, Garry and I are rooting for the cats. This family is too stupid to be allowed to live. They are far better off feeding some of our rarest large cats.

Garry is still muttering about them getting back OUT of the car the second time. How stupid were these people? Even the news people looking at the video were baffled. This was really, exceptionally, wildly stupid.

A day late and today, it’s Mother’s Day. Lots of films of deadly car accidents. Apparently there’s a lot of drinking on Mother’s Day. “Is Mother’s Day a drinking day?” asks Garry.

“Every day is drinking day, ” I comment. Hard to argue the point there.

Up comes video of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano which is pouring lava, ash, and poisonous gas all over the place. Half the island has been evacuated … but they are still need to ask rental areas to please close down because there is a shortage of water.

That’s not one stupid person. That’s a lot of stupid people.

They are still renting vacation spaces? On Kilauea? Where lava is rolling down the street and there is a very good chance that there will be  massive steam explosion. That is the exact type of explosion that took out the island of Krakatoa. In case you didn’t know that.

So they are interviewing someone from the island and she says “I am beginning to worry that maybe I’m not safe.”

You are on an island on which a large, multi-faceted volcano is actively pouring out lava, poisonous gas, and possibly going to explode. Just like Krakatoa. Boom! Giant rocks spewing into the sky.

And she wants to know if she is safe.

I am here to tell you a basic, but critical fact: living on an island that is on top of an active volcano is not safe EVEN if there is currently no lava in the streets and no one is predicting poisonous gases or an explosion that might eliminate the island entirely. I understand that it is a lovely part of the world, but it’s an active volcano. Of course you aren’t safe.

Safe is a hilltop in my neighborhood. The weather may be dicey, but the ground isn’t going to move. Moreover, there is minimal likelihood of mudslides, tornadoes, full throttle hurricanes (not impossible, but unlikely) —  and no volcano has exploded in several million years.

That’s about as safe as it gets.

Allow me to reiterate:

1 – Do NOT get out of your car in the safari park.
2 – If you are lucky enough to survive doing it once, don’t do again.
3 – Don’t build your dream house on top of an active volcano or earthquake fault.
4 – Avoid building on a flood plain or in places frequently buried by mudslides. Or turned to ash by massive wildfires.

The world throws all kinds of stuff at us anyway, no matter how hard you try to be safe. Personally, I think you should NOT help it along.

Categories: #News, Events, Video

Tags: #News, humor, Marilyn Armstrong, stupidity, videos, volcanoes