6/29: Fallen ride

[IMG]pictures/fallenride.jpg[/IMG]

Nobody died in this incident, which means that we don't have to wait a few weeks before joking about it.

The main question I have is - look at the base of this thing - what bolts it down? This ride has to generate a ton of force. If you have five 300-pound guys get on it on one side, is it like your washing machine when you have three towels on one side and one pair of underwear on the other?

Uhhhh.... I challenge you to get even *ONE* 300 lb fat guy into one of those teeny-weeny little seats.

I kind of have a feeling that they must limit everyone under the age of .... whatever.... from riding on it..


Or maybe it's everyone over 100 lbs... Maybe in the case of any discrepancies the carnival 'guess-your-weight' guy comes over to settle things...


"HEY YOU! Fat kid! What are you doing trying to sneak onto this ride!!! Why... You must be AT LEAST 105lbs! Don't try and trick me! I'm the Guess-Your-Weight guy! I KNOW YOUR WEIGHT!! MWAUAHAHAHAH..."

Funny story...

Back in high school, some Burger Kings had "Whopper Hoppers" (those hop-around joints like the Moon Walk thing you saw at picnics). At the time, I weighed about 200 lbs. and my friend was at about 240 lbs. (This was in 1992.) The maximum weight inside the Whopper Hopper was 500 lbs. total, and so we were under that limit, seeing as we were the only 2 clowns inside this thing. Needless to say, we alarmed the Burger King staff and we had to leave. Luckily, we didn't break anything, but boy was that fun!

I remember reading about this in the news. It happened out on Long Island, and I think I can understand what happened.

I don't think it was a weight problem. Look in the background, and you can tell this isn't a highly-developed park. It's probably a traveling town carnival or such. In which case, it's understandable that there is a larger margin of error than in a permanent amusement park.

Coupled with the fact that I've been out on the Island, and the winds out there can get awfully fierce. This was probably just bad luck.

And Tony, if you have details about this that fly in the face of my post, and you held them back, may God have mercy on your soul.


~Mike