We must have common sense Time Travel Control.
Two schoolgirls in China have committed suicide in an attempt to travel back in time.
The girls decided to end their lives after one of them lost a remote control to a door, China Daily reports, via People’s Daily. Xiao Hua told her best friend and fellow classmate, Xiao Mei, that she was worried about coming clean to her parents. The names are reportedly pseudonyms.
In an effort to avoid potential consequences, the girls allegedly took inspiration from a popular television show and committed suicide to travel back in time.
They left notes explaining their decision before jumping — and subsequently drowning — in a pool.
Seriously. WOW! I generally point out that pools are REALLY dangerous. In New England where we have cold winters, falls, and Springs, and many cool summer days, a pool is a LOT of work for almost no payoff. When you factor in the risk of drowning death, and liability in the event that the person who drowns is a neighbor’s kid who sneaks away from home to play in your pool while you’re at work, or the drunk teens trespassing while you’re sleeping, there is no reason to own a pool unless you live in the South where its hot for most of the year.
When you factor in time travel….yeah I got nothing.
h/t Wallphone
Well, this explains why the Chinese announced a ban on time travel as a theme for TV.
That’s why anyone who owns or uses a pool must have at least 8 hours of safety training, a written exam, and a practical field test to qualify for a Pool Users’ License (PUL). Once obtained, the PUL must be updated and the holder recertified every 5 years.
Where there is a will, there is a death… sigh…
I’m sure this is a plus for them as well –
“It may seem strange that the Chinese government is targeting such a niche subject, but experts have suggested that time-travel fantasies offend the government by encouraging escapism. The implication that things were better in the past undermines state propaganda about present and future prosperity.”
I knew a nice lady in south Florida who had her pool surrounded by an eight-foot chain link fence, complete with privacy slats (which are supposed to help prevent climbing) and a well-fitted padlocked gate. Only thing missing was coils of razor wire around the top.
Well, a couple neighborhood kids scaled the fence anyway and went swimming when she wasn’t home. One of them drowned, and the nice lady was suddenly in a load of legal and civil trouble for not doing enough to “secure” her pool (it should be noted that very few if any of her other neighbors had a fence of any kind around any part their yards).
This ridiculous situation is where “safe storage” laws will end up going. Clearly the long-term answer is to ban all pools and recreational water activities. “If there are no pools, there will be no ‘Pool Deaths.'” “If it saves just one life….” “Where is common sense?”
“If we allow people to have pools, there will be blood in the … uh … water.” 🙂
Pool liability law is one reason why I removed the pool on my property. The other is in New England pools are a lot of work for three months of use, maybe.
My parents had a pool in Florida in my late teens. They also had a live-in pool boy–namely me. Those things are a pain to keep in order, even if you can use them for more than three months.
I’ve seen the same kind of stories for people climbing into electrical substations and the families then suing the power company.
Or buying a cup of hot coffee and suing because it’s, well, hot. The sad part is, these people win, which means that at some point they’ve managed to convince highly educated people to buy into their idiocy.
They say you can’t legislate morality. Nor, it seems, can you adjudicate intelligence. People will always find ways to act stupid, and occasionally the Darwin effect will rear its ugly head. The problem is deciding that the “blame” lies anywhere but with the person who decided to be an idiot.
The lesson: Don’t be an idiot! (duh!) 🙂
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I guess the anti-pool folks will “dance in the water” after every pool death.