stupidity

Read recent news stories involving stupidity on Newser.com

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Cops: Guy Had His Legs Amputated in Insurance Scam

Taiwanese pair claimed cold temperatures caused frostbite requiring amputation; investigators say it was dry ice

(Newser) - An alleged plot between friends to collect a more than $1 million insurance payout failed, leaving the pair no better for having frozen one man's legs to the point of requiring amputation, prosecutors say. Indeed, the two Taiwanese college students, identified as Zhang and Liao, both 23, are now...

Cops: TikTok Challenge Drove Teens to Act Like Kool-Aid Man

Kids busted for crashing through residents' fences on Long Island

(Newser) - Another day, another stupid TikTok challenge. This time it involves a group of Long Island teens who allegedly decided to emulate the Kool-Aid Man's move of busting through walls —except in their case, they're accused of kicking down local fences. Fox News reports that Suffolk County police...

Fathers Shoot Each Other's Kids in Road Rage Incident

'How stupid could 2 people be,' Florida sheriff says of William Hale, Frank Allison

(Newser) - "There could have been two dead kids because of two stupid grown men," Bill Leeper, sheriff of Florida's Nassau County, said Monday, revealing two girls were each shot by the other's father during a road rage incident. William Hale, 35, of Douglas, Ga., and Frank Allison,...

Doctors Across the US: Please Don't Do Milk Crate Challenge

Viral videos show people wiping out while trying to ascend towers of milk crates

(Newser) - If you were wondering if August might come to a close without a stupid , silly , or downright dangerous social-media-driven fad making the rounds, put those fears to rest—the "milk crate challenge" is here. And it's a combination of all three (stupid, silly, and dangerous), with some platforms...

Gender Reveal Party Started 7K-Acre Wildfire: Cal Fire
Gender Reveal Party Has
Now Burned Through 7K Acres
the rundown

Gender Reveal Party Has Now Burned Through 7K Acres

Cal Fire blames a 'smoke generating pyrotechnic device'

(Newser) - It's perhaps time for expectant parents of a certain ilk to understand that not everyone at the local fire department cares about the gender of your coming bundle of joy. In the latest gender reveal party gone horribly, horribly wrong, Cal Fire— which is more than a little busy...

Man Pees on Child's Memorial, Gets Fired by Own Father

Friend filmed him urinating in NJ playground

(Newser) - A New Jersey man who was filmed grinning as he urinated on a memorial to a dead child has been fired by his boss—who happens to be his father. Bryan Bellace, 23, was wearing a shirt with the Bruce Bellace Plumbing and Heating logo as he peed on the...

Cops: Man Shot After Aretha Franklin Argument

Pair in barbershop disagreed about who was starring in upcoming biopic

(Newser) - Fans mourned Aretha Franklin all around the world Thursday—including in a barbershop in Suffolk, Va., where a discussion of the Queen of Soul turned violent. Witnesses say that after an argument over whether Halle Berry had played or was going to play Franklin in a biopic turned violent, Michael...

TSA: Alleged TV Crew Tried to Create 'Mass Panic' at Airport

At least 7 arrested in Newark after being accused of trying to pass fake bomb through security

(Newser) - Authorities say at least seven people who claimed to be working for a TV network were arrested at a New Jersey airport after they tried to film themselves passing a fake explosive device through a security checkpoint. Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein says it happened at Newark Liberty International...

'Prankster' Cements Head in Microwave

Firefighters were 'seriously unimpressed'

(Newser) - There's stupid, there's extremely stupid, and then there's "cementing your head inside a microwave" stupid. Firefighters in Wolverhampton, England, say they were "seriously unimpressed" after five of them had to spend an hour dealing with a case of the latter Thursday, the BBC reports. The...

Guy Imitating History Channel Wrecks City's Downtown

Upstate NY inferno destroyed or damaged 20 buildings

(Newser) - Officials say an inferno that destroyed or damaged nearly two dozen buildings in a city in upstate New York was sparked by an amateur bladesmith. The blaze broke out Thursday in downtown Cohoes, near Albany, and was hampered by winds. The Times Union of Albany reports three buildings were destroyed...

Ariz. Man Learns Hard Way That Snakes Are Not Toys

The predictable end to a ridiculous party trick

(Newser) - An Arizona man claims he's finally learned his lesson about messing around with snakes after getting bitten for the second time in his life. Victor Pratt, 48, was holding a birthday party for his kid at home in Coolidge, Ariz., on Sept. 7 when he picked up a rattlesnake...

Actual Fla. Sheriff's Tweet: Do Not Shoot the Hurricane

Your bullets won't make Irma go away, geniuses

(Newser) - If you're worried about the people in the path of Hurricane Irma, perhaps you should also worry about the segment of them that thinks shooting at the storm will make it go away. As the AP reports, the following is an actual tweet from the Pasco County Sheriff's...

Man's 'Poor Judgment' Outside Fire Leads to Arrest

He allegedly really wanted to save his beer

(Newser) - A South Dakota man was arrested outside a Sioux Falls house fire on Sunday, but the arrest had nothing to do with the blaze. Rather, police say the man tried to push past police and fire personnel in an attempt to reenter the home and "save" his beer. The...

Attempt to Kill Ants Destroys Family Home

Son was using fire to exterminate insects in basement

(Newser) - If you have an infestation of ants in your basement, do not follow the example of David Doucette and try to kill them with fire. The 21-year-old Maine man may have succeeded in exterminating the pests, but he burned down his parents' home in the process, killing their dog and...

Guy Mauled by Croc After Jumping in River to Prove Point

Lee De Paauw denies being 'one of the stupidest people around'

(Newser) - An Australian teenager mauled after getting drunk and jumping into a crocodile-infested river to impress a woman he had just met denies being "one of the stupidest people around." "Haters gonna hate," says 18-year-old Lee De Paauw, per the Courier-Mail . He suffered gouges and two broken...

Watch: Man Loses Money Stealing Tip Jar

His crime didn't add up

(Newser) - Danny Ocean, he's not. UPI reports a thief was operating at a loss when he made off with a restaurant's tip jar while leaving behind the food he'd already paid for Friday in New Zealand. Security footage from Nando's Riccarton shows a man putting a tip...

Study Reveals Why We Do Stupid Things

Most people agree on what is stupid

(Newser) - How’s this for a stupid study : Researchers at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary, set out to discover the criteria people use when determining that a particular behavior is, well, stupid, Live Science reports. It turns out it doesn't exactly take a rocket scientist: Judging whether something is...

Bad Idea: Soldier's Suicide Bomber Costume

Did not go over well at Fort Bragg

(Newser) - Halloween and bad decision-making go together like chocolate and more chocolate, but it takes a certain and utter suspension of common sense to dress up like a suicide bomber—complete with an explosives vest, because why do things in half measures?—and try to get inside a United States military...

Woman Live-Streamed Her Drunk Driving, Say Cops

Periscope viewers called 911

(Newser) - If the drunk-driving case against Whitney Beall goes to trial, Exhibit A will probably be her Periscope video "Drunk Girl Driving," in which she drives around talking about how drunk she is. Police in Lakeland, Fla., say the 23-year-old used the live-streaming app to upload a series of...

Man Burns Down Gas Pump Trying to Kill Spider

'Stupidity'

(Newser) - A Michigan man with a serious fear of spiders nearly burned down a gas station, his car, and himself trying to get rid of one of the tiny creatures earlier this week, Fox 2 Detroit reports. According to CBS Detroit , the man was filling up his car when he saw...

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