Do Intelligent People Make Dumb Mistakes? A Story of Kite-Flying Folly

[oahz]

when i was around 12 years old i was flying kites with a bunch of buddies.

i was on the roof, the highest level.

some of them were on the balcony, a level below me.

i was already flying a kite, the kite was in the air and i had hold of the string and that other thing that retract and extend the string, the handler, i guess.

one of my buddies on the balcony said to hand him the handler.

since the kite was already flying in the air, the appropriate way to transfer the handler to him was to hold onto a section of the string and then drop the handler and let it rotate down to him, so that the kite won't fly away, since it was already aloft.

instead, i just through the handler down...and the handler was carry aloft by the kite instead.


that was really dumb.


but then again, I'm not really intelligent.

 

[Julio R]

I don't know whether I am intelligent or not, but I can honestly say I do dumb things on a regular basis.

One of my friend calls me the stupid/dumb genius. (I'm not a genius though.)

 

[mfb]

I don't think there is anyone who did not do a dumb thing before. Therefore, all intelligent people do dumb things. The frequency is another question.

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

I was expecting someone to be struck by lightning.

 

[Kholdstare]

You should get real. Really intelligent people does not do dumb things. If you do you are not one of us.

 

[Danger]

You should get real. Really intelligent people does not do dumb things. If you do you are not one of us.

That statement proves you wrong.

 

[Lavabug]

A track record of doing dumb things doesn't preclude the ability to do intelligent ones.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Of course they do. "Intelligence" isn't some magical all-encompassing capability that means someone will do the right thing in every situation no matter what. Aside from the specific nature of intelligence (you can be smart in one subject yet dumb in another I.e a physicist who uses alternative medicines or a doctor with no social skills) no one is at the top of their game all the time. It is easy to have off days or off moments.

 

[Danger]

It is easy to have off days or off moments.

Or decades...

 

[collinsmark]

Once when I was trimming some vines using an electric hedge trimmer similar to this one,

I accidentally lopped apart the cord that was powering it. I don't think I'll ever live that one down.

 

[Danger]

I accidentally lopped apart the cord that was powering it.

I know one person who has done that with hedge clippers and three who have done it with lawn mowers. (I don't know that their intellects were stellar, though.)

One guy that I know quit paying attention for just a second and welded his ground clamp to the steel that he was working on.

 

[Oldfart]

My mother frequently referred to me as "All brains and no common sense."

I was always kinda proud of that title...

 

[bp_psy]

Once when I was trimming some vines using an electric hedge trimmer similar to this one,

I accidentally lopped apart the cord that was powering it. I don't think I'll ever live that one down.

Did the thing explode?

 

[Physics_UG]

stupid is as stupid does

 

[WannabeNewton]

stupid is as stupid does

I love you Forrest

 

[Ibix]

"When the only mistakes you make are stupid ones...rejoice. You aren't making errors of understanding any more."

I no longer recall who I'm quoting, but it seems appropriate.

I make understanding errors sometimes, too, by the way.

 

[collinsmark]

Did the thing explode?

Nah, it just stopped working, although the extension cord was nearly cut in two. I had to got to Radio Shack and buy some heat shrink tubing and fire up the soldering iron to fix it. It's all better now. But still, I'm pretty embarrassed about that one.

 

[Jobrag]

Alcohol is often involved.

 

[AlephZero]

I once needed to drain the coolant out of the engine block of my car. The drain plug was right behind the exhaust manifold so the easiest way to get at it was disconnect the exhaust pipe from the manifold.

Removing the plug sent a stream of coolant straight into the open end of the exhaust pipe.

And while trying to push the pipe out of the way, I dropped the drain plug. Guess where it went - the same place as the coolant.

After buying a new plug, the final embarassment was running the engine after finishing the job. Boliing off a couple of pints of water from the inside of the exhaust system produces a LOT of steam!

 

[fourier jr]

http://mfluch.wordpress.com/2007/12/26/57-the-grothendieck-prime/

 

[Danger]

I once needed to drain the coolant out of the engine block of my car.

Reminds me of another one. Again, I can't vouch for the intellectual veracity of the individual, but he was capable of independent motion. A guy that I knew forgot to replace the drain plug in his oil pan during a change. There went 8 litres of 10-W-30 down his driveway.

 

[Danger]

Well, dammit, I just committed another one of my own. My 4 Pizza Pops that I'm having for supper came out of the microwave, as expected, far too hot to be eaten. So I set the plate down on my coffee table/dining room table/computer desk to allow it to cool. A little too late, I realized that I had deposited it on top of an envelope full of heat-shrink tubing.

 

[nitsuj]

I'm smart enough to recognize dangerous situations, that said Some times I ain't the brightest.

Friends Dad cutting timber into logs for the wood stove, me there helping to keep the process going by removing the cut pieces and bringing in a new one to cut up.

Well, my friends Dad was cutting through a log on the "horse" and it looked like the log was going to fall on/near his foot. "Thinking fast on my feet" I reach over the chainsaw blade to push the log a different direction. Unfortunately at the same time my friends Dad is raising the chainsaw blade, as not to cut through the log.

Chainsaw touches my hand and wow! lots of blood and a terrified grown man next to me going OMG OMG!

He felt really bad, but at 12yrs I of course knew chainsaws are dangerous.

That's was one of my more stupid moves/

 

[Danger]

That's was one of my more stupid moves

Believe it or not, I've done worse. I am not, however, going to extrapolate.

 

[bp_psy]

When I was about ten, I connected some wires to the leads of some large capacitor then plugged them in the wall socket. Very nifty trick. But I am not very intelligent either.

 

[nitsuj]

When I was about ten, I connected some wires to the leads of some large capacitor then plugged them in the wall socket. Very nifty trick. But I am not very intelligent either.

similarly, at around 12-14 I would put a capacitor inside a pen tube, apply a short circuit, wait for it to heat and POP! (most times)

"spit balls" had nothing on that device

 

[Borg]

For the OP, there's this thread with some real classics. In short - yes, intelligent people can do dumb things.

And let's not forget one of the Tribdog classics.

Just a smaple of the stuff that's in the General discussion classics thread pinned to the top of the General Discussion section.