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Dumb Human Behavior to Avoid

Nothing bucks up our spirits more than knowing there are people dumber than we are. Except maybe knowing there are lots of them.

from Reader's Digest Magazine | June/July 2011

DUMB VICTIMS
Cruisin’ and Losin’

An iPod was stolen from a convertible outside a Walmart. The owner, said police, locked the doors, rolled up the windows, and turned on the alarm … but left the top down. Source: Shelbyville (Tennessee) Times-Gazette; submitted by Barbara Landis

Putting the “Dip” in Diplomat

Three men in Kansas City, Missouri, were convicted of selling phony diplomatic cards, which, they told their victims, granted them “Ambassador” status. For $450 to $2,000, the bearers of the card were told, they would be exempt from paying U.S. taxes as well as all traffic and parking fines. Source: state.gov
Alt+Ctrl+Stpd

The owner of a Mount Kisco, New York, computer shop convinced a customer that his computer virus was part of an evil plot by Polish priests linked to the religious organization Opus Dei, authorities say. The priests were a threat to not only the man’s family, he insisted, but also to the entire United States. The best safeguard: regular credit card charges amounting to some $6 million over six years paid to the owner—who insisted he was working with the CIA—to ensure protection from the priests. (The owner has pleaded not guilty.) Source: nytimes.com

Next: DUMB CRIMINALS, PART 1

1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |6 |7 |8 |9

Your Comments

  • Raks

    (:
     

  • Orlinsky

    Locating a bike/walking path in massasauga rattlesnake habitat is not as dumb as you make it sound. The  Eastern massasauga rattlesnake is on the state endangered list According to the U.S.Fish & wildlife service, “The
    massasauga is a secretive, docile snake that strikes humans only when
    it feels threatened or cornered. A massasauga will rely on its camouflage
    coloration to hide or will try to escape rather than strike a person.
    Many people who visit parks with massasaugas never see these shy creatures
    and may have walked by one with out noticing it.” Refer tohttp://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/reptiles/conserve.html

  • Orlinsky

    Locating a bike/walking path in massasauga rattlesnake habitat is not as dumb as you make it sound. The  Eastern massasauga rattlesnake is on the state endangered list According to the U.S.Fish & wildlife service, “The
    massasauga is a secretive, docile snake that strikes humans only when
    it feels threatened or cornered. A massasauga will rely on its camouflage
    coloration to hide or will try to escape rather than strike a person.
    Many people who visit parks with massasaugas never see these shy creatures
    and may have walked by one with out noticing it.” Refer tohttp://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/reptiles/conserve.html

  • Alan

    no, fuzzy-wuzzy wasn’t marxist, but this gets my vote for the dumbest government stunt. only in texas, friends, only in texas.

  • Alan

    no, fuzzy-wuzzy wasn’t marxist, but this gets my vote for the dumbest government stunt. only in texas, friends, only in texas.

  • MyComment

    There may be reasons to forego building a $1.2 million dollar trail in tough economic times.The presence of a potentially dangerous snake is not one of them. If that were the case, we wouldn’t have very many hiking trails in the US. Most of the 48 contiguous states are home to at least one species of venomous snake. Many have several. Even places without the snakes may have other dangerous creatures present.
    Are we all supposed to just sit at home and watch TV all day long?Oh, and as rattlesnakes go, the massasauga isn’t among the more dangerous species. They are smaller than most, and have a lower venom yield. 

    You’d be in much more danger hiking trails where timber, prairie, diamondback or sidewinder rattlesnakes live. But people do it all the time.

    • Anonymous

      STOP BUILDING INFRASTRUCTURE

    • Anonymous

      STOP BUILDING INFRASTRUCTURE

  • Fred

    I loved the one about the theives who confused robbing a bank with ordering a pizza.  You don’t get faster service by calling in your order ahead.  That is really dumb. 

    • Ralphy77

       What is even dumber is that you can spell “thieves.”

  • Scott Long

    you can’t fix stupid

  • DJMarkski

    You forgot reading Reader’s Digest.