Slashdot Mirror
Woman Killed In Wii-Related Competition
snuffin writes to tell us that a local radio competition to "hold your wee for a Wii" has ended with a Sacramento woman dead from water poisoning. From the article: "An Associated Press interview with another contestant, named James Ybarra, claimed that contestants were initially given eight ounce bottles of water to drink every fifteen minutes, with larger bottles being used once contestants began to drop out. According to Ybarra, 'They told us if you don't feel like you can do this, don't put your health at risk.' He described the victim as 'a nice lady' and that 'she was telling me about her family and her three kids and how she was doing it for her kids.'"
What a stupid world.
Perhaps life really is full of possibilities.
A woman wasn't killed, she died as a result of self induced water intoxication. It's a difference that means a lot. The headline makes it sound like a sport killing of some kind. Would have been more appropriate to say "Woman dies In Wii-Related Competition".
I knew you could drown in the stuff, but dying from drinking too much of it? Wow. Didn't know that.
This is not some mysterious malady. The radio station is off the scale negligent for putting contestants in the position of potential serious harm:
I'd had this argument many times with a friend about my water intake. I've always known my intake was fine (hint: coffee counts...), but in the course of that discussion I found many articles on the problems one could encounter by drinking too much water.
I won't claim any person on the street should know the dangers of drinking too much water, but the people putting on this contest (sorry, stunt) could have recognized they were in deep waters with a modicum of research.
I'm not much for lawsuits, but I hope the radio station that put on this stunt makes significant remedy to the lady's family.
i read about this over 24 hours ago on mainstream news sites...
Interviewed the winner and asked him or her how they felt about owning the Death WII.
There is no God, and Dirac is his prophet.
They should've have the contestants hold their breath so it would be obvious when they turned blue that something was wrong. I don't think that would change the outcome of the contest.
I can't believe that nobody involved in this event had misgivings about this, especially since just a couple of years ago a kid at Chico State died of the same thing (which got all sorts of press around California at the time).
What a stupid thing to have happen. You've got to feel for her family, especially with all the reports saying she was doing it for her kids -- having your mom die trying to get you some stupid video game system would be a shitty thing to live with. I hope they sue this radio station and the individuals involved into the poorhouse...
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
Who the hell came up with that name? See kids, this is why crack is illegal.
... the government kills the competition.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
... I thought turkeys could fly.
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
Hilariously tragic?
In other news, a Kansas City man died after slipping in pools of urine surrounding PS3 boxes at a local Best Buy.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
The woman must have drank way more than "8oz of water every 15 minutes." 8oz x 4 = 32oz in 1 hour. The average person with 2 healthy kidneys "can excrete about 1.5 litres (0.39 gallons) of water per hour at maximum filtration (other studies find the limit to be as little as 0.9L/h (0.24 gal). Source= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication. Even at the low end of the spectrum, she would have been borderline "OK" unless she had a severe sodium deficiency.
That is the most deceptive headline you have successfully posted ever. This death could not have less to do with the Wii. It is ONLY about a radio station that tried an irresponsible stunt, and a lady who put her own health at risk to win a competition. The Wii is only related in name, but has ZERO relevance to her death. Stop trying to decieve people and learn to post honestly for once. Thanks!
Before calling the poor woman a lemming/ a candidate for Darwin's award blahblahblah, I got to ask why can't they (the organisers) supply isotonic sports drink in this sort of competition?
Water intoxication is more common than many of us would like to think. It is part of the reason why many marathons now supply sports drink in addition to water. Newbies in many cases either don't drink enough or cannot stop drinking until water drains them from the inside.
Ne quid nimis. Aristotle was right.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
She has kids. Thanks for playing.
Sorry in advance:
Her family is probably pretty "Pissed". This contest really went down the "Toilet". I can't believe how it's been "Sprayed" all over the news. Talk about a "Drinking Problem". As said to the second place contestant: "Urine" luck! I guess she didn't really get a fair "Shake".
Cool! Amazing Toys.
One of her kids could freeze himself and call his mom when he gets thawed out in the future using a device solely intended for prank calls.
fta: Jennifer Strange was found dead on Friday at her home after taking part in a contest named "Hold your wee for a Wii"
If you can't figure out why a mother of three is ineligible for the Darwin Awards, I think you may need to climb out of the gene pool yourself.
Jurisprudence Fetishist Gets Off On A Technicality --theonion.com
She already had kids.
Je ne parle pas francais.
There was a high profile case related to this some time ago in the UK, where a girl died after drinking too much water because she had taken ecstasy...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leah_Betts
Except she already had offspring, so her genes continue.
... this event (apparently not quite an isolated incident either) people would know better by now.
Creationist Textbook Stickers Declared Unconstitutional by CowboyNeal
This would have never happened with beer! You would be drunk off your ass long before you were poisoned.
They should have had them drinking Brawndo: The Thirst Mutilator. It's got what Moms crave. It's got electrolytes.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
A lot of deaths related to ecstasy (MDMA) is caused by the user feeling thirsty and drinking too much water.
Yeah, it's a good thing she didn't manage to leave behind three kids.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
..could have saved her life. Someone point the other contestants to this link before they start killing themselves too.
and then lots of bad things can happen, like you can die from the cardiac arrest. of course it flushes other minerals too but seems like sodium is the most important one.
(funny because I actually have to maintain low sodium because of the high blood pressure.)
Dihydrogen Monoxide is Dangerous! They've been telling us for years, but we just don't listen!
http://www.dhmo.org/
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
Well, it's not like we weren't warned about Dihydrogen Monoxide! Who knew, the stuff actually can kill you after all.
Oh no... it's the future.
Yes, but now that they're without a mother they may be more susceptible to other dangers in the world...
---GEC
I'm but the humble pupil, seeking to snatch the scratchbuilt pebble from the master's fully articulated hand
They were negligent because they were having a potentially deadly contest, and they should have had some absolute limits, beyond which a tie is issued. A "play to the death" contest is not acceptable.
"Hold your wee for a Wii"
A goal is a dream with a deadline
If only they had read DHMO Research Division's Facts About Dihydrogen Monoxide, they would have known the dangers posed by this unrestricted substance. Ban DHMO now!
Today, I hope the broken American patent system will grant Red Hat their software patent for DRM technology.
Today, I hope the broken American justice system will find a way to separate this radio station and its people from all their assets.
Tomorrow, everything will be back to normal.
(As a side note, I don't find it fitting to make fun of this unfortunate woman for not being familiar with the physiological consequences of extreme water intake. I believe most people are not.)The radio station's name is "KDND 107.9 The END"
mod me funny
Why is the radio station obliged to understand the danger, but the contestants are not?
Because the radio station is putting the contestants in the danger that they need to understand in the first place.
Right but on the other hand this woman did not get up one morning decide to drink
canada dry. Obviously to her the prize was worth tremendous effort, exertion and
possibly humiliation.
Should the DA decide to make a case out of it, he'll flesh it out along the lines of
who put how much pressure on that woman to keep going.
Deadly dihydrogen monoxide claims another victim!
Out of order? Fuck! Even in the future nothing works! - Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) "Spaceballs"
They live in the modern United States...not a prehistoric cave. Not only do the probably have a father, but they also probably have a life insurance payout.
Stupid people are actively protected from themselves in our society, and incidentally reproduce at will since society will prevent their cheeto-stained offspring from starving to death. As amusing as the darwin awards are, they're really the exception, not the rule.
If I did something stupid like this, I'd be up on charges of manslaughter. So would you.
It doesn't mean you wouldn't get off (You might...but you'd still get tried for it in most cases...)- but just because it's a radio station (or other business) doesn't let you off of culpability for this sort of thing.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Do you think people would do the same contest for a ps3? :)
Have you ever been to a turkish prison?
As evidenced by several other posters on this topic, it's not reasonable to think that you can die from too much water. Of course, now everyone knows. Not to excuse the station... they should have researched this a bit - now they'll get sued and probably lose.
So, I don't think this tragic death would even count as a Darwin contender, kids or not.
Not to mention, it's a pretty fucking insensitive attitude to take, considering the loss to her family. May you never be the recipient of such treatment.
A humongus lawsuit on its way says I.
Clearly this water stuff is a dangerous substance that needs to be controlled. I think it should only be available from behind the pharmacy counter, that way kids don't get ahold of it and drink themselves to death.
With such a gigantic user community, I am always amazed how long it takes Slashdot to pick up stories. When I first started reading, I was finding out about new and obscure stories and events left and right it seemed, but now I'm hearing stories like this on the local radio long before it his Slashdot. Is it because there literally are so many stories being submitted, or is the staff and community at Slashdot just that behind lately?
Why did you link to:
t p%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FWater_intoxica tion&ei=_NerRdn9GaGQpwLUmdSYCg&usg=__lETsdIPM-kWaX ED93lIk4_U3TgQ=&sig2=P9YfCqn62PuLROq9_IWEiQ
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=ht
instead of:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication
?
Ditto for your slowtwitch and ift.org links.
Tyco Brae died from holding his wee.
Even grandpa Simpson suffered from exploded kidneys for holding his wee.
All right, so she probably didn't die from holding her wee but the water. But it was still a dangerous competition.
...did she win?
"On a scale from 1 to 10, people are stupid"
From Wikipedia:
What is this 8th grade English class?
Sorry, may be wrong here, but I thought passive (voice) verbs occurred when the subject of the sentence was not the one committing the action. To say that, "She died." is to say that she was the one undertaking the dying action, which is an action, just not a something that people usually choose to do. I don't think there is a way to make "die" passive. You could say, "She was killed by the massive amount of water she drank," which would be passive, since she isn't doing the killing.
But, grammar aside.
... Did she win? Get close to winning? I think just the sheer tenacity of it all deserves something (in addition to a settlement).
Brings up another (funny?) result...
Dude clocks another dude in head with wiimote (yeah its staged)
Don't you know that only the person or organization with the most money is ever responsible?
A plaintiff will go after who ever has the deepest pockets, but that doesn't mean the plaintiff will recover from the defendant with the most money. In this case, however, it is likely that because the woman was invited to the contest, she was for legal purposes an invitee. There is a legal difference between the standard of care you have toward someone you randomly encounter on the street, for example, and someone you invite into your home, place of business, or perhaps a contest.
Just becuase there may be a higher standard of care in this case doesn't mean that the radio station will be found negligent. However, just because she signed waiver forms doesn't mean they will be automatically not be found negligent. Many people hold the mistaken belief that waivers of liability automatically protect the party drafting the waiver, but in actuality if the language of a waiver is nonobvious, or if it is weighted too far in favor of the rights of the drafting party, sections of the waiver can be ruled non-binding.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
it's run by lawyers.
If you don't know that, you've never tried to read the gobs of fine print attached to every single corporate contest.
This contest wasn't something cooked up by some guys in their clubhouse it was a corporate promotion and lawyers insist on vetting those because they offer all sorts of ways the company can get in trouble.
wtf???? Try to get a payout? Do you think this woman's kids are jumping up and down in anticipation of making some money over their mother's death? There may be frivolous lawsuits (not nearly as many as people think,) but this is a case that the legal system was made for.
Next you'll end up soliciting intelligence-related replies.
This reply was posted using Wii btw, so it is also Wii related.
Basically, the combination of you drinking too much water and not getting rid of it throws your electrolytes out of whack... you have too much water, so the concentration of electrolytes isn't high enough for your body to carry signals. It happens a lot with marathon runners. Especially runners that don't stop to pee. Many people have died from this even though they were getting enough because they refused to pee out the excess water.
I think my principles are reachin' an all time low
The United States of America, the home of the largest population of lawyers.
I'm not one to support frivolous lawsuits, but when I first heard about this contest a week or so back I wondered if they were aware that drinking too much water can be extremely dangerous. Apparently not, the "you can quit at any time if you feel bad" wasn't much of a disclaimer. From all the reports I've read, they didn't even consult with doctors.
I'm sad that my initial assumption that this would turn out bad came true. I'd rather be wrong on things like this.
I thought it was here...
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
Hey, I have an idea! Let's have a contest where people shoot apples off each other's heads William Tell style! I bet that'd get great ratings!
The cake is a pie
Sure, because hosting this sort of competition is illegal.
Not Meta-modding due to apathy.
Reminds me of my biochem prof, who once took part in a sauerkraut eating competition. The winner died due to the acetic acid overwhelming his blood pH buffer.
condolences to the family.
>Why is the radio station obliged to understand the danger,
>but the contestants are not?
Because the radio station is planning the freakin contest. They have staff devoted to planning the thing, and it's their responsibility to make sure that the event goes smoothly and safely.
Sheesh, you could sue the station if you slipped on the ice on their sidewalk. Why would this be any different?
32 ounces of water is 0.95 L. Going by the low end 0.9L, she is going to be unable to keep up. If she has been tricked into a low sodium diet by quack "nutritionists" who pretend that's healthy, then she'd be in real trouble right there, no "severe" defeciency needed. But on top of that, your kidneys slow down when your bladder is full, which makes it worse, and they increased the water intake as the contest went on.
She ended up drinking over a gallon of water in the contest. Everyone else who lasted any length in the contest was also very sick. On top of the fact that the idiots running this contest should have known better, a nurse called in to the station to warn them to stop or they could die, and the DJ dismissed her warning and said it was just a fun contest.
Water goes from your stomach to your intestines, and is absorbed into your bloodstream, and from there into other tissues. Only after it's in your system do the kidneys remove the excess and send it to your bladder. It's not as if there's a tube that leads straight from your stomach to your bladder.
We must act quickly to ensure the safety of freedom and the American people by eliminating the threat of WMD(Waters of Mass Destruction). Americans will not tolerate such a threat to safety or freedom.
I mean, when homeless people were in line because of the high demand and short supply of PS3s, Slashdot's ever-so-neutral editors decreed that it was partially Sony's fault, and only after the angry outcry by Slashdotters.
So now, the high demand and short supply indirectly led to this too. Is this partially Nintendo's fault? C'mon editors, I want to know...
You're an asshole and should die
this happened two days ago...yawn...next tragedy, please?
You had really never heard of water intoxication? It's not exactly an obscure piece of knowledge.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
0H WAIT, THEN THERE WOULD BE NO ONE LEFT T0 POST ON SHITD0T!!
You're plainly wrong, sir. I haven't owned a video game machine since the Atari 2600. I demand an apology; I'm an entirely different kind of fucktard.
Oh, Wait...
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
Yes, but who would expect that someone could die by participating in a radio show contest?
There's definitely a reasonable expectation of safety there. Games to the death are not exactly condoned in our society.
Unless you already KNEW there was danger in taking part, what would make you question whether it was safe to participate or not?
No Comment.
When I read the headline, I figured someone forgot to replace the faulty strap on the Wiimote. Nothing quite like a controller-induced concussion...
Sometimes I wonder if I think too much.
Don't you know that the OIL companies, the CHEMICAL companies, the NUCLEAR companies and the TOBACCO all use Dihydrogen Monoxide?
This stuff should be banned. I, for one am glad I signed that petition!
After all, it's probably the only reason that a good percentage of Slashdotters would even care about the poor lady's death. Not too many people are aware that you can die from excessive drinking of water. This would just be an "Oddly Enough" story "unworthy" of Slashdot's attention if there wasn't a geeky angle to it.
Sad, I know.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
HYDR-OWNED!!!!
sfsp
I'm an EMT, and it never fails during the summer months, that we will be asked to volunteer at an outdoor event, and we'll run into two or three of these in a weekend.
Yes, you're always told to drink lots of water. That's all fine and dandy, however, you need to replace your electrolytes that your body goes through.
Gatorade, powerade, propel, etc. are good choices.
I think I read that most of the stuff in answers.com was ripped from a earlier version of Wikipedia, so linking to both is redundant in many cases.
Uh, she is not ineligible.
I'm trying to understand your comment, and I see three possibilities. Either:
(a) You believe this woman intentionally got herself killed in order to collect easy money from the radio station.
(b) You don't believe that the radio station, which set the rules of this contest and provided enticement for people to participate, was at all negligent in not exploring the possible injuries that could result from it.
(c) Your comment had nothing to do with this case, you just have a problem with lawsuits in general.
Assuming (c), I feel like I should point out that, given the facts as we currently understand them, this would hardly be a frivolous lawsuit. The radio station was clearly negligent in not exploring the hazards of what they were encouraging people to do and, although you may not think it's fair, they have an obligation under the law to do so.
Furthermore, the example you cited with the GPS, aside from sounding like an obvious urban legend, doesn't actually map to this situation. Anyone with a driver's license should know that you look before you turn your car, but understanding the risks of this sort of contest would require some basic medical training. It is therefore reasonable to expect a driver to look before turning and not reasonable to expect the average person to understand the health risks of this sort of activity.
Which is, ultimately, why we as a society have lawsuits like this. The radio station was obligated to do their due-diligence before enticing people into this behavior. And that's why they're going to get clobbered by the lawsuit that will come from this.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
For the most part I agree with you.
People bringing cases against McDonald's because it made them fat or because they spilled their hot coffee on themselves are frivoulous at best. However this is a completely different case. There is gross negligence on behalf of the Radio Station, which at the least should have had a trained medical professional on hand. I think it is very unfortunate that nobody stepped up and made people aware of the dangers of this event.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the family.
i like the part "if you think that your health can't take this, then.."
it's not a matter of certain persons being more tolerable to a certain percentage of water diluting the blood.
anyone can die of this, regardless their state of health. just arranging a competition like this is completely idiotic, as idiotic as the woman is claimed to be for not knowing about it. hopefully the arrangers go to jail for being part in causing her death, and putting all the others at risk. idiots.
I remember a few years ago a story about parents being charged with their young daughter's death becuase she died from the "Water Diet" they had her on.
107.9 THE END. I guess it was, for at least one lady. KDND Website
Sigs are for squares. Like pants!
Why the heck didn't they use Gatorade instead of water?
Arguing about vi versus Emacs is like arguing whether it's better to make fire by rubbing sticks or banging rocks.
Those who know of frat initiations also know how dangerous this is.
During the early 90's many colleges and Frats were banning drinking, in order to continue with the traditions of the frats, they replaced beer with water.
Imagine a keggar with water, including all the stupid drinking games.
People didn't know how dangerous this was. The universities and Frats approved the activity as childish fun, until people started dying from the hyperhydration.
Beer funnels killed students with or without beer.
too much of anything is a bad thing.
Who won the contest?
Considering these kind of contests are almost always a paid advertisement for the product being given away, Nintendo could be liable as well.
Unless you are disputing the facts as we know them of this case, your post is nonsensical. Suing a party who put on a contest that put its contestants at serious risk of health without disclosing this serious risk makes the radio station liable for what they did. This lady would not be dead had the radio station not pulled this seriously stupid stunt. The radio station owes this person's family some serious money for the death their negligence caused. You might give some serious consideration to your spouting the corporate-line on "responsibility", a version of responsibility that never extends to those corporations but always the people the corporation's actions put at risk. It is sickening to say the least.
Who won the contest?
Well..... *the* contest isn't over, in fact it's just beginning. The radio station might have already given the video game away, but the real contest -- the one that will be played out in the courts -- is getting ready to begin. I predict a bunch of lawyers will soon own most what will be liquidated from the corporate assets of a certain soon-to-be-ex-radio station in the end.
This may make me the most horrible person in the world, but I couldn't stop laughing after reading this.
I'm actually surprised they didn't vomit as a reflex.
At one point I was doing some work for a friend who wasn't home (it was really hot out and his place was locked), and neglected to bring water. Needless to say, by the time I drove home I was about as thirsty as I'd ever been before. Water never tasted so good before or since, and I must have taken in most of a gallon jug in the space of a few minutes.
About 2 minutes later, it was all coming back out the way it came in.
~Ben
Don't her 3 kids disqualify her for a Darwin Award?
Strange as that may be...
---k--
</stupid>
This is Slashdot, after all.
I see your informative link, and raise you a pithy comment.
What about powerade, gatorade, etc.
Will they mess you up as badly as water?
I knew about water poisoning but I don't know if another balanced liquid of some kind would not be a problem.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
Frankly it's understandable ignorance, I know it's possible to experience water intoxication and yes to kill yourself by really screwing the electrolyte balance but I have no idea what volumes of water would be required. And yeah, putting some salt tablets into the water would probably have saved her life so isn't the liability on the party organising the competition?
Deleted
McDonalds knew their old cup design was defective. McDonalds had received hundreds of reports of people injuring themselves due to the defective cup design (they made the styrofoam too flexible - flimsy lesser material saved them money - and thus even in careful hands it would bend spilling hot coffee everywhere). McDonalds internal documents showed they did a cost-benefit analysis to fixing their faulty disposable coffee cup design. The internal documents showed McDonalds' knowledge and disregard for the harm caused by their faulty product. McDonalds made a business decision to not correct its faulty coffee cup design. The person who finally sued them for the injuries sustained due at least in part to the faulty coffee cup design (these are the facts as the jury observed them to be) only asked for less than $20,000 dollars in directly-related medical bills to be paid (for the 3rd degree burns and skin grafts necessary due to the faulty coffee cup design). McDonalds chose not to pay the small amount being asked and thus the attorneys she hired properly asked for a much greater amount to cover legal expenses, pain, suffering, medical bills, loss work, wages, et cetera and also to punish McDonalds for not correcting the faulty coffee cup design McDonalds knew about, could have corrected, and by doing so could have prevented the injuries these people suffered due to its faulty product.
Food suppliers should be sued if they put substances with no nutritional value in the food they supply and those substances contribute directly to the development of disease conditions.
One half to three quarters canteen par hour, not to exceed twelve canteens per day!
"Person does something, dies." darwinaward!!!
Slashdotters are fucking assholes.
(Slashtotter points out that other Slashdotters are fucking assholes, get's modded Troll)
Property is theft.
It amazes me that hyperhydroxia is not known.
Think about it. The bodies makeup is primarily water. Add more water and complications can arise that are potentially fatal.
The host of the competition IS at FAULT for her DEATH.
There is NO REASON this should have happened. A little research and time spent could have found that this competition COULD BE FATAL to participants.
Why would they NOT be held RESPONSIBLE for her DEATH when a bar owner is RESPONSIBLE for the SAFETY of its customers after a night of consuming alcohol?
..::ALWAYS : watching::..
"She died" is middle voice, as are many other intransitive verbs in English. The active and passive voices of this clause are "She killed" and "She was killed". The forms "killed" vs. "died" show suppletion per voice in the same way that "go" vs. "went" show suppletion per tense.
This was not some drunken frat boy drinking 5 gallons of water, by all accounts it was more like half a gallon. A freak accident. This is why the radio station has insurance.
I suspect the press and ambulance-chasing lawyer scumbags (both civil and DAs) are going to pile on this cluster-fuck like flies on a turd, when it turns out she was anorexic, or had some other health issues. I drink a half gallon some days after lunch myself, sitting on my ass at my desk, and a gallon or more when I'm active. When you have a colonscopy, you have to drink 1 gallon of laxative in an hour, although it's laced with electrolytes.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
Having kids does not disqualify you from a Darwin Award. Most of you never read Origin of Species and don't understand how evolution works. SHUT UP!
I believe it is time to expose this threat! Ban dihydrogen monoxide!
Click here or here.
What about beer? I'm sure it's full of those electrodide thingys. I've always argued that beer was good for your health
I've put together the following email addresses of KDND's sponsors, so if you think that the folks at KDND are a bunch of negligent twits who probably don't deserve their advertising dollars then why not email these companies and let them know?
Info@urban-body.com, hr@wyotech.com, smichaels@sierracollege.edu, foundation@sierracollege.edu, marc.goff@US.REDBULL.COM, cs_online@albertsons.com, lgradisher@jewels.com, mediarelations@officedepot.com, communityrelations@officedepot.com, corpcsf@wellsfargo.com, home.pa-newsroom.168d00@statefarm.com, admin@PowerTripBev.com, kburns@ckr.com, chopkins@ckr.com, customerservice@partsamerica.com, oshgift@osh.com, customerservice@tillys.com, info@heald.edu, info@louderlaw.com, dale@sleeptrain.com, webmaster@NissanUSA.com, joseph.l.goode@bankofamerica.com You can also contact KDND's general sales manager at fhormell@entercom.com
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I never heard of it until a year or so back. Came up in a story about a D.C. police officer on bike patrol who killed himself doing it. It's not super-obscure, but it's not something you're warned about either. You have to actually look to learn this sort of thing.
Once, I was posting a comment, wanted to support my article with background, saw that Wikipedia was giving server errors, and linked to a mirror instead. A reply accused me of shilling for the mirror.
First noted in marathon race deaths and summer football practices. These two sports now train coaches and players to prevent this.
Perhaps this is linked to what this woman typically drank. If she normally drank Coke, coffee etc, then I guess drinking a large amount of striaght water could come as a shock to the system.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
"People bringing cases against McDonald's because ... they spilled their hot coffee on themselves are frivoulous at best."
s _Restaurants.
Except that McDonald's had already settled many such lawsuits in the past, and their analysis suggested the low frequency of scalded customers (and requisite payouts) didn't merit a change in business practice -- even though they were aware it would lead to additional burns. Given that McDonald's had decided this was a cost of doing business, perhaps the lawuit wasn't entirely frivoulous.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald'
This woman never learned what most children learn. You can die from holding it in to long.
\
Despite all the noise made by her parents about the evils of drugs, what really killed Leah Betts was the misinformation she'd been given that if she took ecstasy she needed to drink a lot of water. She drank about a gallon and a half, and died.
This title is completely ridiculous. It's sensationalist and makes it look like someone died using the Wii. The womans death has nothing to do with a Wii, it could have been a competition for anything.
What would you say? If they'd said "Woman dies in water-drinking competition", that's sensationalist, too.
She could have been of either sex, and the drinking competition could have been using any liquid. Or overdosing on anything. And the competition isn't relevant either: she'd be just as dead if she did it in the privacy of her own home.
So "woman", "water", "drinking", and "competition" are irrelevant.
When it comes right down to it, only "Person Dies" is unbiased. If all the headlines here were like that ("Company releases product", "Person makes statement"), nobody would read slashdot.
Water never hurt anyone before they started putting flouride in it! This is just more proof that the Communists are still alive and well and are still plotting our destruction! We must protect our purity of essence!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
A quart an hour doesn't seem like execessive water consumption to me. I wouldn't have been concerned about water intoxication at that rate of consumption.
A physician in Iowa. (And proud to be in the state that's got Microsoft in court!)
...water bottles in the US of A don't carry some sort of fancy warning label like "Drinking to much water can kill you".
Windows 2000 - from the guys who brought us edlin
We just need to execute it enough times until the defect "crashes" itself out.
...according to this article. Indeed, a nurse called during the contest to warn that what they were doing was dangerous and was dismissed by the DJs.
Water *can't* stay in your stomach waiting for your bladder to be emptied. There is no such mechanism.
There *is* no direct path between your stomach and your bladder.
You *can't* pass pure water. Not through your bladder anyways, through your colon perhaps when it is malfunctioning...
You need sodium to *pump* water out of your system, into your bladder. Ergo, you drink too much water, your sodium stores get depleted as your kidneys try to get rid of all that water, and whole lot of bad things happen as your sodium concentration goes down (due to more water and flushing out sodium) (e.g. your entire nervous system depends on sodium to generate electrical responses, muscles need sodium too, indeed ALL cells need sodium, remember we evolved from the oceans filled with salt water)...
And the terrorists, they use it too. As part of increased security after 9/11 they've banned people from bringing the stuff onto planes.
---GEC
I'm but the humble pupil, seeking to snatch the scratchbuilt pebble from the master's fully articulated hand
BAWLS, if it like most other energy drinks (redbull, etc), contains large amounts of sodium.
The sodium is what keeps you from dying.
That's why sports drinks (filled with sodium and sugar) exist.
I don't even want to think about what kind of health problems you'd get if you tried to live on Redbull but you wouldn't die of sodium deficiency and sports drinks like Gatorade you can live indefinitely on without any food so they are better than water. Of course this also means if you don't exercise at all and eat a lot it'll make ya fat...
Initial reports from the White House suggest this was not terrorist related.
See title.
(no I won't submit - do something stupid for a fucking toy - duh!)
It's not Nintendo's fault for naming their system after a phallus-related substance (and making a similar-shaped controller, to boot) - it's the radio station's for not consulting numerous doctors if there were any health risks to drinking gallons of water.
will be warning placards on water supplies and bottles.
This ranks up there with the stupid woman who sued and won beacuse her microwave didn't have a sticker saying not to put pets in it. She tried to dry her poodle in the microwave and it exploded.
Found in the local newspaper of the dead contestant:
"Two years ago a 21-year-old fraternity pledge at California State University, Chico, died after a night of hazing during which he drank excessive amounts of water. Four members of the fraternity later pleaded guilty to charges including involuntary manslaughter."
Oh - they are going to fry! Hey - make a contest of it. Winner gets to pull the lever!
BZZZZZT!
Yuk yuk - morning jocks die! Die die die! I want to see your eyeballs explode and finger your entrails!
...is that a large number of people will now know they can die from drinking too much water. If only she'd had a bag of Lay's or Frito's handy and the knowledge that eating them could have saved her life. There's a real irony...a situation where eating chips is good for you.
Water, known as "W" on the street is a highly dangerous and addictive substance. When deprived of W for a substantial period of time (dependent upon food and sodium intake), the user experiences extreme cravings. Users have been known to travel long distances to acquire W. If deprived of W for too long, the user will die from lack of W. Users falling into pools of W have been known to drown. In many parts of the world, W is of questionable quality and users have died after drinking it (although not from the W itself, but from the bacterium/viruses which found a home in the sample of W). Users can overdose on W as it is known to flush helpful and critical electrolytes out of the user's system - symptoms are delirium, lack of coordination, slurring of the speech, unconsciousness, and death. Depending upon the temperature of the W, it can cause severe frostbite, hyperthermia, or death if too cold, or severe burns, hypothermia, or death if too hot.
Scalding of W users is a common occurence when hot W is spilled onto the user during a moment of inattentiveness. Small children should be carefully supervised around W to prevent freezing, scalding, or drowning.
Regulation of W is of critical importance and part of the President's War on *Some* Drugs. More information will be forthcoming in the near future. See your local chapter of WARE (Water Abuse Resistance Education) for advice on preventing addiction...
The people risked their own lives. Nobody risked it for them. So no, it's no more immoral than holding a marathon. You do know that people die in marathons, right?
I remember some years ago boys at my neighbourhood played footbal, and one of them became so thirsty afterwards, that he drank the full 1.5 litre bottle of water. Other guys considered this cool so they offered him to buy him a full pack of cigarettes if he manages to drink another 1 litre of water on the spot. He did, but soon afterwards he had got terrible stomachache and vomited quite nasty...it was not fun at all. He stayed alive, but from that encounter I remember drinking too much water is not a good idea.
Anything can kill you if you over-do it, and water is no exception. The poor victim probably didn't know about electrolytes and why athletes drink isotonic drinks. I want to believe that the radio station competition's organisers were also unaware of water intoxication. However, this doesn't change the sad fact that ignorance about scientific facts led to the death of a mother.
That's why America (and the world as well) must invest in higher-quality science education.
IMHO, the Wii strap class action is a frivolous lawsuit, brought about by people wishing to shift blame for their own carelessness.
In this case however, a woman, a mother of three, died most probably as a result of actions SHE WAS ENCOURAGED TO TAKE, by a commercial entity intent on self promotion. They had an obligation to ensure the instructions they gave to their contestants were not going to result in the harm of said contestants.
There also are claims that a health professional contacted the station during the contest, advising of the dangers of excessive water consumption. This advice was ignored and possibly derided by the company's representatives.
If there is a civil claim made, I doubt any court would consider this a frivolous lawsuit. Indeed I would not be surprised if there is a criminal investigation.
Has anyone here thought about what the children are going through right now (and in the future)? This is not the right type of article to post on Slashdot... no one cares about people here.
I mean, I knew "Wii" was a stupid name... but I didn't know it was deathly stupid. Until now.
The radio station is a murderer. I'm damn tired that when a corporation kills people it gets a slap on the wrist. I want everyone in it tried for murder and their assets taken to pay for this mess.
I want the corporation tried for murder, thier rights as a corporation recinded and the assets to be sold to pay for this mess. Then put a moratorium on that frequency allocation to be held without corprate use for 10 years, it may be used for any other purpose except for it's use by any corporation whether thay are for-profit or not for profit.
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
If you are like me, you looked up "water intoxication" under WikiPedia to see how it happens and just learn more about it. While reading it, I then went back to the original article. What I found most interesting was the similarities between the article's description of "water intoxication" and Wikipedias. Here, take a look:
Article WikipediaMaybe I've been out of college for some time and the rules may have changed however this appears to be nearly 75% of the content of a reference that isn't cited. How often does this happen? What are the rules when you write an article and you use a source like Wikipedia? I mean, Wikipedia cited their source. Are news reporters exempt from this same citing procedure?
I wonder how many times she said that before she actually did... Or perhaps that should be "Oh god, I'm dying for a wii!"
Sometimes I do set a large glass aside so as to let some of the chlorine evaporate. Not always, and especially not in the last month. Result: gut problems. I knew about the issue, but after several years I became...ok, well, stupid. And here I was starting to adjust my diet in reflex!
So, thank you very much for the reminder and the boiling tip! My so and friends also thank you, for the soon to be diminished amount of foul odor in my general vicinity.
damaged by dogma
"This is why they reccommend when you have a fever you drink Gatorade or some other sport drink."
;-)
Gatorade for a fever? That's a new one for me. I always thought it was chicken soup.
Maybe the "they" in the GP is PepsiCo?
If you can't figure out why a mother of three is ineligible for the Darwin Awards, I think you may need to climb out of the gene pool yourself.
;-)
Since you failed to narrow the "mother" category to "post-menopausal mother" I think you may have some climbing to do as well.
I don't remember ever seeing an "Overrated" mod when I'm meta-moding.
Don't these get meta-moderated?
factor 966971: 966971
The radio producers, knowing their legal liability regarding contest participants, who didn't even think to ask a doctor "might this kill somebody?" Or the woman, knowing the the radio producers' legal liability, who didn't imagine that they would be so stupid as to hold the contest without knowing that it was safe?
"You find this so funny you pissed yourself?"
Actually it was just another play on the 'wii' bit... seriously, you can't actually pass out from too much irony ya know.
"Then you moan and cry about the moderation you got from your sorry ass comment?"
Troll, flamebait, overrated, I would have been fine with. But off topic? It's just not true.
"I hope when a moment of extreme sorrow comes into your life"
Been there, done that. Everyone deals with things in different ways dude, and death, being one of the hardest things to deal with, introduces even wider ways of being dealt with than most other things we experience. You can't spend your whole life crying, you get nowhere, and may as well not be alive yourself. So you laugh, about some funny word or whatever, it doesn't matter, and hope it does make you insensitive, at least a little more than you'd usually be, because you can't cope if you soak up every little bad thing that happens.
It doesn't make you an arsehole, it just means you're trying to survive the best you can in a world where shit happens.
You'll understand as you get older. Or you'll get crushed by the weight of the world.
The revolution will not be televised... but it will have a page on Wikipedia
Will give the Wii a bad name.
"If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate." - Zapp Brannigan
They went to the trouble of putting out waivers. If they didn't know there were going to be medical consequences, why would they have drawn these up and required they be signed? The fact that they went to the trouble suggests a willful disreguard for human life, likely grounds for a more serious charge.
;)
IANAL, but I have played Phoenix Wright
I Browse at +4 Flamebait
Open Source Sysadmin
It's criminal I know that much, I don't give a feck about laws and what not, but there actions, the lack of any forethought to bring in a doctor or EMTs to the event... Yes it was a stupid thing, so I'm thinking the person responsible can see a couple of months jail time and the radio station be fined to fuck, or even charged as an entity and have it's cooperate charter revoked or suspended for a similar term.
*phews* Sorry, anger got to me there, but people need to learn the lesson of responsibility sometime, all too often sponsors, investors and companies in general just don't get it.
I love to watch skaters bite it hard on a rail. The more they mash thier little berries the less chance they will reproduce. This one time I saw this idiot actually pop his gourd, obviously he very nearly died. Coming out of the hospital they ask him if he'll wear a helmet from now on and he tells them hell no. That's just not the way he rolls.
A close second to stupid skaters doing insanely stupid things is redneck cowbobs riding bulls. I friggin' love to see cowbobs get trampled. I come out of my seat hootin' and hollerin' every time. That 8 seconds dude that died doing it, he knew what time it was. Climbing on the back of a bull you just kicked in the nuts or jumping down a flight of concrete stairs sliding down the steel rail balanced on a little board, those are things you know are going to end badly so they feel great if somehow they cheat death or dismemberment.
Getting to the point, I feel ya brother. When stupid peopld do stupid things I feel like they get what's coming. I even greatly enjoy watching them get it.
Yet, drinking water is something everyone does everyday. This very young woman that died was a mother of 3, what must mathmatically be, very small children. She entered the contest to win the Wii for them. She was drinking water, the stuff everyone is always saying you should drink a lot of everyday. This is plain and simple a horrific tradgedy.
When some piece of shit like you starts spouting about how she got what she deserved, well, I can only hope you share your opinion to as many people as possible in person. You'll get what you deserve too.
That "8 glasses a day" figure was made up entirely out of thin air. I imagine it dates back to the various health food crazes of the early 20th century -- when breakfast cereals started out as health fads and so on. It came out as part of some half-baked "eat to be well" plan or other, about on the level of every other faddish diet idea you see on 30-minute TV ads, and it just stuck in the popular consciousness.
Nutritionists have no particular reasons for saying that's the recommended amount, at any rate. It's a ton of water, that's for sure.
This reminds me of Fear Factor, the TV show that does so many inhumane things to their contestants (like put them among poisonous snakes, thousands of bees, tarantulas, make them eat infectious things that aren't food, and so on). I can't believe so many people in the world go through so much pain for the money. Either (1) you are rich and don't need the money and shouldn't be doing that to your body OR (2) you are poor, in which case it's such a horrible thing that TV shows put such people through so much torture with a money reward. It's like saying if you have a 1 in 10 chance of getting shot, and a 9 in 10 chance of winning a million dollars, would you do it? I'm sure some of the sadly half-dead people in Darfur would happily take on that challenge. But at the same time it's inhumane to not just give them $100k each instead of putting them through torture. Bottom line, I think the radio station is at fault for even having such a competition. Among all the other crappy things this country regulates, why can't it regulate TV and radio shows first, at least to the point where contestants should NEVER be even asked to do anything harmful to their bodies?
If you ever have children I think you'll understand that there is no humor in the thought of children losing their parents.
I apologize to you. I definitely posted out of anger and it was not constructive. The thought of that family suffering such a terrible blow was eating at me and when I saw your comment I came unglued. I know how easy it is to casually say something without really considering the implications of your words. I just did that myself and I normally try very hard to keep that from happening.
I should have used positive and constructive words to share with you my viewpoint so that you might better understand the full repercussion of your words. A rush to anger is the worst thing to do and all too common in the world today. It certainly does not foster enlightenment, quite contrarily it breeds defensiveness and retaliation.
It probably wouldn't mess you up that badly, but this competition required you not use the bathroom. So, you wouldn't die from too much water, but you'd damage your kidneys and urinary system pretty badly.
I think it is very unfortunate that nobody stepped up and made people aware of the dangers of this event.
That's the thing, someone DID step up. A nurse called in and explained to them that it was dangerous, and the DJs basically just told her she was crazy and hung up on her.
This incident generated a LOT of talk on many of the various athletic forums and newsgroups. Especially those activities like bicycling, where you have the potential capacity to carry a lot more than two liters of water.
Most people who responded knew lots of facts of their performance and they knew lots of OTHER risks, but not very many seemed to be aware that drinking two liters of water [literally] at a sitting could kill a person.
This is particularly sobering when you realize that the largest Camelback pack has a 100-oz bladder (3 liters), and especially sobering to me because when I go out on long rides, I will drink TWO of those bladders....
~
She died from drinking pure water too fast screwing up her electrolytes. The holding it had nothing to do with it. Peeing as often as she wanted wouldn't have helped.
It's not impossible to burst a bladder, but to my understanding usually it involves a sharp jab to the bladder while it's full.
It's also not healthy to hold concentrated urine for long periods, esp for women, but that's not usually a problem that's related to drinking lots of water.
Looking for freelance Actionscript (Flash/Flex) or ColdFusion work and/or freelance developers. Email me, put Slashdot
At least she didn't finish dead last...
This might be a little inappropriate, but does anyone have a clip of this contest? (Obviously this isn't a clip of her dying, which would be VERY inappropriate. But I'm trying to figure out if this contest was at least funny.)
Did anyone else find it just slightly humorous that the last name of the woman who died this rather odd death was "Strange"?
Is the new kid on the block and usually get all the articles even before subscribers; in fact there are probably /. subscribers who submit articles to Digg. Notice I have run into a few articles I read on Digg a day before /. got them and they were Slashdotted/digged.
We used to say it was "slashdotted"; but now we say it has been "Digged"
Nintendo fans are going to have to kill, maim, or otherwise brutalize a few more people if they want to reach PS3 status. Amatuers.
I would bet the unfortunately lady had other medical problems that were either not diagnosed or ignored. Most likely she had kidney and cardiac problems. Unless you have kidney problems you would have to drink more than a half gallon of water per hour to develop hyponatremia, and even then people usually develop seizures quite a bit before cardiac arrest. While she may have not known about or ignored these problems, the radio station is gonna have a huge liability if they didn't ask her about them before the contest.
Ever soaked for too long and your fingers have gotten pruney? Now imagine that happening to all your cells. If your blood gets too high a concentration of water the extra gets drawn into your cells. Your brain does not like to swell. This is a concentration effect so your body can handle it pretty easily if it's spread out over time, especially if you're eating stuff as well or drinking things that are more than just pure water.
cos, you know - he reeeeeeeaaaallly had to go...
i guess not everyone knoes you can acully die of drinking to mutch water. you rety mutch drown yourself from the inside. yes the body will pass unneeded water when overhydrated but it will also pass the salts you need couse when you consume that mutch water the boydy is trying to pass it to quickly and cant make up for the loss of salts fast enough. i think the max is 1 liter you body can hold befor your crossing into the danger zone and it was dubble that. aculy dying of it is acully pretty rare you normaly will just get sick and your body will bascilty reject the water aka puking. but the lady probly felt sick and took meds to prevent that. if it was 2 liters of gaterade or something simler this probly would not of happond being sports drinks acully restore the salt levels why do you think in there ads they say its better then water couse it relly is if your consuming mass amounts like people who play sports.
In 1993, the Birmingham, UK, radio station BRMB was fined £ 15000 and had to pay "substantial" damages in a similar competition where the last person left sitting on a block of dry ice was the winner. Contestants suffered severe frostbite and required extensive skin grafts.
The initial reaction is that it does not qualify for a Darwin Award. While it is commonly a "fun fact", the average Joe does not know that one can fatally overdose on water. However, because a nurse called an specifically warned the contestants about the dangers of consuming large amounts of water, it may qualify.
If you read the article you will notice that the woman in question already had three children. Therefore her genes are already "in the pool" and thus she is not qualified for a Darwin award.
Antti S. Brax - Old school - http://www.iki.fi/asb/
...then the owners would have had the contestants sign liability releases.
It's a girl!
The show that put on the "contest" has kicked off the air for now pending an investigation. A statement by the radio station is here. A news story from the local paper is here. (A reg is needed, it can be found in the normal place).
While this is a good first gesture, it's not enough, for obvious reasons.
Support the Chagossians
What is this a SLOW NEWS DAY
http://davesboat.blogspot.com/
Everyone who's taken gym/pe/health, in grade school in America,
should be very well aware of the fact that if you're going
to drink a lot of water, you need to ingest salt as well.
It seems to me like the DJs aren't the only ones on the hook for a lawsuit
"She wasn't a doctor, she didn't know the huge health risk involved with consuming mass quantities of water in a short period of time."
Christ, how stupid must she have been?
Everyone over here knows the dangers of too much water. Even kids do. And yet some woman with THREE kids is too dumb to have learned such a basic fact?
I despair for the US, I really do.
Many radio station contests are for prizes that are given to the radio station by the promoter/corporation/etc. It's entirely possible that Nintendo donated the Wii for the contest.
Now if we assume that Nintendo gave the Wii to the station for the contest, maybe Nintendo knew what the contest would be and maybe they didn't.
But if they gave the Wii to the radio station, and they knew what the contest would be, then they could have some legal exposure here.
I have no idea of they donated the Wii or not, but I'm just presenting this as a scenario for how Nintendo could get dragged into this.
What a stupid idea for a contest.
They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
I despair for the US, I really do.
Allright c'mon. Don't despair for the US. There's stupid people everywhere. People in Spain let themselves be involved in a stampede of bulls. Surely, that's way dumber than a little water.
You'll have that sometimes...
IANAL, but IAAL(andlord) so I know a thing or two about civil law. The standard I've always had to deal with is "known or should have known", as applied to dangerous conditions on my properties. If there is a huge crack in one of my sidewalks, which is a tripping hazard, it's possible that I wouldn't know about it (I'm not at my properties every day or even every week), but I definitely should know about it since it's plain to see.
Reports are coming in that medical professionals were calling the station in the middle of the contest, warning that drinking too much water will lead to serious illness and death. It's going to be hard for them to claim that they did not know, when there were medical professionals warning them, on-air, for the entire listening public to hear.
They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
Best. WKRP. Reference. Ever.
DG
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
Wikipedia - under water intoxication On January 12, 2007, Jennifer Strange, a 28-year-old woman from Sacramento, California, was found dead in her home by her mother hours after trying to win a Wii game console in KDND 107.9 "The End" radio station's "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest, which involved drinking large quantities of water without urinating. Every 15 minutes contestants were given a bottle of water to drink. It is reported that original amounts were very small (250 mL, 8 fl. oz.) and the bottle size increased as contestants progressed. It should be noted though that this information is a preliminary finding, not an official determination. [7][8][9][10] another part of the article: Note that a person's innate sense of thirst is more sensitive to overall dehydration than to changes in electrolytes. Thus, it is possible to develop water intoxication while trying to satisfy thirst, if one drinks a great deal of water over a short period. A dangerous drop in electrolytes, such as the hyponatremia that leads to water intoxication, will not have any effect on thirst if one is sufficiently dehydrated. Initial symptoms typically include light-headedness, sometimes accompanied by nausea, vomiting, headache and/or malaise. - so she had to have had some idea that something was wrong pre-collapse
Guess that makes me at fault too, eh?
Although I didn't know the name of the radio station, I simply heard that some station out in california was oging to run this contest. Considering I live 2000 miles east of their, I'm not a listener.
If only Nintendo had kept the name Revolution for their new console. I wouldn't want to join a competition to see how long I could hold my urine, but I would totally enter to see how long I can stay in a centrifuge without passing out.
oh great! Now people are using a public created site as official sources. Can't wiki be updated by anyone? I could write a fake article, and get it posted there. Wiki should be taken with a grain of salt. Other major publications, the ones that make money at least, at least have earnings to worry about to provoke somewhat of a fact check. When I see an article quote wiki, I just move on. I like wiki and everything, but it is for 'amusement only'.
'She died' is merely the active voice of the intransitive verb 'to die'. 'To kill' is a different verb entirely, not a different form of the same verb. To claim otherwise is to claim that everything that dies is killed.
The example given in the wikipedia article is that a 'casserole cooked [...]'. The reason this phrase is semantically passive is that the casserole was in fact being cooked (by someone, or by heat if you will). The form, however, is active as the verb is put in a simple past. Since there's a mismatch between the active form and its passive meaning, this type of subject/verb relation is called 'the middle voice'.
If you're still not convinced, look at the difference with e.g. the phrase 'he ate'. Here it's clear that something else is being eaten by him, thus it's an active form. 'He was eaten', would be the passive voice, indicating that the subject ('he') was the one eaten. The middle voice would be if the form 'he ate' in fact meant 'he' was being eaten.
In the same way that 'to go' has no past tense, and 'to wend' is used instead? What about the forms of 'to be' that come from different Proto-Indo-European state of being verbs whose reflexes in English might be 'to be', *'to is', and *'to wes'?
To claim otherwise is to claim that everything that dies is killed.'To die' is defined as to experience death, and 'to kill' is defined as to cause death. Everything that happens has a cause. Therefore, everything that dies is killed by something. When a fellow dies of a heart attack, the heart attack kills him.
I buy the rest of your argument however; "middle voice" was not the best word to use.
The water could have been limited to a safe amount, and the contest would see how long contestants would last before they go to the bathroom.
Guys in my office were laughing at the Darwin Awards. I joined in the conversation. I told them about the 18 year old 8 month pregnant girl who thought she could fix her washing machine, and electrocuted herself. Or the guy that died in the LA quake because he had a microwave on shelving, or the cop that drove off the collapsed freeway after the same quake. Oh how I laughed. They didn't.
Darwin Awards are pretty sick. Death isn't funny. Neither is laughing at other peoples.
I have been pondering this story since I first saw it, and have seen all of the comments about how the radio station should be crucified for not doing their homework. The rate of water consumption was not all that fast, 1 quart an hour, initially. The story doesn't tell us how much she drank. But, if she tried to cheat by taking something like DDAVP, so that she wouldn't make any urine, she could have been in trouble within the first hour or so. Does she have a child with enuresis?
A physician in Iowa.
You are correct, the bezoar (hairball) story is not worthy of a Darwin Award; that story was written a long time ago, and the rules and my understanding evolved over time.
This deceased woman? NO Darwin. I did not know it was so easy to kill yourself drinking water, particularly as the participants couldn't pee. How much can one drink in that situation? Yeah, yeah, a lot of you in this thread apparently knew, but most people don't, and people who do know are met with disbelief when they say so.
The sad family left behind is not generally a factor in the selection of a Darwin Award, as many families still see the humor, despite their loss; it can become a beloved story of dear departed Donna. "Gosh, Mom really loved us!" "Don't drip tears onto Mom at the funeral, she might explode!" or whatever. Humor helps people cope with loss.
But this one: NO Darwin. She was just ardent and unfortunate. And forget the nurse who called the station. A warning from a random talk-show caller with dubious credentials, is not a warning from trusted-Aunt-Renee-the-nurse.
Best wishes,
Wendy Northcutt
www.DarwinAwards.com
unless you can say something damning of GWB, self righteous (see damn GWB), or pull off a half assed rhyme in the first 30 minutes, your comments will largely go unread. the new moderation system sux too because the points are lost if unused in a short time. /. really needs aother coupld of stamps for articles...and a lesson as to the difference between insightful and interesting...
a self righteous tag would serve better than troll or one of the 'I' labels for a good half of the posts.
Articles that generate sustained interest would benefit from a chart in the margins of the 'older' articles list.
Had I any mod points you'd get a 'hmmm curiouser'. Another tag that might work...