Sounds More Like A Polish Thing To Do

The town of Heinola in 1999 played host to the first Sauna World Championships. Last weekend, the town some 70 miles northeast of Helsinki held the event for a 12th time, which organizers now say will be the last time. Even in Finland, news of that closed sauna door has to be embraced with open arms.

The two-man final last Saturday ended horrifically, with both contestants hurriedly yanked out of the hot box, and one of them, Vladimir Ladyzhenskiy, left dead. A Russian amateur wrestler in his 60s, the seemingly fit Ladyzhenskiy expired after sitting in the sauna for six minutes, enduring a temperature stoked to more than 230 degrees Farenheit.

Yes, that temperature is correct. Ladyzhenskiy and his co-finalist, Finland’s Timo Kaukonen — both of them veteran extreme sauna competitors — competed in a hot box cranked up to about 10 percent above the point at which water boils. Not a dry heat, either. By tournament rules, a half-liter of water was splashed over the sauna’s heater every 30 seconds, which added moisture to the air, and possibly added to the lethal atmosphere (Boston.com).

I had never heard of this before, but it has to be one of the stupidest things I have ever heard in my entire life. You put two people in a small room and crank the heat above the point of boiling water. If that wasn't bad enough you add steam every 30 seconds, which makes it feel hotter, and makes the body cooling down process even harder. So basically this was the live cooking of 2 people in front of a crowd. You would think the world as a collective whole would be smarter then this, but I guess not.

I would never expect this from Finland either. This sounds like something from a 3rd world country, or Poland. How was there no doctor that came out during the 12 years that they were doing this and say "Hmmm, probably not a good idea". Maybe I should move to Finland, because it sounds like I could be the #1 doctor in no time.

And yes, that picture above is them.

Could Be Up For A Darwin Award

Most of you probably know, but there is award called the Darwin award, and basically it is given to someone for "doing a service to humanity by removing (die) themselves from the gene pool". Well I think I may have found one that might not win, but should at least be in the discussion...

"A 19-year-old township man who died after falling off a moving SUV had jumped onto its hood after realizing the driver had sold him candy instead of a prescription drug, according to authorities. Martin, who was in a yellow 2002 Ford Escape, tried to pass off two pieces of blue candy wrapped in plastic as the drug when they met up around 3:20 p.m. on 23rd Avenue, according to Michael Mohel, Ocean County Prosecutor's Office deputy chief.

After paying Martin, Bartolomei and the girl quickly discovered that the pills were candy, Mohel said. Bartolomei reached into the driver's side window in an attempt to grab his money back, and the girl jumped on the car as Martin drove west on 23rd Avenue, Mohel said. Martin continued up 23rd Avenue with both people hanging on the car, he said. When Martin disobeyed a stop sign at Herbertsville Road, Bartolomei was thrown from the hood and was struck by a car traveling south on Herbertsville Road, Mohel said.

Martin continued across Herbertsville Road on 23rd Avenue with the girl hanging on, before the Escape hit a mailbox and Martin ran from the vehicle, he said. The girl suffered only minor injuries, Mohel said (App.com)."