Boy Killed on Kansas Water Slide

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:In addition to a civil lawsuit, criminal actions should be explored. How this horrific looking contraption could have been open for public use is beyond me.

The guy who designed it is a high school dropout. He dropped out of school at age 24 and he's the 'inventor', the 'creative mind'.
Great idea.
http://grantland.com/features/the-wet-stuff-verruckt-waterslide-schlitterbahn/

So what. He is an engineer. Other pretty impressive people never finished high school or college. What a dumb thing to point out.

who?

For starters....

Richard Branson

Louis Armstrong

Tom Anderson - myspace co founder

Mario Andretti

Julie Andrews

Irving Berlin

John D. Rockefeller

Henry Ford

Francois Pinault

Roseanne Barr

Drew Barrymore

There are thousands - want me to keep going?

None of them are engineers.

Yeah. I mean, I love Julie Andrews as much as anyone, but I wouldn't ride a water slide she designed either.

Where did you say to specify "engineers" - and there are PLENTY who did not finish college. You can be an engineer without being a PE and having a license - someone else signs off on your work.

You can't be an engineer without a college degree though.

What would you call Steve Jobs? Was he a computer engineer? He had no college degree....

I would call him someone who is not responsible for someone else's safety.

I would call him having a job that doesn't require making specific calculations using many equations with experience using approximations and coefficients and factors of safety.
I would call him someone who isn't thinking that netting with structural supports is a good thing for a humans head (versus, say, a sandbag) to be hitting.
I would call him someone who isn't thinking that Velcro straps on a ride with high g forces is a good idea (what do you have in your car? Is it Velcro?).

Visionary and creator of handheld devices is different than safety engineer.

He had Wozniak doing the engineering work!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In addition to a civil lawsuit, criminal actions should be explored. How this horrific looking contraption could have been open for public use is beyond me.

The guy who designed it is a high school dropout. He dropped out of school at age 24 and he's the 'inventor', the 'creative mind'.
Great idea.
http://grantland.com/features/the-wet-stuff-verruckt-waterslide-schlitterbahn/

So what. He is an engineer. Other pretty impressive people never finished high school or college. What a dumb thing to point out.

who?

You need a very specific education to be responsible for other people's safety.
It's very different than thinking, making a computer system or selling something - do what you want. Drop out of school - it's your life.

Designing something that children will ride? Either you have the correct education or you hire a team that does to go over the design.
And you follow their directions.

Why not have him design airplanes ? Because that industry is regulated.
Plenty of people design their own airplanes and fly them - and they often crash. That's fine, do what you want.
But once you are talking about other people riding in the plane you design you need the appropriate education and certifications to design the airplane.

The National Science Foundation reported this week that approximately 22 percent of the workers in science and engineering fields do not have a bachelor's degree. The report shows that out of 4,682,400 science and engineering employees in the U.S., 225,200 list their highest education as high school, and 811,000 list their highest education as an Associate's degree.
The remainder of the workers reported having a bachelor's (48%), master's (22%), doctorate (7%), or a professional degree (under 2% – including medical, legal and theology degrees).

When the twenty-two percent without bachelor's degrees is broken down further, the data shows that 40% are employed in computer and math science occupations, 20% in engineering occupations, 10% each in life and social sciences, and 7% in physical sciences. The number is proportionally equal between men and women. However, workers of Asian descent only make up 6% of the total, while blacks make up 34% and Hispanics make up 37%.

The study results are available on the NSF's website, and you can also get more information at CNet.

Kind of like how you don't need to be a CPA to prepare taxes. The lowly staff person prepares the return using tax docs and tax software then the office CPA signs the return. Same with most fields. The staff do the work and the licensed professionals sign off.

It is NO different in engineering. Yes, a PE needs to SIGN OFF and APPROVE the designs, but those designs are being put together by unlicensed staff that may or may not hold an engineering education.

Not typically for things that really matter though

And if it is stuff that really matters and it fails whoever signed off is in a lot of trouble

[Anonymous]

This ride better not open back up. Who would let their kid go on it now?! What adult would?!!! Clearly the "safety net" isn't safe...it DECAPITATED a child ! Why would you go on something that needs a safety net around it like that...and then it kills you anyways

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I know this is really gruesome but .......but the picture with the supposed 2 tarps is unclear and really they just look waded up /discarded so I think they show nothing really ....did his head actually come off or was it just an internal injury.

His head came off.

This has NOT actually been confirmed. All of the reports are just saying that witnesses are saying this. Some of the more reliable sources say it was an internal decapitation. Although the fact that they haven't denied it makes me think he was decapitated. I would think they would shut that rumor down pretty quickly if it was not true.

Every news source out there has confirmed this. What are you reading?

It has been confirmed he was decapitated. Whether that was internal or external has NOT been confirmed.

Why would they confirm this? Why is this info needed to the told to the public.

Where did I say they should? I didn't. I don't care if they do. Just that if they don't, we can assume it was either internal or external but don't actually know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In addition to a civil lawsuit, criminal actions should be explored. How this horrific looking contraption could have been open for public use is beyond me.

The guy who designed it is a high school dropout. He dropped out of school at age 24 and he's the 'inventor', the 'creative mind'.
Great idea.
http://grantland.com/features/the-wet-stuff-verruckt-waterslide-schlitterbahn/

So what. He is an engineer. Other pretty impressive people never finished high school or college. What a dumb thing to point out.

who?

For starters....

Richard Branson

Louis Armstrong

Tom Anderson - myspace co founder

Mario Andretti

Julie Andrews

Irving Berlin

John D. Rockefeller

Henry Ford

Francois Pinault

Roseanne Barr

Drew Barrymore

There are thousands - want me to keep going?

None of them are engineers.

Yeah. I mean, I love Julie Andrews as much as anyone, but I wouldn't ride a water slide she designed either.

Where did you say to specify "engineers" - and there are PLENTY who did not finish college. You can be an engineer without being a PE and having a license - someone else signs off on your work.

You can't be an engineer without a college degree though.

What would you call Steve Jobs? Was he a computer engineer? He had no college degree....

Steve Jobs was a designer and a marketing genius. Woz was his engineer.

+1

Jobs was not a programmer or a computer engineer. He didn't create anything. Woz created the first Apple. Woz was going to give it away, and Jobs convinced him to sell it instead. As the company grew, other programmers and engineers created things at Apple. Jobs was responsible for product design and imagination. He told the technical people what he wanted made sure their products simple, elegant and dummy proof.

Jobs was a really great business guy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In addition to a civil lawsuit, criminal actions should be explored. How this horrific looking contraption could have been open for public use is beyond me.

The guy who designed it is a high school dropout. He dropped out of school at age 24 and he's the 'inventor', the 'creative mind'.
Great idea.
http://grantland.com/features/the-wet-stuff-verruckt-waterslide-schlitterbahn/

So what. He is an engineer. Other pretty impressive people never finished high school or college. What a dumb thing to point out.

who?

For starters....

Richard Branson

Louis Armstrong

Tom Anderson - myspace co founder

Mario Andretti

Julie Andrews

Irving Berlin

John D. Rockefeller

Henry Ford

Francois Pinault

Roseanne Barr

Drew Barrymore

There are thousands - want me to keep going?

None of them are engineers.

Yeah. I mean, I love Julie Andrews as much as anyone, but I wouldn't ride a water slide she designed either.

Where did you say to specify "engineers" - and there are PLENTY who did not finish college. You can be an engineer without being a PE and having a license - someone else signs off on your work.

You can't be an engineer without a college degree though.

What would you call Steve Jobs? Was he a computer engineer? He had no college degree....

Steve Jobs was a designer and a marketing genius. Woz was his engineer.

+1

Jobs was not a programmer or a computer engineer. He didn't create anything. Woz created the first Apple. Woz was going to give it away, and Jobs convinced him to sell it instead. As the company grew, other programmers and engineers created things at Apple. Jobs was responsible for product design and imagination. He told the technical people what he wanted made sure their products simple, elegant and dummy proof.

Jobs was a really great business guy.

Jobs was a visionary and he had a team that made his visions into reality. Even so, his team was not responsible for the physical safety of other people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This ride better not open back up. Who would let their kid go on it now?! What adult would?!!! Clearly the "safety net" isn't safe...it DECAPITATED a child ! Why would you go on something that needs a safety net around it like that...and then it kills you anyways

Now in hindsight what appeared to be a safety feature of the ride was in place more to protect the people on the ground from objects flying off of the ride than it was there to protect the riders.

There was a risk that the rafts could hit into the netting and riders could get hurt.

But they had procedures in place, weight/height requirements established for the ride and as long as those were followed the riders would be reasonably safe. But if they weren't followed...oops. Which is why this situation is so horrible. And foreseeable.

[Anonymous]

I would love to know who the person is he keeps on defending the waterpark and the lack of engineering degrees. A kid died and it appears to be lack of regulation is at fault, if not fully at least partially . Why is that so hard to accept?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The age requirement was dropped at the start of this season.

The brother was watching from the ground and said to a worker, "My brother just died on one of your attractions." Then went to find his mother. So it must have been pretty horrific if the kid knew immediately that his brother was dead.

Also read that people had been complaining all summer that the Velcro straps on the ride were malfunctioning, probably due to wear and tear.

How horrifying. I hadn't seen that. So terrible.

Agree that ride needs to be shut down. Period.

[Anonymous]

This all has me thinking a little differently about amusement park rides. I just assume they're safe! Understand there's a risk to everything, but this is so not worth it. WTF

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The age requirement was dropped at the start of this season.

The brother was watching from the ground and said to a worker, "My brother just died on one of your attractions." Then went to find his mother. So it must have been pretty horrific if the kid knew immediately that his brother was dead.

Also read that people had been complaining all summer that the Velcro straps on the ride were malfunctioning, probably due to wear and tear.

How horrifying. I hadn't seen that. So terrible.

Agree that ride needs to be shut down. Period.

This quote does not ring true for a 12-year old. Apparently the brother, Nate, was also screaming according to reports. There was also a young friend who was screaming and crying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This all has me thinking a little differently about amusement park rides. I just assume they're safe! Understand there's a risk to everything, but this is so not worth it. WTF

I am rethinking Disney, which is probably absurd but I am so horrified by this and have a 10 year old son.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This all has me thinking a little differently about amusement park rides. I just assume they're safe! Understand there's a risk to everything, but this is so not worth it. WTF

I am rethinking Disney, which is probably absurd but I am so horrified by this and have a 10 year old son.

Disney has a very good safety record for guests on rides. Their record for keeping their employees and characters safe isn't as stellar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this is really gruesome but .......but the picture with the supposed 2 tarps is unclear and really they just look waded up /discarded so I think they show nothing really ....did his head actually come off or was it just an internal injury.

His head came off.

This has NOT actually been confirmed. All of the reports are just saying that witnesses are saying this. Some of the more reliable sources say it was an internal decapitation. Although the fact that they haven't denied it makes me think he was decapitated. I would think they would shut that rumor down pretty quickly if it was not true.

Every news source out there has confirmed this. What are you reading?

It has been confirmed he was decapitated. Whether that was internal or external has NOT been confirmed.

Why would they confirm this? Why is this info needed to the told to the public.

Where did I say they should? I didn't. I don't care if they do. Just that if they don't, we can assume it was either internal or external but don't actually know.

Decapitation means the head came off. Internal decapitation is a different injury, often but not always fatal, where the ligaments holding your skull to your spine are torn.

There is no way that the eyewitnesses would describe someone who has internally decapitation as "decapitated", because it's an internal injury they wouldn't be able to see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The age requirement was dropped at the start of this season.

The brother was watching from the ground and said to a worker, "My brother just died on one of your attractions." Then went to find his mother. So it must have been pretty horrific if the kid knew immediately that his brother was dead.

Also read that people had been complaining all summer that the Velcro straps on the ride were malfunctioning, probably due to wear and tear.

How horrifying. I hadn't seen that. So terrible.

Agree that ride needs to be shut down. Period.

This quote does not ring true for a 12-year old. Apparently the brother, Nate, was also screaming according to reports. There was also a young friend who was screaming and crying.

First PP quoted above. I agree about the wording not ringing true, but I think it's likely that he said something to that effect based on what else has been reported-- that the brothers were separated at the top and each went down with two adult strangers in consecutive rafts, that the parents were not at Verrucht with the two boys, that as soon Caleb's body slid to the bottom, the lifeguards held everyone back rather than try to administer any aid.