Aw come on Poirot, don't you see a little Monty Python being channelled here? It is hardly in the class of the Fish Dance or the Ministry of Silly Walks but it is hard to deny an appreciation of the absurd is a factor.

Perhaps it is just a product of Australian culture mixed with modern social networking. Throw in a bit of twisted British humour, a dose of Aussie larrikanism and Facebook, and you get something like planking. I think we should be proud of it.

When you are sitting in a doorless, misfiring Censna aircraft with you legs dangling over 3,000 ft of empty space, a tired old ex-army T10 parachute strapped to your back, an instructor staring at you with eyes blood red and maniacal from the previous night's dope session, a plane load of your mates who had talked each other into thinking this was a great idea now looking like sheep in a slaughter pen, one is forgiven for thinking just how dumb one has to be to find ones self in such a situation.

But that is not the most worrying part. It is having a beer with the same guy that night and being told that they have never been busier since they lost two into the golf course with chutes unopened earlier in the year. The publicity had been great for turnover because all the idiots who got turned on by danger were knocking their door down.

You have a quick laugh before you realize he is talking about you and your friends. Yet you go back for more.

Stupidity without the absurd is a little sad.

Before I was even a twinkle in my parents' eyes, my dad was in the Air Force - much irony given he suffered from vertigo and fear of heights (yes, there is a difference). Therefore, he took the opportunity to do a parachute jump. Not anything he repeated - but he never, ever regretted it.

Csteele

I am imagining a similar red-eyed scenario for my father that you described.

So he survived that Darwin test and went on to produce children who also like a bit of adrenalin. We're all still alive and passing on our genes, which hopefully includes a sense of humour.

Finding the bah, humbug response to Planking more than a little dismal.

Yes people have done dumb things, they always will and hopefully before they pass on their genes.

Ammonite and csteele,

I take your point...and I think my age is showing....coz I just remembered that when I was twelve I climbed almost to the top of a Norfolk Island Pine and was mesmerized by the view over the beach at Cottesloe....it's an abiding memory and I'm glad I did it, and all the other crazy things I dared myself to do. I've often thought, however, that if either of my kids had done that I would have freaked!

Dear Poirot

Your children already have done things that would turn your hair white.

BTW the young man who plummeted to his death in Australia recently:

He was drunk AND the rail upon which he tried to balance stretched on his back was curved instead of flat. I am sorry for his parents, however, kids will continue to be kids and I am grateful for my survival - I had more than good reflexives, luck had to play a part.

The worse damage I have done to myself was not falling off a motorbike but in the 'safety' of my own home racing to answer the phone and slamming my head on the corner of a coffee table. The result was concussion, stitches, nose re-setting and a faint scar which looks like a frown line but isn't. Parts of my scalp are still numb after 2 years since my altercation with coffee table and wooden floors.

All that ever happened to me on the few occasions I dropped my motorbike were grazes and bruising.

There are some huge fundamental differences between utter stupidity, accident, clumsiness & a mentality akin of a pile of dog crap. By all means let them do what they think they have to do but don't access & use my tax dollar to provide them with much needed medical help by taking away from the genuine deserving. has anyone ever bothered to check how much resource is wasted on idiots taking stupid risks ? A worker who gets hurt has to wait in favour of those morons. Wake up Australia !

Planking just bugs me because I find it dopey but I remember when we had that convo about Jessica Watson and should she be allowed to go. I wanted her to and a couple of others like Fractelle were cheering her on but from memory many more here just weren’t keen on the idea at all.

Thank goodness it went well or wouldn't our faces have been red. :)