rivettingKateTaylor

Fashion trends I can understand.

Music trends I can understand.

But planking? These plankers are plonkers.

It was a harmless craze just four days ago.

Australian talkshow host Kerri-Anne Kennerley opened her show lying balanced,
face-down, on the back of a couch. Karl Stefanovic was lying flat on the Today
show desk in front of the cameras.

But early yesterday morning, the ”planking” fad sweeping social networking
sites proved fatal. Acton Beale, 20, was positioning himself on a balcony
railing seven storeys up in Brisbane when he lost his footing and plunged to his
death in the car park below.

The Queensland Deputy Police Commissioner, Ross Barnett, said his worst fears
had been realised.

”In some circumstances it can be fairly harmless,” he said. ”But once you
start taking it up seven storeys, or on top of a set of traffic lights, or on a
set of railway lines, or on a bridge, it’s putting a person in significant
danger,” he said.

”Planking” involves a person lying straight, face down, with their arms by
their sides and legs held steady, ideally without any facial expression.

But the act is driven by capturing it on camera and posting the image on
social networking sites. One group dedicated to ”planking” on Facebook states
its mission: ”To capture the perfect Plank. Always pushing the boundaries of
human limits.”

Taken from stuff.co.nz. Pushing the boundaries of human limits?  Put the same amount of effort into finding a cure for cancer please.