Hoist by His Own Petard/Real Life: Difference between revisions

** Then again, if it wasn't for her studies on radium and radioactivity, we might not have fully understood radiation poisoning as well as we do, which makes her a martyr for scientific knowledge.

** Her husband Pierre as well. He didn't die of direct effects of radiation exposure (Marie died of leukemia, almost certainly caused by her extensive long-term exposure to all manner of radioactives) he did have a rather famous burn on his chest (probably a radiation burn from the vial of radium he often carried in his shirt pocket) and was suffering symptoms that may have been radiation sickness when he stumbled in the street and was run over by a horse-drawn cart (radiation sickness can cause dizziness, confusion, and delirium).

* [[Maximilien Robespierre]], who was behind much of the [[Reign of Terror]] that followed [[The French Revolution]], was ultimately himself executed by the guillotine which he so adored. Along with quite a few others. (Another irony is that several people who participated in Thermidor actually were against the guillotine, as it was too slow-- and were more in favour of shooting their victims randomly with a cannon from a distance and throwing them into a mass grave to die.)

** However, the rumor that Dr. Guillotin was executed on the device he had introduced (referenced in the above ''Discworld'' example) is untrue.

* Another one from Soviet Russia during the war. The Russians strapped bombs to dogs as a living [[Action Bomb|anti-tank mine]]. Problem, they trained the dogs with the diesel using Russian tanks, and the dogs didn't go under the petrol using German ones. Oops.

* On one occasion, late in his life, Sir Robert Watson-Watt, considered by many to be the "inventor of radar," reportedly was pulled over in Canada for speeding by a radar-gun toting policeman. His remark was, "Had I known what you were going to do with it I would never have invented it!"

* NFL player Plaxico Burress served time for unlawfully carrying a gun at a nightclub. This case is special because:

** It was only made public knowledge that he was carrying a gun because he accidentally shot himself.

** Some versions of the story have Phalaris letting him out after a spell, [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|only to have him thrown off a cliff]].

** Most accounts of Phalaris depict him as a [[The Caligula|very cruel tyrant]] (except for an [[Villain With Good Publicity|image makeover]] mostly confined to the 2nd century that upgraded him to [[Knight Templar]]), and some say he was the [[Laser-Guided Karma|final victim of the bull himself]] after an uprising.

* On February 16, 2010, a man responsible for a string of terrifying holdups in Adelaide, South Australia was arrested due to the fact that not only were [[What an Idiot!|two of the stolen cars used for the robberies parked on his property]], he had in his possession a [[Rare Guns|SPAS-12 shotgun]], which was clearly identifiable on the released CCTV footage of some of the robberies, and is very rare, not to mention illegal to own in Australia.

* Thomas Midgley, Jr. is a double example: he invented leaded gasoline and CFCs, contributing to some of humankind's greatest screwups, then died when a machine he built to hoist him out of bed malfunctioned and strangled him.

* The term in question is still valid today; several movies and TV shows dealing with [[The War On Terror]], such as ''The Kingdom'' or ''[[NCIS]]'', have pointed out that bomb-makers often lose a finger or two to their own bombs, or worse.

** Some of the funniest cases reordered [http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/the-case-for-calling-them-nitwits/8130/ here].

* [http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1998-06.html Basketball player crushed by collapsing wall after grabbing hoop.]

* [http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2000-10.html The owner of the Carrier Chipping Company was shredded by his own wood chipper.]

** Similarly, rumor has it that is was a woman executioner who flipped the switch on serial killer Ted Bundy, who killed 36 women.

* [http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2000-37.html An unlicensed pyrotechnician was decapitated by a firework] [[What an Idiot!|when he looked down the tube after it failed to launch.]]

* In 1917 the British were having a problem with a particular German-laid minefield off the coast of Ireland. It seemed that however diligent the RN minesweepers were in their duties, ships were still being lost in this field. The Director of Naval Intelligence, Admiral Sir William Reginald Hall, deduced that the Germans were eavesdropping on the minesweepers' radio traffic, and were simply sending a U-boat out to re-lay the minefield when they heard the sweepers broadcast the 'field cleared' message. The British response? To leave the minefield intact and broadcast a false 'field cleared' signal. UC-44 sailed out to re-lay the field...and was sunk by the mines. The only survivor was her Commander, who was [[Completely Missing the Point|furious that the RN minesweepers had done such an inefficient job of clearing the field.]]

** [http://uboat.net/wwi/boats/index.html?boat=uc+44 There are disagreements on this part], but the new theory is that UC-44 was blown up by her own [[Failsafe Failure|prematurely armed]] mine -- known issue even for specialized minelayers of this era -- so it fits either way.

* The Chinese philosopher, Han Fei Tzu, was imprisoned by the leader of the Chinese state of Chin due to a policy of imprisoning and/or killing scholars and intellectuals. Said policy was proposed by none other than Han Fei Tzu himself.

* In April 2011, [[Lady Gaga]], the infamous diva of odd clothing choices, tripped and nearly broke her nose while performing a concert in Atlanta, GA. What did she trip on? An article of ridiculous clothing she had ripped off as a part of the show.

* The Khmer Rouge turned Cambodia into a huge death camp from 1975 to 1979. When Vietnam got fed up with them, the Khmer Rogue had so devastated their own country that they were in no shape to resist. [[Curb Stomp Battle|The war was over in two weeks]]. Oh, and what was one of the big things that caused Vietnam to say "enough is enough"? Cambodians fleeing into Vietnam to escape the Khmer Rouge. It should say something about how badly communism failed in Cambodia that the monarchy was restored.

* A motorcyclist died in an accident [http://ca.news.yahoo.com/upstate-ny-motorcyclist-dies-hitting-head-pavement-during-150809744.html while protesting helmet laws].