I find this story disgusting. A fit punishment: Strip them naked and tie them to a pole over the geyser!

"Yellowstone National Park concessionaire employees have been fired after they were caught urinating into the iconic Old Faithful geyser."

This from KIVI "Todays 6":

http://www.kivitv.com/Global/story.asp?S=10364548

My favorite line from the story:

"The Old Faithful geyser was unaffected by the incident."

A fit punishment: Strip them naked and tie them to a pole over the geyser!

Good grief, I sure don't want to piss (pun intended) you off. Can you say draconian?

Losing their jobs is fitting enough, IMO.

This may have been a bit stupid, but is rather harmless in the scheme of things.

The employees should have been fired for bad judgment and improper conduct, but if their act had the slightest effect on Old Faithful, I think you'd have to be awfully careful of any dogs lifting their legs on a geyser.

I'm surprised you aren't comparing it to burning the flag.

What would have been funnier is if they broke through the thin crust and got scalded by the hot water. Walking around those geysers off the path can be dangerous.

Losing their jobs is appropriate. The symbol of not respecting the environment is where the trouble is, not the actual act. It's really hard to take the place seriously, if something like this were to pass.

It's just not a big deal otherwise. The geyser will be just fine. Gaia will continue to spin, and we all move on.

I assume these were male employees. It could be a bit riskier for females to try the same thing.

The AP story implies they were both male:

"One man cited for urinating has been banned from Yellowstone for two years, while the other's case is pending."

"Old Faithful leak, but don't call plumber"

These guys were caught by a webcam that is pointed at the geyser. I think that the moral of the story here is, "Big Brother is watching you!"

I don't find the act of relieving oneself into the geyser significant in any way, other than the risk of breaking through and getting scalded. For every mammal other than humans, the whole world is a urinal!

"These guys were caught by a webcam that is pointed at the geyser."

http://www.nps.gov/archive/yell/oldfaithfulcam.htm

Morans!!

LOL!!

Give 'em a honorary Darwin award, for "most likely to succeed" and call it good!

What really steams me, these people chose to work in this pristine park! They represent the park. When workers have no respect, how can they expect their guests to be any different?

How about if a school teacher went out on the playground and took a leak? Would this have a different out come? (and I saw my teachers "thingie" too!)

You want to compare a couple of young seasonal concessionaire employees with school teachers? These young men were likely busboys or some other menial employees working for minimum wage. I don't see the equivalence.

You're not seeing the big picture here. I hate to use this analogy but it fits. I'm talking about the "trickle" down effect of society itself. It starts in one area and later becomes acceptable in society as a whole.

Hmm... Never good to call someone a moron, then misspell "moron".

I see the big picture, you are making a mountain out of a molehill. Are you saying this is the first time anyone has ever peed into Old Faithful and it will only get worse? Guaranteed it has happen thousands of time before, but this ostensibly was caught by technology; a webcam. Give it rest.

Probably not but this time the story is in the media eye and public psyche. The copycats are watching.

Craig: "trickle" down effect? Now, that is funny!

But for those of us a certain age, remember "streaking" in '73-'74? Even back then the media spread the concept (OK, "spread" is the wrong word), but that is how it happened.

Taking a pee on famous places could become the next fad. Hopefully, none of us will be in the line of fire.

rack_me, it was a play on an idiot, protesting with "Morans" on his sign!

http://24ahead.com/blog/archives/000472.html

Hmm... that site is invoking prank? Oh well, the dude was funny anyway.

I dunno . . . I never peed while streaking, however, I think many a witness to streaking steakers HAVE peed their pants.

Looking at the bright side, now Yellowstone Park can live up to its name, as far as the "yellow" part is concerned.

http://imagecache.allposters.com/images/pic/LPIPOD/BN2495_38-FB~Tourists-Watchin g-Old-Faithful-Geyser-Yellowstone-National-Park-USA-Posters.jpg