One invites trouble if construction is sited in the bottom of a narrow valley, on a floodplain, on a steep slope underlain by ancient landslide debris, on non-engineered fill, above solution cavities in carbonate rocks, above an underground mine, on a rapidly eroding wave-cut cliff or radioactive rocks. These points may be obvious to geologists, but flying into the face of natural laws and processes by stepping into potentially hazardous situations without much forethought seems to be a common human propensity.