2006 Darwin Awards!!

[Brian]

1. (August 2006, Brazil) August brings us a winner from Brazil, who tried to disassemble a Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) by driving back and forth over it with a car. This technique was ineffective, so he escalated to pounding the RPG with a sledgehammer. The second try worked--in a sense. The explosion proved fatal to one man, six cars, and the repair shop wherein the efforts took place.

14 more RPG grenades were found in a car parked nearby. Police believe the ammunition was being scavenged to sell as scrap metal. If it wasn't scrap then, it certainly is now!

 

2. (17 April 2006, England) There's always someone who thinks good advice doesn't apply to him. For example, if a doctor advises that the one thing you must not do is go near a flame, as you are going to be covered wtih a flammable material, most people would take this advice onboard, and not strike a match until the flammable material has been removed.

 

However, Phillip, 60, knew better than his doctor. Philip was in the hospital to treat a skin disease, said treatment consisting of being smeared in paraffin-based cream. Philip was warned that the cream would ignite, so he definitely should NOT smoke. But he just couldn't live without that cigarette."

 

Smoking was not permitted anywhere on the ward, but Phillip took this setback in stride, and sneaked out onto a fire escape. Once he was hidden, he lit up... inhaled... and peace descended as he got his nicotine fix. Things went downhill only after he finished his cigarette, at the moment he ground out the butt with his heel.

 

The paraffin cream had been absorbed by his clothing. As his heel touched the butt, fumes from his pyjamas ignited. The resulting inferno "cremated" his skin condition, and left first-degree burns on much of his body. Despite excellent treatment, he died in intensive care.

 

Using the Darwin checklist:

 

1.Reproduction -- if he has children, he's not having more.

2.Excellence -- this one I'll remember!

3.Self-Selection -- he was warned paraffin & flames don't mix.

4.Maturity -- At 60 I guess he was old enough.

5.Veracity -- Major UK news carriers covered the story.

 

This ticks all the boxes, and though I feel sorry for the family, his death acts as a warning to others. If a doctor tells you not to smoke, there's a very good reason.

 

 

3. (2006, England) The Darwin Awards salute the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who, uh, remove themselves from it...

Like two people, 17 and 20, who imitated Darth Vader and made light sabres from fluorescent light tubes. That's right, they opened up fluoresceent tubes, poured gasoline inside, and lit the end... As one can imagine, a Star Wars sized explosion was not far behind. One died, the other survived to 'fess up to their creative, but stupid, reenactment.

 

Darwin says: "Some moderators say 17 is too young, but I disagree. This one passes the "minors rule" because 17 is legal driving age. Old enough to pump gas is old enough to know not to light it."

 

4. (3 June 2006, Florida) Two more candidates have thrown themselves into the running for a Darwin Award. The feet of Jason and Sara, both 21, were found protruding from a deflated, huge helium advertising balloon. Jason was a college student, and Sara attended community college, but apparently their education had glossed over the importance of oxygen. When one breathes helium, the lack of oxygen in the bloodstream causes a rapid loss of consciousness. Some euthanasia experts advocate the use of helium to painlessly end one's life.

 

 

The pair pulled down the 8' balloon, and climbed inside. Their last words consisted of high-pitched, incoherent giggling as they slowly passed out and passed into the hereafter.

 

Sheriff's deputies said the two were not victims of foul play. No drugs or alcohol were found. The medical examiner reported that helium inhalation was a significant factor in their deaths. A family member said "Sara was mischievous, to be honest. She liked fun and it cost her."

 

5. (September 2006, Florida) A fearsome mythical giant was felled by a humble slingshot. But a modern speargun vs. an underwater leviathan is another tale altogether, as a Florida man discovered.

Outlawed in 1990, hunting Goliath-sized groupers remains surprisingly popular. These fish can weigh hundreds of pounds, yet there are underwater hunters who choose to tether themselves to such muscular sea creatures. However unlikely a pursuit, the poaching of groupers by divers and snorkelers continues, in defiance of both the law and common sense.

 

Of this elite group, our Darwin Award winner distinguished himself yet further by disregarding one essential spearfishing precaution. By embarking on this hunt without a knife to cut himself loose, the "fit and experienced snorkeler" was guaranteeing that his next attack on a giant grouper would be his last.

 

Why anyone thinks it's a good idea to tether yourself to a fish twice your size, I don't know. Some time later, the body of the spearfisher was found pinned to the coral, 17 feet underwater. Three coils of line were wrapped around his wrist, and one very dead grouper was impaled at the other end of the line.

 

In those final hours, the tables were turned, and the fish was given an opportunity to reflect on the experience of "catching a person."

 

6. (19 March 2006, Belize) Benjamin Franklin reputedly flew his kite in a lightning storm, going on to discover that lightning equals electricity. However, certain precautions must be taken, as Ben Franklin took, to avoid sudden electrocution.

Kennon, 26, replicated the conditions of Ben Franklin's experiment, but sans safety precautions. He was flying a kite with a short string that he had extended with a length of thin copper wire.

 

The copper made contact with a high tension line, sending a bolt of artificial lightning down the wire towards the man. To cap the story off, Kennon's father told listeners, his son was an electrician and "should have known better." Kennon is survived by his parents, six sisters, and five brothers.

 

7. (August 2006, Libreville, Gabon) In August, a congregation's 35-year old pastor insisted one could literally walk on water, if only one had enough faith. Big and bold was his speech. He extolled the heavenly power possessed by a faithful man with such force that he may well have convinced himself.

 

Whether or not he believed in his heart, his sermons left room for only shame should he leave his own faith untested. Thus, the pastor set out to walk across a major estuary, the path of a 20-minute ferry ride. But the man could not swim.

 

Lacking the miraculous powers of David Copperfield, let alone holy Jesus Christ, this ill-fated cleric found only a Darwin Award at the end of his final path.

 

8. My father works as an investigator for an insurance company, a job he frequently reminds me of how much he hates. One of his major clients is a train station in a nearby city. On a day not unlike any other, a man awoke on a train to find that he had missed his stop. Instead of looking out the window or asking another passenger to find out where the train was, he ripped open the doors of the train and threw himself from the train, much to the astonishment of onlooking passengers.

 

However, had the ill-fated passenger taken the time to look out the window before leaping from the train, he would have noticed that the train was not only moving in excess of 50 MPH, but that it was also moving over a bridge. He died at the scene in the Hudson River.

 

My dad covered this case for the insurance company. The family of the deceased was suing because "you should not be able to open doors on a moving train." My dad's defense was "you should not open doors on a moving train." I imagine the case was either dropped or settled.