I don't know how many of you have seen these, but some of them are good.
The Darwin's are awarded every year to the persons who died in the most stupid manner, thereby removing themselves from the gene pool. This year's nine nominees are:
Nominee No. 1: [San Jose Mercury News]:An unidentified man, using a shotgun like a club to break a formergirlfriend's windshield, accidentally shot himself to death when the gun discharged, blowing a hole in his gut.
Nominee No. 2: [Kalamazoo Gazette]:James Burns, 34, (a mechanic) of Alamo, MI, was killed in March as hewas trying to repair what police describe as a "farm-type truck."Burns got a friend to drive the truck on a highway while Burns hungunderneath so that he could ascertain the source of a troublingnoise. Burns' clothes caught on something, however, and the other manfound Burns "wrapped in the drive shaft."
Nominee No. 3: [Hickory Daily Record]:Ken Charles Barger, 47, accidentally shot himself to death inDecember in Newton, NC. Awakening to the sound of a ringing telephonebeside his bed, he reached for the phone but grabbed instead a Smith& Wesson 38 Special, which discharged when he drew it to his ear.(For whatever reason, residents of Southern states always seem tofigure prominently among the Darwin nominees.)
Nominee No. 4: [UPI, Toronto]:Police said a lawyer demonstrating the safety of windows in a downtown Toronto skyscraper crashed through a pane with his shoulderand plunged 24 floors to his death. A police spokesman said GarryHoy, 39, fell into the courtyard of the Toronto Dominion Bank Towerearly Friday evening as he was explaining the strength of thebuilding's windows to visiting law students. Hoy previously hasconducted demonstrations of window strength according to policereports. Peter Lawson, managing partner of the firm Holden Day, told the Toronto Sun newspaper that Hoy was "one of the best and brightest" members of the 200-man association.
Nominee No. 5: [Bloomberg News Service]:A terrible diet and a room with no ventilation are being blamed for the death of a man who was killed by his own gas emissions. There was no mark on his body, and an autopsy showed large amounts of methanegas in his system. His diet had consisted primarily of beans and cabbage (and a couple of other things). It was just the rightcombination of foods. It appears that the man died in his sleep frombreathing the poisonous cloud that was hanging over his bed. Had hebeen outside or had his windows been opened, it wouldn't have been fatal. But the man was shut up in his nearly airtight bedroom. According to the article, "He was a big man with a huge capacity for creating "this deadly gas." Three of the rescuers got sick, and one was hospitalized.
Nominee No. 6: [The News of the Weird]:Michael Anderson Godwin made News of the Weird posthumously. He had spent several years awaiting South Carolina's electric chair on a murder conviction before having his sentence reduced to life in prison. While sitting on a metal toilet in his cell attempting to fix his small TV set, he bit into a wire and was electrocuted.
Nominee No. 7: [The Indianapolis Star]:A cigarette lighter may have triggered a fatal explosion in Dunkirk, IN. A Jay County man, using a cigarette lighter to check the barrel of a muzzle loader, was killedMonday night when the weapon discharged in his face, sheriff's investigators said. Gregory David Pryor, 19, died in his parents' rural Dunkirk home at about 11:30 PM. Investigators said Pryor was cleaning a 54-caliber muzzleloader that had not been firing properly.He was using the lighter to look into the barrel when the gunpowder ignited.
Nominee No. 8: [Reuters, Mississauga, Ontario]:A man cleaning a bird feeder on the balcony of his condominium apartment in this Toronto suburb slipped and fell 23 stories to his death. Stefan Macko, 55, was standing on a wheeled chair when the accident occurred, said Inspector D'Arcy Honer of the Peel RegionalPolice. "It appears that the chair moved, and he went over thebalcony," Honer said.
Finally, THE WINNER!!!: [Arkansas Democrat Gazette]:Two local men were injured when their pickup truck left the road and struck a tree near Cotton Patch on State Highway 38 early Monday. Woodruff County deputy Dovey Snyder reported the accident shortly after midnight Monday. Thurston Poole, 33, of Des Arc, and Billy RayWallis, 38, of Little Rock, were returning to Des Arc after a frog gigging trip on an overcast Sunday night when Poole's pickup truck headlights malfunctioned. The two men concluded that the headlight fuse on the older-model truck had burned out. As a replacement fuse was not available, Wallis noticed that the .22 caliber bullet from his pistol fit perfectlyinto the fuse box next to the steering wheel column. Upon inserting the bullet the headlights again began to operate properly, and the two men proceeded on eastbound toward the White River Bridge.After traveling approximately 20 miles, and just before crossing the river, the bullet apparently overheated, discharged, and struck Poole in the testicles.The vehicle swerved sharply right, exiting the pavement, and striking a tree. Poole suffered only minor cuts and abrasions from the accident, but will require extensive surgery to repair the damage to his testicles, which will never operate as intended. Wallis sustained a broken clavicle and was treated and released."Thank God we weren't on that bridge when Thurston shot his balls off, or we might both be dead," stated Wallis. "I've been a trooper for 10 years in this part of the world, but this is a first for me. I can't believe that those two would admit how this accident happened,"said Snyder. Upon being notified of the wreck, Lavinia (Poole's wife) asked how many frogs the boys had caught and did anyone get them from the truck??? (Though Poole and Wallis did not die as a result of their misadventure as normally required by Darwin Award Official Rules, it can be argued that Poole DID, in fact, effectively remove himself from the gene pool.
