The "Winner" of the 2001 Darwin Awards

Wednesday on the Web ^ | 1/30/02 | A Whole Bunch of Morons

[L,TOWM]

The 2001 Darwin Awards It's that time again . . . . . They are finally out again. You all know about the Darwin Awards - It's an annual honor given to the person who did the gene pool the biggest service by killing themselves in the most extraordinarily stupid way. Last year's winner was the fellow who was killed by a Coke machine which toppled over on top of him as he was attempting to tip a free soda out of it. And the nominees are:

Click on the link to get the full article...A good compilation.

Here is a cut from my fav:

"...that the operator of the 1967 Impala hit the JATO ignition at a distance of approximately 3.0 miles from..."

ENJOY!

[Wright is right!]

Still photos don't do the RATO justice - you've got to see that 130 ambling leisurely down the runway when the rockets get lit off. Makes quick work of any short-field scenario.

That C-130 platform is without a doubt one of THE most versatile airframes every dreamed up.

Michael

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

see post#20, above

[L,TOWM]

Lowie, I've seen some of the company you keep, quit snivelin'!

(Or is it braggin'?)

[PrivateIdaho]

[dighton]

B-47 RATO

[PLMerite]

Back in the 50s Chrysler, as part of a publicity stunt to show off (of all things) their brakes, strapped a JATO bottle to the underside of a Royal Lancer and after a rolling start, lit it up. Got the thing up to around 140mph.

I remember this because I know too many people who would think "yeah, I could do that..."

[snowfox]

It is a real event that happened here in Arizona.

[ArrogantBustard]

Absolutely fascinating. That either quite a well written work of fiction, or just maybe ... well ... strange things do happen out in the sticks.

AB

[Quila]

Not ALL have been disproven, but most of the most spectacular ones are bogus (like the JATO rocket story).

The JATO one actually appears to be based on a possibly true story. It used to be at http://www.geocities.com/Baja/Canyon/7665/ROCKIT.HTML, but it seems to have moved. Basically, a few kids having fun with Army surplus and dad's scrapyard, but no one was actually in the car at the time they ran it into the entrance to an abandoned mine.

[snowfox]

(May 2001, New Zealand) You might not like this Darwin involving a thirteen-year-old girl. But think how stupid it is for a teenager to consume insect poison. What kid doesn't know better? Children who sniff aerosol propellant, of all things. As if it weren't dangerous enough inhaling random volatile propellants for fun, THIS girl was found dead with a litter of empty bug spray cans under her bed. Sniffing poison is worse than sniffing hairspray. She died with elevated butane levels in her blood, which confirm that she had been "huffing" from a can labeled with skull and crossbones. Didn't she notice the dead insects on the label? Think how stupid she was to inhale lungfuls of a nasty-smelling chemical designed to KILL things.

New Zealand's reaction to the news is as expected. Coroner Gordon Matenga is calling for "bigger warnings on fly spray cans" after the second fly spray death in Waikato. He explains, "It (is) prevalent for New Zealand young people to sniff fly spray for a quick buzz." The judges are surprised any kids exist who don't know better.

One fewer exists now!

I posted this from the Darwin awards website, and it show that the reason so many of these "Internet Legends" are believable is because poeple are stupid enough to do anything.

[Arkie2]

Was he logged on when it happened?

[Arkie2]

Here's my favorite

A young Chinese tiger keeper has been mauled to death after apparently trying to defecate on one of his big cats. The 19-year-old appears to have climbed the railings of the Bengal tiger cage and pulled his trousers down. Evidence at the scene of the death at the Jinan animal park included toilet paper, excrement and a trouser belt. Zoo officials think Xu Xiaodong either slipped into the cage or was pulled in by one of the four angry tigers. According to the South China Morning Post, the man told a co-worker he needed to go to the toilet but police were called when he failed to return. They found his body lying on the ground surrounded by tigers. The teenager had reportedly been bitten in the neck and was covered in blood. Police believe Xu climbed the wall of a partially constructed building used to raise the tigers to relieve himself. They said the smell probably caused the tigers to pounce.

[ofMagog]

Donja just hate it when that happens....