The Darwin Awards have been around for a long time and are the source of much
amusement. But I am uncomfortable with them: we are ridiculing people who have
died in embarrassing and unfortunate circumstances. We are assuming an
arrogant, judgmental stance, congratulating ourselves on being alive and on
not having suffered the same ignominious fate as have these poor slobs. But if
these stories are true, we are talking about genuine human tragedies. Of their
own making, perhaps, but how many of us don't occasionally make stupid
mistakes that could at some point and under the right circumstances cost us
our lives, too? I see the Darwin Awards as cruel jokes, and can't help
wondering what the survivors of these people - their husbands, wives, sons,
daughters, mothers, fathers--might feel about having their loved ones publicly
ridiculed because of the way they died, and in certain cases they have died
some very painful, agonizing deaths. I would suggest we ask why we find these
violent deaths so funny, so amusing, so entertaining.

Finally, I wonder if this is not simply a hi-tech equivalent of the public
execution where we can all find amusement in knowing that one of our number
has died for his or her follies, and where we can remind ourselves of our
self-righteous superiority that is so obviously the reason we survive and
those fools die.

Your local curmudgeon,

Bill




>===== Original Message From Fritz Efaw <[log in to unmask]> =====
>Nobody died in the last one but I guess it still qualifies.
>
>>>2002 Darwin Awards Nominees
>>
>>
>>>Quality in, Quality out?
>>>
>>>
>>>Hard to believe, but another year has passed...
>>>(For those who don't know about it, the Darwin
>>>Awards are awarded every year to the person(s)
>>>who died in the stupidest way, thereby removing
>>>themselves from the gene pool...)
>>>
>>>The nominees are:
>>>
>>>NOMINEE No. 1: [San Jose Mercury News]: An
>>>unidentified man, using a shotgun like a club to
>>>break a former girlfriend' 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, Mich., was killed in
>>>March as he was trying to repair what police
>>>describeas a "farm-type truck." Burns got a
>>>friend to drive the truck on a highway while
>>>Burns hung underneath so that he could ascertain
>>>the source of a troubling noise. Burns' clothes
>>>caught on something, however, and the other
>>>man found Burns "wrapped in the drive shaft."
>>>
>>>NOMINEE No. 3: [Hickory Daily Record] Ken Charles
>>>Barger, 47,accidentally shot himself to death in
>>>December in Newton, N.C. Awakening to the sound of
>>>a ringing telephone beside his bed, he reached
>>>for the phone but grabbed instead a Smith &
>>>Wesson .38 Special, which discharged when he drew
>>>it to his ear.
>>>
>>>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 shoulder and plunged 24 floors to
>>>his death. A police spokesman said Garry Hoy, 39,
>>>fell into the courtyard of the Toronto Dominion
>>>Bank Tower early Friday evening as he was
>>>explaining the strength of the building's windows
>>>to visiting law students. Hoy previously had
>>>conducted demonstration of window strength
>>>according to police reports. Peter Lawyers,
>>>managing partner of the firm Holden Day Wilson,
>>>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 killed by his
>>>own 'gas'.  There was no mark on his body but an
>>>autopsy showed large amounts of methane gas in
>>>his system. His diet had consisted primarily of
>>>beans and cabbage-just the right combination of
>>>foods. It appears the man died in his sleep from
>>>breathing the poisonous cloud that was hanging
>>>over his bed. Had he been outside or had his
>>>windows been opened, it would not have been fatal.
>>>But the man was shut up in his near-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: ["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 and 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, Indiana. A Jay County man
>>>using acigarette lighter to check the barrel of a
>>>muzzle loader was killed Monday night when the
>>>weapon discharged in his face, sheriff's
>>>investigators said.  Gregory David Pryor, 19,
>>>died in his parents' rural Dunkirk home about
>>>11:30p.m. 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 he Peel Regional police. "It appears the
>>>chair moved and he went over the balcony," Honer
>>>said.
>>>
>>>AND FINALLY: [Arkansas Democrat Gazette] Two
>>>local men were seriously injured when their
>>>pickup truck left the road and struck a tree near
>>>Cotton Patch on State Highway 38 early Monday
>>>morning. Woodruff County deputy Dovey Snyder
>>>reported the accident shortly after midnight
>>>Monday. Thurston Poole, 33, of Des Arc and Billy
>>>Ray Wallis, 38, of Little Rock are listed in
>>>serious condition at Baptist Medical Center.
>>>
>>>The accident occurred as the two men were
>>>returning to Des Arc after a frog-gigging trip.
>>>On an overcast Sunday night, Poole's pick-up 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 perfectly into the
>>>fuse box next to the steering wheel column. After
>>>inserting the bullet, the headlights again began
>>>to operate properly and the two men proceeded
>>>toward the White River bridge.
>>>
>>>After traveling about 20 miles and just before
>>>crossing the river, the bullet apparently
>>>overheated, discharged and struck Poole in the
>>>right testicle. 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 surgery to repair the
>>>other wound. 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 ten 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.
>>
>>
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>
>Fritz Efaw,
>per/pro
>The Sacco-Vanzetti Chair
>of Excellent Edu-Babble