2006 Darwin Awards
--------------------------------------------------
In case you haven't received them yet, here are this year's Darwin Awards
the annual honour given to the person who improved the "gene pool" the most
by killing themselves in the most extraordinarily stupid way. As always,
competition this year has been keen. And the candidates this year
are.............
IN Detroit, a 41-year-old man got stuck and drowned in two feet of water
after squeezing head first through an 18-inch-wide sewer grate to retrieve
his car keys.
----------------------------------------------------------
A 49-year-old San Francisco stockbroker, who "totally zoned when he ran,"
accidentally jogged off a 100-foot-high cliff on his daily run.
----------------------------------------------------------
Buxton, NC: A man died on a beach when an 8-foot-deep hole he had dug into
the sand caved in as he sat inside it. Beach-goers said Daniel Jones, 21,
dug the hole for fun, or protection from the wind, and had been sitting in a
beach chair at the bottom Thursday afternoon when it collapsed, burying him
beneath 5 feet of sand.
People on the beach on the outer banks, used their hands and shovels, trying
to claw their way to Jones, a resident of Woodbridge, VA, but could not
reach him. It took rescue workers using heavy equipment almost
an hour to free him while about 200 people looked on.
Jones was pronounced dead at a hospital.
----------------------------------------------------------
Santiago Alvarado, 24, was killed in Lompoc, CA, as he fell face-first
through the ceiling of a bicycle shop he was burglarizing. Death was caused
when the long flashlight he had placed in his mouth (to keep his hands free)
rammed into the base of his skull as he hit the floor.
----------------------------------------------------------
Sylvester Briddell, Jr., 26, was killed in Selbyville, Del, as he won a bet
with friends who said he would not put a revolver loaded with four bullets
into his mouth and pull the trigger.
----------------------------------------------------------
HONOURABLE MENTION:
Paul Stiller, 47, was hospitalized in Andover township, NJ, and his wife
Bonnie was also injured, when a quarter-stick of dynamite blew up in their
car. While driving around 2 AM, the bored couple lit the dynamite and tried
to toss it out the window to see what would happen, but apparently failed to
notice the window was closed.
----------------------------------------------------------
RUNNER UP:
TACOMA, WA Kerry Bingham had been drinking with several friends when one of
them said they knew a person who had bungee-jumped from the Tacoma Narrows
Bridge in the middle of traffic. The conversation grew more heated and at
least 10 men trooped along the walkway of the bridge at 4:30AM.
Upon arrival at the midpoint of the bridge they discovered that no one had
brought a bungee rope. Bingham, who had continued drinking, volunteered and
pointed out that a coil of lineman's cable lay nearby.
One end of the cable was secured around Bingham's leg and the other end was
tied to the bridge. His fall lasted 40 feet before the cable tightened and
tore his foot off at the ankle.
He miraculously survived his fall into the icy river water and was rescued
by two nearby fishermen. "All I can say"
said Bingham, "is that God was watching out for me on that night. There's
just no other explanation for it." Bingham's foot was never located.
----------------------------------------------------------
AND THE WINNER:
Overzealous zookeeper Friedrich Riesfeldt (Paderborn, Germany) fed his
constipated elephant Stefan 22 doses of animal laxative and more than a
bushel of berries, figs and prunes before the plugged-up pachyderm finally
let it fly, and suffocated the keeper under 200 pounds of poop!
Investigators say ill-fated Friedrich, 46, was attempting to give the ailing
elephant an olive oil enema when the relieved beast unloaded on him.
"The sheer force of the elephant's unexpected defecation knocked
Mr.Riesfeldt to the ground, where he struck his head on a rock and lay
unconscious as the elephant continued to evacuate his bowels on top of him"
said flabbergasted Paderborn police detective Erik Dern. "With no one there
to help him, he lay under all that dung for at least an hour before a
watchman came along, and during that time he suffocated.
--------------------------------------------------
In case you haven't received them yet, here are this year's Darwin Awards
the annual honour given to the person who improved the "gene pool" the most
by killing themselves in the most extraordinarily stupid way. As always,
competition this year has been keen. And the candidates this year
are.............
IN Detroit, a 41-year-old man got stuck and drowned in two feet of water
after squeezing head first through an 18-inch-wide sewer grate to retrieve
his car keys.
----------------------------------------------------------
A 49-year-old San Francisco stockbroker, who "totally zoned when he ran,"
accidentally jogged off a 100-foot-high cliff on his daily run.
----------------------------------------------------------
Buxton, NC: A man died on a beach when an 8-foot-deep hole he had dug into
the sand caved in as he sat inside it. Beach-goers said Daniel Jones, 21,
dug the hole for fun, or protection from the wind, and had been sitting in a
beach chair at the bottom Thursday afternoon when it collapsed, burying him
beneath 5 feet of sand.
People on the beach on the outer banks, used their hands and shovels, trying
to claw their way to Jones, a resident of Woodbridge, VA, but could not
reach him. It took rescue workers using heavy equipment almost
an hour to free him while about 200 people looked on.
Jones was pronounced dead at a hospital.
----------------------------------------------------------
Santiago Alvarado, 24, was killed in Lompoc, CA, as he fell face-first
through the ceiling of a bicycle shop he was burglarizing. Death was caused
when the long flashlight he had placed in his mouth (to keep his hands free)
rammed into the base of his skull as he hit the floor.
----------------------------------------------------------
Sylvester Briddell, Jr., 26, was killed in Selbyville, Del, as he won a bet
with friends who said he would not put a revolver loaded with four bullets
into his mouth and pull the trigger.
----------------------------------------------------------
HONOURABLE MENTION:
Paul Stiller, 47, was hospitalized in Andover township, NJ, and his wife
Bonnie was also injured, when a quarter-stick of dynamite blew up in their
car. While driving around 2 AM, the bored couple lit the dynamite and tried
to toss it out the window to see what would happen, but apparently failed to
notice the window was closed.
----------------------------------------------------------
RUNNER UP:
TACOMA, WA Kerry Bingham had been drinking with several friends when one of
them said they knew a person who had bungee-jumped from the Tacoma Narrows
Bridge in the middle of traffic. The conversation grew more heated and at
least 10 men trooped along the walkway of the bridge at 4:30AM.
Upon arrival at the midpoint of the bridge they discovered that no one had
brought a bungee rope. Bingham, who had continued drinking, volunteered and
pointed out that a coil of lineman's cable lay nearby.
One end of the cable was secured around Bingham's leg and the other end was
tied to the bridge. His fall lasted 40 feet before the cable tightened and
tore his foot off at the ankle.
He miraculously survived his fall into the icy river water and was rescued
by two nearby fishermen. "All I can say"
said Bingham, "is that God was watching out for me on that night. There's
just no other explanation for it." Bingham's foot was never located.
----------------------------------------------------------
AND THE WINNER:
Overzealous zookeeper Friedrich Riesfeldt (Paderborn, Germany) fed his
constipated elephant Stefan 22 doses of animal laxative and more than a
bushel of berries, figs and prunes before the plugged-up pachyderm finally
let it fly, and suffocated the keeper under 200 pounds of poop!
Investigators say ill-fated Friedrich, 46, was attempting to give the ailing
elephant an olive oil enema when the relieved beast unloaded on him.
"The sheer force of the elephant's unexpected defecation knocked
Mr.Riesfeldt to the ground, where he struck his head on a rock and lay
unconscious as the elephant continued to evacuate his bowels on top of him"
said flabbergasted Paderborn police detective Erik Dern. "With no one there
to help him, he lay under all that dung for at least an hour before a
watchman came along, and during that time he suffocated.
