DARWIN AWARDS NEWSLETTER - February 2008

Named in honor of Charles Darwin, the Darwin Awards
commemorate those noble individuals who give their all
to improve the gene pool...by removing themselves from it.

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SCIENTISTS! SCIENTISTS!  I need 10 excellent science essays, on par
with the writing of Carl Sagan or Stephen J. Gould.  Do you have
what it takes to describe cutting-edge research to a smart layperson?
Yes you do!  Can you use some extra cash in your pocket?  Yes you can!
Send an outline (required) and a paragraph, and my dedicated college
students will select essays for publication in that esteemed journal
of human evolution, The Darwin Awards: Chlorinating the Gene Pool.

More information:  http://www.DarwinAwards.com/misc/writer.html
Please read that page, and email me at the address listed thereon.

        ~Wendy

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DARWIN AWARD: TIMING IS EVERYTHING

December 2007, Indiana | Russell, 19, had a grudge against a
semi truck abandoned on a rural property. And Russell was not
the silent, brooding type. He was a man of action. He built a
gunpowder/propane tank bomb, attached a timer, and planted it
in the moldering truck. He retreated to a distant vantage point
and waited for the fireworks.

And waited.

And waited, until he could wait no more. No boom? This was
not right. Why was nothing happening? Russell approached the
stubbornly intact truck--just in time for a close look at
a cloud of rapidly expanding incandescent gas. Apparently
the truck had a grudge against Russell, too.

Detectives found bomb-making materials at Russell's mobile home,
and believe he was responsible for two explosions the night before
his death, one at the mobile home park and another at a hobby shop.
Although Russell will be missed, we are all a bit safer now.

VOTE: http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2007-19.html

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DARWIN AWARD: THE ALCHEMIST

December 2007, Russia | As a child, Sergei promised his grandmother, 
"I will establish for you the elixir of immortality!"  As an adult, 
we find Sergei sitting in a college biology class, licking potassium 
cyanide off his palm.  He had found the magic elixir: swallow poisons 
daily, to strengthen his body and protect him from death . . .

READ MORE: http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2007-18.html

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  Have some cake!  CHARLES DARWIN'S BIRTHDAY is FEBRUARY 12th!
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HONORABLE MENTION: SPLITTING HEADACHE (near miss)

September 2007 | A man was splitting seasoned wood early one
autumn in preparation for winter. One after another, he would set
a log on end and drive his sharp axe through the log, then toss
the split wood onto the pile. He was making light work of the pile
when he came to a log with a particularly large diameter . . .

READ MORE: http://darwinawards.com/stupid/stupid2007-04.html

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URBAN LEGEND: TASER TEST

"Last weekend I was at Larry's Pistol & Pawn, looking for a little
something special for my wife, Toni. I came across a 100,000-volt
pocket taser.  Its disabling effect on an assailant was described
as short-lived, with no long-term consequences, but would allow
my wife--who would never consider a gun--adequate time to retreat
to safety.  WAY TOO COOL!!  Long story short, I bought the device
and brought it home" . . .

READ MORE: http://darwinawards.com/legends/legends2007-01.html

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