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TomInTib Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 02:47 PM
Original message
2007 Darwin Awards
Hey, we could all use a few laughs now and again. The last one is laugh-out-loud hilarious. Growing up in rural Texas, I knew guys just like those two.

2007 Darwin Awards

The nominees for this award are people who by their own means remove themselves from the overall gene pool and hopefully save the rest of the general population from degrading any further.

This year's nominees are:


Nominee No. 1: :
An unidentified man, using a shotgun like a club to break a former girl friends windshield, accidentally shot himself to death when the gun discharged, blowing a hole in his gut.

Nominee No. 2: :
James Burns, 34, (a mechanic) of Alamo, MI, was killed in March as he was trying to repair what police describe as 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: :
Ken Charles Barger, 47, accidentally shot himself to death in December in Newton, NC. 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: :
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 buildings windows to visiting law students. Hoy previously has conducted demonstrations of window strength according to police reports. Peter Lawson, 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: :
Michael Anderson Godwin made News of the Weird posthumously. He had spent several years awaiting South Carolinas 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. 6: :
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 muzzleloader, was killed Monday night when the weapon discharged in his face, sheriffs 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 muzzle-loader that had not been firing properly. He was using the lighter to look into the barrel when the gunpowder ignited.

Nominee No. 7: :
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 wheelchair when the accident occurred, said Inspector Darcy Honer of the Peel Regional Police. "It appears that the chair moved, and he went over the balcony," Honer said.

Finally, THE WINNER!!!: :
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 Ray Wallis, 38, of Little Rock, were returning to Des Arc after a frog catching trip. On an overcast Sunday night, 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 bullets from his pistol fit perfectly into 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 over-heated, discharged, and struck Poole in the testicles. The vehicle swerved sharply right, exited the pavement, and struck 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 be dead," stated Wallis "I've been a trooper for 10 year 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.)



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BOSSHOG Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 02:49 PM
Response to Original message
1. More reasons the bush base is shrinking
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11 Bravo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 03:44 PM
Response to Reply #1
18. That's why you're the man, BOSS.
You never take your eyes off of the prize!
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Wildewolfe Donating Member (470 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 02:52 PM
Response to Original message
2. The last one...
... was an episode a while back of myth busters...

Soooo... that's not the real list would be a safe bet...;p
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spinbaby Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 02:54 PM
Response to Original message
3. Number 4 is years old
I heard the story about the guy crashing through the safety glass years ago.

And the winning one was disproved on Mythbusters.

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Jackpine Radical Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 03:03 PM
Response to Reply #3
9. Aw, shaddup.
%$##@ spoilsport.
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unpossibles Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 02:55 PM
Response to Original message
4. I've seen most of these before n/t
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spoony Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 02:59 PM
Response to Reply #4
7. No. 1 seems quite perennial
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Warpy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 03:05 PM
Response to Reply #4
10. Mythbusters has done several of these
The lawyer one is accurate and repeatable. The .22 bullet as a fuse was attempted several times, required a dead short across the battery to discharge, and then the casing was more lethal than the bullet.

In any case, all these stories prove that you can't make the world foolproof. Fools are just too bloody ingenious.
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BrklynLib at work Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 02:56 PM
Response to Original message
5. Thank you..Today was a day that a smile was needed.
Edited on Wed Oct-03-07 02:57 PM by BrklynLib at work
Old or new. True or false. They were funny...
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SteppingRazor Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 02:57 PM
Response to Original message
6. Y'know, it must be the bleeding heart liberal in me, but...
I can never read these without thinking "God, what a terrible way to go" and wondering how family and friends took it, rather than laughing.

Back when I was an editor at a paper that ran a "News of the Weird" section, I always cut out the ones that ended in someone dying. Just seemed cruel to make light of that.
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Jackpine Radical Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 03:02 PM
Response to Original message
8. A few thoughts--
1,3 & 7 stand as strong arguments against gun control. These people need the tools to select themselves out.

It seems like about a dead heat tie on whether pickup trucks or guns are the better instruments for pool-cleaning. Guns get a slight edge on this one.

I wonder if that law firm is getting any more business since announcing to the world that its "best and brightest" accidentally defenestrated himself. (And how often does one get a legitimate opportunity to use a word like "defenestrate?")
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achtung_circus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 03:08 PM
Response to Reply #8
11. Old news
Lawyer Aloft
1996 Darwin Award Nominee
Confirmed True by Darwin

(1996, Toronto) Police said a lawyer demonstrating the safety of windows in a downtown Toronto skyscraper crashed through a pane of glass with his shoulder and plunged twenty-four floors to his death. A police spokesman said Garry, thirty-nine, fell into the courtyard of the Toronto Dominion Bank Tower as he was explaining the strength of the building's windows to visiting law students. Garry had previously conducted the demonstration of window strength without mishap, according to police reports. The managing partner of the law firm that employed the deceased told the Toronto Sun newspaper that Garry was "one of the best and brightest" members of the two-hundred-man association.

http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1996-01.html
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Jackpine Radical Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 03:15 PM
Response to Reply #11
13. Do you guys go around
telling all the kids there is no Great Pumpkin too?
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achtung_circus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 03:33 PM
Response to Reply #13
15. I'm not saying it's not funny,
my brother was working in that building at the time.

and what does your comment about the Great Pumpkin imply? Don't scare me like that.
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Jackpine Radical Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 03:41 PM
Response to Reply #15
17. About the Great Pumpkin...
I meant nothing, absolutely nothing. He's as real as Santa Claus and the Caffeine Fairy.
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classof56 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 03:15 PM
Response to Reply #8
14. YOU just gave me the biggest chuckle of all.
Thanks!! Gotta run now and look up "defenestrate"! :-)

Tired Old Cynic
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2rth2pwr Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 03:13 PM
Response to Original message
12. Nominee No. 5:
Is this redefining Godwins law?
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Jackpine Radical Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 03:44 PM
Response to Reply #12
19. What the hell kind of a Nazi would make a comment like that?
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Coexist Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-03-07 03:35 PM
Response to Original message
16. thanks for the break.
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