Darwin Awards

[Oz]

Well, haven't heard mention of these for a while. Though I'd amuse you all with some of Oz's choices:

Rocket Tester
2002 Darwin Award Nominee
Confirmed True by Darwin
(8 June 1983, North Carolina) The Army base at Fort Bragg has seen its share of military "accidents," including the following, a true story and an object lesson often recounted on explosive device ranges to teach soldiers a basic safety lesson: LEAVE A DUD ROUND WHERE IT LAYS.
At the LAW (Light Anti-Tank Weapon) range, soldiers are afforded the rare privilege of firing a real LAW round, although the test rounds are smaller, and not armed with the full explosive power of the actual LAWs. They have an orange chalk warhead, and resemble a model rocket.

One day, the designated Range Safety Officer, Sergeant Lowe, was assigned the job of setting up the moving target with the assistance of a 3-man detail. "The installation of the target on the carrier was hampered by the absence of proper tools," so they improvised, and used a steel tent peg as a hammer to nail the target to the carrier.

While walking on the firing range, Sgt. Lowe spotted and picked up a M72A2 66mm LAW dud round that had not exploded upon impact with the target. The other men in the detail warned him to leave it on the ground, and let the EOD (Explosive Ordinance Detachment) handle it. Sgt Lowe replied, "Its just an old dud," and, to illustrate the innocuous nature of the round, began to strike it with the steel tent peg.

The second strike tripped the pressure-sensitive piezoelectric detonator, causing the round to explode. The explosion tore off Sgt. Lowe's left arm, parts of his right hand, and inflicted fatal wounds to his lungs and abdominal area.

Instead of the EOD, a medical evacuation aircraft was dispatched from the hospital, and an Army Forensics Team arrived to literally scoop up the remains of the former "Range Safety Officer."

Always remember, leave a dud round where it lays!

The Smoking Gun
2002 Darwin Award Nominee
Unconfirmed by Darwin
(July 2002, Wisconsin) Two drunks were goofing around, when one challenged the other to shoot him with cigarette butts "to see what it would feel like." His friend obligingly loaded a gun with three cigarette butts, placing ammunition behind the butts to make sure they left the barrel of the gun. He then shot his friend from a distance of seven feet. The friend who issued the challenge died of two cigarette butts to the head, and one to the heart.
The gene pool is in trouble!

Shed Protection
2002 Honorable Mention
(August 2002, Netherlands) A 66-year-old Margraten resident wanted to protect his garden shed against burglars. The best way to do this, he decided, was to construct a booby trap. He cobbled together some ropes and a shotgun aimed at the door. Proud of his ingenuity, he demonstrated the effectiveness of the device to two friends by shooting himself in the abdomen and lower arm. An emergency operation prevented him from winning a Darwin Award. Police searched his home, and confiscated firearms and ammo, along with 15 full-grown marijuana plants that perhaps helped him formulate this painful lesson in safety.

Wet'n'Dry Shop Vac
2002 Honorable Mention
Confirmed True by Darwin
(15 October 2002, Washington) Gasoline is a dangerous substance. You're apt to win a Darwin Award if you stick a road flare in a puddle of gas, check the fuel level in a gas can with a cigarette lighter, or set ants ablaze with it. Now, a new way to get in trouble with gasoline has been discovered!
Firefighters summoned to a Woodinville home arrived to find twenty-foot flames shooting out of two Chevy Astro vans. After quelling the gasoline-fed blaze with water, dry chemicals, and foam, they questioned the man responsible for the incident.

Turns out that our Honorable Mention winner decided to siphon gasoline with an electric wet'n'dry shop vac. Amazingly, he had managed to collect and transfer an entire bucketful of gasoline before an electrical spark ignited the fumes.

A safety spokesperson said, "This was an accident wafting to happen."

[Sean]

roflmao i love the darwin awards

the last one reminded me of something that heppened in my area a few months ago. a group of kids had stolen some of their dads flares and snuck into a boarded up hose, that had been in the area for like, 100 years.

anyways, they light the flares and tried to put them out with water (phosphorus flares by the way) and when that didnt work they threw them in an old fridge.

the heritage house burnt down and sadly they didn't.

[tonioseven]

Was one of them supratuner?!