The Darwin Awards, Next Evolution

Northcut, Wendy.  The Darwin Awards, Next Evolution.  Chlorinating the Gene Pool.  Dutton Press, New York, New York.  2008.

Annotation:
A compilation of the stories of people who have won, or received an honorable mention by the Darwin Awards.

Book Talk:
The Darwin Awards are handed out annually to a handful of people.  These people are those who have fearlessly dived headfirst into the shallow end of the gene pool.  In order to qualify for a Darwin Award, you have to have done something so stupid, so insanely dumb, that you have removed yourself from the gene pool.  These stories serve as cautionary tales.... many of the stories end in the death of the persons involved.

Let's take a look at one of the winners in this compiliation:  
One spring morning when a bug crawled across his desk, and adult education teacher gave twenty-five students an improptu and involuntary lesson in safety- during his safety class.  You see, Teach had an unusual paperweight, a 40 mm shell he had found on a hunting trip.  It made a unique conversation piece.  Using opaque reasoning, he assumed that the ordnance must be inert.  But, this particular ordnance ws the teacher's ticking ticket to fame.

Back to the spring morning when a bug crawled across his desk.  Should he squash it with a tissue?  Sweep it out the door?  Leave it to pursue its happy existence and continue with his lesson?  No, the teacher picked another alternative.  He hefted the "inert" artillery shell and slammed it ont the short-lived insect.

The impact set off the primer, and the resulting explosion caused burns and shrapnel lacerations on his hand, forearm, and torso.  No one else in the classroom was hurt.  To the teacher's further consolation his actions did succeed in one respect.  the bug was eliminated.

(page 175, At Risk Survivor, Flyswatter, Confirmed True by Darwin.)

Read more incredible tales of stupidity in "Chlorinating the Gene Pool".

Author's Web site:
www.darwinawards.com

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