summer slump? - a stopgap (Jun/25/2007 )
Chitchat is becoming a little bit boring and deserted, too many people in vaccation? What is the best to revive it, if not a morbid topic that needs much black humour?
Though several years old (actually 22), the "Darwin Awards" is still fascinating and a rich source of interesting ways to retire from active life, even if involuntarily.
As other awards you have to fulfil several requirements (five) to be worth to receive the Darwin Award (for the not so convincing/excellent participants, 'honourable mentions' are offered:
1. Inability to reproduce — Nominee must be dead or sterile.
2. "Excellence" — Astounding misapplication of judgment.
3. "Self-selection" — Cause of one's own demise.
4. "Maturity" — Capable of sound judgment.
5. "Veracity" — The event must be verified.
Links are here and this one.
Some examples from their website, with some relation to biology (the first with some reference to "weired" themes in the forum):
"(2000, England) This tale proves that crime does pay, if you're fishing for elective surgery to go along with your stolen goods.
A 24-year-old supermarket shoplifter stuffed a pair of live lobsters in his pants and sprinted for the door, but he never had a chance. The violated crustaceans brought the thief to his knees in front of startled cashiers when they fastened their powerful claws around his delicate parts.
Doctors were able to remove the animals with pliers. They say the thief will fully recover -- except for one small detail. "It was a do-it-yourself vasectomy." This man's daring supermarket exploits make him one of the few Darwin Award winners to live to tell the tale.
The supermarket manager declined to press charges, saying the culprit has already "gone through enough pain (to) learn his lesson."
"Dr. Jack Barnes, of Cairns, Australia, failed to halt the spread of his own mad scientist genes, but his survival wasn't due to a lack of effort on his part. In 1966, Barnes was hot on the heels of the source of a mysterious illness called Irukandji Syndrome. Sufferers endure excruciating back pain, sweating, and nausea. He suspected that the source of the illness was a tiny marine creature, so he set about finding it by sitting on the seabed for hours, wearing a weighted diving suit.
Note the outstanding Darwin potential demonstrated.
However, the Grim Reaper did not yet beckon. Instead, the fickle finger of fate rewarded him by revealing the source of the mystery illness: a minute jellyfish, its bell measuring only an inch across. It was at this point that the Doctor's latent Darwin potential, already hinted at, was unleashed to its full (and nearly fatal) potential.
There are many toxic jellyfish off the coast of Australia. Our dedicated scientist knew he must test his hypothesis that this gelatinous creature was toting the particular venom that causes Irukandji Syndrome. And how best to go about this?
He chose the most expedient method available: he stung himself.
Foolish? Yes, but the good Doctor was not done yet. To reach truly dizzying heights of Darwinian grandeur, one must ensure that one's deficient DNA is entirely removed from the gene pool. As Dr. Barnes had already sired an heir, there was only one thing left to do...
He stung his 14-year-old son as well!
Despite this truly outstanding effort to place the continued existence of the Barnes lineage in mortal peril -- alas, it wasn't to be. Dr. Barnes, his son, and the nearby lifeguard whom the good Doctor also introduced to the joys of Irukandji Syndrome, were all rushed to the Intensive Care Unit of a nearby hospital. All three survived.
As a final twist, not only will the mad scientist's genes live on, but so too will the family name: the jellyfish was named Carukia barnesi in the intrepid scientist's honour!"
For self-experimenters these links may be help- or harmful: link1,
link2,
link3.
For biologists it is a conclusive proof that evolution still seem to work on mankind (or should I say, 'The data suggest strongly that evolution still acts on the human gene pool'. 
Enjoy!!
Enjoy!!
Only if the world became a better place (or should that be if humanity became better) for the loss of the Darwin winners...
And as for vacation, you do at least have those of us in the Southern Hemisphere to keep up the chatter, freezing away in the depths of winter while you northerners lie about in the sun... Enjoy it while it lasts, we've already passed the solstice.
This is sooo you hobglobin 
. What’s a little black humour to darken a bright sunny summer’s day? After reading through the awards, all I could conclude is that there are a million and one ways to die a gruesome (inventive?) death. My favourite is a historical one:
"Francis Bacon was an influential statesman, philosopher, writer, and scientist in the sixteenth century. He died while stuffing snow into a chicken. He had been struck by the notion that snow instead of salt might be used to preserve meat. To test his theory he stood outside in the snow and attempted to stuff the bird. The chicken didn't freeze, but Bacon did, prompting the question "Which froze first? The Bacon or the egg?"
And for another historical, but non-human post-humous Darwin award, hands down for the Galapagos giant tortoises and land iguanas which were part of the fauna studied by the man himself. Not only did they become part of Darwin’s data but their succulent meat provided nourishment for their return trip back home aboard the Beagle (Too bad he didn't save the carapaces...ah hindsight). Talk about killing two birds with one stone... and the poor animals dying for science... and poor Darwin eating his data 
!!
summer's here, finally!!
casandra
i love them 
a friend of me offered me the book in 2005 and there was some surpsising one.
I encountered some difficulties to read it, but think all are even fun or ridiulous.