The 2008 Darwin Awards

The Darwin Awards named in honor of the legendary evolutionary theorists, Charles Darwin, who popularized his theory of natural selection has been the subject of forwarding e-mails since the mid-90s. According to Wendy Northcutt, who runs the Darwin awards website and has written several books about the Darwin awards, the awards honor individuals that help ensure the long-term survival of the human race by removing themselves from the gene pool in a "sublimely idiotic fashion".

Northcutt states there are five requirements to win the Darwin Award. The first and most important is the inability to reproduce and pass down their genes of absolute stupidity. In general, award winners are either dead, unable to use their sex organs, or facing lifetime imprisonment with no chance of escaping. The second requirement is "excellence". The candidate must have done something uniquely foolish and funny, since that is the main reason for the award in the first place. The other requirements include the cause of one's own demise, capability of sound judgment, being legally considered an adult and free of mental defect or disorder, and the event must be documented by reliable sources.

The 2007 Darwin Award winner, Michael from Texas, who was an alcoholic, but his story featured on darwinawards.com is not the common story of a man dying from alcohol poisoning. No, Michael, who suffered from some throat ailment that made it painful to eat and drink, usually consumed his alcohol rectally. The night of his death he consumed 100 fluid ounces of sherry via enema, as usual, if that can be said. The next morning the 58 year old man was dead with a blood alcohol level of .47.

The candidates for the 2008 Darwin awards are in and in the lead is a Catholic priest, who tried to imitate the close call by Lawn Chair Larry, who tied helium weather balloons to his lawn chair flew 16,000 feet above sea level and almost hit by airplanes flying into LAX. Lawn Chair Larry survived, but the priest, who had carefully planned and used safety precautions did not.

If your like me and don't think laughing at a dead person is such a good idea (except the guy with the sherry up his butt was pretty funny), there are also stories just as strange and bizarre where people survive. In the Honorable Mention section of the website there are the best near miss stories, including one of a man from Hong Kong. Xian from Hong Kong was walking through the park in the rain when he came across a bench with ventilation holes and got a really dumb idea, ending his night face down to a bench with his pants unzipped and had to spend 19 hours in the emergency room before they could get him free.