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Darwin Awards
2007 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
Should I include it in the archive?
Vote to tell me what *you* think!

Hey everybody, watch this Fly !

2007 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

Darwin says, "Chip's comments are hilarious, 'The chap was building a potato mortar rather than a potato gun, and instead he succeeded in building an anti-personnel spudmine.' Yet... is this novel and astounding enough to be a DA? Don't lots of 'kids' play with potato guns? Not sure whether to include this in the archives."
When I was young potato guns where small and fired lumps, well thats not good enough for some people.

Ryan Meerdink, 21 of Hull Iowa decided that the best kind of potato "gun" should be a launcher,a launcher filled with explosive powder....

He took the improvsed potato launcher outside got ready for the fun and ignited it.

The resulting explosion ruptured the launcher and put an end to the ways of this potato warrier.

Sheriff's and rescue crews who responded to reports of an explosion found him outside in the street heavily injured, he died later in hospital.

There where no reports on the condition of the potato.

Youth + explosives + home made potato launcher = instant darwin award contender..

Submitted on 09/01/2007

Submitted by: Wyn Williams
Reference: http://www.kcautv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7016433&nav=1kgl 2nd/9/2007

Copyright © 2007 DarwinAwards.com

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James said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
I've had limited experience with potato guns (one of my Army colleagues lives in upstate NY and a potato gun is part of his arsenal), but a potato gun is essentially a homemade entity and isn't meant for gunpowder (a little ignited hairspray is all that's needed to launch a potato a quarter mile)! I wonder what this guy was trying to prove! I'll go DA!


Chip said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
Sound like he chap was looking to build a potato mortar rather than a potato gun. Instead he succeeded in building an anti-personnel spudmine. Thanks for the story, Wyn


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Heavy 100% cotton, black Hanes Beefy-T with an inadvisable cigarette break on the front... a smoking crater on the back! Click on the image for a full view. Based on true stories. Errata: TNT will not explode in the presence of a lit cigarette. The man was actually sitting on a crate of gelignite.
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