2009 Honorable Mentions

The stupidity displayed by the participants in the following tales stops short of the ultimate Darwin Awards sacrifice. Nevertheless, we salute the spirit and innovation of their misadventures.

Hot Buns 2009 Honorable Mention Confirmed True by Darwin (February 2009, Sweden) Welcome to Sweden. Home of Swedish massage, Swedish cuckoos, and one Swedish meatball who decided to warm himself in an industrial strength oven. The incident took place in freezing February at a facility operated by a maker of kitchen cabinets and fixtures (Ballingsl'v.) The heating system in the loading area had ceased to function, leaving a shivering truck driver defenseless against the frigid winter. Looking to escape the cold, this driver wandered toward the shrink-wrap oven and asked the operator if he could take a spin on the conveyor belt to get warm. Although the driver was freezing his umlaut off, the operator hard-heartedly denied the man's request. Undaunted, the driver waited until no one was looking and managed to hoist himself onto the conveyor belt for a blissful toasty ride. But all those Swedish meatballs took their toll. The massive (cough) trucker was too heavy for the belt and the motor shut down, leaving him stuck in the 360-degree oven. Luckily, the oven operator noticed the stoppage and was able to drag the man out of the searing heat before he sustained serious injuries--except, perhaps, an industrial-strength tan. Following the incident, Sweden's Work Environment Authority offered the oven operator counseling to work through the shock he suffered, and intends to carry out a risk assessment of surveillance around the shrink ovens. Apparently they are too tempting to leave unguarded. ORIGINAL SUBMISSION "'360-degree oven.'  Circular oven?" "Common sense can be shrink-wrapped too. DarwinAwards.com © 1994 - 2009 Submitted by: Mark Reference: Fox News, The Local Awful? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Great? Hate it! Love it!

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