Charles Darwin with a purple swarm around his head, contemplating the twist of fate that natural selection sidestepped these still-living honorable mentions.

2009 Honorable Mention

Next Prev Random Honorable Mentions have misadventures that stop short of the ultimate sacrifice. Nevertheless we salute the spirit of their colossal blunders with an Honorable Mention. Better luck next time!

Mr. Tinker
2009 Honorable Mention
Unconfirmed by Darwin

My father-in-law tinkers and most often fixes things. I have seen him take apart toasters, motors, electronics, and power washers. He often has several projects on the go. One day he came home with a neighbour's broken microwave and disappeared into his workshop to suss out out the problem.

Awhile later I heard weird noises coming from the workshop, and peeked in. The microwave was now working fine but its front door was missing. The machine was running, and he had his head tucked inside the oven...

I ran in and pulled the plug!

He did not take himself out of the gene pool, but the microwave incident may have increased the odds of cancer. Years later he developed a brain tumor, which was successfully removed. He still tinkers today, but we keep a closer eye on him.

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Submitted by: rob lloyd

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