Charles Darwin at a green chalkboard.

2006 Darwin Awards

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? Honoring Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, Darwin Awards commemorate those who improve our gene pool--by removing themselves from it in the most spectacular way possible.

Hammer of Doom
2006 Darwin Award Winner
Confirmed True by Darwin

(August 2006, Brazil) August brings us a winner from Brazil, who tried to disassemble a Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) by driving back and forth over it with a car. This technique was ineffective, so he escalated to pounding the RPG with a sledgehammer. The second try worked--in a sense. The explosion proved fatal to one man, six cars, and the repair shop wherein the efforts took place.

Fourteen more RPG were found in a car parked nearby. Police believe the ammunition was being scavenged to sell as scrap metal. If it wasn't scrap then, it certainly is now!

5 Submissions

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Reference 1: http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4654276
Reference 2: Odia (Brazil), msnbc.com, UK Daily Mail.

Darwin says, "I have begun to question the merits of landmine nominations. Many a poor person must take risks to put food on the table. A reader who cleared mines for many years said, 'These people have little choice but to scavenge metal to feed their families. It's not stupid behaviour, although many are killed. A sad state of affairs.' When a poor person takes risks for his family, he is acting honorably.

"OTOH, slamming a sledgehammer into a mine that is meant to blow a human being to smithereens--is surely the least best way to salvage metal from it. Avoiding one's own demise is ALSO of use to the family.

"I am considering eliminating mine scavenging from the Darwin Awards. But Fatal Footsie and Mining for Elephants are safe from elimination!"

Debate Landmines in the Philosophy Forum.

Reader Comments:
"Wham...wham...kaboom!"
"This is the hardest egg I ever had to crack!"
"More scrap metal than he planned for."


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