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1月2日

The Darwin Awards 2007 are out

darwin

As a great admirer of Charles Darwin (for his incredibly powerful insights, the beauty and simplicity of his “theory” and tremendously impactful ‘dangerous idea’ to quote the great Daniel Dennett) the yearly Darwin Awards are of course something to look forward to. And although I know it is perhaps somewhat morbid and unethical (making fun of other people’s unfortunate demise is quickly not as attractive if you imagine it concerning your friends, family, kids or self, even IF the cause was ones own massive lapse of judgment or fatal error), they are great reading as long as you like dark humor. If only to remind yourself of how strangely people’s lives can end.

Anyway, the 2007 results are out and can be checked out on: http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2007.html

There is even a Dutch entry this time; a lethal accident with fireworks last year's New Year. Sad. New Year in the Netherlands involves massive fireworks shot skyward by pretty much everyone. I loved this when I was a kid as well and somehow got lucky.  But it continues to cause horrible accidents every year. This one is a good example of how things are always more complex than they may seem. It appears to be just a stupid mistake but when you look a bit into the events it turns out the fuse of a generous length of 1 meter, was schietlont (something like visco or quick match) unbeknownst to the unfortunate victim. This stuff burns at a speed of a few meters per second. Who would know. Well at least it's another warning to stay away from massive (and illegal) pyrotechnics if you're an amateur. 
I think I like the mole hunter best. I like moles.

If you don’t know what the Darwin Award are about, they aim to commemorate those people who “significantly improve the gene pool by eliminating themselves from the human race in an obviously stupid way”. The site has an excellent explanation of the rules here.