Ever Heard Of Darwin Awards? Part 1

In the spirit of Charles Darwin, the Darwin Awards commemorate individuals who protect our gene pool by making the ultimate sacrifice of their own lives. Darwin Award winners eliminate themselves in an extraordinarily idiotic manner, thereby improving our species' chances of long-term survival.

http://www.darwinawards.com/

History

In his seminal work, "The Origin of Species," Charles Darwin presented evidence that species evolve over time to fit their environment better. Do the Darwin Awards really represent examples of human evolution in action?

Consider that there are three requirements for evolution to occur. First, a species must show diversity. For example, some people are taller than others. Second, there must be a selective pressure working on this trait. If people live among trees, and tall people whack their heads on branches and kill themselves more frequently than their shorter fellows, then short people will have a survival advantage. Third, the trait must be inheritable. On average, short people have shorter children than tall people, so evolution favors short people in this example. Within a few generations, our species would become shorter, and it would also become better at evading low branches.

The stories on this website, which range from the sublimely ironic to the pathetically stupid, display examples of trial and (fatal) error that vividly illustrate evolution in all its selective glory.

I started collecting the stories that make up the Darwin Awards in 1993, while I was doing biological research at Stanford University. I found them in newspaper articles from around the world and once I verified their legitimacy, I rewrote them for a small mailing list of friends. As people passed these emails around, I began to receive nominations from far and wide. When the Stanford server became overloaded, I moved the pages to www.DarwinAwards.com, set up voting and submission mechanisms, and became the primary source of and repository for the Darwin Awards.

Through word-of-mouth, as well as my email newsletter, the website has attracted a huge following. The dark humor, engaging stories, and mordant social commentary have made the Darwin Awards one of the most popular humor sites on the web.

Laughter
One should not be ashamed of laughing over the misfortune of others. Humor is perceived by human brains alone, which sets us apart from all other beings. Jokes always involve the unexpected clash between reality and expectation.

Flames
Flames come from two camps: Those who don't want their favorite group featured, and those who are offended by stories that spoil purity of Darwin Awards. The first group decries stories about children, dyslexics, and the clergy. The second group scoffs at legends, near-misses, and sterility.