A Darwin Award is a tongue-in-cheek honor named after evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin. "Awards" have been given for people who "do a service to Humanity by removing themselves from the Gene pool", i.e., lose the ability to reproduce, as early as 1863. It is for people who kill, or in rare cases, sterilize themselves accidentally by attempting to do stupid feats. As described in the Darwin Award books: The Awards honour people who ensure the long-term survival of the human race by removing themselves from the gene pool in a sublimely idiotic fashion. While an attempt is made to disallow urban legends from the awards, some older winners have been 'grandfathered' to keep their awards.^[1] Sarcasm is the making of remarks intended to mock the person referred to (who is normally the person addressed), a situation or thing. ... This article is about evolution in biology. ... The word theory has a number of distinct meanings in different fields of knowledge, depending on their methodologies and the context of discussion. ... For other people of the same surname, and places and things named after Charles Darwin, see Darwin. ... Year 1863 (MDCCCLXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... An under 16s motorbike display team perform a potentially dangerous stunt Freestyle & Stunt Show 2007 - Landrévarzec A stunt is an unusual and difficult physical feat, or any act requiring a special skill, performed for artistic purposes in TV, theatre or cinema. ... The Human Race could be: The Human race. ... The gene pool of a species or a population is the complete set of unique alleles that would be found by inspecting the genetic material of every living member of that species or population. ... Urban Legend is also the name of a 1998 movie. ... A grandfather clause is an exception that allows an old rule to continue to apply to some existing situations, when a new rule will apply to all future situations. ...

History

The Awards have circulated since 1985 as emails and Usenet group discussions; the Google Usenet archive records two early mentions of Darwin Awards, 7 August 1985 Vending Machine Tipover^[2] and the 7 December 1990 JATO Rocket Car^[3] urban legend. The JATO legend was widely distributed via emails from 1995–97. Several anonymously authored email lists titled (for example) 1999 Darwin Awards have appeared annually since 1991.^[2] There are several websites that record "Darwin Awards"^[1] — a well-known one started in 1994 is darwinawards.com run by Wendy Northcutt, who has also written several books on the Darwin Awards. Usenet (USEr NETwork) is a global, decentralized, distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name. ... This article is about the corporation. ... Usenet (USEr NETwork) is a global, decentralized, distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name. ... is the 219th day of the year (220th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... is the 341st day of the year (342nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... Wendy Northcutt Wendy Northcutt (b. ...

Requirements

DarwinAwards.com logo

Northcutt has established five requirements for a Darwin Award: Image File history File links Darwinaward. ... Image File history File links Darwinaward. ...

• Inability to reproduce — Nominee must be dead or rendered sterile.

Sometimes this can be a matter of dispute. Potential awardees may be out of the gene pool due to age; others have already reproduced before their deaths. To avoid debates about the possibility of in-vitro fertilization, artificial insemination, or cloning, the original Darwin Awards book applied the following "deserted island" test to potential winners: If the person would be unable to reproduce when stranded on a deserted island with a fertile member of the opposite sex, he or she would be considered sterile. In general, winners of the award are either dead or become unable to use their sexual organs.

• "Excellence" — Astoundingly stupid judgment.

The candidate's foolishness must be unique and sensational, perhaps because the award is meant to be funny. A number of foolish but common activities, such as smoking in bed, are excluded from consideration, while smoking after being administered a flammable ointment in a hospital and specifically told not to smoke ^[4] is grounds for nomination.

• "Self-selection" — Cause of one's own demise.

Killing a friend with a hand grenade would not be eligible, but killing oneself while manufacturing a homemade chimney-cleaning device from a grenade^[5] would be eligible. There is no award for killing someone else or causing someone else to be sterile.

• "Maturity" — Capable of sound judgment.

The nominee must be at least past the legal driving age and free of mental defect.

• "Veracity" — The event must be verified.

The story must be documented by reliable sources, i.e., reputable newspaper articles, confirmed television reports, or responsible eyewitnesses. If a story is found to be untrue, it is disqualified, but particularly amusing ones are placed in the "urban legends" section of the archives.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a technique in which egg cells are fertilized outside the mothers body in cases where conception is difficult or impossible through normal intercourse. ... AIH redirects here. ... Although genes are recognized as influencing behavior and cognition, genetically identical does not mean altogether identical; identical twins, despite being natural human clones with near identical DNA, are separate people, with separate experiences and not altogether overlapping personalities. ... A sex organ, or primary sexual characteristic, narrowly defined, is any of those parts of the body (which are not always bodily organs according to the strict definition) which are involved in sexual reproduction and constitute the reproductive system in an complex organism; namely: Male: penis (notably the glans penis... Grenade redirects here. ... Look up Chimney in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Mental retardation is a term for a pattern of persistently slow learning of basic motor and language skills (milestones) during childhood, and a significantly below-normal global intellectual capacity as an adult. ... An urban legend or urban myth is similar to a modern folklore consisting of stories often thought to be factual by those circulating them. ...

Examples

Examples of Darwin award winners include

• juggling active hand grenades (Croatia, 2001),^[6]
• jumping out of a plane to film skydivers without wearing a parachute (U.S., 1987),^[7]
• trying to get enough light to look down the barrel of a loaded gun using a cigarette lighter (U.S., 1996),^[8]
• using a lighter to illuminate a fuel tank to make sure it contains nothing flammable (Brazil, 2003), (This method is not entirely original: a mid-1950's Burma-Shave commercial reads:"He lit a match to check a tank. That's why they call him Skinless Frank.")
• attempting to play Russian roulette with a semi-automatic pistol that automatically reloads the next round into the chamber,^[9]
• crashing through a window and falling to your death in trying to demonstrate that the window is unbreakable,^[10]

Northcutt's Darwin Awards site gives "Honorable Mentions" to people who manage to survive their misadventures with their reproductive capacity intact. One notable example is Lawnchair Larry, who attached helium filled weather balloons to a lawn chair and floated far above Long Beach, California, in July 1982. Grenade redirects here. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Skydiver about to land Parachuting, or skydiving, is a recreational activity, competitive sport and method of deployment of military personnel (and occasionally, firefighters). ... For other uses of terms redirecting here, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation) Motto In God We Trust(since 1956) (From Many, One; Latin, traditional) Anthem The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City National language English (de facto)1 Demonym American... Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ... For other uses of terms redirecting here, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation) Motto In God We Trust(since 1956) (From Many, One; Latin, traditional) Anthem The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City National language English (de facto)1 Demonym American... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Burma-Shave was a United States brand of brushless shaving cream that was sold from 1925 to 1966. ... For other uses, see Russian roulette (disambiguation). ... Lawrence Richard Walters, nicknamed Lawnchair Larry or the Lawn Chair Pilot, (April 19, 1949 – October 6, 1993) was an American adventurer. ... For other uses, see Helium (disambiguation). ... Rawinsonde weather balloon just after launch. ... 1982 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Special Winners

Each year, one award is selected as being much more "honourable" than the rest, and it is crowned as the "Darwin Award of the Year" or "[year] Darwin Award Winner".^{[citation needed]}

Books

• 2000: Darwin Awards: Evolution in Action, ISBN 0-525-94572-5 & ISBN 0-452-28344-2
• 2001: Darwin Awards II: Unnatural Selection, ISBN 0-525-94623-3 & ISBN 0-452-28401-5
• 2003: Darwin Awards III: Survival of the Fittest, ISBN 0-525-94773-6 & ISBN 0-452-28572-0
• 2006: Darwin Awards IV: Intelligent Design, ISBN 0-525-94960-7

Movie

Main article: The Darwin Awards (film)

The Darwin Awards is a comedy film based on the website of the same name. ...

See also

• List of inventors killed by their own inventions
• Ig Nobel Prize
• McCandless Phenomenon
• Everett Ruess

The Punishment of Haman, by Michaelangelo. ... Flying frog. ... Christopher J. McCandless (February 12, 1968 – August 1992) was an American wanderer who died near Denali National Park after hiking alone into the Alaskan wilderness with little food or equipment. ... Everett Ruess (1914-1934) was an artist and writer who explored the deserts of the southwest, invariably alone. ...

References

External links

• DarwinAwards.com website