Darwin awards

many awards have been given to various people, for doing various kinds of services to humanity. Be it the Nobel , or the Bharat Ratna, or the SSN Rolling Trophy, you can find a significant contribution to the humanity by the people who have received these awards. On similar lines, the 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. It is for people who kill themselves by doing acts that may fatally injure themselves or render them sterile. 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. Even you can win this award. If you are really interested read on. but there's a catch. There are five requirements for qualifying for the Darwin awards.

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

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.

* 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(after an exhausting activity), are excluded from consideration, while smoking after being administered a flammable ointment in a hospital and specifically told not to smoke 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 juggling hand grenades would be eligible.

* 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.

These awards have been given out since 1985. For explanation's sake lets see who got the 2005 Darwin award.

(13 January 2005, Croatia) One fateful afternoon, 55-year-old Marko retreated to his semi-detached workshop to make himself a tool for chimney cleaning. The chimney was too high for a simple broom to work, but if he could attach a brush to a chain and then weigh it down with something, that would do the trick. But what could he use as a weight?
He happened to have the perfect object. It was heavy, yet compact. And best of all, it was made of metal, so he could weld it to the chain. He must have somehow overlooked the fact that it was also a hand grenade and was filled with explosive material.
Marko turned on his welding apparatus and began to create an arc between the chain and the grenade. As the metal heated up, the grenade exploded. The force of the explosion killed poor Marko instantly, blasting shrapnel through the walls of the shed and shattering the windshield of a Mercedes parked outside. Marko's chimney was untouched, however.

Sounds like he blew it! Santa, if you are reading this, be careful in future.
here's another that happened last year and won critical acclaim.

(20 June 2007, South Carolina) A passing cabbie found a 21 year-old couple Znaked and injured in the road an hour before sunrise. The two people died at the nearest hospital without regaining consciousness. Authorities were at a loss to explain what had happened. There were no witnesses, no trace of clothing, and no wrecked cars or motorcycles.
Investigators eventually found a clue high on the roof of a nearby building: two sets of neatly folded clothes. Safe sex takes on a whole new meaning when you are perched on the edge of a pyramid-shaped metal roof. "It appears as if [they] accidentally fell off the roof," Sgt. Florence McCants said.
This is a true Darwin Award trifecta: TWO people die, WHILE in the act of procreation, due to an ASTONISHINGLY poor decision. Bottom line: If you put yourself in a precarious "position" at the edge of a pointy roof, you may well find yourself coming and going at the same time.
Ironically, one of the deceased was named "Tumbleston."
How true it is that "What goes up must come down."