March 24, 2008

Gravity still works - 2007 Darwin Awards

(28 July 2007, Czech Republic) A pack of thieves attempted to steal scrap
metal from an abandoned factory in Kladno. Unfortunately for them, they
selected the steel girders that supported the factory roof. When the roof
supports were dismantled, the roof fell, fatally crushing two thieves and
injuring three others.

(21 June 2007, Philippines) Three entrepreneurs planned to profit from
stolen scrap metal. They entered a former US military complex and
approached the prize: an abandoned water tank. Bedazzled by the potential
upside, the three threw logic to the wind, and began to cut the metal legs
out from under the tank. Guess where it fell? Straight onto the thieves.
Their flattened bodies have not yet been identified.

(31 July 1997) Two teens were disassembling an electric tower with wrenches
when it toppled to the ground. They apparently wanted to sell its aluminum
supports for scrap, but they failed to realize the essential role the aptly
named "support" plays in a 160-foot tower. One of the men was crushed by
the collapse of the ten-thousand-pound tower, while the other dug himself
out from under, a sadder but wiser man from his close brush with a Darwin
Award. Reference: Associated Press

Darwin notes, "What are these thieves doing, playing a deadly game of Jenga?! This entire category
may soon become too common, per the Rule of
Excellence
. See also Barn Demolition."

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