TWC Quick Hits–Darwin Edition: The 2004 Darwin Awards–which salute the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who accidentally kill themselves in really stupid ways–are out. Here’s a sample:

Moon Shot: Three Brazilian men were flying in a light aircraft at low altitude when another plane approached. It appears that they decided to moon the occupants of the other plane, but lost control of their own aircraft and crashed. They were all found dead in the wreckage with their pants around their ankles.

I can understand the passengers shooting the moon, but the pilot…?

D’Oh: A 22-year-old Reston, VA man was found dead after he tried to use octopus straps to bungee jump off a 70-foot railroad trestle. Fairfax County police said Eric Barcia, a fast-food worker, taped a bunch of these straps together, wrapped one end around one foot, anchored the other end to the trestle at Lake Accotink Park, jumped and hit the pavement. “The length of the cord that he had assembled was greater than the distance between the trestle and the ground,” Carmichael said. Police say the apparent cause of death was “Major trauma.”

I guess “Major stupidity” is not an official coroner’s category…

Here, catch!: A man in Alabama died from rattlesnake bites. It seems that he and a friend were playing a game of catch, using the rattlesnake as a ball. The friend, no doubt a future Darwin Awards candidate, was hospitalized.

What’s the big deal? We play snakeball at our house all the time…



“Okay, I’ll play. But if you drop me again, or try to throw a spitball, I swear…”