The Darwin Awards

If the Darwinian notion of natural selection — whereby only the fit survive — has any merit, then some people are doing the human gene pool a favor by ingeniously, and stupidly, removing themselves from it. Now, about Hosea ...

A Houston man learned a succinct lesson in gun safety when he played Russian roulette with a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol.

Rashaad, age 19, was visiting friends when he announced his intention to play the deadly game. He apparently did not realize that a semiautomatic pistol, unlike a revolver, automatically inserts a cartridge into the firing chamber when the gun is cocked. His chance of winning a round of Russian roulette was zero, as he quickly discovered.

In Malaysia, something strange is happening to executioners manning the gallows. Three people in the last two years have accidentally hanged themselves while clowning around. The most recent mishap occurred when the executioner prepared for an upcoming sentence and slipped the noose around his own neck. Apparently he wanted pictures taken of himself standing on the gallows, but when the trap door gave way, the fall broke his neck instantly.

Both of these individuals are in the running for the Darwin Awards. The honor is not as...