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25 May
1999, Ukraine) A fisherman in Kiev electrocuted himself while
fishing in the river Tereblya. The 43-year-old man connected
cables to the main power supply of his home, and trailed the
end into the river. The electric shock killed the fish, which
floated belly-up to the top of the water. The man waded in to
collect his catch, neglecting to remove the live wire, and
tragically suffered the same fate as the fish.
In an
ironic twist, the man was fishing for a mourning meal to
commemorate the first anniversary of his mother-in-law's
death.
(June
1999, Utah) Paramedics were called to a discotheque in
Salt Lake City, where a young man had lost consciousness on
the dance floor. Bystanders said, "One minute he was
dancing, and the next minute he was lying on the floor turning
blue." The paramedics determined that the man had
suffered a heart attack. His skin was blue from lack of
oxygen. Sadly, he died enroute to the hospital. In the ER, the
true cause of death was discovered when they removed his
personal effects. It turned out that he had strapped a roll of
quarters to his crotch in the hopes of making his
equipment appear larger. Unfortunately, the quarters were tied
with surgical tubing, which had cut off circulation to his
leg. Apparently the lack of blood flow combined with the
exertion of dancing triggered his heart attack.
The
moral of the story: size does count. If his
brain had been larger, he would still be alive.
More
Darwin Awards
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(13
July 1997, Virginia) Eric A. Barcia, a 22-year-old Reston, VA
resident, was found dead yesterday after he used bungee cords
to jump off a 70-foot railroad trestle, police said. The fast
food worker taped a number of bungee cords together and
strapped one end around his foot. Barcia had the foresight to
anchor the other end to the trestle at Lake Accotink Park, and
he even remembered to measure the length of the bungee cords
to make sure that they were a few feet short of the 70 foot
drop. He proceeded to fall headfirst from the trestle, and hit
the pavement 70 feet below several seconds later. Fairfax
County police said "The stretched length of the cord that
he had assembled was greater than the distance between the
trestle and the ground."
Perhaps
the deceased fast food worker should have stuck to the line,
"Do you want fries with that?"
(Fort
Worth Star-Telegram)
In December near Mineral Wells, Tex., three men who were attempting
to steal copper wire off live electrical lines for resale were
electrocuted. Copper wiring is a valuable scrap metal in Texas but
is usually stolen from electric cables that are not being used.
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