Darwin Award Candidate [Archive]

Cave Man

Dec 9, 2009, 06:21 PM

Blows his own jaw off with spiked gum, dies from injury.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/chewing-gum-explodes-killing-student-ukraine/story?id=9290557

ucfgrad93

Dec 9, 2009, 09:05 PM

Yeah, I saw this earlier today. It is a sad way to go, for sure.

Blaine

Dec 9, 2009, 09:08 PM

Rest in peace :(

rhett7660

Dec 9, 2009, 11:14 PM

Not only sad,,but it sounds pretty darn painful..

pukifloyd

Dec 9, 2009, 11:37 PM

ouch:(

pretty sad...imagine the shock the mother went through when she saw his blown up face:eek:

i feel sick even thinking about it! RIP Vladimir!

Abstract

Dec 9, 2009, 11:39 PM

Rest in peace :(

Meh....I was going to replace 'peace' with 'pieces', but this was a somewhat sad story. He died due to a mistake, not necessarily his own stupidity.

philbeeney

Dec 9, 2009, 11:52 PM

Meh....I was going to replace 'peace' with 'pieces', but this was a somewhat sad story. He died due to a mistake, not necessarily his own stupidity.

I think dipping chewing gum in citric acid sounds pretty stupid. Could've been lemon juice which wouldn't be too bad, I suppose.

mscriv

Dec 10, 2009, 02:58 PM

I was so shocked at reading this that my jaw hit the.... Okay that was bad, I mean, in poor taste... ooh, it's getting worse. OK, seriously, thig guy needed this to happen about as much as he needed a hole in his.... Wow, I can't seem to make it stop.

dXTC

Dec 10, 2009, 03:58 PM

mscriv

Dec 10, 2009, 04:08 PM

You do realize you're not on Fark.com, don't you? LOL

What is Fark.com? I'm at work and from the sounds of the name I shouldn't just jaunt over there.

Based on the OP's mention of this being worthy of a Darwin award I assumed humor would be permissable. If you would prefer I quit my jabber-jawing, drat, there I go again. :D

Aeolius

Dec 10, 2009, 05:30 PM

I guess he didn't know the gum was loaded?

andiwm2003

Dec 10, 2009, 06:37 PM

something is wrong here. i can't believe he accidentally laced his gum with enough explosive to kill himself. either suicide or murder or totally made up.

btw: my mom always told me chewing gum can pull out you fillings. didn't know she meant it that way.....

patrick0brien

Dec 10, 2009, 07:02 PM

btw: my mom always told me chewing gum can pull out you fillings. didn't know she meant it that way.....

I think in this case the fillings went in the opposite direction.

I guess he didn't know the gum was loaded?

WIN!!

mscriv

Dec 10, 2009, 08:22 PM

something is wrong here. i can't believe he accidentally laced his gum with enough explosive to kill himself. either suicide or murder....

Don't let it get you down, these kinds of things happen for no real reason. Try to stay positive, hang in there, and keep your chin up!

:D I could hardly type that one out I was snickering so much to myself... :D

ucfgrad93

Dec 10, 2009, 08:55 PM

Don't let it get you down, these kinds of things happen for no real reason. Try to stay positive, hang in there, and keep your chin up!

:D I could hardly type that one out I was snickering so much to myself... :D

Thank you ladies & gentlemen, he will be here all week. Don't forget to tip your hard working waitresses.:D

DAC47

Dec 11, 2009, 05:39 AM

when i saw this topic i though you might be referring to a couple of local candidates.
Using the intercity railway line as a get-away route nice thinking...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/burglary-theory-as-quad-bike-pair-killed-by-train-1836908.html

steve2112

Dec 11, 2009, 10:05 AM

What is Fark.com? I'm at work and from the sounds of the name I shouldn't just jaunt over there.

Based on the OP's mention of this being worthy of a Darwin award I assumed humor would be permissable. If you would prefer I quit my jabber-jawing, drat, there I go again. :D

Fark is a news aggregator site. Members can submit suggestions, and the approved submissions show up on the site under one of several categories such as sports, business, etc. The catch is they get submitted with a brief, catchy, headline and a tag describing the story. Tags include stupid, FAIL, amusing, sappy, and even one for Chirstopher Walken. :) Some of the headlines are pretty funny.

It's one of my primary news sources, even though it's "not news". Their motto is "It's not news, it's Fark.com".

2jaded2care

Dec 11, 2009, 12:00 PM

Apparently he didn't realize that exploding gum is only useful for blowing up helicopters whilst simultaneously hurling you to safety on the back of a speeding chunnel train... I do that at least once a month...

NeuralControl

Dec 12, 2009, 11:21 PM

This is terribly sad. My condolences to his family. However, something does not seem "right" with the story. He was not new to chemistry. He knew which chemicals to use to get the taste he enjoyed from his gum. He was at his home computer at the time of his death. How did he have access to the chemicals in his home? Sure, I can understand how he got citric acid, but how did he get access to the other chemical that caused his death. If he took it from the university, it should not be terribly difficult to narrow down what compound caused the explosion. I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but a suicide or murder should not be ruled out just yet.

sushi

Dec 12, 2009, 11:41 PM

Sad. Strange story.

I get the feeling that there is more to the story that what was printed.

erickkoch

Dec 13, 2009, 05:17 PM

I can see how this can happen. Something similar happened to one of the chemistry professors at my university. He lost a hand in an explosion. Apparently, someone left a beaker under a ventilation hood, the chemicals in it had dried out to a solid. He picked it up and it exploded.

I recall some students discussing "recipes" for contact explosives. Dried chemical compounds can be very unstable and explode on contact. They claimed to make crystals and spread them on the ground, when you walk on them they "pop" and make snapping noises as they explode. They meant it as a joke but you can see that it's potentially very dangerous to play with such things.

Cave Man

Dec 13, 2009, 05:18 PM

Mmm. I wonder what picric acid tastes like?

dukebound85

Dec 13, 2009, 05:21 PM

michael.lauden

Dec 13, 2009, 05:39 PM

you guys are a little late on this one.

and darwin awards are for killing yourself by being stupid.

technically he was very smart, but everyone makes mistakes

Cave Man

Dec 13, 2009, 05:47 PM

you guys are a little late on this one.

There's always next year. ;)

and darwin awards are for killing yourself by being stupid. technically he was very smart, but everyone makes mistakes

I think Forest Gump would say "stupid is as stupid does." :eek:

Keeping explosives in your home isn't too smart, IYAM.

Fred Bear

Dec 14, 2009, 09:44 AM

I believe Darwin Awards are given to people who improve the human gene pool by removing the possibility of their own defective genes going forward to the next generation, the most certain method being their decease before procreation, but not quite the only one?

mscriv

Dec 14, 2009, 10:02 AM

you guys are a little late on this one. and darwin awards are for killing yourself by being stupid. technically he was very smart, but everyone makes mistakes

I think Forest Gump would say "stupid is as stupid does." :eek: Keeping explosives in your home isn't too smart, IYAM.

Take it easy guys. There's no need to argue. I mean seriously, this is nothing to lose your head over.

Fred Bear

Dec 14, 2009, 10:08 AM

I remember that a youth in my class made some explosive. He put it damp into his top pocket but it dried out during classes and exploded right
behind me. (I think the culprit got discoloured fingers but no serious damage - he was lucky with it right under his eyes!)

Unfortunately I must have been asleep at the time as everyone else knew what had happened but I had no idea what the fuss was until I was enlightened!

Afterwards the classroom floor crackled underfoot for some time as grains of debris that had failed to explode objected to being trodden on.

Cave Man

Dec 14, 2009, 10:14 AM

Take it easy guys. There's no need to argue. I mean seriously, this is nothing to lose your head over.

He's the one who started all this jawin'. He's just being a pain in the neck, IYAM.

I3eXa

Dec 14, 2009, 10:21 AM

I wanna feel sorry for the guy but like every mad scientist, I think he's lost his head!:D

mscriv

Dec 14, 2009, 10:29 AM

I wanna feel sorry for the guy but like every mad scientist, I think he's lost his head!:D

Amateur ;)

He's the one who started all this jawin'. He's just being a pain in the neck, IYAM.

No reason to "chew me out" just because I'm being a little "cheeky".

Besides if all of you were honest about it, you've smiled, snickered, or downright cracked up at my contributions. Admit it! :D