EDITOR: When simply stupid turns in to the simple dead

There are some truly mind-blowing stories that emerge from our wire services each week highlighting the weird and different events that go on in our world.
Some of these stories are genuinely funny, others are just hard to believe.
A particular one in the hard-to-believe category was the annual Darwin Awards.
These awards recognise "individuals who ensure the long-term survival of our species by removing themselves from the gene pool in a sublimely idiotic fashion".
In a nutshell, what we are looking at here are the most idiotic events that took place on our planet in the past 12 months.
These incredible events have been put together in a book. I am not sure whether we can be proud that three New Zealanders gained an honourable mention this time around.
One unnamed individual took out a "notorious" award as he didn't kill himself in the course of his actions.
This particular chap opted to use dishwashing liquid as a cheaper alternative to brake fluid and "surprisingly" crashed his car into a power pole while trying to negotiate a bend in the road.
Two New Zealanders won posthumous awards and their endeavours are no laughing matter either.
One man jacked up his car using a car battery under the jack to create more height.
When the battery collapsed, the car crushed him.
The other man was pulled in to a processing plant machine when the weight that he had placed on a lever shutting the machine down moved.
Both men suffered fatal injuries as punishment for what can only be described as stupidity.
Past winners of these dubious awards have included terrorists who set their bombs on daylight saving time and delivered them on standard time, blowing themselves up.
People who tried to put garlands around a tiger's neck and Cambodian men who took turns to stomp on a land mine they had brought into a bar.
Everyone involved in the health sector, particularly ACC, must get highly exasperated when they read of these sorts of incidents, particularly involving Kiwis.
Stupid _ yes. Funny _ maybe to some. Avoidable _ most definitely.
But then, I guess, we can probably all look back at things we have done that in hindsight we now accept weren't the cleverest of things to do.
I can remember particular events during my travelling days and wonder how I ever managed to return home in one piece.
I guess at various times in our lives we all feel bulletproof, especially when we are young. It is during these times we hope our greater intellect will help us suppress the gung-ho ideas that emerge from our brains.
If intellect fails us, we need to rely on old-fashioned good luck to get us through. Luck saved one chap mentioned above but failed two others.
A benefit of highlighting these actions is that we all might take a few seconds to stop and think before our own stupid acts.
If that is the case, the Darwin Awards have served a useful purpose.
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