Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Laughter is the Best Medicine - Tell us a joke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: PMS Witch who wrote (17104)	12/1/2000 1:20:35 PM
From: diddlysquatz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 62549

Bizarre deaths recorded in new book ananova.com A zoo keeper who drowned in elephant dung after giving the animal laxatives and then standing behind it to see whether the drugs were working is the star entry in an A to Z of bizarre deaths. The man who worked at Paderborn zoo, in Germany, gave the elephant 22 packs of laxative and as he stood behind the animal to see if the pills were working, a violent expulsion from the elephant's rear end covered the man and he failed to get out in time, drowning in dung. Katja Doubek has collected stories of strange deaths from around the world and listed them in alphabetical order to create one of the most macabre books on the German Christmas list this year. The Wiesbaden-based psychotherapist follows in the footsteps of the internationally famous Darwin Awards given each year to the person judged to have died the most ridiculous death before having had children - thus saving the human race from his or her genetic influence. Last year's winner was a 43-year-old fisherman from Kiev who electrocuted himself while fishing in the river Tereblya. He connected cables to the main power supply of his home, and trailed the end into the river, electrocuting 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 suffered the same fate as the fish. In her book Katja Doubek follows the same formula, covering the case of the six people who drowned in Egypt trying to rescue a chicken from a pond - they all died but the chicken survived. Perhaps the cleanest way out was the case of Ken Barger from South Carolina in the USA - he was woken up by the telephone but in his half-awake state grabbed his pistol which was lying on the bedside table instead of the phone receiver. Trying to get connected to whoever was calling, Ken pulled the trigger of his Smith and Wesson, shooting himself fatally through the ear. A man who played Russian Roulette with a semi-automatic pistol also gets a mention and the terrorist who sent a letter bomb with insufficient postage and a return address - and was blown up when he opened the package after it was sent back.