Editing Darwin Awards (section)

==History==
{{stack|[[File:Wendy Northcutt.jpg|thumb|Wendy Northcutt, author of the Darwin Awards website and books]]}}
The origin of the Darwin Awards can be traced back to posts on [[Usenet]] group discussions as early as 1985. A post on August 7, 1985, describes the awards as being "given posthumously to people who have made the supreme sacrifice to keep their genes out of our pool. Style counts, not everyone who dies from their own stupidity can win."<ref name="Freeman_Andy">{{cite news|last=Freeman|first=Andy|title=Darwin Awards.|url=https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!msg/net.bizarre/V5o__gcmIf0/fZ5sv2BvzAsJ%5B1-25%5D|access-date=August 14, 2012|newspaper=[[Google groups]] archive of net.bizarre.|date=August 7, 1985}}</ref> This early post cites an example of a person who tried to break into a [[Death by vending machine|vending machine]] and was crushed to death when he pulled it over on himself.<ref name="Freeman_Andy" /> Another widely distributed early story mentioning the Darwin Awards is the [[JATO Rocket Car]], which describes a man who strapped a [[JATO|jet-assisted take-off]] unit to his [[Chevrolet Impala]] in the [[Arizona]] desert and who died on the side of a cliff as his car achieved speeds of {{convert|250|to|300|mph}}. This story was later determined to be an urban legend by the [[Arizona Department of Public Safety]].<ref name="Mikkelson_Barbara">{{cite news|last=Mikkelson|first=Barbara|title=Carmageddon.|url=http://www.snopes.com/autos/dream/jato.asp|access-date=August 14, 2012|newspaper=[[Snopes]]|date=November 12, 2006}}</ref> Wendy Northcutt says the official Darwin Awards website run by Northcutt does its best to confirm all stories submitted, listing them as, "confirmed true by Darwin". Many of the [[viral email]]s circulating the Internet, however, are hoaxes and urban legends.<ref>{{Cite web|title=2003 Darwin Awards|url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/2003-darwin-awards/|access-date=2022-02-08|website=Snopes.com|date=May 4, 2006 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=2004 Darwin Awards|url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/2004-darwin-awards/|access-date=2022-02-08|website=Snopes.com|date=July 26, 2005 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=2005 Darwin Awards|url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/2005-darwin-awards/|access-date=2022-02-08|website=Snopes.com|date=August 7, 2005 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=2006 Darwin Awards|url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/2006-darwin-awards/|access-date=2022-02-08|website=Snopes.com|date=April 2, 2007 |language=en-US}}</ref>

The website and collection of books were started in 1993 by Wendy Northcutt, who at the time was a graduate in [[molecular biology]] from the [[University of California, Berkeley]].<ref name="Hansen_Suzy" /> She went on to study [[neurobiology]] at [[Stanford University]], doing research on cancer and [[telomerase]]. In her spare time, she organized [[chain letter]]s from family members into the original Darwin Awards website hosted in her personal account space at Stanford. She eventually gave up practical research in 1998, and devoted herself full-time to her website and books in September 1999.<ref name="Hawkins_John">{{cite news |last=Hawkins |first=John |title=A Conversation with Darwin (Webmaster of the Darwin Awards). |url=http://www.rightwingnews.com/interviews/darwin.php |access-date=August 14, 2012 |newspaper=Right Wing News |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622054043/http://www.rightwingnews.com/interviews/darwin.php |archive-date=June 22, 2012 }}</ref> By 2002, the website received 7 million page hits per month.<ref name="Clark_Doug">{{cite news|last=Clark |first=Doug |title=Let's hear it for natural selection. |url=http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=111402&ID=s1253392 |access-date=September 18, 2012 |newspaper=[[The Spokesman-Review]] |date=November 14, 2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203052123/http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=111402&ID=s1253392 |archive-date=December 3, 2013 }}</ref>

Northcutt encountered some difficulty in publishing the first book, since most publishers would only offer her a deal if she agreed to remove the stories from the Internet, but she refused: "It was a community! I could not do that. Even though it might have cost me a lot of money, I kept saying no." She eventually found a publisher who agreed to print a book containing only 10% of the material gathered for the website. The first book turned out to be a success, and was listed on ''[[The New York Times]]'' best-seller list for 6 months.<ref name="John_123reg">{{cite news |author=John |title=Pet porn, rocket cars and hand grenades. |url=http://www.123-reg.co.uk/blog/interviews/darwin-awards-pet-porn-and-hand-grenades/ |access-date=2012-08-31 |newspaper=123-reg |date=2008-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120831004041/http://www.123-reg.co.uk/blog/interviews/darwin-awards-pet-porn-and-hand-grenades/ |archive-date=2012-08-31 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Not all of the feedback from the stories Northcutt published was positive, and she occasionally received email from people who knew the deceased. One such person advised: "This is horrible. It has shocked our community to the core. You should remove this."  Northcutt demurred: "I can't. It's just too stupid." Northcutt kept the stories on the website and in her books, citing them as a "funny-but-true safety guide", and mentioning that children who read the book are going to be much more careful around explosives.<ref name="CNN_interview">{{cite news|title='Darwin Awards' author dedicated to documenting macabre mishaps. |url=http://articles.cnn.com/2001-01-03/entertainment/darwin.awards_1_deaths-darwin-award-wendy-northcutt |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130119105342/http://articles.cnn.com/2001-01-03/entertainment/darwin.awards_1_deaths-darwin-award-wendy-northcutt |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-19 |access-date=2012-09-18 |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=2001-01-03 }}</ref>

The website also awards Honorable Mentions to individuals who survive their misadventures with their reproductive capacity intact. One example of this is [[Lawnchair Larry|Larry Walters]], who attached [[helium]]-filled [[weather balloon]]s to a lawn chair and floated far above [[Long Beach, California]], in July 1982. He reached an altitude of {{convert|16000|ft|m|abbr=on}}, but survived, to be later fined for crossing [[controlled airspace]].<ref name="Greany_Walker_Hecht">{{cite news |author1=Greany, Ed |author2=Walker, Douglas |author3=Hecht, Walter |title=Lawn Chair Larry |url=http://darwinawards.com/stupid/stupid1998-11.html |access-date=August 14, 2012 |newspaper=darwinawards.com}}</ref> (Walters later fell into depression and died by suicide.) Another notable honorable mention was given to the two men who attempted to burgle the home of footballer [[Duncan Ferguson]] (who had an infamous reputation for physical aggression on and off the pitch, including four convictions for assault and who had served six months in Glasgow's [[Barlinnie Prison]]) in 2001, with one burglar requiring three days' hospitalisation after being confronted by the player.<ref name="McSean_Nash">{{cite news |author1=McSean, Tony |author2=Nash, Pete |title=Ferguson 2, Thieves 0 |url=http://darwinawards.com/stupid/stupid2001-04.html |access-date=August 14, 2012 |publisher=darwinawards.com}}</ref>

{{stack|[[File:Lendrem et al.-2014-Figure 1-The Darwin Awards sex differences in idiotic behavior.jpg|thumb|alt=Figure charting sex differences between Darwin Award winners, 1995–2014 |"Male and female Darwin Award winners: Line H<sub>0</sub> indicates expected percentages under the null hypothesis that males and females are equally idiotic."<ref name=Lendrem />]]}}
A 2014 study published in the ''[[British Medical Journal]]'' found that between 1995 and 2014, males represented 88.7% of Darwin Award winners (see figure).<ref name=Lendrem>{{Cite journal| doi=10.1136/bmj.g7094 |volume=349 |pages=g7094 |last1=Lendrem |first1=Ben Alexander Daniel |last2=Lendrem |first2=Dennis William |last3=Gray |first3=Andy |last4=Isaacs |first4=John Dudley |title=The Darwin Awards: sex differences in idiotic behaviour |journal=BMJ |date=December 11, 2014 |issue=dec10 20 |pmid=25500113 |pmc=4263959}}{{open access}}</ref>

The comedy film ''[[The Darwin Awards (film)|The Darwin Awards]]'' (2006), written and directed by [[Finn Taylor]], was based on the website and many of the Darwin Awards stories.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=G. Allen |title='Darwin Awards' explores the wacky ways some people end up dying |url=https://www.sfgate.com/thingstodo/article/darwin-awards-explores-the-wacky-ways-some-2505706.php |access-date=2024-05-07 |work=SFGATE |language=en}}</ref>