#45992: — 10/29  at  03:10 AM
Why can't they call those awards the " The 'Intelligent Design' " awards instead of Darwin Awards? I mean, is evolution ever that determinedly dumb?

They could call the trophy a 'Behe' for his similarly daft performance in Dover, though what Behe shoved up his butt wasn't as spectacular, though requiring more flexibility.

#45993: — 10/29  at  05:07 AM
"Determinedly dumb" was my impression too. There's something truly industrious and methodical about it.

#45995: Alon Levy — 10/29  at  07:00 AM
It's a good lesson: I explained to her that teenaged boys were really, really, really stupid, and she should stay away from them.

You mean she didn't already know that?...

#45999: The Countess — 10/29  at  07:57 AM
I was just waiting for that guy to assplode. They should have used a bigger bottle rocket. A bigger one would have picked him up and carried him around the yard, with sparks flying out of his ass. I would love to see that.

#46004: Raven — 10/29  at  08:56 AM
Another one of my assumptions about how the world works is demolished--I had just always implicitly taken for granted that not shoving a rocket up your own ass is one of the few universal human values.

As Felix pointed out, though, in that Odd Couple episode where he beat a ticket-scalping charge:

"Never assume, because you make an ASS out of U and ME."

Particularly apropos in this case.

#46005: Les Lane — 10/29  at  09:27 AM
On the other hand the video shows that neither absence of talent nor absence of intelligence are barriers to fame.

#46011: Jeff — 10/29  at  10:19 AM
That was a riot.

#46013: Reed A. Cartwright — 10/29  at  10:56 AM

I showed this one to my daughter, too. It's a good lesson: I explained to her that teenaged boys were really, really, really stupid, and she should stay away from them. This little video was very convincing.

I'd be careful with that argument because you may just convince her to hang out with grown men.

#46014: — 10/29  at  11:00 AM
Were his testes destroyed? Please, please may it be so...

Trackback: Guys, seriously, my ass is on fire! Tracked on: Stupid Evil Bastard (63.247.143.6) at 2005 10 29 07:56:23
No, it's not Cartman from South Park. It's Sam's Butt Rocket. A video clip in which we get a great demonstration of why you should never try to launch a bottle rocket from your asshole, unless you're as big of an idiot as the teenage male in this video. Warning: NSFW due to partially naked dumbass. On the one hand it's always amusing to watch idiots injure themselves, but on another it still amazes me that there are people out there so stupid as to think this could possibly……

#46015: — 10/29  at  11:04 AM
Obviously no one told him "Once the fuse is lit, relax and cough!"

Too funny!

#46016: Jeremy — 10/29  at  11:07 AM
My favorite part is how they keep the slo-mo going after it's over and you can hear someone shouting "OHHHH MYYYY GOOOOODDDDD!" in slo-mo.

#46019: — 10/29  at  11:41 AM
HAHAHA, I haven't laughed this hard since I saw the video of the porn star biting down on the penis and pinching the testes of a guy after he accidently choked her during a blow job.

#46020: — 10/29  at  12:45 PM
Did you say 'Powerline Boys' or 'Beltway Boys'?

#46021: — 10/29  at  12:56 PM
The thing to keep in mind is that there is only one part of thing that is stupid... the part where the intial assumption (that shoving a rocket up your ass is not a stupid thing) goes unchecked. Every else flows quite logically an intelligently from that one bad asumption.

Kind of like Creationism.

There is a good chance that the person who tried this won't repeat the experience nor will most of the spectators/viewers), thus demonstrating at least enough intelligence to learn fom experience, unlike Creationists.

"Intelligent Design, dumber than shoving a rocket up your ass"

#46023: — 10/29  at  01:18 PM
Did a little Google search on "bottle rocket butt" hoping to find enlightenment on why someone would want to do this. Enlightenment was elusive, but I found 2 more videos of this type of idiocy, one written account, and one still photo.

#46026: — 10/29  at  02:49 PM
This is off topic (well...) but I think PZ's gonna love this:

The revolt against reason: The culture war and the fight to save rationality

This is from Renew America, so prepare to go through the looking glass. They took "family" and "values", they're pitching a battle over "science", and now they're gunnin' for "reason" and "rationality".

Oh, and in case you all didn't get the memo, "Darwinism" is now old speak, from here on refer to it as "the evolution movement" (although this will probably mutate into "the Darwinism movement" soon enough). You heard it here first.

#46028: Alon Levy — 10/29  at  03:09 PM
I couldn't continue beyond the first third of that stupid article - it's almost 5 am, and the last thing I want to do right now is read pseudo-intellectual vanity. Let's just say that every political scientist you'll ask will tell you that it's the liberals who support rationality and the conservatives who promote fallibilism. Even the socialists (who are emphatically not liberals) are split on postmodernism; in fact the greatest proponent of science in the science wars, Alan Sokal, is fairly radical leftist.

#46031: — 10/29  at  04:46 PM
But Alon... war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength. Why can't irrationality be rational?

Besides, we all know the political scientists of which you speak are a cabal of dogmatic political materialists. If the definition of politics was justly expanded to allow the supernatural, then Conservatives would all be perfectly reasonable.

I know, allusions to Orwell have become almost as wolf-calling as allusions to Hitler (and I wouldn't be surprised if someone already had some Godwin-like "law" about it), but when confronted with something as tediously unsubtle as that article, one can't ignore the aptness.

The sort of people who write stuff like that view the dictionary not as a helpful reference book, but as a map of territory to be conquered. As Alon noted, "reason" and "rationality" are currently occupied by the enemy, so they must make a valiant charge to take them. And if they can't take a word, they do the equivalent of salting the earth, as was done with "liberal", which is now practically a swear word not fit for mixed company.

Creationists have been doing this too, but in a comically reactionary, ape-like way. "Creation Science" was simply crude mimicry as an attempt to claim "science" as their own. Since the name "creationism" is used against them, they adopted "Intelligent Design" and persistently call evolution "Darwinism" (the ingenious I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I stratagem). And now that the term "ID movement" is being used, that article introduces "evolution movement".

I have a prediction, although a rather obvious and general one: "ID" (as in the term) is on the ropes, what with the Pandas fiasco, and there's speculation as to what new PR branding they'll come up with next after they retreat to their corner and lick their wounds for a while. In the next round -- and there will always be a next round with these people -- I predict their terminology will follow this pattern of co-option of the terms used against them. So if you want to know what words they will be using in the future, look at what words are being used against them today.

#46035: — 10/29  at  05:15 PM
So yesterday someone here was arguing that the definition of 'try anything once' meant something positive. This is proof that some people dont see it quite that way.

#46058: — 10/29  at  11:15 PM
jpf....

That article was insulting. I didn't read the evolution parts, but if they were as bad (and as FALSE!) as the physics parts....then I don't know what more I can do but weep for this country.

Wow.

#46059: Don S — 10/30  at  12:44 AM

So if you want to know what words they will be using in the future, look at what words are being used against them today.

I guess after ID gets booted they'll attack with "Fundie Science".

#46073: The Count — 10/30  at  08:18 AM
What a steaming pile of condescending tripe... even though I am an EE, that article is obvious crap.

The "fight" is not going to end until folks finally stop believing in their magical dieties and start living on earth. Until then, the other side will continue to fight for the "hearts and minds" of America, much to the detriment of our scientific future.

#46074: Keith Douglas — 10/30  at  08:20 AM
When people bring up the Darwin Awards, I sometimes use it as a "teachable moment" about selection, since it is very clear in some of these cases that the victim is not actually subject to much selective pressure from his stupidity. Also useful to sometimes mention Sarkar's book Genetics and Reductionism too, since the conversation sometimes goes that way. Anyone else use the Darwin Awards these sorts of ways?

#46075: The Count — 10/30  at  08:20 AM
Yes, BTW, I'm just like Deanna Troy... always stating the already obvious!!!