The Darwin Awards Countdown to Extinction (34 page)

Father Adelir Antonio gave his life for a worthy cause: To halt the closure of roadside rest stops, which are urgently needed in areas with long stretches of freeway that lack commercial services. Rest stops provide a much-needed break for weary drivers, and are especially needed by truckers who transport food and merchandise across the country. They cost little to maintain and increase public safety. The closure of rest stops in Brazil was blasted by the media as unnecessary, harmful, and bad policy. Father Adelir gave his life for a laudable goal. He is a brave and shining example of the good done by Catholic clergy.

On October 15, 2009, the distraught parents of a six-year-old reported that their child was possibly adrift aboard a huge, homemade helium balloon that they had launched from their lawn. The silver, flying saucer-shaped dirigible was tracked by National Guard helicopters and local police as it drifted across Colorado for sixty miles. Planes were rerouted around the object’s flight path and Denver International Airport was briefly shut down. The balloon finally landed after a two-hour flight—but the child was not on board.

Fearing that the youth had fallen from the balloon, authorities began a comprehensive manhunt of the entire area beneath its flight path. Worldwide media followed the spectacle, which culminated hours later with the anticlimactic discovery that the child had been hiding at home the entire time!

Suspicions soon arose that the incident was a hoax and publicity stunt, particularly following a family interview by Wolf Blitzer on
Larry King Live.
The youngster, when asked the reason for hiding, turned to Dad and blurted out, “You guys said that, um, we did this for the show.” The family had twice been featured in a reality TV show, and may have been eager for a third run.

Two months later, Dad pleaded guilty to “attempting to influence a public servant” and was sentenced to ninety days in jail and fined $36,000; Mom was sentenced to twenty weekend days in jail.

Reference: Condensed from
Wikipedia.org

An Evolutionary Idea in Music.

Using an “evolutionary algorithm” and the ears of the general public, DarwinTunes has been evolving a four-bar loop that began as a primordial auditory soup. After two-hundred-plus generations, the musical track is sounding pretty good. Project leaders recently upped the maximum genome size, and they seek your help.

The DarwinTunes Experiment Needs You!

Evolve the Music.