IJMC - Not Quite the Darwin Awards

Ok, so there's only one message here. Good enough for ya. And sometime, 
I'll remember to leave the http address to the actual Darwin Awards. Oh 
well, I'm going up to eat now, g'night. :)                        -dave

P.S. Hi Jennifer, yes, lunch good. I'll email later. I know busy. <grin>






In rural Carbon County, Pa a group of me were drinking beer and
discharging firearms from the rear deck of a home owned by Irving
Michaels, age 27.  The men were firing at a raccoon that was wandering
by, but the beer apparently impaired their aim and, despite the
estimated 35 shots the group fired, the animal excaped into a 3 foot
diameter drainage pipe some 100 feet away from Mr. Michaels deck.
Determined to terminate the animal, Mr. Michaels retrieved a can of
gasoline and poured some down the pipe, intending to smoke the animal
out.  After several unsuccessful attempts to ignite the fuel, Michaels
emptied the entire 5 gallon fuel can down the pipe and tried to ignite
it again, to no avail.  Not one to admit defeat by wildlife, the
determined Mr. Michaels proceeded to slide feet-first approximately 15
feet down the sloping pipe to toss the match.  The subsequent rapidly
expanding fireball propelled Mr. Micahels back the way he had come,
though at a much higher rate of speed.  He exited the angled pipe
"like a Polaris missile leaves a submarine," according to witness
Joseph McFadden, 31.  Mr. Michaels was launched directly over his own
home, right over the heads of his astonished friends, onto his front
lawn.  In all, he traveled over 200 feet through the air.  "There was
a Doppler Effect to his scream as he flew over us," McFadden reported,
"followed by a loud thud." Amazingly, he suffered only minor injuries.
"It was actually pretty cool," Michaels said, "Like when they shoot
someone out of a cannon at the circus.  I'd do it again if I was sure
I wouldn't get hurt."