So far this year, I have not read of any incidents where people or pets were mistaken for deer and shot by novice hunters. And I haven’t read about anyone getting stuck in a chimney. Typically annual occurrences.

So I was wondering if the human gene pool is improving.

I have used the “mistaken-for-a-deer” and the “stuck-in-the-chimney” incidents as the poster children for “nimkumpookness,” suggesting that there could be a seminar to discuss that humans might not be the higher of the animals. And I daily check the Associated Press science wires to see what new advancements mankind has produced, hoping that the ratio of smart to stupid heavily favors smart.

So not having heard about another novice deer hunter shooting a horse (with a rider) thinking it was a deer, I became cautiously optimistic in this regard.

Then I came across something called the Darwin Award. This facetious award is given to incidents of incredible dumbness.

And I’m just assuming here that maybe the designation of “Darwin Award” suggests that there are those who should be thinned from the herd.

When I Googled this award, I found the following listed among the many candidates/incidents. And I quote …

“• The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat cutting machine and submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company, expecting negligence, sent out one of its men to have a look for himself. He tried the machine and lost a finger. The chef’s claim was approved.

• After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was  transporting had escaped. Apparently not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride.

He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. Reportedly, the deception wasn’t discovered for 3 days.

• An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head wounds received from an oncoming train.

When asked how he received the injuries, the lad told police that he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.

• A man walked into a Circle-K in Louisiana, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer…$15.

• As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911 immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes, the police apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the car and drove back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, ‘Yes, officer, that’s her. That’s the lady I stole the purse from.’

• When his 38-caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach, California, would-be robber  did something that can only inspire wonder. He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked…”

What’s scary is that this is only a sampling. But given the population of the world, I remain hopeful that the ratio tilts favorably toward sanity. But I do note that there’s a big difference between “cautiously optimistic” and “downright giddy.”

( Email: dwain.walden@gaflnews.com)