Blog meme: Personal Finance Darwin Awards 2012
by Harri Pierce on Feb 3,2012
A 22-year-old man from Reston, Virginia was found dead after he tried to use octopus straps to bungee jump off a 70-foot rail road trestle. Fairfax County police said Eric Barcia, a fast food worker, taped a bunch of the straps together, wrapped an end around one foot, anchored the other end to the trestle at Lake Accotink Park, jumped and hit the pavement. Warren Carmichael, a police spokesman, said investigators think Barcia was alone because his car was found nearby. ‘The length of the cord that he had assembled was greater than the distance between the trestle and the ground,’ Carmichael said. Police say the apparent cause of death was ‘Major trauma.’
The Darwin Awards, 2009
In honour of Darwin Day (12 February), we’re hosting a Personal Finance Darwin Awards blog meme.
Unfamiliar with the Darwin Awards? The awards were established to commemorate people who have eliminated themselves from the gene pool through the most idiotic means possible. Morbid? Well yes. But also darkly entertaining.
Our Darwin Awards are less about bowing out of evolution and more about revealing the dumbest financial mistake you’ve ever made.
Anyone up for this challenge? All you’ll need to do is make sure that your post on the most idiotic financial mistake you’ve ever made goes live between 6 – 11 February. Please let me know if you’ve published a post by leaving a comment here or on the Yakezie forum, or by sending me an email at totallymoney@ymail.com.
On 12 February, I’ll publish a round-up of all the posts and announce the official winner of the Personal Finance Darwin Awards 2012!
Looking forward to reading about your financial faux pas!
{Image: Daniel Zimmel}
Harri Pierce
Online Community Manager
