The E-Sylum:  Volume 6, Number 51, November 30, 2003, Article 20

URBAN LEGEND, RIGHT?

  Alan continues: "I also enjoyed your piece about the
  Florida bank and the "motherstickers"... if the scene of
  this incident is in Miami (as is most likely!) I'd be happy
  to check out if the plaque is indeed there..."

  Tom DeLorey writes: "Well, I first heard a version of this
  joke about 25 years ago........"

  Ron Haller-Williams writes: "I think I can "prove" that it
  is an urban legend:

  If e.g. you try a GOOGLE search for the PAIR of
  expressions "mother-stickers" and "darwin awards", you
  will find about 569 entries.  Or, with "award" in the
  singular, about 73 entries.  Discounting duplicates, this
  leaves us with over 300 sites claiming that the robber
  won an "official Darwin award".

  However, there is NO TRACE of the story on the
  Official Darwin Awards site at http://www.darwinawards.com/
  Moreover, neither the robber nor anybody else in the story
  would qualify for such an award.  The thing is, there are
  three criteria, all of which must be met:

  1.  Great stupidity is called for.  (No problem so far!)
  2.  The whole point of the Awards is related to Darwin's
       Theory of Evolution.  The perpetrator is required
       (inadvertently!) either to die or at least  to render
        himself or herself incapable of reproduction:
        "Darwin Awards commemorate those who improve
         our gene pool by removing themselves from it."
       (Failure on this point might still lead to an "honourable
       mention".)
  3.  The story must be true.  Attempts ARE made to verify,
        and it is not unheard of for an award to be withdrawn
        or canceled, in which case  the story would remain on
        the site, with additional notes, such as the one at
   http://DarwinAwards.com/darwin/darwin1995-04.html

  Surely a lot of the Bank's customers would be upset at the
  plaque's wording.  And, no matter how good a story, this
  would not be good business!  If enough people were to get
  upset over something like this, and therefore switch to some
  other bank, maybe such an event should be commemorated
  by the creation of a "banking Darwin" award?    ;-)"

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization 
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor 
at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum