Dawrinove nagrade lahko prejmejo posamezniki, pari ali skupine, ki izpolnjujejo naslednjih 5 pogojev:
ne smejo biti sposobni reprodukcije (torej morajo biti mrtvi ali sterilni)
dokazati morajo izredno nesposobnost presoje (biti korajo skrajno neumni in/ali predrzni)
sami morajo nositi posledice svojih dejanj
morajo biti mentalno zdravi in sposobni odgovarjati za svoja dejanja (izključeni so torej otroci in pravi norci)
dogodek, za katerega so bili nominirani, mora biti dokazljiv
Seveda vsi nominiranci ne izpolnjujejo pogojev. V tem primeru so uvrščeni v kategorijo “near miss”, ki tako kot v letalstvu, pomeni zelo neprijetno bližnje srečanje.
Tole je nekaj primerov Darwinovih nagrad:
Payback (darwin award)
Serbia | 23-year-old Strahinja Raseta was wanted by Croatian police for murder, as well as for a spectacular robbery of a central post office. He fled to Serbia to evade the law. But even bad guys have friends… Read on.
Mortar Fire (near miss)
This moment of blissfully pure and unadulterated stupidity happened while I was building custom exhausts on a series of hot rods. Due to the exacting workmanship required, I did these jobs after hours when I wasn’t distracted… Read on.
Putting the Pain in Propane (near miss)
Florida | Responding to a request to extinguish a routine trash fire, the Lieutenant said, ‘You gotta see this.’ An intoxicated group of men had decided that throwing paint cans into their 55-gallon drum fire was fun, but not fun enough… Read on.
Chutes and Spills (near miss)
Iraq | A group of Marines located some surplus parachutes that had been taken out of active circulation. The silk chutes were good for nothing more than providing shade in Iraq–or midsummer mischief… Read on.
Best Supporting Actor (darwin award)
South Africa | For several days Johannesburg office workers watched a demolition worker chip away at a pillar supporting a concrete slab above him. Dozens of observers watched the slow and senseless demolition proceed… Read on.
Low Flying Drunk (darwin award)
Canada | Sleeping residents of Chilliwack were awakened by the sound of a small aircraft flying lower than usual. The engine noise was like a mosquito, zooming too close too quick, then veering away. What the bleep was going on…? Read on.
Seattle Times poroča o srečanju 64 govorcev malega indijanskega jezika Sališ, ki ga govori samo še okoli 200 pripadnikov plemena Kalispel. Govorili so predvsem o ohranjanju jezika in skoraj izumrle kulture, ki ga je ustvarila. Kako močna je dominacija angleščine lahko vidimo že po tem, da je domača stran plemena pisana v angleščini. Na strani zvemo, da poteka projekt zapisovanja jezika in zbiranja pisnih virov ter zapis mitov in zgodb. Nekoč so bili pripadniki plemena videti takole:
Ohranjena je še njihova govorica, ki je slišati takole:
Gorile niso navdušene nad tem, da jih gledate naravnost v oči. Podobno kot med zaporniki, tudi med gorilami velja pogled v oči za agresivno gesto. Da se gorile zaradi srepih pogledov obiskovalcev ne bi preveč razburjale, je amsterdamski živalski vrt za obiskovalce pripravil posebna očala iz lepenke z narisanimi očmi, ki dajejo vtis, kot da obiskovalci gledajo vstran.
Pogled na sliko pa pove, da so sedaj bolj kot gorile vznemirjeni obiskovalci sami, ki se naenkrat znajdejo v nenormalnem svetu, kjer je pogled zgubil svojo funkcijo. In ker je pogled eden od štirih gonov/pulzij, ki so lastne vsem ljudem, obenem pa je konsititutiven za nastanek osebne identitete, saj se otrok v zrcalu prvič prepozna kot enoten in polno funkcionalen jaz, se med slepimi ljudmi počutimo nelagodno, saj nam ne vračajo pogleda in s tem ne potrjujejo naše identitete. Podobno na nas deluje Geordi La Forge is Star Trecka – verjetno vam je ljubši pogled na Geordija z kovinskim vizirjem kot pa pogled na slepe oči.
Did you know – shift happens je serija grafičnih predstavitev statističnih podatkov o svetu v katerem živimo in se ga v bistvu ne zavedamo. Ne vemo, da se je vsak osmi ameriški par spoznal na spletu, da 100% indijskih maturantov tekoče govori angleško, da nas šola pripravlja na poklice, ki jih še ni in na delo s tehnologijami, ki jih bomo šele morali razviti, da bo današnja generacija opravljala 10-14 poklicev še preden bodo stari 39 let itd.
Pred časom je v Angliji izbruhnila afera “paki”. Ko se je princ William odpravljal na vojaško misijo, je v letališki avli snemal svoje vojaške kamerade in jih poimenoval z njihovimi vzdevki. Enemu med njimi je tako rekel “paki” . To je beseda o kateri slovar slenga pravi takole:
paki
Noun. 1. A Pakistani, but also used as a general and particularly offensive term for any person/immigrant from the Indian sub-continent, such as Pakistan, India, Bengal, Sri Lanka etc. Offens.
2. A shop or delicatessen run by asians. Offens.
Mediji so seveda začeli govoriti o prikritem rasizmu princa in kraljeve družine, vendar pa je diskurzivni pomen besede “paki” težje določiti, kot bi se to zdelo na prvi pogled. David Crystal o tem kako bi določili semantično valenco besede paki v konkretnem primeru, pravi:
“With potentially sensitive words, everything depends on the phonology and the pragmatics – in other words, how they’re said and what the intentions are. A word said in a friendly tone is worlds away from the same word said in a belligerent one.
Establishing the intentions behind the usage is crucial. If everyone in the group uses the nickname, including the recipient of it, and everyone is comfortable with it, then anyone who peers in from outside and criticizes it must have their own agenda. Usually that agenda is pretty obvious (eg anti-monarchy), but the criticism is likely to be unpersuasive if it ignores linguistic realities. And certainly, judging by the opinions I’ve read in the various newspaper forums, most people haven’t been persuaded.
Everything in language depends on the circumstances. Words are the messengers of intentions, and we should never shoot the messenger. Equally, we should always be alert to the possible impact our words might have on our listeners, and choose them well. Especially if we suspect there could be a newspaper reporter listening round the corner.
We know from the theoreticians of pragmatics that there’s a useful distinction to be drawn between intended and actual perlocutionary effects, but this is usually discussed with reference to the effect of an utterance on the person(s) we are talking to. I’m not sure how the theory handles newspaper eavesdroppers, let alone the reactions of the readers of their reports. If there are people who, for whatever reason, hate a particular word, then this might influence our readiness to use the word in public situations, but should we allow them to have any influence on the way we talk in private? I’ve seen the argument this week that we should, on the grounds that to use a term like Paki even in private shows that the user has an undesirable mindset. This strikes me as being overly simplistic, but I’d be interested to hear some views.”
Saul Griffith je navdušen nad zmaji. Ne zato, ker bi bil infantilen, ampak zato, ker z njihovo pomočjo lahko poganjamo ladje, surfamo in predvsem ustvarjamo električno energijo. Zmaji so bili otroška igrača samo od leta 1920 pa do danes, ko bodo dobili novo vlogo. Kitajci so jih uporabljali v vojaške namene in so z njimi dvigovali v zrak svoje izvidnike, brata Wright pa sta zmaje uporabljala za preizkušanje krmilnih površin letala, preden sta se zares dvignila v zrak. In danes lahko zmaji proizvajajo velike količine električne energije.
Ko boste zagledali Susan Boyle, si ne boste nikoli mislili, da zna čudovito peti. Ko pa se bo neomikano vedla v pogovoru z žirijo, se boste samo prizanesljivo nasmehnili in obrnili stran. Če pa jo boste slišali peti, vam bo takoj jasno kako močni in usodni so lahko vplivi predsodkov in okvirov.
Inštrukcije že za 9 EUR!
