For courage and valor in the face of deadly fatness...A fitness drive ordered by Thailand police chiefs proved too much for one traffic cop, who collapsed and died after running 600 meters.
Senior Sergeant-Major Insom Kamla died of heart failure after keeling over in front of fellow officers only a third of the way into a fitness test at a running track in the city of Chiang Mai.
Thailand's brown-uniformed traffic police have long been noted for their ability to eat above their ability to direct traffic. A report last year suggested nearly half of Bangkok's finest had high cholesterol levels, leading to a two-week Fight for 40 inches\ campaign to slim down pear-shaped patrolmen in the capital.
Since he died on duty, Insom could be considered for a posthumous promotion.
—ReutersTo bankruptcy ... and beyond!
In 2003, ""Star Trek"" fanatic Tony Alleyne tried to sell his small apartment in Leistershire, England, for the equivalent of about $1.7 million, after having converted it to a finely detailed model of the starship ""Enterprise"" (with transporter control, warp core drive, voice-activated lighting and security, infinity mirror, etc.).
In February 2006, Alleyne, weary of the lack of buyer interest, filed for bankruptcy and moved to Plan B: to gut his ""Enterprise"" and redesign the place as the bridge of the ""Voyager"" (from the later Star Trek series), which he will offer at a lower price.
—The London Times D + U + I = $5,000 and six months in jail
Matthew John Wyman, who was told to recite the alphabet at a roadside DUI stop in West Roxbury, Mass., asked the officer if he could please substitute a math problem instead. Answer: no.—The Boston HeraldWeekly Darwin Award (Honorable Mention)This week's winner: While camping in California's Mojave Desert, artist Trevor Corneliusien, 26, chained his own ankles together in order to draw an image of his legs, but when he finished, he realized he did not have the key to unlock the chain. He told sheriff's deputies that he hopped around the desert for 12 hours before arriving at a gas station, where he called for help—New York Times\
