Essie Award Winner

Well, it's time for an Essie, the award that recognizes incredible stupidity.

Josh Myers wanted to celebrate the 4th of July. He had bottle rockets in his back pocket. He had two sticks of illegal M-1000, firecrackers with the equivalent power of a quarter stick of dynamite each, in his front pocket.

You guessed it -- somehow the bottle rockets ignited and they ignited the M-1000's. Josh put his left hand over his pocket before he fell to the ground. He said, "At first, I didn't think I lost my hand. I thought I just took a pretty bad blow. But then I ended up looking, and I was like, yeah, I saw it. My hand was gone."

So, Josh, though you have my deepest sympathy, you still get an Essie Award.

"Calif. man maimed when fireworks in pocket explode." The Paris News; July 7, 2010; p. 3.