[seaventures] Re: Fwd: What are you afraid of?
- From: mrclod@xxxxxxx
- To: seaventures@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 10:29:02 -0400
I hear killer tomatoes exist and feast on weary divers during their surface
interval.
-----Original Message-----
From: Not Young Man goheen <1goheen@xxxxxxxxx>
To: seaventures@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 6:23 am
Subject: [seaventures] Re: Fwd: What are you afraid of?
Stop the insanity. Coconuts are not deadly. The following is from
"The Straight Dope"
----------
Dear Cecil:
During a recent ABC television report about how infrequent shark
attacks really are, we were told, "Each year coconuts falling from
trees kill 150 people." That sounded absurd to me. Could it be true?
If so, what is the cause of death? --Nicki F.
Dear Nicki:
This has gone on long enough. It's about time somebody spoke up for
the coconuts.
For 20 years scientists have been saying you have a better chance of
getting killed by a falling coconut than by whatever lethal life form
they were getting big bucks to study. In 1984, for example, this
column quoted Dr. Merlin Tuttle, curator of mammals at the Milwaukee
Public Museum and founder of Bat Conservation International, on the
chances of being bitten by a bat versus death due to various
misadventures (getting poisoned at a church picnic, murdered by your
spouse, or bitten by a rabid dog or cat). Having worked up a head of
steam, Dr. Tuttle thundered, "Statistically, you have a better chance
in this country of dying from being hit on the head with a coconut
than from a bat biting you."
Now scientists are rallying round the misunderstood shark. In late
May, George Burgess, director of the Florida Museum of Natural
History's International Shark Attack File and a noted shark
researcher, was quoted as saying, "Falling coconuts kill 150 people
worldwide each year, 15 times the number of fatalities attributable to
sharks."
When I called Burgess, he told me he had gotten this statistic off the
Internet--specifically, from a widely reported press release from the
British travel-insurance firm Club Direct, saying that "holidaymakers
hit by falling coconuts will be guaranteed full cover under their
travel insurance policy. The news follows reports from Queensland,
Australia, that coconut trees are being uprooted by local councils
fearful of being sued for damages by people injured by coconuts. . . .
'Coconuts kill around 150 people worldwide each year, which makes them
about ten times more dangerous than sharks,' says Brent Escott,
managing director of Club Direct."
So, Brent, do coconuts kill ten times as many people as sharks, or
fifteen? No response yet from the UK. However, Club Direct's release
also cites an article by Dr. Peter Barss in the Journal of Trauma
entitled "Injuries Due to Falling Coconuts." (The article received an
Ig Nobel Prize, given annually at Harvard by the editors of the Annals
of Improbable Research in recognition of research that "cannot or
should not be replicated." The award was presented in 2001,
notwithstanding that the paper had been published in 1984. Apparently
news takes a while to filter through to Cambridge.) The article
soberly reported on nine injuries in Papua New Guinea due to falling
coconuts, none fatal. Barss notes that a coconut palm tree commonly
reaches 25 meters in height, that a coconut can weigh two kilograms or
more, and that a two-kilogram coconut falling 25 meters would have a
velocity of 80 kilometers per hour on impact and a force of as much as
1,000 kilograms. Several victims suffered fractured skulls, were
rendered comatose, etc.
OK, getting hit by a coconut is no laughing matter. But nowhere does
Barss say that 150 people get killed by coconuts each year. He
provides an anecdotal account of one such death and in a separate
paper estimates that over a four-year period five deaths in his
hospital's service area were related to coconut palm trees (including
climbers falling out of them). A recent report (Mulford et al,
"Coconut Palm-Related Injuries in the Pacific Islands," ANZ Journal of
Surgery, January 2001), which describes itself as "the largest review
of coconut-palm related injuries," also reports no deaths and on the
question of mortality merely cites Barss. Given that Barss' hospital
in Papua New Guinea served a population of 130,000, one conceivably
could project 150 deaths over that portion of the world population
living in proximity to coconut palm trees, but I'm not aware of any
systematic attempt to do so. Noting that death reports in tropical
countries are limited, Barss tells me, "I am surprised that someone
has come up with an actual number for such injuries. It must be a
crude estimate, and you would have to ask them what methodology they
used to verify whether it has any validity." Conclusion: Somebody
pulled the figure about 150 deaths due to coconuts out of thin air.
Take that, shark lovers.
Barss, incidentally, wrote numerous frightening reports while
stationed in the tropics. His subjects included injuries by pigs in
Papua New Guinea, penetrating wounds caused by needlefish in Oceania,
scombroid fish poisoning at Ala Tau, grass-skirt burns, wound necrosis
caused by the venom of stingrays, and inhalation hazards of tropical
"pea shooters." He's now teaching at United Arab Emirates University,
in a desert city built around an ancient date oasis. Can't blame him
for making the switch--who ever heard of getting KO'd by a falling
date?
--CECIL ADAMS
On 8/28/07, Nathan R Kwiatek <nkwiatek@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> Indeed
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: William Chadwell <wrchadwell@xxxxxxx>
> Date: Monday, August 27, 2007 8:19 pm
> Subject: [seaventures] Re: Fwd: What are you afraid of?
>
> > I hear coconuts are pretty dangerous, too.
> >
> >
> > On Aug 27, 2007, at 8:16 PM, Not Young Man goheen wrote:
> >
> > > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > > From: DavBader@xxxxxxx <DavBader@xxxxxxx>
> > > Date: Aug 27, 2007 8:30 PM
> > > Subject: What are you afraid of?
> > > To: Mrclod@xxxxxxx
> > > Cc: 1goheen@xxxxxxxxx
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > From Money Magazine, Sept 07:
> > >
> > > Which animal is responsible for the greatest number of human
> > deaths in
> > > the U.S.?
> > >
> > > Alligator, Bear, Deer, Shark, Snake
> > >
> > > Answer: Deer are responsible for roughly 130 human fatalities a
> > year.> Seven times more that all the other categories combined.
> > >
> > >
> > > ________________________________
> > > Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL.com.
> > >
> > > --
> > > The Not Young Craig Goheen, not to be confused with The young
> > Craig
> > > Goheen.
> > > www.SeaVentures-Scuba.com
> > >
> > > Please send all replys to seaventures@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > > If you need to contact the Administrator of the list then email
> > > Craig at cgoheen(at)gmail.com
> > > Sea Ventures List Serve Message
> >
> > www.SeaVentures-Scuba.com
> >
> > Please send all replys to seaventures@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > If you need to contact the Administrator of the list then email
> > Craig at cgoheen(at)gmail.com
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> >
> www.SeaVentures-Scuba.com
>
> Please send all replys to seaventures@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> If you need to contact the Administrator of the list then email Craig at
cgoheen(at)gmail.com
> Sea Ventures List Serve Message
>
--
The Not Young Craig Goheen, not to be confused with The young Craig Goheen.
www.SeaVentures-Scuba.com
Please send all replys to seaventures@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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