Re: Man Survives Gator Attack On Florida Golf Course
- From: spiznet <mark@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 09:21:11 -0700
If only they had jumped into the Nile, where they would have been
cooler and safer!?!?
On Jun 29, 10:40 pm, charles <charles.uzz...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jun 27, 11:44 am, Rich Travsky <traRvE...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2007/06/26/golfer_survives_ga...
A man who lost his ball in a golf course pond nearly lost a limb when a nearly
11-foot alligator latched on to his arm and pulled him in the water, authorities
said.
Bruce Burger, 50, was trying to retrieve his ball Monday from a pond on the sixth
hole at the Lake Venice Golf Club.
The alligator latched on to Burger's right forearm and pulled him in the pond,
said Gary Morse, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission. Burger used his left arm to beat the reptile until it freed him.
"I saw him reach down to get his ball and he yelled" for help, said Janet Pallo,
who was playing the fifth hole and ran over to drive the man to the clubhouse.
...
I wondered if this was OT for sap, but I guess not. Please don't make
me into a AATer! <grin> But here a guy gets his arm chopped.
Compare and Contrast to this next article, and the selection pressures
in play. Regards, charles... PS... the number of deaths was revised
upwards in a subsequent article.
http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/Update29.htm
RECORD HEAT WAVE IN EUROPE TAKES 35,000 LIVES
Far Greater Losses May Lie Ahead
Janet Larsen
A record heat wave scorched Europe in August 2003, claiming an
estimated 35,000 lives. In France alone, 14,802 people died from the
searing temperatures-more than 19 times the death toll from the SARS
epidemic worldwide. In the worst heat spell in decades, temperatures
in France soared to 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) and
remained unusually high for two weeks.
This summer's high temperatures also hit other European countries.
Germany saw some 7,000 people die from the heat. Spain and Italy each
suffered heat-related losses of nearly 4,200 lives. The heat wave
claimed at least 1,300 lives in Portugal and up to 1,400 lives in the
Netherlands.
In London-which on August 10th recorded its first triple-digit
Fahrenheit temperature-an estimated 900 people died from the heat.
Heat-related fatalities across the United Kingdom reached 2,045. In
Belgium, temperatures higher than any in the Royal Meteorological
Society's register dating back to 1833 brought 150 deaths. Since
reports are not yet available for all European countries, the total
heat death toll for the continent is likely to be substantially
larger. (See data </Updates/Update29_data.htm> .)
August 2003 was the warmest August on record in the northern
hemisphere, but according to the projections of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), even more extreme weather events lie
ahead. By the end of the century, the world's average temperature is
projected to increase by 2.5-10.4 degrees Fahrenheit (1.4-5.8 degrees
Celsius). As the mercury climbs, more frequent and more severe heat
waves are in store.
Though heat waves rarely are given adequate attention, they claim more
lives each year than floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes combined. Heat
waves are a silent killer, mostly affecting the elderly, the very
young, or the chronically ill.
Under normal circumstances, humans maintain a body temperature around
98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. When subject to extreme heat, the body
attempts to maintain this ideal temperature by varying blood
circulation and perspiring. When the internal body temperature rises
above 104 degrees Fahrenheit, vital organs are at risk. If the body
temperature is not brought down, death follows.
The threshold ambient temperature at which more people are at risk for
heat-related health problems varies greatly by location. In general,
when summer temperatures range 10 degrees Fahrenheit or more above the
norm, incidences of heat-related illness increase dramatically. High
humidity compounds the effects of high heat by reducing evaporation,
rendering perspiration a less-effective cooling mechanism. When
excessive heat prevails for more than two consecutive days, the risk
of heat sickness and death escalates. Health and social services may
be overwhelmed.
Heat waves take the greatest human toll in cities. Urban centers,
where the area of heat-absorbing dark roofs and pavement exceeds the
area covered by cooling vegetation, are like "heat islands" and can be
as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the surrounding
countryside. While people in rural areas generally get some relief
from the heat when temperatures fall at night, urban areas stay warmer
around the clock. Air pollution, which usually is worse in cities than
in the countryside, can also exacerbate the health-damaging effects of
high temperatures by further stressing the body's respiratory and
circulatory systems.
Several of the worst heat waves of the twentieth century occurred in
U.S. cities. In 1955, an eight-day run of temperatures over 100
degrees Fahrenheit in Los Angeles left 946 people dead. In 1972, New
York City suffered a two-week heat wave that claimed 891 lives. More
recently, an extreme heat wave in Chicago in 1995 killed 739 people in
a matter of days. Slow political recognition of the threat and an
overloaded response system worsened the effects of the weather
anomaly.
A lack of public recognition of the danger that high temperatures pose
adds to the lethality of heat waves. Heat wave warnings often do not
carry the weight of other natural disaster alerts. Except during major
outbreaks, heat-related deaths often go unreported, and few
governments systematically keep records of them.
Even once a heat wave has passed, politicians are reluctant to
acknowledge its toll. Chicago's mayor denied the severity of the
city's 1995 heat wave. In Europe, it took over a month for France's
government to release heat wave fatality estimates that corroborated
estimates from overwhelmed undertakers. Several neighboring
governments are still challenging reports from medical examiners.
Even in India, where heat-related fatalities in the thousands during
pre-monsoonal high temperatures are no longer uncommon, the National
Disaster Management Cell does not classify heat waves as a natural
disaster. While accurate data are hard to come by, it appears that
India has seen the number of deaths due to heat climb over the years
as populations have grown and temperatures have risen. In May 2003,
peak temperatures of 113-117 degrees Fahrenheit (45-49 degrees
Celsius) claimed over 1,600 lives throughout the country. In the state
of Andhra Pradesh alone, some 1,200 people died from the heat. A year
earlier, a one-week heat wave with temperatures topping 122 degrees
Fahrenheit took over 1,000 lives.
Over the last 25 years the average global temperature rose by 1 degree
Fahrenheit, or 0.6 degrees Celsius. The IPCC's projected rise in
temperature for this century is a global average, but the temperature
is expected to rise more over land, where people live, than over sea.
As temperatures continue to climb, the toll of heat waves in
individual countries could jump from the thousands to the tens of
thousands. The World Meteorological Organization estimates that the
number of heat-related fatalities could double in less than 20 years.
Already we are seeing evidence of more frequent heat waves. In India,
death tolls from heat that were recorded over an entire summer some 10
years ago are now occurring in just one week. In the United States, a
1998 study of summertime temperatures using data from 1949 to 1995
found that the frequency of extremely hot and humid days and the
occurrence of multiple-day heat waves increased significantly during
that period. Some of the increase is due to urbanization, a trend that
is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.
Although the historical data for heat waves leave much to be desired,
we can say with confidence that the August heat wave in Europe has
broken all records for heat-induced human fatalities. As awareness of
the scale of this tragedy spreads, it is likely to generate pressure
to reduce carbon emissions. For many of the millions who suffered
through these record heat waves and the relatives of the tens of
thousands who died, cutting carbon emissions is becoming a pressing
personal issue.
Copyright <../Copyright/index.htm> (c) 2003 Earth Policy Institute
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