Man Survives Gator Attack On Florida Golf Course

[Rich Travs]

http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2007/06/26/golfer_sur-
vives_gator_attack_in_florida/?p1=MEWell_Pos5

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. ...

[Lee Olsen]

Rich Travsky wrote:
> http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2007/06/26/golfer_s-
> urvives_gator_attack_in_florida/?p1=MEWell_Pos5
>

"Mind you, its amazing how people can delude themselves into
believing the impossible! And I would put the: "nah I wont get
taken by a croc, 'cause the crocs are small and not there etc.
into the class called: 'logical fantasies". This can be
believed by the most "intelligent" people, including Johanson!
I was doing a dig at Alia Bay (south of Koobi Fora) in '87,
and each afternoon when we finished for the day, we would go
down to the shores of Lake Turkana and have a wash. People
("intelligent white people") would throw themselves in the
water and swim and wash, I stayed at the back in knee deep
water, praying that if there were any crocs around at the
time, they would take the stupid "B's" who were further out!"
Su Solomon

"Here's a point to consider when evaluating AAT. I did not
learn this point from some academic overlord with an anti-AAT
agenda; I learned it while trying to avoid becoming crocodile
food in Africa. When I spent several months with a team at
Lake Turkana, Kenya, investigating some of the most important
early hominid sites in the world, one of our overriding
concerns -- while swimming, bathing, or catching fish with a
net -- was to watch out for crocodiles in the shallows. A croc
can be on you, crush your legs in its jaws, and drag you under
to drown before you have time to screech for help.

The fact that crocodiles co-existed in time and space with
early hominids is a colossal blow to AAT, which does not
explain what advantages early humans would have gained by
spending time in crocodile-populated waters; an environment
where they could not make fires, throw stones or sticks, use
other tools, or have any hope whatever of escaping the most
common predator. A troop of early hominids wading in a
lakeshore or swampy forest would best be described as a
crocodile banquet. The cute, feel-good images of babies
swimming freely in a pool, shown in the AAT video, have
nothing to do with the real situation of predator avoidance in
Africa. Ask the Dasenich or Turkana people who live around
Lake Turkana: only visiting maniacs swim in that lake."
Cameron M. Smith PhD

[Spiznet]

Well, this could explain the origin of pets, different from
the one Paul Crowley has. First, before the babies enter the
fetid, insect larveal infested water, the pet dogs, cats and
other herd animals (like goats) are all led down to the
waterside, and they splash around for 30 minutes. If there are
any gators, they will not be hungry after this, they will take
what they want.

Now the Atlantean babies are led down to the idyllic
waterside to "swim away" their cares, presumably eatting lots
of kelp & oysters.

-Spiznet

On Jun 27, 7:31 pm, Lee Olsen <paleoc...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Rich Travsky wrote:
> >http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2007/06/26/golfer_-
> >survives_ga...
>
> "Mind you, its amazing how people can delude themselves into
> believing the impossible! And I would put the: "nah I wont
> get taken by a croc, 'cause the crocs are small and not
> there etc. into the class called: 'logical fantasies". This
> can be believed by the most "intelligent" people, including
> Johanson! I was doing a dig at Alia Bay (south of Koobi
> Fora) in '87, and each afternoon when we finished for the
> day, we would go down to the shores of Lake Turkana and have
> a wash. People ("intelligent white people") would throw
> themselves in the water and swim and wash, I stayed at the
> back in knee deep water, praying that if there were any
> crocs around at the time, they would take the stupid "B's"
> who were further out!" Su Solomon
>
> "Here's a point to consider when evaluating AAT. I did not
> learn this point from some academic overlord with an
> anti-AAT agenda; I learned it while trying to avoid becoming
> crocodile food in Africa. When I spent several months with a
> team at Lake Turkana, Kenya, investigating some of the most
> important early hominid sites in the world, one of our
> overriding concerns -- while swimming, bathing, or catching
> fish with a net -- was to watch out for crocodiles in the
> shallows. A croc can be on you, crush your legs in its jaws,
> and drag you under to drown before you have time to screech
> for help.
>
> The fact that crocodiles co-existed in time and space with
> early hominids is a colossal blow to AAT, which does not
> explain what advantages early humans would have gained by
> spending time in crocodile-populated waters; an environment
> where they could not make fires, throw stones or sticks, use
> other tools, or have any hope whatever of escaping the most
> common predator. A troop of early hominids wading in a
> lakeshore or swampy forest would best be described as a
> crocodile banquet. The cute, feel-good images of babies
> swimming freely in a pool, shown in the AAT video, have
> nothing to do with the real situation of predator avoidance
> in Africa. Ask the Dasenich or Turkana people who live
> around Lake Turkana: only visiting maniacs swim in that
> lake." Cameron M. Smith PhD

[Lee Olsen]

Marc Verhaegen wrote:
> The usual misrepresentations: Lucy lay amid crocodile &
> turtle eggs, but that's no objection for our savanna
> believers to postualte that Lucy was an ancestors of ours...

Why the lies Verhaegin? Nothing else to say? No argument?
Can't read English? Too stupid to use attribution marks?

>
> AAT has nothing to do with crocs (Lucy has): Inform, mes
> enfants: The physiological, anatomical, behavioural & DNA
> differences between Homo & Pan show that our Homo ancestors
> some time after the Homo/Pan split ~5 Ma lived at the
> waterside (coast/lake/river).

You find crocs at waterside, doughboy. That is why Homo didn't
live there.

> Homo remains 1.8 Ma are found in places as far as Ain Hanech
> (Algeria), Dmanisi (Georgia), Mojokerto (Java) etc.: AAT
> says their ancestors after the H/P split got there along
> shorelines, not over dry & open plains.

All associated with cut-marked mammal bones, no kelp, no
oysters. The AAT fairy-tale is dead.

> Leading PAs such as Ph.Tobias

Where are his papers on AAT?

> http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~mvaneech/outthere.htm &
> Chr.Stringer

No papers on AAT? I didn't think so.

> http://www.gnxp.com/MT2/archives/003982.html now agree with
> a "wet" past & shoreline dispersals
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT

Total rubbish invented by delusional amateurs.

[Lee Olsen]

On Jun 28, 5:04 pm, Marc Verhaegen
<m_verhae...@skynet.be> wrote:

Verhaegin just snipped the results:

http://tinyurl.com/y44rnt

Think a croc knows the difference between a golfer and Lucy?

[Marc Verha]

The usual misrepresentations: Lucy lay amid crocodile & turtle
eggs, but that's no objection for our savanna believers to
postualte that Lucy was an ancestors of ours...

AAT has nothing to do with crocs (Lucy has): Inform, mes
enfants: The physiological, anatomical, behavioural & DNA
differences between Homo & Pan show that our Homo ancestors
some time after the Homo/Pan split ~5 Ma lived at the
waterside (coast/lake/river). Homo remains 1.8 Ma are found in
places as far as Ain Hanech (Algeria), Dmanisi (Georgia),
Mojokerto (Java) etc.: AAT says their ancestors after the H/P
split got there along shorelines, not over dry & open plains.
Leading PAs such as Ph.Tobias
http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~mvaneech/outthere.htm & Chr.Stringer
http://www.gnxp.com/MT2/archives/003982.html now agree with a
"wet" past & shoreline dispersals
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT

_______

Op 28-06-2007 01:31, in artikel
1182987090.883638.108350@o61g2000hsh.googlegroups.com, Lee
Olsen <paleocity@hotmail.com> schreef:

>
> Rich Travsky wrote:
>> http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2007/06/26/golfer_-
>> survives_gator_atta ck_in_florida/?p1=MEWell_Pos5
>>
>
> "Mind you, its amazing how people can delude themselves into
> believing the impossible! And I would put the: "nah I wont
> get taken by a croc, 'cause the crocs are small and not
> there etc. into the class called: 'logical fantasies". This
> can be believed by the most "intelligent" people, including
> Johanson! I was doing a dig at Alia Bay (south of Koobi
> Fora) in '87, and each afternoon when we finished for the
> day, we would go down to the shores of Lake Turkana and have
> a wash. People ("intelligent white people") would throw
> themselves in the water and swim and wash, I stayed at the
> back in knee deep water, praying that if there were any
> crocs around at the time, they would take the stupid "B's"
> who were further out!" Su Solomon
>
> "Here's a point to consider when evaluating AAT.

The man is obviously uninformed... As all other obsolete
savanna believers he doesen't know what he's talking about.

> I did not learn this point from some academic overlord with
> an anti-AAT agenda; I learned it while trying to avoid
> becoming crocodile food in Africa. When I spent several
> months with a team at Lake Turkana, Kenya, investigating
> some of the most important early hominid sites in the world,
> one of our overriding concerns -- while swimming, bathing,
> or catching fish with a net -- was to watch out for
> crocodiles in the shallows. A croc can be on you, crush your
> legs in its jaws, and drag you under to drown before you
> have time to screech for help.
>
> The fact that crocodiles co-existed in time and space with
> early hominids is a colossal blow to AAT, which does not
> explain what advantages early humans would have gained by
> spending time in crocodile-populated waters; an environment
> where they could not make fires, throw stones or sticks, use
> other tools, or have any hope whatever of escaping the most
> common predator. A troop of early hominids wading in a
> lakeshore or swampy forest would best be described as a
> crocodile banquet. The cute, feel-good images of babies
> swimming freely in a pool, shown in the AAT video, have
> nothing to do with the real situation of predator avoidance
> in Africa. Ask the Dasenich or Turkana people who live
> around Lake Turkana: only visiting maniacs swim in that
> lake." Cameron M. Smith PhD

[Marc Verha]

Op 28-06-2007 16:40, in artikel
1183041643.686749.31600@c77g2000hse.googlegroups.com, Lee
Olsen <paleocity@hotmail.com> schreef:

just snipped the insults:

>
> Marc Verhaegen wrote:
>> The usual misrepresentations: Lucy lay amid crocodile &
>> turtle eggs, but that's no objection for our savanna
>> believers to postualte that Lucy was an ancestors of
>> ours...

>> AAT has nothing to do with crocs (Lucy has): Inform, mes
>> enfants: The physiological, anatomical, behavioural & DNA
>> differences between Homo & Pan show that our Homo ancestors
>> some time after the Homo/Pan split ~5 Ma lived at the
>> waterside (coast/lake/river).

>> Homo remains 1.8 Ma are found in places as far as Ain
>> Hanech (Algeria), Dmanisi (Georgia), Mojokerto (Java) etc.:
>> AAT says their ancestors after the H/P split got there
>> along shorelines, not over dry & open plains.

>> Leading PAs such as Ph.Tobias
>> http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~mvaneech/outthere.htm &
>> Chr.Stringer http://www.gnxp.com/MT2/archives/003982.html
>> now agree with a "wet" past & shoreline dispersals
>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT

[Charles]

On Jun 27, 11:44 am, Rich Travsky
<traRvE...@hotmMOVEail.com> wrote:
> http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2007/06/26/golfer_s-
> urvives_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

[Rich Travs]

charles wrote:
>
> On Jun 27, 11:44 am, Rich Travsky
> <traRvE...@hotmMOVEail.com> 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.

http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Europe/France-POPULATION.-
html The population of France in 2003 was estimated by the
United Nations at 60,144,000 ...

(rounding) 15k out sixty million?

I'm not sure what you're getting at.

[Charles]

On Jul 7, 1:53 am, Rich Travsky
<traRvE...@hotmMOVEail.com> wrote:
> charles wrote:
>
> > On Jun 27, 11:44 am, Rich Travsky
> > <traRvE...@hotmMOVEail.com> wrote:
> > >http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2007/06/26/golfe-
> > >r_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.
>
> http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Europe/France-POPULATIO-
> N.html The population of France in 2003 was estimated by
> the United Nations at 60,144,000 ...
>
> (rounding) 15k out sixty million?
>
> I'm not sure what you're getting at.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

The other 59,975,000 people did not die or get injured by an
alligator.

[Spiznet]

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...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jun 27, 11:44 am, Rich Travsky
> <traRvE...@hotmMOVEail.com> 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

[Rich Travs]

Marc Verhaegen wrote:
>
> Nice to hear soms sensile talk here. Thanks, Charles.

"why not move on 4 legs" - aat's idea of "soms sensile talk"

> Op 11-07-2007 04:11, in artikel
> 1184119913.625314.278480@n60g2000hse.googlegroups.com,
> charles <charles.uzzell@gmail.com>
> schreef:
>
> > On Jul 7, 1:53 am, Rich Travsky
> > <traRvE...@hotmMOVEail.com> wrote:
> >> charles wrote:
> >>
> >>> On Jun 27, 11:44 am, Rich Travsky
> >>> <traRvE...@hotmMOVEail.com> wrote:
> >>>> http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2007/06/26/gol-
> >>>> fer_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.
> >>
> >> http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Europe/France-POPULA-
> >> TION.html The population of France in 2003 was estimated
> >> by the United Nations at 60,144,000 ...
> >>
> >> (rounding) 15k out sixty million?
> >>
> >> I'm not sure what you're getting at.- Hide quoted text -
> >>
> >> - Show quoted text -
> >
> > The other 59,975,000 people did not die or get injured by
> > an alligator.