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In one of his books, Jared Diamond recounted how, on a research trip to New Guinea's rain-forests, he found that his native guides would not, under any circumst
by beloch 5y ago
In one of his books, Jared Diamond recounted how, on a research trip to New Guinea's rain-forests, he found that his native guides would not, under any circumstances, make camp under a tree. They were afraid of being crushed by falling trees in the night.
Diamond reasoned that the odds of a tree falling on you in any given night are virtually nil. The odds of a tree falling on Diamond during the few weeks he was in the field were also pretty small. However, the odds of a tree falling on somebody who camped under trees every night all their life was rather significant.
Death by coconut is similar. If you walk near coconut trees occasionally, you have nothing to worry about. You might not want to hang a hammock under a coconut tree in your backyard though.
- Gustomaximus 5y agoRegarding the tree/camp thing, I was taught to always look up for dead branches before setting up a tent. While trees don't often fall, dead limbs do. I did a quick google and on this paper where falling branches is about 10% of outdoor education deaths. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268415459_Preventing_death_and_serious_injury_from_falling_trees_and_branches https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268415459_Preventin...
- mycall 5y agoWidowmakers they are called in forestry.
- mc32 5y agoThere are conifers which produce heavy cones. You can find some in Fort Mason. Some guy was bonked on the head and sued the gov't when one fell on his head and cracked his skull[1]. There have been cases elsewhere of people getting hurt by them. [1]https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Man-hit-by-16-pound-pine-cone-in-S-F-park-files-6567225.php https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Man-hit-by-16-pound-p...
- dustintrex 5y agoA single cone of the Australian bunya tree can weigh up to 18 kg: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araucaria_bidwillii https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araucaria_bidwillii
- cortesoft 5y agoThis is a problem with how people understand risk in general. The actual risk of something needs to take into account how many times you take the risk. Something that only has a 1 in 1000 chance of death might seem like a small risk, but if you take that risk every day you will have a 30% chance of dying within a year
- anchpop 5y agoI don't think so. I think the issue is that people don't multiply correctly. A 1 in 1000 chance of death is actually very high, it just doesn't seem high because 1/1000 seems like a small number. But a small number (1/1000) times a very big number (how bad death is) can still be a big number. As an example, if you would pay $100 to extend your healthy life by one day (I know I would), that means each healthy day of your life you have ahead of you should be worth at least $100 to you. Assuming you have 10 years left of healthy life, your life ought to be worth at least 10×360×100=$360,000 to you. So a 1/1000 chance of death costs you 1/1000 * $360,000 = $360.
- buu700 5y agoThis reminds me of an observation I once had at a time when I was doing contract work at an hourly rate. During a trip to Vegas, I found myself at a blackjack table making bets that happened to match my hourly rate. It occurred to me then that I was essentially gambling hours of my life, each turn in a sense increasing or decreasing my effective lifespan. Of course "time == money" is a well known axiom, but it was still odd to consider in that context.
- WalterBright 5y agoI read a book long ago on blackjack card counting. It's possible to take the winning edge, the maximum bet size, and the number of bets per hour, and figure out what your hourly wage is doing this. Also figure in this being hard work, as it requires your full attention. The pay just wasn't that good, and besides, the casinos will ban you when they figure out you're counting. So that wasn't for me. Instead, I invest in the stock market, where "buy and forget" is not much work, and the odds are much better.
- jaclaz 5y agoI seem to remember to have seen a documentary (many years ago) giving advice about camping near/under coconut trees on islands in the Indian Ocean being not a smart idea because of the coconut crabs (no risk of death, but possibly very painful pinches): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_crab https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_crab but really cannot say if it is just a myth.
- neurostimulant 5y agoSome with durian trees. My hometown has a lot of durian trees in addition to coconut trees, and the kids are thought from early ages to never ever rest under a durian and coconut tree. Coconut is worse because it's always has fruits, unlike durian which only bear fruits on specific months.