Death...By Coconuts?

I know. I think it’s very odd that I’ve chosen the above title to blog about today. I’m somewhat obsessed with death, you know and I’m not sure why. No. I’m not a some socio-path that enjoys murdering small animals; wanting to up the ante and murder people. It’s the statistics that I love wrapping my head around, especially when the media hypes things out of proportion.

Yes, it was another article that I read. It was titled Bizarre Deaths, or something similar. Basically the article was pointing out the improbable odds of actually dying from some of life’s most bizarre mishaps; misadventures, if you will.

Here’s a little information about coconuts: A coconut palm tree commonly reaches 25 meters in height, and 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.

Statistically speaking (if anyone cares), your chances of getting poisoned at a picnic, murdered by your spouse, or bitten by a rabid dog or cat carry a much higher rate than being hit on the head by a coconut. However, death by coconut has a much higher statistical rate than dying from being bitten by a shark, bitten by a bat, or other strange, random and often media hyped ways to sell articles.

Note: It appears scientists are rallying around the misunderstood shark, because falling coconuts kill 150 people worldwide each year; 15 times the number of fatalities attributable to sharks.

See. Isn’t this interesting? Yes? Not so much? Or, are you wondering, “What type of drugs are you taking, Neve?”

Now I’ve probably scared the beetle juice out of you about coconuts, haven't I? Nasty little buggers, aren’t they? Who would have known? The next time you’re traveling to a place that has lots of coconut trees, it might be a good idea to make sure your life insurance policy has a cause written into it about, “Death by Coconuts”.

No need to thank me. I’m just giving you a little Neve statistical information about death and coconuts. :-)