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February 13, 2012
Binyamin Rose: Back to the Bunker: How a life-risking act by a Christian family during the Holocaust saved a family and built a thriving community a world away
Menachem Wecker: Business Schools Teach Real Estate Despite Troubled Housing Market
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
June 9, 2006
/ 13 Sivan, 5766
Silent Killers: The true story of deadly trees
By
Gene Weingarten
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Americans are tree huggers. We love our trees. We loved
asbestos, once.
Years ago, Ronald Reagan tried to warn us about trees, and he was
ridiculed for his honesty. Trees kill. Their bite is worse than their
bark.
John Sevier of Atascadero, Calif., is an accident reconstruction expert.
He investigates killer trees, or as he puts it, "deadly tree scenarios."
It is his full-time business, and he makes a pretty penny at it. "You
think of the tree as your friend," he says, "not as something that will
kill you or put you in a wheelchair for the rest of your life. But it can.
And it does.
"Ask the lumbering industry. A lumberjack is about as likely to get life
insurance as a bomb squad demolition officer. The language of lumberjacks
is peppered with peril. A "butt jump" is the official term for what
happens when the hinge of a partially severed tree snaps as the tree
begins to fall. It is not uncommon. The trunk of the tree hops off the
stump, like a pogo stick from Hell. It plops down on its severed end,
which is angled back toward the man with the saw. The tree shudders,
reverses its course. Have you ever tried to outrace an 80-foot screaming
mahogany monolith with branches the wing span of a 747? If you had, you
wouldn't be reading this.
Do you know the official term, contained in Occupational Safety and Health
Administration regulations, to describe a dead limb lodged, insidious, in
the high branches of a tree, waiting to fall?
A "widowmaker."
Here is another tree term: "looping root." Looping root describes a
condition in which a tree root snakes its way up to the surface, then goes
back down into the ground, leaving a loop on the ground the size of a
human foot. "It's a trap," Sevier says. He investigated one case in which
a woman was tripped by a looping root and suffered extensive hip damage.
Sevier tells of the case of the San Diego Zoo's Killer Eucalyptus, which
collapsed and killed a girl. Eucalyptuses are particularly dangerous
because they outgrow their own strength and suddenly crack and fall. "They
prune themselves, which is great in the Australian outback, but not in the
entrance to a zoo," Sevier says.
He has investigated trees that grew too quickly and blocked a stop sign.
"In spring it is no problem," he said. "By midsummer, the stop sign is
obscured and all of a sudden you have dead people all over the highway."
Item: June 5, 1997: A cottonwood in Albuquerque, N.M., dies when hit by a
Ford pickup. Its passing is not mourned. In the previous 40 years, the
Killer Tree of North Fourth Street, which presided over a hairpin turn,
was responsible for the deaths of 23 people.
Item: Oct. 24, 1989: A federal study of hunting accidents in Georgia found
that 36 percent of the hunters injured over the past decade were not shot
by other hunters. They fell out of trees.
Item: Jan. 4, 1996: An Arlington man was seriously injured in McLean when
a large oak tree fell on his car, rebounded and apparently struck the
vehicle two more times.
Item: July 21, 1993, Punxsutawney, Pa.: Lying pinned under a tree, a
woodsman with a broken leg cried for help for an hour before giving up
hope. Then he saved himself the only way he could: by cutting off his leg
with a pocket knife.
Trees' crimes against humanity are as old as humanity. Older, in fact.
Three hundred seventy-five million years ago they caused the extinction of
half the life on Earth. According to scientists at the University of
Cincinnati, as trees began spreading over dry, upland areas, their root
systems broke up the rocks. This caused an overdose of nutrients to be
washed into rivers and oceans, fertilizing the waters, leading to an
explosive growth of algae. At least 70 percent of all marine animal
species on Earth were suffocated and eradicated.

This just in: On Tuesday, in the Solomon Islands, near New Zealand, a
woman was killed while collecting fronds and branches to help secure her
home against Cyclone Susan. Cyclone Susan was blamed. But the fact is, the
woman was not killed because her house collapsed on her.
She did not drown.
She was not electrocuted by a downed power line.
She was beaned by a flying coconut. No one ever blames the tree.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Gene Weingarten writes the Below the Beltway humor column for The Washington Post. To comment, please click here.
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