DEATH BECOMES US
In the year 542, people in Constantinople were dying so quickly from the plague that many wore name tags so their bodies could be identified.
Perhaps 90% of the original inhabitants of the Americas were killed by deadly diseases brought from Europe after Columbus, including measles, smallpox and cholera. The Europeans returned with syphilis, which used to be widespread. There are still 6 million cases of syphilis per year and 100,000 people die from it.
In 18th century Europe, smallpox killed hundreds of thousands annually, and a third of survivors lost their sight. The Spanish used a chain of orphan boys to transmit the cowpox vaccine to each other on a voyage to their territories in South America, eventually saving hundreds of thousands of lives.
40% of people bitten by rattlesnakes are drunken men. Of those who decide to play with a rattlesnake deliberately, 93% are drunk.
By 1918, half of the cars in the US were Model T Fords, and nine years later, 15 million vehicles had been built. But they were also death traps: the brakes were ineffective; the hand crank starter could break your arm; the fuel tank was under the seat; it had a cast-iron steering wheel aimed at your heart; and there were no seat belts, rear-view mirrors or wipers. Fortunately, they topped out at about 70km/h.
Liberia, in Africa, tops the table for vehicle-related deaths, at nearly 36 per 100,000 people each year. The US rate is 12.4, Australia’s ’s is 4.5, and much of northern rn Europe is about half that again. The NZ rate is 6.3.