Merged Fan Death in Korea

[BillyJoe]

I was worried you were claiming I just gave you evidence supporting woo. I didn't know you were kidding. Sorry, my bad.

The story has a sad ending.

Late Sunday afternoon, I felt well enough to take the poor things for a shorter walk along the pipeline. I let them in through the back door and the little one was so excited by this time that she slipped on the polished floor, hyperextended one of its back legs, and ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament.



(If it will make you feel better, I will send you the bill. )

 

[Art Vandelay]

Still, presenting your opinion Americans are less likely to believe in myths than Koreans is not credible unless you have something substantial to back it up. Americans are not on the top of the least gullible list by any means.

When did I claim that?

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

When did I claim that?

When you posted this:

Originally Posted by DonJunbar:And it's hilarious to see westerners say "Look at those superstitious people in other cultures! Why can't they be more like my culture, which is totally realistic and doesn't have any weird supersti--hey look, I think I see an image of the Virgin Mary in that puddle!"
Those sort of people are seen as kooks in mainstream American culture. The impression that I get from this thread is that fan death is accepted truth, and reported on the news. I also get the impression that in India, homeopathy is widely regarded as a completely legitimate form of medicine.

 

[K-W]

You said it might be possible dehydration from a fan could cause death and thus be a source for this myth.

Not really.

I said that I have felt more dehydrated after sleeping with a fan than without. Which led me to believe it has some small effect on water loss and introduced a hypothetical of someone who was already extremely dehydrated or had some other condition where this small effect might contribute to a death. I then said I would not classify such a thing as fan death even if it were to happen.

Obviously such an unlikely scenario if even possible would not happen often enough to be the source of the myth.

I merely addressed the physiological basis why that was incorrect. I don't get your beef here? You aren't going to get dehydrated from a fan blowing on you. With due respect, how would I know what you believed or didn't believe the mechanism for such a death would be?

Obviously my original post was not clear to you and you thought that I was suggesting fans can kill someone by dehydrating them and that I had 'bought this'. You then proceeded to explain to me how sweat works, something I did learn in elementary school.

I have no beef with you, I thought my use of a smiley face indicated that I found it funny. Just a simple misunderstanding and the second part of your post did in fact address what I had written. I have no particular knowledge of the water amounts involved, it just seemed plausible that a fan blowing air directly on my face which contains semi-exposed moist surfaces could cause water loss.

 

[BillyJoe]

KW,

If Skeptigirl can snap my little dog's cruciate ligament from a thousand miles away, anything is possible.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Hey, I didn't hurt your little dog. I like little dogs.

KW, the additional evaporation effects of a fan would not have a significant impact, even on a seriously dehydrated person. A fan would cool the body and conserve water. Can we please put your hypothesis to rest without more discussion?

 

[LTC8K6]

I was stationed at Camp Sears in Uijongbu in 1992. I can attest that a fan blowing on me in a closed room did not kill me, despite numerous chances.

 

[BillyJoe]

Hey, I didn't hurt your little dog. I like little dogs.

Just in case you think this is all a made up story...

Milly had her operation today and is recovering in front of the fire.
Luckily for you, the vet did the repair for nothing, so I won't have to send Maxwell over with his silver hammer. We have an agreement with the vet - my wife keeps the his computers running and he keeps our animals running

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Well I am glad little Millie is OK.

 

[BillyJoe]

It seems part of this thread has ended up somewhere else.
Maybe Milly can get her own thread as well.


(BTW, you have the correct spelling according to my kids)

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Well I know where it went but I'm not going to chase it there. There was no more to say on the subject.

 

[BillyJoe]

Skeptigirl.

I want you to realise the enormity of what you have done.

Milly broke down and actually cried when I left for a walk this Sunday with our other dog Ralph. I saw her through the window hobbling along on three legs, slipping and sliding over, picking herself up and throwing herself against the front door in a vain attempt to crash through and to catch up after us.

It was truely a pitiful sight.

BJ

 

[Whiplash]

I have to say this one really suprises me.

I am one of those people who cannot sleep without the sound of a fan (or in general, white noise). I find it too quiet without one, and find it very hard to sleep.

I am nearly 40 and have had a fan blowing all night just about every single night of my life.. certainly going back at least 25-30 years. I'd say 99% of the nights.. only when I could not actually have a fan (on the road, etc), would I not use one. Virtually always in a closed room. Nearly always blowing right on me, even in the dead of winter.

Needless to say I've never had any problems whatsoever.

 

[Slimething]

I am one of those people who cannot sleep without the sound of a fan (or in general, white noise). ...
I am nearly 40 and have had a fan blowing all night just about every single night of my life.. certainly going back at least 25-30 years. I'd say 99% of the nights.. only when I could not actually have a fan (on the road, etc), would I not use one. Virtually always in a closed room. Nearly always blowing right on me, even in the dead of winter.

I'm very sorry, Whiplash. You will die. It is almost a certainty.

 

[rjh01]

Almost? Almost? You mean he night live? I find that hard to believe.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Skeptigirl.

I want you to realise the enormity of what you have done.

Milly broke down and actually cried when I left for a walk this Sunday with our other dog Ralph. I saw her through the window hobbling along on three legs, slipping and sliding over, picking herself up and throwing herself against the front door in a vain attempt to crash through and to catch up after us.

It was truely a pitiful sight.

BJ

Well you should have carried Milly along with you, you mean person.

We had this problem. One of my dogs kept holding her back leg up as if it hurt. So the vet told us to rest it. Riiiight. A dog that jumps 3 feet off the ground over and over whenever she is excited (which is whenever she sees you even if you've only gone out to get the mail). I left her out of a couple walks and figured if she was going to jump like that anyway it was a lost cause. Eventually she just started limping less.

But then, she didn't have surgery. Rent a stroller.

 

[Slimething]

Almost? Almost? You mean he night live? I find that hard to believe.

I have been known to make exceptions. Yes, I might let him live.

 

[BillyJoe]

But he WILL die....eventually!

 

[DonJunbar]

KBS just released an article attempting to debunk fan death. Here's the link, although it's in Korean.
http://news.kbs.co.kr/article/science/200707/20070730/1399775.html

They ran a series of tests (sound familiar) comparing adult males sleeping with the fan on and with the fan off. Their conclusions were that sleeping with the fan on results in more exposure to oxygen, rather than less, and that the fan cannot significantly lower body temperature. I think sceptics are starting to figure it out and rallying against fan death, but it is still a deeply entrenched belief among most Koreans.

There are some interesting comments at the bottom.
-one girl writes that she slept with the fan on in a small room, and when she woke up she was completely paralysed. She believes in fan death.
-Another person writes that he always thought it was a silly belief, but everyone else forced him to sleep with the fan on.
-That's three for fan death and two against, in the comments.

 

[DonJunbar]

Translation.
http://koreabeat.com/?p=184

What I missed before is two outraged netizens complained about KBS' irresponsibility for claiming fan death is a myth, calling for them to air a correction, and condemning KBS to 10 000 years of suffering.