--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snip> > The people in the area I'm living in have a similar relationship > with the winds. Winds, plural, not wind. There are many of > them; they all have their own names and their own characteristics. > And they all presage certain events and economic trends and > behaviors in the people. This dates back to the medieval period. > > Yesterday I was walking my friend's dogs in the morning. long > before the sun had really risen very far and the day had indicated > that it would be a scorcher. One of the old women along the > street I live on stopped and petted the dogs and commented > on the wind, which she identified as a 'mistral.' I asked her what > that meant, and she said something to the effect of "edginess in > the people, carelessness, and danger." As she was walking > off I said, "Danger?" Without turning around, she said, "Fire." > > I didn't think that much about it until later when, sitting with my > laptop in a cafe, I looked up and saw smoke on the horizon. > Turns out there was a forest fire just over the mountains in the > next town, set by careless hikers. Burned 21 hectares. They > had to call in hundreds of firefighters and those bombers that > drop fire-retardant from the air. > > Go figure.
>From a Web page suggesting that certain phenomena (earthquakes, winds, floods, fire, explosions, machinery) generate something called "infrasound," which can have profound effects on individuals, large groups of people, and even physical structures: "The Mistral, weak in infrasonic intensity, does not wreak havoc with material structures. But the Mistral works its permeating harm nonetheless. For the inhabitants of certain coastal areas, the low intensity infrasound of the Mistral brings with it a peculiar seasonal anxiety and depression. In certain locations across the Mediterranean coastland there are individuals who suffer from 'seasonal nervous exhaustion' and other 'neurophysical maladies'. It is known that whenever the Mistral blows, there will be increased emotional tension, depression, and irritability. The Mistral, in numerous cases, has produced fatalities. "Infrasound travels long distances, often exceeding one thousand miles, with virtually no attenuation. Its pressures thus arrive at great distances with the same force and intensity as when generated. A deadly pressure. The atmosphere sustains prolonged and powerful infrasonic vibrations. How natural conditions can systematically modify human behavior for protracted seasonal periods is frightening. How natural conditions can systematically modify large-scale social behavior for protracted seasonal periods is equally frightening. Not much acoustic power is required for infrasound to produce such extreme and sustained physiological symptoms. "Fohn winds are dry and warm southerly winds which traverse the Alpine regions of Europe. Fohn weather is characterized by clear skies, high visibility, and dry atmosphere. Studies of 'Fohn weather' and the Mistral alike have revealed some intriguing and frightening statistical correlations. The biological effects of both Mistral and Fohn weather have been well documented. These include extreme irritability, accident-prone loss of objective judgement, slight disorientation, mild nausea, and diarrhea. "It is an established fact that sustained low intensity infrasound alters human behavior and health. Higher accident rates are correlated with pre-Fohn weather onset. This high accident rate rises until the establishment of Fohn weather, having been attributed to the infrasonic content of the winds." http://www.borderlands.com/newstuff/research/infra.htm Unfortunately the writer provides no citations to any scientific studies to back up his claims... The site's home page begins: "Borderland Sciences was founded by Meade Layne in 1945 for the purpose of investigating into realms normally beyond the range of basic human perception and physical measurement." Lots of interesting weird stuff. And here's an annotated list of several dozen "named winds" from all over the world: http://ggweather.com/winds.html To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
