Quote from Mom0/pH0x:
yeah but they also don't die by the thousands in san diego and LA, and LOTS of people don't have AC there, and it gets alot hotter there than anywhere in france... so you tell me...
also, do you have any evidence of longer lifespans amongst euro americans? i'd say the difference IS statistically significant... france having the #8 lifespan in the world and usa having what? number 30? i mean that's significant... if it were your own days, or your wife? children? parents? would those days not be significant? they would to me....
according to wikipedia, the french have on average 2 years longer to live... have your parents died? i gaurantee you that when they do you will wish you had two more years with them... i don't know how you can say that 2 years out of 78 is not statistically significant... and even if you can manufacture a mathematical argument for it... it is significant in real terms...
Well, I'll tell you....either the french have a particularly delicate constitution or it's because ambulances stopped picking up victims of heat stroke and hospitals stopped answering the phones when they become overwhelmed. Point is, we have worse heat waves and never had such a death wave as a result...you tell me. In the South we all had air conditioners and cooling centers for folks who couldn't afford them.
according to wikipedia, the french have on average 2 years longer to live...
I see your point. Sadly, statistical significance doesn't consider your love for your parents. But, I tell ya' if you want to live the extra two years, you have to avoid being fat. The French are not obese! They don't get better medical care, they are healthier to begin with. Also, they drink more often but they drink less at any one time. Being drunk is frowned upon in France. And they drink wine, not the hard liquor and beer we drink here. Wine is better for you.
Have you ever been to France? Have you ever actually lived there? It's different if you're just a tourist. For example, as a tourist, you probably never experienced a multi-day pharmacist strike so that you were unable to buy aspirin for days while you had a pounding headache. Make you wish for death, I tell ya'.
also, do you have any evidence of longer lifespans amongst euro americans?
Yes. My father-in-law is a WHO doctor and he and a good friend are also epidemiologists. I don't remember the specific study because you can imagine how many they've thrown my way - but you can look on the WHO website. Their research is available online.
BTW, they're not LONGER life expectancies. The are equivalent to European life expectancies. Sadly, blacks and hispanics also have a bigger obesity problem (not unrelated to the heart and diabetes problem, btw). So, they skew the statistics and people in this group should be especially careful about eating right and exercising.
Anyway, while this particular discussion has been fun, it's way off topic. You clearly think for some reason that medical care is the only factor in life expectancy and that Europe trumps the United States without ever living there to know for sure. While all of that is interesting, it's beside the point in this thread and so I'm bowing of this conversation. Thanks for the chat.