Maybe global warming will put a stop to this senseless loss of life

I don't know why, but one thing that always interests me is falling things. Things that fall, sometimes with an explanation, sometimes not, but things that somehow affect people. Here is a tragic one:

Falling icicles kill six

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Six people have been killed in three days by icicles falling from buildings in a central Russian region, ITAR-TASS news agency reported Tuesday.

Plummeting chunks of ice is an annual hazard for pedestrians in Russia during the spring when the sun finally melts thick layers of ice and snow which build up on roofs over months of freezing temperatures and darkness.

Medical authorities in the region of Samara told ITAR-TASS that five people died in the city of Samara and another person died in the nearby town of Otradny between February 23 and February 25.

It seems that if this is an "annual hazard" people would have learned to avoid large chunks of overhanging ice by now. Still, "impaled by an icicle" would be an unusual way to die. Unless you live in Russia, I suppose.