# LA's abundance of caution...compared to what? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 16, 2015, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-abundance-of-caution-compared-to-what/740585 "2015-12-16T01:03:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-abundance-of-caution-compared-to-what/740585/41 "2015-12-16T19:53:28Z")
So sad for that woman. My worst nightmare, outliving my son. Sorry, nothing really of substance to add, except, people, STOP WEARING HEADPHONES when walking across streets, or use open ear models and a lower volume. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-abundance-of-caution-compared-to-what/740585/42 "2015-12-16T19:59:04Z")
> [@Hooleehootoo](#): > > Does it sound reasonable to posit an increase of risk of death of 1 in chance in 100,000 for the 640,000 students sent home today from LA schools? That would make an expectation of more than 6 additional deaths. LA officials should have considered [this](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-boy-17-fatally-struck-by-a-city-service-truck-near-school-closed-after-threat-20151215-story.html). Don’t you listen to Homeland Security? “If You See Something, Say Something™” (\*It’s trademarked ?!?! \*) > **[If You See Something, Say Something® | Homeland Security](https://www.dhs.gov/see-something-say-something)** It seems that several school districts and government agencies received the same threat. The LA school district handled the threat differently, and certainly in a more public manner. I can’t fault them for playing it safe. Especially now that the news media has told everyone why the other recipients of the threat believed this was a hoax. (Don’t reference naughty bits and remember to capitalize religious deitys.) It’s as if the news media is running a training camp for terrorists. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-abundance-of-caution-compared-to-what/740585/43 "2015-12-16T20:34:09Z")
I worked at a community college that got 16 bomb threat in about 3 weeks and evacuated every time. After the first 2 or 3 we all thought the threats should be ignored, but the administration’s position was that they had no choice – the “law” required them to evacuate. Which law was never made clear. The 17th threat – they stopped evacuating. I guess the “law” changed. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-abundance-of-caution-compared-to-what/740585/44 "2015-12-16T20:39:26Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > It’s as if the news media is running a training camp for terrorists. :eek: more like it is running the training for the hoaxers to more successfully frighten the people like you. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-abundance-of-caution-compared-to-what/740585/45 "2015-12-16T20:45:58Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > So hundreds of school kids are dying in school bus accidents every day. Well, that’s probably a good thing since they are probably all kids of gang members and would have ended up being gang members themselves pretty soon if they weren’t already. LAUSD has had a poorly-understood casualty problem for some time now. With losing about 130 students per day on average, and 655,500 students - a school year of 175 days depletes the school-age population by about 3.5% per year. Principal Snyder and the Mayor have their work cut out for them filling all those empty seats and protecting their budget in the age of so much Slayer activity. Luckily for them, but not for us, empty classroom seats are an [unusually uninteresting sight](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UnusuallyUninterestingSight). If only an Angel, perhaps in the incognito form of [bicycle repairman](https://youtu.be/rxfzm9dfqBw?t=4s) were to take up the cause, something could be done… ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-abundance-of-caution-compared-to-what/740585/46 "2015-12-16T22:13:02Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Yeah, my buddy is a grade school principal. Calling off school for weather related stuff (snow, extreme cold) is a yearly nightmare. His district monitors the decisions of surrounding districts and decides based on the best available data. But its always a damned-if-you whatever scenario. > > And that’s just snow. Of all the school districts threatened, was LA the only one with no possibility of snow days? If you have no snow days, ever, maybe you’re more likely to shrug and take a day off just in case. > [@Morgenstern](#): > > Other than closing schools, what to you propose to use in dealing with telephone/email threats? Psychics? Because barring psychics, it’s always going to come down to a guess. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-abundance-of-caution-compared-to-what/740585/47 "2015-12-16T22:13:49Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Excellent plan. > > :rolleyes: Its excellent up until something explodes. Until then, I’m golden 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-abundance-of-caution-compared-to-what/740585/48 "2015-12-16T22:19:14Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Of all the school districts threatened, was LA the only one with no possibility of snow days? If you have no snow days, ever, maybe you’re more likely to shrug and take a day off just in case. > > … Snow in LA has happened. I mean, even a blind squirrel finds a nut every so often. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2015, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-abundance-of-caution-compared-to-what/740585/49 "2015-12-16T23:10:00Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Especially now that the news media has told everyone why the other recipients of the threat believed this was a hoax. (Don’t reference naughty bits and remember to capitalize religious deitys.) It’s as if the news media is running a training camp for terrorists. :eek: So you’re a terrorist. You’ve planted bombs all over the LA schools. What next? Why, send an email to the school district, of course! Because that’s what Islamic terrorists usually do. But now the news media has ruined everything, because they revealed that if you don’t spell “Allah” right, they might not believe you’re really a terrorist. And so your warning email to the school won’t be believed, and then the kids will go to school and get blown up! Which is exactly NOT why you planted the bombs! Or was it? It’s so confusing! What exactly do people who think the bomb threat could have been real think the scenario could have been? Yeah, the IRA used to call in bomb threats. When they did it there were real bombs. ISIS is not the IRA. They don’t warn people before bombing them and shooting them, they just go out and kill people. The notion that the news media reporting on the laughable nature of the hoax bomb threat email trains terrorists on how to do it right is certainly an opinion. Now that terrorists know to spell their bomb threats correctly, they’re going to…what exactly? Spell their hoax bomb threats correctly next time? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-abundance-of-caution-compared-to-what/740585/50 "2015-12-17T00:58:32Z")
Gawker has [the full text](http://gawker.com/heres-the-full-extremely-dumb-email-that-shut-down-the-1748402588?utm_expid=66866090-68.Fycr7CNTRMO9chDASrU7Hg.0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2F0V5G0D0pHs) of the “credible threat” email that shut down LAUSD. I’m surprised it doesn’t have “bwa-ha-ha-ha” at the end. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-abundance-of-caution-compared-to-what/740585/51 "2015-12-17T02:01:04Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > Gawker has [the full text](http://gawker.com/heres-the-full-extremely-dumb-email-that-shut-down-the-1748402588?utm_expid=66866090-68.Fycr7CNTRMO9chDASrU7Hg.0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2F0V5G0D0pHs) of the “credible threat” email that shut down LAUSD. > > I’m surprised it doesn’t have “bwa-ha-ha-ha” at the end. Is that the same letter that NYC got? I noticed they capitalized Allah the first time, but not the last. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-abundance-of-caution-compared-to-what/740585/52 "2015-12-17T15:09:22Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > Snow in LA has happened. I mean, even a blind squirrel finds a nut every so often. Yeah, my parents told me they’d seen it. Rest their souls. They mentioned that it distracted the kids at school, so no snow day was called. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-abundance-of-caution-compared-to-what/740585/53 "2015-12-17T16:21:47Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > Gawker has [the full text](http://gawker.com/heres-the-full-extremely-dumb-email-that-shut-down-the-1748402588?utm_expid=66866090-68.Fycr7CNTRMO9chDASrU7Hg.0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2F0V5G0D0pHs) of the “credible threat” email that shut down LAUSD. > > I’m surprised it doesn’t have “bwa-ha-ha-ha” at the end. They were going to “target” Bakersfield? That’s just mean. Bakersfield has enough problems. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-abundance-of-caution-compared-to-what/740585/54 "2015-12-17T17:53:53Z")
The worst thing you can do to Bakersfield is leave it alone ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-abundance-of-caution-compared-to-what/740585/55 "2015-12-17T18:29:35Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > So you’re a terrorist. No, I’m not. Are you a terrorist? I don’t believe it’s wise to tell terrorists and criminals how they screwed up. Unless it’s being done by a prosecutor during the terrorist’s criminal trial. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-abundance-of-caution-compared-to-what/740585/56 "2015-12-17T19:34:00Z")
So wait. You think terrorists sent the bomb threat? What leads you to that conclusion? Definition–if a 12 year old white middle schooler who had a test that day sent the threat, then he’s a by definition a terrorist? People who set bombs in schools typically don’t then ring up the coppers and tell them about it, the IRA being the notable exception. And the IRA had special codes that they used to let the coppers know that this was a real IRA bomb threat, not some random asshole. And the coppers believed the IRA threats because the IRA really did plant bombs. In this case, we have a semi-literate anonymous bomb threat. What’s the scenario here? You think an Al Qaida sleeper cell planted bombs all over LA, and sent in a semi-literate bomb threat, which was acted upon, and now that we’ve complained about their semi-literacy next time they’ll know to run their bomb threat through spell-check? And so we’ve helped the terrorists? This does not help terrorists. Maybe you should have said that it helps 12 year old middle schoolers compose better hoax bomb threats? Because otherwise you’re making absolutely no sense. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-abundance-of-caution-compared-to-what/740585/57 "2015-12-17T19:53:41Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > So wait. You think terrorists sent the bomb threat? What leads you to that conclusion? (post shortened) That seems to be your conclusion, not mine. I see the news media repeatedly pointing out WHY this particular threatening message was not considered a serious threat by many professionals. Who is most likely to benefit from that information? Hoaxers? Terrorists? Criminals? Indri lemurs? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-abundance-of-caution-compared-to-what/740585/58 "2015-12-17T20:08:28Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > In this case, we have a semi-literate anonymous bomb threat. What’s the scenario here? You think an Al Qaida sleeper cell planted bombs all over LA, and sent in a semi-literate bomb threat, which was acted upon, and now that we’ve complained about their semi-literacy next time they’ll know to run their bomb threat through spell-check? Perhaps the poorly worded threat rang true because the author claimed to be a LAUSD student. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/las-abundance-of-caution-compared-to-what/740585.md?page=2)