# Question about Basic Common Sense **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 4, 2004, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-basic-common-sense/227467 "2004-02-04T12:37:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-basic-common-sense/227467/21 "2004-02-04T21:28:32Z")
> [@Sionach](#): > > Starguard does have a bit of a point there though - some places are safer than others. In the US, there is tornado alley where mother nature can strike randomly and sometimes with little warning, and then there is New England where the worst of the weather is intense cold (accompanied by freezing pipes, frostbite, and other fun stuff). Despite some of the perils of living in a region where winter temperatures can dip as low as -20 regularly, it is perhaps a safer place to live, relative to those areas which have yearly tornadoes. Since **Starguard** ’s housing safety criteria rule out the entire continent of North America, I’d say he doesn’t have a point. The blizzards the Northeast experiences are every bit as deadly as a tornado; intense cold and heavy snowfall can easily be lethal. Plus New England faces a risk from hurricanes, and (for those near the coastline) tsunamis. The latter two occur far less frequently than a nor’easter or a heavy blizzzard, but have the potential to kill far more people when they DO happen. There are no places that are “safe from nature”; the best one can do is assess the hazards that occur in your local area, build in ways that minimize the inherent risks of that location, and know what to do if Nature does decide to lash out despite your precautions. ---
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-basic-common-sense/227467/22 "2004-02-04T21:28:38Z")
> [@Sionach](#): > > Starguard does have a bit of a point there though - some places are safer than others. In the US, there is tornado alley where mother nature can strike randomly and sometimes with little warning, and then there is New England where the worst of the weather is intense cold (accompanied by freezing pipes, frostbite, and other fun stuff). Despite some of the perils of living in a region where winter temperatures can dip as low as -20 regularly, it is perhaps a safer place to live, relative to those areas which have yearly tornadoes. Since **Starguard** ’s housing safety criteria rule out the entire continent of North America, I’d say he doesn’t have a point. The blizzards the Northeast experiences are every bit as deadly as a tornado; intense cold and heavy snowfall can easily be lethal. Plus New England faces a risk from hurricanes, and (for those near the coastline) tsunamis. The latter two occur far less frequently than a nor’easter or a heavy blizzzard, but have the potential to kill far more people when they DO happen. There are no places that are “safe from nature”; the best one can do is assess the hazards that occur in your local area, build in ways that minimize the inherent risks of that location, and know what to do if Nature does decide to lash out despite your precautions. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2004, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-basic-common-sense/227467/23 "2004-02-04T22:00:28Z")
Zebra has given us some good numbers on how relatively harmless — how cute and cuddly, almost — tornados are in practice. They kill only a few dozen people a year in the US. In contrast, over 40,000 Americans die every year in car accidents. So even in Kansas, you have more to fear from your fellow Kansans while driving to the Dairy Queen than you do from Mother Nature. Moreover, as you can see from these maps ([1998](http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/torn/1998deadlytorn.html), [1999](http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/torn/1999deadlytorn.html), and [2000](http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/torn/2000deadlytorn.html)), there is almost nowhere in the eastern US that is immune to tornados. Oddly enough, even Utah had one not long ago. More odd yet, **Starguard** , is that your profile says you’re in _Chicago_ for pity’s sake. If you’re so keen to avoid tornados, why in the name of rationality are you still in Illinois? ---
**Author:** ![bonezzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@bonezzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonezzz)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-basic-common-sense/227467/24 "2004-02-05T03:36:18Z")
> [@Starguard](#): > > I can see your point about most women who remain with abusive men having low self esteem for various reasons. BUt where I live its like these type of women are EVERYWHERE. Here in Chicago, all I see in this neighborhood and women with children that are all born out of wedlock, almost all of these children have different fathers, and almost all of their fathers are either dead, in jail, or have disappeared. When the more civilized men in the area try and start a “more than friends” relationship wi them , none of them seem to be interested in these guys. Its like they actually go out of their way to date criminals. Now I want you all to understand that I am in no way trying to stereotype all the women in this city as being like that, its just that I tend to see a ery large number of them and i can’t seem to figure it out for the life of me…Tell me, can all of them be surrering from low self esteem? I’m not trying to be sarcastic or anything like that at all and if I come across that way, I STRONGLY apoligise for it, but it low self esteem it the prime reason for it, why are there so many women here suffering from it. What can a man do to convince them that that can have a better man and a better relationship if they so desire? I swear I wish I knew the answer to that one! I think my self esteem is low but I still would just be happier alone than with someone treating me like that. I have a sister that is that way and I just do NOT understand why she keeps taking him back and saying she still loves him. Well guess what ~ he doesn’t love you or he wouldn’t do that to you dumba$$. so frustrating… ---
**Author:** ![bonezzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@bonezzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonezzz)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-basic-common-sense/227467/25 "2004-02-05T03:40:48Z")
And she does not have any children by the man, she is not married to him and she was not raised in it. Our parents did a fine job (according to the way the rest of us turned out) so there is something wrong in her head ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-basic-common-sense/227467/26 "2004-02-05T07:16:43Z")
> [@Sionach](#): > > Be careful though, Priceguy, that description is awfully tempting & you don’t want too many people flocking to the area. _grin_ OK, how to scare people away… We have some of the highest taxes in the world! Restrictive alcohol policies! No telemarketers! No… whoops. Damn, now I’ve done it… ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-basic-common-sense/227467/27 "2004-02-05T23:08:53Z")
Some really excellent points made. I have a real issue with people who buy houses right on the beach, destroying the dunes that are a natural protection, and then want help when the inevitable hurricane come. This is especially arrogant on the barrier islands known as the “Outer Banks” off North Carolina. These bits of land are really not much more than sand banks that are large enough to stick out of the water. The ocean moves them back & forth over the years. And they are regularly hit by hurricanes; the shape of the coast forms an elbow that juts out into the Atlantic. Just about every year there is a storm that smacks right into the area. Last year was a particularly fine example. An entirely new channel was cut across the island of Hatteras. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-basic-common-sense/227467/28 "2004-02-06T01:37:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Name me an area without natural disasters, 'cause I sure can’t think of one! Denmark! No natural disasters a’tall. Windy in bits, though. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-basic-common-sense/227467/29 "2004-02-06T05:28:20Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > Now, people who build homes in a _flood plain_, and keep rebuilding even after being flooded, _those_ people are nuts. Not at all. They get cheap flood insurance (subsidized by all the rest of us taxpayers), and so get a brand new house & furnishings every few years at little or no cost to them. What’s nuts about that? (Unethical, immoral, & dishonest, yes, IMHO, but hardly nuts.) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-basic-common-sense/227467/30 "2004-02-06T15:49:16Z")
I would guess that most of the flood plain people are farming type. In fact most people take other factors into account when deciding where to live. Like, Do I have a job there? Can I afford to live there? I just want to add Welcome to the board **Starguard**. Yes people are stupid sometimes. Why? Well some people only exist to be a warning to others. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-basic-common-sense/227467.md?page=1)