Don’t kid yourself Jimmy, if a cow ever got the chance he’d eat you and everyone you cared about!
I heard a speaker at a school assembly, talking about safety in school. He literally told the kids; If you can hide, do it, If there is not a object to get behind, get behind a fat person. I thought that was a particularly asinine thing to say! He wad a paid speaker!
A planet of playthings
We dance on a string
Of powers we cannot perceive.
The stars aren’t aligned
Or the gods are malign.
Blame is better to give than receive.
That reminds me of an incident reported from the Battle of Shiloh in the American Civil War. Occurring relatively early in the war, Shiloh was far larger and more violent than any previous battle in the history of the US or its constituent original 13 colonies, for that matter. The green troops fighting on both sides fought surprisingly hard, considering their inexperience, but there was a lot of straggling and panic as well. One participant wrote that he saw a man hide behind a tree from the storm of bullets, and another man got behind that man, holding onto him. Another man also sought shelter there, and so on, and soon a long chain of men holding onto each other was trying to stay lined up with the tree between them and the enemy’s bullets. When a bullet struck on one side of the tree, the line of panicky men would snake toward the other side, only to sway back when bullets struck on that side.
Re. Las Vegas: I have been made aware of a mother who pulled a dead body over her young daughter to protect her while they waited through the shooting. She and her daughter were not shot, and the body was not shot again. I have no idea what sort of protection the body might have offered in that particular shooting.
nm
Yeah, I’ve dated a few myself.
Doctor Jackson, fighting terrorist cows one T-bone at a time.
Just saw in the paper this a.m., someone died in a motor vehicle accident pretty near me - because some idiot wanted to see how fast his Camaro would go, and was driving 135 MPH at 10 a.m. on a Saturday.
This was on Butterfield Road in DuPage County, a typical suburban thoroughfare w/ 2-3 lanes in each direction, shopping/homes/parks all along it, where you’d expect a ton of folk running errands, shopping, driving kids to activities - on a Sat a.m.
Like others have said, there is great comfort in statistics. Even of the folk who attended the concert in LV, a pretty small percentage got killed (something like .25%. Hell, can’t get odds like that in the casinos!)
Shit happens - you just have to appreciate that the overwhelming amount of the time you aren’t in the wrong place when it does. Go about your business. Nothing to see here…
Or, you can live your life in fear, never go anywhere, and hope you never read how many folk die in their own bathrooms!
I am a tiny bit agoraphobic, anyway, It wouldn’t take much to push me over the cliff. So I am always, always looking for exits and safe places. It makes my whole family crazy. They just roll their eyes when I start with warnings and such. So I am gonna try and chill about shootings and other emergencies. About the time I get okay about some news story another one comes along. Jeez, what’s a girl to do?
I live in Chicagoland. In the “worst” places all it takes is situational awareness, which often is knowing what you should pretend to not know what to be aware of. Out here, a few years back someone at the 4th of July fireworks was killed by a bullet shot from a quarter-mile away because some asshole was plinking bottles off a fence. Death can come from nowhere, but though I’m as OCD as the next guy, you have to accept that.
OTOH, regarding “always looking for exits and safe places,” gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok had a personal rule to always sit with his back to a wall. He broke it once, so I have a gravesite available 35 feet from his. Always know your exits and safe places. Just don’t tell anybody until needed.
Statistically, you’ve never EVER been safer than you are now.
At the same time, statistically, we have the perfect, instant, news relaying mechanism that makes sure you hear every gory detail any time someone does something evil.
Additionally, everyone can now speak with an equal voice. By that I mean: The person that fact-checks, is reasonable, coherent and sane, has just as good a chance of getting your attention as the freekin flat earthers.
With a dash of fake news added for effect.
Safety in our environment is a complete fallacy. It’s never existed.
Anyone can walk into any crowded mall, concert, fair or even a sale at Dollar General and set off an IED, gas bomb or start shooting.
Grab a bottle of beach and a bottle of Ammonia. Mix well and set the container down. Or some glass bottles, fill with gasoline, and rags for wicks. You can ruin a lot of people’s day if you’re willing to kill yourself too.
The only thing keeping us reasonably secure is the character of the average person. Most of us want to live in peace. The average person has no interest or need to maim & kill others.
It only takes one sick S.O.B. to plan and execute a terror attack. Our 24 hour news will deliver the gory details within minutes.
All you can do is kiss your wife and tell the family you love them before going out. Hope for the best. The odds are in your favor of getting home ok.
See, that’s not the right way of looking at it. It’s NOT a complete fallacy, because 99.9999% of the time 99.999% of the people that go out, come back alive.
It makes great news to say that you’re twice as likely to die in a motorcycle accident than an auto accident.
It makes no news stories at ALL to say that in Colorado, 150,000 people rode a motorcycle last year without incident.
Are you trying to make a sensational story, or relate true risk to a person?
I made a point to mention the odds are overwhelmingly in everyone’s favor that they will never be a victim of terrorism.
The odds are slightly higher that you could be a crime victim. But it may be something non-violent like a burglary.
Compared to people living in Iraq, Libya or other war torn areas, we are very, very safe
It’s been noted over a century ago and probably a lot longer than that. I just like Twain.
A semi-eerie coincidence: a few days before the shooting, Scott Adams predicted on one of his video logs the end of open-air events. But his reason was drones. https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/914842627987578880
I take my life in my hands whenever I get behind the wheel of my car. More dangerous than going to an outdoor concert in Vegas by a wide margin.
Speaking of odds, though, what are the odds of this? My daughter arrived in Luxor Egypt the afternoon that the Luxor massacre (Luxor massacre - Wikipedia) took place in the morning. And my two sons drove to Vegas on Monday morning (having just hiked down and then back up to Grand Canyon on Friday and Sunday).
Hari- buy some Powerball tickets!