[extropy-chat] feeling more better

[c c]

England has to do what it must, but they wont necessarily be safer, they will just feel better. My uneducated guess is the war wont be won until neutron bombs are used in such locations as Tora Bora and other hangouts for the al qaeda unemployed.

Mike Lorrey <mlorrey at yahoo.com> wrote:

--- BillK 
wrote:

> On 7/8/05, Damien Broderick wrote:
> > Britain 2002:
> > 
> > Child pedestrians:
> > Killed 79
> > Killed or seriously injured 2,828
> > 
> > Adult pedestrians:
> > Killed 696
> > Killed or seriously injured 5,803
> > 
> > Motorcyclists and passengers:
> > Killed 609
> > Killed or seriously injured 7,500
> > 
> > Car drivers and passengers:
> > Killed 1,747
> > Killed or seriously injured 18,728
> > 
> 
> People overreact emotionally to disasters and are very poor at risk
> analysis. And you won't get any thanks for pointing this out. You
> cruel, heartless, calculating monster! ;)
> 
> Look at the panic about shark attacks in Florida in the news.
> (About ten people annually are killed by sharks worldwide).

And two people drowned in a rip-tide after 6 pm on New Hampshire's
shores, so now the state is spending several hundred grand on rip tide
warning signs and extended life-guard hours. The thing you aren't
considering is the opportunity costs of not doing anything. NH's beach
is a tourist mecca (as is London). Nothing keeps the tourists and their
dollars away more than the impression that nothing is being done about
a perceived risk.

> 
> Try telling them that 9/11 deaths are similar to monthly U.S. traffic
> fatalities.
> Compare the road safety budgets with homeland security budgets. 

Not a valid comparison. You'd need to include the cost of bumpers,
crush-zone engineering, airbags, door I-beams, and seatbelts that every
car owner pays for in the price of their vehicle. Multiply that by
every vehicle on the road.

> 
> 9/11 fatalities were several to ten times fewer than annual deaths
> from falls (in the home or workplace), or from suicide, or from
> homicide.

Just as more toddlers die in 5 gallon buckets than by firearms, but you
don't see any 5 gallon bucket control laws. More people die on toilets
than anywhere else, but there are no laws regulating their use.

> 
> Instead of rationally apportioning funds to the worst or most unfair
> societal predicaments, homeland security budgets soar.
> 
> In the UK we will probably have huge spending on nonsensical security
> measures now, just like in the US..

You mean all those cameras and gun bans weren't?

Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
-William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com

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