Scared of dying in terrorist attack? Check the numbers
In 1978, the late historian Barbara Tuchman coined Tuchman's Law: "The fact of being reported multiplies the apparent extent of any deplorable development by five- to tenfold." Anyone who doubts the law's validity need only note the current knickers-in-a-twist frenzy over how to prevent terrorist attacks. Don't get me wrong: terrorist attacks are horrible, taking innocent lives in the name of some kooky agenda. The media do their job to report them, and the country needs to take sensible action to prevent them.
But the operative word here is "sensible." And nearly everything heard to date, especially from opportunistic politicians, has left "sensible" trailing in the dust. Fact: your odds of dying in a terrorist attack are one in 9.3 million. That is far less than your odds of dying from a bee sting (one in 100,000), a fireworks accident (one in 1 million), a lightning strike (one in 576,000) and a score of other causes we don't waste a worry about. When is Donald Trump going to tell the country his plans for eliminating the scourge of bee stings?
But the prize in the cakewalk to foolishness goes to Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, who has urged his students to come to class armed. Which means that in his efforts to reduce the minuscule chance of his students dying in a terrorist attack, Falwell would arm the world's most murderous citizens: young men, who account for a hugely disproportionate share of violent deaths. Few things would scare me more than the realization that I am sitting in a classroom with a bunch of 20-year-old males packing heat.
— Dale Gerboth
Anchorage
Some mammoth facts
The woolly mammoths on St. Paul and Wrangel islands were isolated by rapidly rising seawater. Both islands were separated from the mainland by many miles of deep seawater due to global warming. The woolly mammoth became extinct on Wrangel Island 3,800 years ago and 5,800 years on St. Paul. The dates were determined by carbon dating and are a blip in geologic history.
To be on the safe side I will continue to live on a hill and drive my 18-year-old Honda Civic.
— Dick Griffith
Anchorage
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