Bonus reading: Malcolm Gladwell’s New Yorker article Big and Bad: How the S.U.V. ran over automotive safety, in which the author talks about what people worry about when they worry about safety: “not risks,
however commonplace, involving their own behavior but risks, however
rare, involving some unexpected event.”
5 replies on “A Little Short on Those Risk Assessment Skills (or: Expectant Mom of the Year)”
Apparently the risks to her unborn child from her smoking are a known entity and therefore do not worry her.
Dude, I probably shouldn’t admit this, but The Roanoke Times is my hometown newspaper !! Now, if I ever make it Toronto, I’m buying you three beers. Really. Bullitt Ave is on the other side of town. I’d like to say all the intelligent people are on my side of town, but I live in the American South, unfortunately people in Roanoke are generally as dumb as they look. I’ve been to Boston. I love Boston, it is much better.
Joshua Day
Roanoke VA USA
Worry not, Joshua — dumb people are everywhere: north, south, east and west.
As I like to say: “You know how dumb the average person is? Assuming a normal distribution curve for IQ, half of them are even dumber!”
Man, that is one picture that speaks for itself. As for Roanoke, went there on a high school exchange, and met Erica Lipps. And she came by that name honestly.
Slippy, Honey. That was 15 years ago. Move on.