Thursday 28 May 2015

Won't anyone think of the children?









Supplementary material

Statistics Canada, table 102-0540, chapter XX (year 2011)

Number of people killed by falling on or from steps or stairs: 396

Number of people killed by some other fall from the same level: 856

Number of people killed while riding a bicycle: 87

Now please, help me understand why our government and many well-meaning activists are going apeshit about bicycle helmets and not about stairs and sidewalks. Riding a bicycle is barely twice as dangerous as taking a bath (41 people drowned in their bath in Canada in 2011). In the name of safety, are we going to force people to wear a floating jacket when taking their bath?

It's like a moral crusade... some worthy cause (protecting people) that becomes way more important in the eyes of its proponents than it is in reality. And the numbers be damned, because we know we're right. Case in point, here is an anecdote about a child who fell down the stairs and broke her skull, only to drown in her bathtub the next day. Do you want that to happen to YOUR child?



Tuesday 5 May 2015

Well done prank





Cartoon removed because it might be misinterpreted as disrespect for the victim of an actual accident (see comments below). Reality is truly stranger than fiction.




Monday 4 May 2015

Movie science vs real life (14)









Many thanks to NASA for the images of Earth (as well as, you know, making entire generations want to become astronauts, astronomers or astrophysicists).