Tempest in a teapot

[unixronin]

The health blog on the New York Times has a column about the deadly danger to small children posed swallowing by various types of button-cell batteries.  This terrible danger happens THOUSANDS OF TIMES PER YEAR!!!  Well ... OK, maybe a few hundred ... no?  Ten to a dozen?

Well, OK, ALMOST ten.  ...Over the past six years.

Three hundred and forty million people, more or less, in the United States.  And in any given year, one or two of them swallow a button-cell battery and die as a result.

So, let's see ... how does that compare to other common risks?  No, wait: let's compare to RARE risks.  Oh, yes, here we go:  You are fifty times more likely to be struck and killed by lightning in any given year than you are to die from swallowing a button-cell battery.

But wait, not everyone who swallows a battery dies.  What about all the children that don't die, but still suffer serious injuries?

Well, the article says that's about a hundred people per year in the US at present, up from about fifteen per year in 1985. Out of three hundred and forty million.  That's, um ... gee. 130 times less than the number of people aged fifteen and under injured on those deadly, death-trap contrivances, bicycles, each year.  (About 13,000 in 2009.)  Hell, it's almost the number of 15-and-unders killed on bicycles in 2009 (93).

Well, we all knew bicycles were dangerous.  How about something nice and safe like the school playground?

ZOMG!!!  About two hundred thousand playground injuries per year among the 14-and-under set, about 90,000 of them severe (fractures, concussions, internal injuries, amputations etc).

Well, OK ... how about food?  Food's nice and safe, isn't it?

Well ... since you mention it ... actually, not so much.  WebMD says between 66 and 77 children under 10 die each year after choking on foods, and 10,000 children under age 15 are treated in emergency departments. Three quarters of those are children under 3 years old.  Even more deaths and choking injuries result from "swallowing balloons and small toys".

But Ms. Parker-Pope thinks we have an imminent crisis that desperately needs attention, because one to two people per year are dying from ingesting button cell batteries and maybe a hundred are being seriously injured.  We need to secure all battery compartments, everywhere, right away.

Or then again, Ms. Parker-Pope, maybe we could all start paying attention again to what our kids are getting into.  And maybe you could find something productive to do with the time on your hands, of which you appear to have rather too much if you have time to get all in a tizzy about a hazard so rare that, frankly, it's lost in the statistical noise.

Sometimes I swear we're actively breeding people for stupidity.

Comments

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I do actually wonder what would happen if Woods Hole were to pull out one of their deep-submersibles like, say, an Alvin, which can operate in water depths FAR exceeding this well, and go manually activate the blowout preventer. Or if it doesn't work, I'm sure it shouldn't take more than a few days for a competent company to build a one-shot explosive-powered device to clamp off even the high-strength deep-well pipe. I want to know why we've heard nothing of any such attempt.

[mrakg.livejournal.com]

Woods Hole is not part of the US Government. It's a private institution.

That being said, the question of why no one has contacted them is a good one.

I'm actually surprised they haven't initiated contact, themselves.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Woods Hole is not part of the US Government. It's a private institution.

Wasn't trying to suggest that it was.

[mrakg.livejournal.com]

OK. The context was unclear.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Well, my point was, the administration could have said, "OK, we need deep submergence vessels to try to activate that blowout preventer manually. Now, who has the best deep-submersibles? Ah, yes. Could you help us out here...?"

[lebo-superman.livejournal.com]

It's very possible that they have, and were turned away. I saw a report somewhere else about two guys in the US who were working in the Middle East 10-15 years ago when there was a big spill, that they successfully controlled and cleaned up by siphoning the spill onto empty oil cargo ships, taking it to land and putting in special holding tanks until it could be cleaned for processing. They tried contacting the Coast Guard, PB, and even the DOD (I think) trying to volunteer their experience to help - and everyone told them, basically, "Thanks, but no thanks."

I think Obama has manipulated this to CREATE a disaster that will make the American sheeple SCREAM for him to invoke the disaster/emergency powers granted to his office right after 9/11. He wants public acclamation for him declaring Martial Law on the whole country, at which time he can dispense with pesky things like Habeus Corpus, the 2nd Amendment, and the need to compete for re-election in November 2012. He's operating on the same playbook used by one of his idols - Adolf Hitler.

[polaris93.livejournal.com]

If so, he's gone way too far. The results of this will ultimately be far bigger and far more unmanageable than any one man or government could ever hope to control or use. It may be that he is indeed stupid enough to have tried such a stunt. If so, I do believe the unintended consequences of it will eat him, his party, liberals in general, and a whole lot of innocent bystanders up like candy. Otherwise, and more likely, he is probably suffering from paralysis of will as far as making useful decisions about this goes. He can memorize and recite a speech someone else wrote, and he can give the orders to put into practice projects and ideas other, more competent people come up with. But beyond that he is utterly out of his depth. Which is even worse than if he had pulled this deliberately, because in that case, he'd have been at least partly rational and definitely competent, and such bastards can be reasoned with, at least at gunpoint. But a man who can only recite others' speechs and initial what someone else comes up with? Never count on him for anything in a crisis!

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

He just needs health care to not be an issue this November.

[jilara.livejournal.com]

Funny, I've never heard Obama mention any admiration for the 3rd Reich or its authority figures.

On the other hand, the current governor of my state has commented that Adolf was a very effective leader. That's what we get for electing The Terminator, who ran on slogans from Hollywood scriptwriters. And I voted for him, sigh. At least I voted based on Arnold's experience as a successful businessman, not his campaign rhetoric.

Never attribute to malice or conspiracy what can be adequately explained by stupidity.