Statistics Abuse
I find I really hate when people misrepresent things, especially if they do so with math - this is, arguably, the whole point of statistics, though.
"More people are killed each year by toasters than by sharks."
That information isn't really useful. It shouldn't make you scared of your toaster, nor should it prevent you from ever fearing sharks just because you haven't killed yourself with a toaster.
It seems to me the piece of data that matters here is the percentage of encounters which are fatal.
If I had the choice of going one round with a toaster or with a shark, I'd pick the toaster nearly every time. Perhaps a small shark or a giant toaster with exposed elements may sway me from the seemingly safe choice of the home appliance I use several times a week without incident.
Let's say I've used a toaster a mere 1,000 times in my life. An average of 50 times a year since I started making my own Eggo waffles, a little less than once a week. I have died 0 times while using the toaster, but burned myself... hell, let's say every time.
Growing up in Myrtle Beach and having been to the US Virgin Islands, the Bahamas and Florida, I've been in the ocean easily as many times as I've used a toaster. I've never been attacked by a shark. It seems the toaster is, in fact, more dangerous.
However, the only time the toaster has hurt me has been when I stuck my fingers in the business end. The toaster has never wandered up to me and mistaken me for bread and attempted to toast me. The toaster has never had a territorial dispute with me and toasted me a little to scare me off. The toaster has never been curious about my taste and tried a bit to see if I was good for toasting.
Despite how safe the shark seems due to the fact that I've never been eaten, bitten, or even brushed by a shark, I still feel more comfortable reaching into the open end of the toaster than the open end of a shark. Most wild animals don't go out of their way to hunt humans, but that doesn't make an encounter with them any less dangerous.
More people die from toasters because more people put their fork/butter knife into a toaster than their head into a shark's mouth. I bet more people die in China and India every year than in the US, too. Crazy what happens when you just use raw numbers.
That being said, I love sharks. And hate people who kill themselves with toasters.
"More people are killed each year by toasters than by sharks."
That information isn't really useful. It shouldn't make you scared of your toaster, nor should it prevent you from ever fearing sharks just because you haven't killed yourself with a toaster.
It seems to me the piece of data that matters here is the percentage of encounters which are fatal.
If I had the choice of going one round with a toaster or with a shark, I'd pick the toaster nearly every time. Perhaps a small shark or a giant toaster with exposed elements may sway me from the seemingly safe choice of the home appliance I use several times a week without incident.
Let's say I've used a toaster a mere 1,000 times in my life. An average of 50 times a year since I started making my own Eggo waffles, a little less than once a week. I have died 0 times while using the toaster, but burned myself... hell, let's say every time.
Growing up in Myrtle Beach and having been to the US Virgin Islands, the Bahamas and Florida, I've been in the ocean easily as many times as I've used a toaster. I've never been attacked by a shark. It seems the toaster is, in fact, more dangerous.
However, the only time the toaster has hurt me has been when I stuck my fingers in the business end. The toaster has never wandered up to me and mistaken me for bread and attempted to toast me. The toaster has never had a territorial dispute with me and toasted me a little to scare me off. The toaster has never been curious about my taste and tried a bit to see if I was good for toasting.
Despite how safe the shark seems due to the fact that I've never been eaten, bitten, or even brushed by a shark, I still feel more comfortable reaching into the open end of the toaster than the open end of a shark. Most wild animals don't go out of their way to hunt humans, but that doesn't make an encounter with them any less dangerous.
More people die from toasters because more people put their fork/butter knife into a toaster than their head into a shark's mouth. I bet more people die in China and India every year than in the US, too. Crazy what happens when you just use raw numbers.
That being said, I love sharks. And hate people who kill themselves with toasters.