Ragged Clown

The answers are blowin' in the wind


Attack of the Killer Toaster Ovens

May 2010

Just how much should we spend to defend ourselves from terrorist attacks?

There is a general agreement about risk, then, in the established regulatory practices of several developed countries: risks are deemed unacceptable if the annual fatality risk is higher than 1 in 10,000 or perhaps higher than 1 in 100,000 and acceptable if the figure is lower than 1 in 1 million or 1 in 2 million. Between these two ranges is an area in which risk might be considered “tolerable.”

There is more chance that you will be killed by a kitchen appliance than by a terrorist.