When i was little i didn’t like my nose – i thought it was too big and ski-slope-like. Well, i didn’t think that – other kids pointed it out for me. I’m a bit more comfortable with myself now and have found my nose to be an asset. Nothing new is tasted before i smell it. I even smell a new brand of beer before tasting. I decide if i’ll like something largely by the scent. Some people i can identify by scent. Their lotion or perfume is distinct enough that i can tell when they have been in a room before me. I kind of feel like a dog sniffing the air sometimes. There are so many smells. The scent when it rains for the first time in a while and the smell of autumn leaves are two if my favorite smells in nature.

I received the below email message today and it gave me feelings.

Subject: Humor: statistics
Number of physicians in the US: 700,000.
Accidental deaths caused by physicians per year: 120,000.
Accidental deaths per physician… 0.171 (U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services)
Number of gun owners in the US: 80,000,000.
Number of accidental gun deaths per year (all age groups) 1,500.
Accidental deaths per gun owner: 0.0000188
Statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners.
“FACT: Not everyone has a gun, but everyone has at least one Doctor.”
Please alert your friends to this alarming threat. We must ban doctors before this gets out of hand.
As a Public Health Measure I have withheld the statistics on Lawyers for fear that the shock could cause people to seek medical aid.

Obviously this was an attempt at humor. But being a fan of statistics i decided to take a further look. Having heard this set before I thought I’d add some other statistics. I believe there is a fallacy in the “Statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners” statement since intentional deaths are not calculated. I know the intent was humor but this really is a serious issue. So let’s do a little research about intentional harm done to others to accurately view the “danger” of gun owners.

In 2002 there were 442,880 non-fatal victims of rape, assault, and robbery that involved a firearm. (US Department of Justice)

In 2002, about 67% of all murders, 42% of all robberies, and 19% of all aggravated assaults that were reported to the police were committed with a firearm. (US Department of Justice)

The FBI’s Crime in the United States estimated that 67% of the 16,204 murders in 2002 were committed with firearms. (That would be 10,856 victims.)

I suppose it would be nice to add in legal deaths committed by police or military with firearms but these numbers seem to be a little more difficult to come by.

Adding the accidental deaths to the intentional murders and violent crimes (and assuming that the “intentional” deaths caused by physicians are statistically insignificant) I get .0057 injured victims of violent crimes, murders, or accidental deaths per firearm owner.

Shall we make a few assumptions? Perhaps a percentage of those visiting physicians are chronically ill, suffering from a major injury, or otherwise unhealthy. I doubt many of the accidental deaths are caused by a visit to a physician for a sprained ankle, to get stitches, or for a sore throat. So let’s assume that these “accidents” are largely caused while performing open heart surgery, emergency room operations for an accident victim, or under some other condition where the “victim” would have most likely died if there wasn’t a physician available in the first place.

I would be willing to bet that a few out of every hundred of these “accidental deaths” caused by physicians are actual mistakes that caused a healthy person to die from something that would not have happened otherwise. How many of these “accidental” deaths are from mis-diagnosis? How many from clerical errors, coding mistakes, or lab errors? If we add all hospital staff that may have had something to do with the fatality I think the statistic would be further diluted.

By the way, I do own a firearm.

I forgot deodorant today and my pits have begun to stink. I am experimenting with WD-40 as a substitute. I have tried gasoline as a bug repellent before. Yes. I am odd.

If when you watch a whole bunch of the same thing back to back it is a “marathon” (like tonight we may watch a few episodes of Speed Racer) what would it be if you watched a series of marathons back to back?

Today i received a shirt that i ordered from my little online shop. I noticed that Tiffany ordered 5 of the “breeder” shirts and a fellow from Connecticut ordered one of my “Don’t mess with Connecticut” shirts. I’m so happy. Oh – the one i got was the “I am a fireman” shirt. I probably should make a different store for each design since you can only have one design on each shirt style. Hmmm. I do have about 20 minutes before wallyball starts…