Which is more dangerous?

[mdlbear]

Al-Qaida or your appendix?
Wired News: One Million Ways to Die

Comparing official mortality data with the number of Americans who have been killed inside the United States by terrorism since the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma reveals that scores of threats are far more likely to kill an American than any terrorist -- at least, statistically speaking.

In fact, your appendix is more likely to kill you than al-Qaida is.

With that in mind, here's a handy ranking of the various dangers confronting America, based on the number of mortalities in each category throughout the 11-year period spanning 1995 through 2005 (extrapolated from best available data).

S E V E R E Driving off the road: 254,419 Falling: 146,542 Accidental poisoning: 140,327

H I G H Dying from work: 59,730 Walking down the street: 52,000. Accidentally drowning: 38,302

E L E V A T E D Killed by the flu: 19,415 Dying from a hernia: 16,742

G U A R D E D Accidental firing of a gun: 8,536 Electrocution: 5,171

L O W Being shot by law enforcement: 3,949 Terrorism: 3147 Carbon monoxide in products: 1,554

(from BoingBoing)

Comments

[ashi.livejournal.com]

Perspective is a nice thing.

[rowanf.livejournal.com]

Heh. I'm safe from the appendix probem!

[mdlbear]

But I'm not! Help! Save me!

(Of course, I'm more likely to go from driving off the road.)

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

Maybe this is why off-road vehicles are so popular.