[Sigia-l] [off topic] 'what are the odds' database

[karl fast]

> It's not quite the same thing, but I *really* suggest you read Bill
> Bryson's A Walk In The Woods, which is about walking the
> Appalachian Trail. It's one of the funniest books I ever read. (I
> was laughing so hard, that the flight attendant told me I was
> bothering the lady in front of me.)
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0767902521

I've read it and highly recommend it (thanks to Samantha for not
only urging me to read it but being so insistent that she *ordered*
a copy from Amazon and had it shipped to me last month).

I plan to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail in a few years. Not the
way Bryson does (thru-hiking the AT when you have no outdoors
experience is a bad idea; what was he thinking?), but by going
ulralight (packweight under 12lbs plus food, fuel, water).


BTW, several people have sent me some wonderful statistics sites
(keep 'em coming).

The story is that the odds of being killed by a bear are extremely
low. Only 5 people have been killed by bears in Yellowstone dating
back to 1916, and only 23 injured. Odds of being injured at 1 in 2.1
million, odds of being killed much less (where I'm hiking there is
only a single reported bear fatality in modern history).

Meanwhile, odds of being killed in a motor-vehicle accident during a
given year are 1 in 6,212 in the US. Your lifetime odds of being
killed in a car crash are 1 in 81 in the US.


Yes folks, I am *far* more likely to die driving from cross-country
than hiking for a month in the mountains.


--karl