Thursday, July 30, 2009

And the thunder rolls...

I am not impressed by the "when thunder roars, go indoors" campaign being pushed by the county government and some other agencies. It's not that I think it's too expensive or anything like that, I just think that it's an absurd program.

Lightning strikes are a real threat, and I am not dismissing that. However, they are a very statistically improbable threat. According to this blog post on the new program, 62 people out of 304 million are killed nationwide each year by lightning strikes. This means that your odds of being killed this year by lightning are about 1 in 4.9 million. Those kind of odds are akin to winning the lottery.

Additionally, I don't think there is widespread unawareness that lightning is dangerous. Most people kinda know that already.

Maybe this program will make a few people feel like the county government is doing something useful, and it will certainly get Ulman and a few other politically ambitious folks in front of a camera. Any other good coming from this public awareness program is a long shot.

2 comments:

Chemtrail Elite 737 said...

Sure, I suppose that $1900 on a couple of signs in parks isn't such an egregious waste of money, but was the press conference and hoopla really necessary for a program that, even by most dire of predictions, will not have measurable impact?

Anonymous said...

I'm sure the payroll for all those elected bozo's showing up there counts for more than $1900, plus the County Executives Advance Guy, Personal protection detail and the Health Guys video ographer....I'm thinking the cost for this boondoogle was like at least $1 million, Kenny wouldn't waste His precious time for less!