Comments on: So you won’t be eaten http://oscarandre.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/so-you-wont-be-eaten/ A meander through life's big questions Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:40:15 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Oscarandre http://oscarandre.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/so-you-wont-be-eaten/#comment-258 Oscarandre Mon, 12 Feb 2007 21:51:38 +0000 http://oscarandre.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/so-you-wont-be-eaten/#comment-258 NotoriousV - I think it is surprising how many people share this phobia. And yet, this weekend in my city, literally hundreds of people will swim in a race kilometres across the sea that separates an island from our shores. No one has died yet or even been attacked. The worst that happens is sea sickness and hypothermia. None of which gets me off the beach! NotoriousV – I think it is surprising how many people share this phobia. And yet, this weekend in my city, literally hundreds of people will swim in a race kilometres across the sea that separates an island from our shores. No one has died yet or even been attacked. The worst that happens is sea sickness and hypothermia. None of which gets me off the beach!

]]> By: Oscarandre http://oscarandre.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/so-you-wont-be-eaten/#comment-255 Oscarandre Mon, 12 Feb 2007 21:35:32 +0000 http://oscarandre.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/so-you-wont-be-eaten/#comment-255 Silver Tiger - I have tried your lottery analogy. It also provides some (limited)comfort on aircraft e.g. "Hell, I never win the lottery so why would yI choose the one plane in a million that is going to crash?" Tiffany - Florida is the shark equivalent to a hot and cold buffet - wimp or wise? It all depends who survives... Desiree and TBM - I am really glad you got some pleasure out of this piece. Sean - I've got to hand it to anyone who can face their fears, especially once they have been realised (as in Panama). And you're right - Jaws has a lot to answer for! Silver Tiger – I have tried your lottery analogy. It also provides some (limited)comfort on aircraft e.g. “Hell, I never win the lottery so why would yI choose the one plane in a million that is going to crash?”
Tiffany – Florida is the shark equivalent to a hot and cold buffet – wimp or wise? It all depends who survives…
Desiree and TBM – I am really glad you got some pleasure out of this piece.
Sean – I’ve got to hand it to anyone who can face their fears, especially once they have been realised (as in Panama). And you’re right – Jaws has a lot to answer for!

]]> By: notoriousv http://oscarandre.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/so-you-wont-be-eaten/#comment-254 notoriousv Mon, 12 Feb 2007 21:30:28 +0000 http://oscarandre.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/so-you-wont-be-eaten/#comment-254 I hope you know that just reaffirmed my shark phobia, which, as a child, kept me out of every body of water including lakes and swimming pools. I may never put a toe in the ocean again. I hope you know that just reaffirmed my shark phobia, which, as a child, kept me out of every body of water including lakes and swimming pools. I may never put a toe in the ocean again.

]]> By: Desiree http://oscarandre.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/so-you-wont-be-eaten/#comment-253 Desiree Mon, 12 Feb 2007 15:33:16 +0000 http://oscarandre.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/so-you-wont-be-eaten/#comment-253 Oh my goodness! This was a delightful read! Very funny and great writing! Oh my goodness! This was a delightful read! Very funny and great writing!

]]> By: Sean Wilson http://oscarandre.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/so-you-wont-be-eaten/#comment-252 Sean Wilson Sun, 11 Feb 2007 22:15:29 +0000 http://oscarandre.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/so-you-wont-be-eaten/#comment-252 Loved this! Thanks for stopping by my blog by the way. Your piece reminds me of why my dad said he got me certified as a scuba diver at 16. The whole purpose of having a dive buddy is so that when you encounter a shark, "you can cut them and swim like hell." Had my own close encounters with sharks and with a barracuda down in Panama once. Love the water, but I was traumatized young by Orca and Jaws, and it just always makes me antsy going in. Loved this! Thanks for stopping by my blog by the way.

Your piece reminds me of why my dad said he got me certified as a scuba diver at 16. The whole purpose of having a dive buddy is so that when you encounter a shark, “you can cut them and swim like hell.”

Had my own close encounters with sharks and with a barracuda down in Panama once. Love the water, but I was traumatized young by Orca and Jaws, and it just always makes me antsy going in.

]]> By: tobeme http://oscarandre.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/so-you-wont-be-eaten/#comment-250 tobeme Sun, 11 Feb 2007 04:36:18 +0000 http://oscarandre.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/so-you-wont-be-eaten/#comment-250 Great writing! I enjoyed the humor that you laced into your story of shark infested waters. Great writing! I enjoyed the humor that you laced into your story of shark infested waters.

]]> By: tiffanytaylor http://oscarandre.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/so-you-wont-be-eaten/#comment-247 tiffanytaylor Thu, 08 Feb 2007 12:32:05 +0000 http://oscarandre.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/so-you-wont-be-eaten/#comment-247 This is exactly why when we go to the Florida beach every spring, I never go in water where I can't see my feet. That means I'm never more than about 10 feet from shore, in water no more than about knee high. I watch the people hundreds of feet out, swimming and splashing in an extremely shark-attractive manner, and I expect to see someone get pulled under any second. No, thanks; I'm a wimp, and I'm not ashamed to admit it! :-D This is exactly why when we go to the Florida beach every spring, I never go in water where I can’t see my feet. That means I’m never more than about 10 feet from shore, in water no more than about knee high. I watch the people hundreds of feet out, swimming and splashing in an extremely shark-attractive manner, and I expect to see someone get pulled under any second. No, thanks; I’m a wimp, and I’m not ashamed to admit it! :-D

]]> By: SilverTiger http://oscarandre.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/so-you-wont-be-eaten/#comment-246 SilverTiger Thu, 08 Feb 2007 11:59:23 +0000 http://oscarandre.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/so-you-wont-be-eaten/#comment-246 This is what I call the "lottery effect". I read that I have more chance of being murdered than of winning the lottery but I buy a ticket every week. Why? Because <em>someone</em> has to win and everyone's chances of winning are equal. It can as easily be me who wins as Fred or Freda in Newcastle. Being bitten by a shark is nowhere as nice as winning the lottery but the odds are somewhat similar. It could as easily be you as someone else, all other things being equal. I could make my probability of winning exactly zero by not buying a ticket. You could make your probability of being bitten by a shark exactly zero by staying out of the water. Once I buy a ticket and you go into the water we both enter the sea of probability. The odds are vanishingly tiny in our "favour" (not much of a favour in your case) but you have an even better chance of "winning" than I have: there are at most 52 winners of the Saturday lottery per year and six times that number of "winners" in the shark lottery. Apparently there are fewer of you than us (despite the disparity in size of our respective countries) and this makes your odds even more "favourable". All things considered, I would suggest you stay out of the water and buy a lottery ticket instead, assuming you have a lottery as we do. <a href="mailto:tigeraudax@yahoo.co.uk" rel="nofollow"><em>Email</em> SilverTiger</a> This is what I call the “lottery effect”. I read that I have more chance of being murdered than of winning the lottery but I buy a ticket every week. Why? Because someone has to win and everyone’s chances of winning are equal. It can as easily be me who wins as Fred or Freda in Newcastle.

Being bitten by a shark is nowhere as nice as winning the lottery but the odds are somewhat similar. It could as easily be you as someone else, all other things being equal.

I could make my probability of winning exactly zero by not buying a ticket. You could make your probability of being bitten by a shark exactly zero by staying out of the water. Once I buy a ticket and you go into the water we both enter the sea of probability. The odds are vanishingly tiny in our “favour” (not much of a favour in your case) but you have an even better chance of “winning” than I have: there are at most 52 winners of the Saturday lottery per year and six times that number of “winners” in the shark lottery. Apparently there are fewer of you than us (despite the disparity in size of our respective countries) and this makes your odds even more “favourable”.

All things considered, I would suggest you stay out of the water and buy a lottery ticket instead, assuming you have a lottery as we do.

Email SilverTiger

]]>