Re: bike path news

On 3/12/2025 8:42 AM, AMuzi wrote:

On 3/11/2025 8:51 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:

On 3/11/2025 8:50 AM, AMuzi wrote:

On 3/10/2025 9:56 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:

On 3/10/2025 8:11 PM, AMuzi wrote:

>
>
The murder of this thread was of an unarmed man on a bike path.

>
Which does not mean it's even remotely likely on the bike path where Mr. Tricycle Rider rides. It was a one in a million event, thousands of miles away.
>
His fear is as unrealistic as fear of dying from a spider bite. It's almost as unrealistic as fear of walking past a graveyard. It's a phobia, and his quasi-macho defense strategy is even less admirable than clutching a teddy bear.
>

>
OK, the risk is remote. But it's not zero.

>
Andrew, no risk is zero. But rational and non-phobic people's assessment of most risks is _usually_ at least vaguely related to the actual likelihood of the bad event.
>
That's not true for some "dangers," like spiders and snakes. There are fewer than ten deaths from each per year in the U.S.  Yet many people are completely irrational in those phobias.
>
Mr. Tricycle is similarly irrational in his fear of riding a bike path without his gun. And he's lately let us know that he's also afraid of driving without a gun or pumping gas without a gun. He's afraid of pedaling on normal streets, too, gun or no. Remember, he's still in an endless snit because I said that if he lacked the courage or competence to ride normal roads, he could continue just riding back and forth on his path, but it would be too boring for me.
>
His fears are not normal, and his fearful behavior is not admirable.
>

 Let's check the data shall we?
 https://www.statista.com/statistics/232564/robbery-rate-in-the-us-by-state/

Sure, let's check the data and try to understand it. Your source says there are 42 robberies per 100,000 people in Florida. That's a 0.04% chance of being robbed. People are really supposed to carry a gun because of that?
Or let's look at NRA's statement on the odds of needing a gun for self defense. Here it is, in their photo:
https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/uploader/image/2015/10/20/nranoirdgu.jpg
The odds of getting hit by a meteorite might be about the same. It takes a lot of paranoia to be afraid of odds like that!
--
- Frank Krygowski