It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.

— Mark Twain

###

  • Your chance of being shot by another American are 5,000 times greater than being shot by an Islamic terrorist. (see table)

  • Also, when we declare war on Islam, perhaps we’re taking on more than we realize, since Moslems account for 23% of the global population, i.e. 1.6 billion people.
  • Mass shootings are way over-reported. Of the 325,000 firearm deaths recorded by the FBI from 1983 to 2012, just 547 people died in incidents involving four or more deaths (0.17%).
  • I thought Humboldt County was fairly representative of the whole state. Turns out, (1) minorities make up 19% of our population, as opposed to 50% for the state as a whole; and (2) average per capita income 2010 in Humboldt was $23,496, 80% of the $29,020 state average.
  • I used to think papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals could be trusted. Science reported last year that only 39% of results published in the top three psychology journals could be replicated, with similar results for nutrition, genetics and oncology (cancer treatment).
  • Speaking of which, less than half — 42% — of cancers result from bad lifestyle choices (of which smoking accounts for 19%). Most cancers are attributable to bad luck — genetics, DNA copying errors and random mutations.
  • Annual global emissions of carbon dioxide nearly doubled in the last two decades, from 6 billion tons in the early ‘90s to over 10 billion tons today.
  • You’d have to walk 90 minutes a day every day to lose one pound in a week.
  • As the consumption of violent video games does up, youth violence goes down. (see graph)

  • Despite only 50% in ticket sales being paid out as prizes, we spent $70 billion on lottery in 43 states (in 2014) = $300 per adult—more than combined sports tickets, books, video games, movie tickets and recorded music.
  • The scientific revolution is 500 years old (starting with Copernicus), yet 49% of us say natural disasters are a sign of “the end times” per the Book of Revelations.
  • Lost Coast Outpost readers are twice as intelligent as some other people.

###

Barry Evans gave the best years of his life to civil engineering, and what thanks did he get? In his dotage, he travels, kayaks, meditates and writes for the Journal and the Humboldt Historian. He sucks at 8 Ball. Buy his Field Notes anthologies at any local bookstore. Please.