Ken's Weblog

People should not fear their governments; governments should fear their people.

Month: September 2010

  • Historical perspective

    A Requiem for Reason. I append here a list of all Christian countries conquered by militant Moslems since 1529:

    Next, a partial list of Moslem countries conquered by Christians: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq (the first time), Iraq (again), Iran, Pakistan, East Pakistan, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Oman, Abu Dhabi, Dubai….

    This list does not include such minor Christian conquests as North, South, and Central America, India, China, Southeast Asia, black Africa, and such. Unconscionable, Moslem aggressiveness is. [Fred On Everything]

    Some historical perspective for the neo-Nazis who are pushing ridiculous conspiracy theories recycled from 1930s Germany to avoid facing up to the reason why people might dislike the U.S.

  • Missing the obvious

    Parental Fears vs. Realities.

    From NPR:

    Based on surveys Barnes collected, the top five worries of parents are, in order:

    1. Kidnapping
    2. School snipers
    3. Terrorists
    4. Dangerous strangers
    5. Drugs

    But how do children really get hurt or killed?

    1. Car accidents
    2. Homicide (usually committed by a person who knows the child, not a stranger)
    3. Abuse
    4. Suicide
    5. Drowning

    Why such a big discrepancy between worries and reality? Barnes says parents fixate on rare events because they internalize horrific stories they hear on the news or from a friend without stopping to think about the odds the same thing could happen to their children.

    No surprise to any regular reader of this blog.

    [Schneier on Security]

    I think Barnes has missed something which is rather obvious to me. The things in the second list are all either things done by the parents, or something which most people would think that the parents could have or should have prevented. We can hardly expect parents to acknowledge that parents are a greater danger to children than the various boogeymen in the first list.