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Don't try to handwave this away.

http://www.popcenter.org/probl...
Quote: "Pedestrian injury is the third leading cause of unintentional injury-related deaths among children ages five to 14.50 The âoedart-outâ phenomenon, where children quickly enter traffic from between parked cars, is one major factor that has contributed to 80 percent of pedestrian-vehicle crashes involving children aged six to eight from 1983 to 1990.51 In addition to the âoe dart-outâ phenomenon, several other factors could put children and teens at higher risk:

        Walking is a major form of transportation for children.
        Children frequently donâ(TM)t pay attention to traffic conditions.
        Childrenâ(TM)s height makes them difficult to see.
        Teens can be at high risk when in groups (for example, since teens often travel in groups, they might be more prone to âoeherd mentalityâ).
"
If the automated car responds instantaneously without any analysis it will still take it 43 feet to stop a car going 30mph. That's why we use 20mph in school zones.

The situation must be programmed for.

You can either give that right up to the programmers at Lexus or you could have the ability to choose to risk hitting a fixed object at various speeds to save a human being's life. Since you can die at 30mph (unlikely but it happens many times every year in the U.S.) that means it's not automatically immoral to express a preference to brake instead of avoiding hitting a person in a way that might kill you.

Easy enough. And an extra. POP is considered the defacto source for police services around the world if you're wondering.

Easy enough. And an extra. POP is considered the defacto source for police services around the world if you're wondering.

Most robberies are morons who watched too many films and thought it was that easy.

Unfortunately it is in fact pretty easy. Probably easier in the US than in the UK. (small fish, bigger pond). But the take is much smaller.

With 20% chance of getting caught (in the UIK), and only two robberies needed per year to make a living wage, it would seem that anyone taking half a year to plan a job would stand nearly zero percent chance of getting caught, and would be able to time it such that their average take would be substantially higher than 19k. Parlay your experience into one robbery per calendar quarter and you might be able to live fairly well, as long as you move around the country.

In the US, oddly, the take per robbery is much smaller than the 19K mentioned in the British study. The average haul, $7,732 in 2009 and $7,663 in 2010.

Further, the chance of getting caught is much higher in the US. In fact, the clearance rate for bank robbery is among the highest of all crimes—nearly 60 percent.

However, it also appears that in the US only in 22% of cases is there actually any money recovered (see first link). This suggests that every robber they catch "clears" multiple bank robberies, but only after significant amounts of money is spent, which implies the average robber may well get away with it for some time before getting sloppy enough to get caught.

A lot of interesting info is at the Center for Problem Oriented Policing site: http://www.popcenter.org/problems/robbery_banks/print/

Most robberies are morons who watched too many films and thought it was that easy.

Unfortunately it is in fact pretty easy. Probably easier in the US than in the UK. (small fish, bigger pond). But the take is much smaller.

With 20% chance of getting caught (in the UIK), and only two robberies needed per year to make a living wage, it would seem that anyone taking half a year to plan a job would stand nearly zero percent chance of getting caught, and would be able to time it such that their average take would be substantially higher than 19k. Parlay your experience into one robbery per calendar quarter and you might be able to live fairly well, as long as you move around the country.

In the US, oddly, the take per robbery is much smaller than the 19K mentioned in the British study. The average haul, $7,732 in 2009 and $7,663 in 2010.

Further, the chance of getting caught is much higher in the US. In fact, the clearance rate for bank robbery is among the highest of all crimes—nearly 60 percent.

However, it also appears that in the US only in 22% of cases is there actually any money recovered (see first link). This suggests that every robber they catch "clears" multiple bank robberies, but only after significant amounts of money is spent, which implies the average robber may well get away with it for some time before getting sloppy enough to get caught.

A lot of interesting info is at the Center for Problem Oriented Policing site: http://www.popcenter.org/problems/robbery_banks/print/

NoReaction+Bomb is the worst outcome, yes, but its astonishingly unlikely. Getting hit by lightning in your office likely.

Maybe. Maybe not.

A 13-year-old elementary school student had "second thoughts" that stopped him from setting off pipe bombs in his Courtice school. The bomb squad examined explosives found in the boy's home and said they would have caused significant damage. [They] wouldn't say how many explosive devices -- which he apparently learned how to make from the Internet -- were seized. 'Second thoughts' halt school bomb plot [Jan 14]

This piece is a little dated - but still suggestive:

Data on bomb incidents (any event in which an actual bomb or bomb look-alike is involved) and bomb threats (any event in which a bomb threat is communicated that may or may not involve an actual bomb or bomb look-alike) are limited. The FBI reports that close to 5 percent of bombing incidents in the United States in 1999 were targeted at schools. It is unknown what portion of these incidents involved threats. For the period January 1990 to February 28, 2002 the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) recorded 1,055 incidents of bombs being placed in school premises. Again, we do not know what proportion of these incidents involved threats. For the most part, however, it is probably reasonable to conclude that bomb incidents involving real bombs in schools are relatively rare, though they have been with us for quite some time. Furthermore, relatively few bomb explosions are preceded by a warning or threat to officials. Of the 1,055 bomb incidents in schools reported by ATF, only 14 were accompanied by a warning to school or other authorities.

The first known school bombing occurred in May 1927 in Bath, Michigan. A local farmer blew up the school, killing 38 pupils, six adults and seriously injuring 40 other students. The Problem of Bomb Threats in Schools

This is one of those assertions that always has me scratching my head. According to the statistic I find online, approximately 1 in 4 women is raped before graduating college. This means a quarter of the population is incapable of forming relationships? I know people are lonely and alone out there, but from my own personal experience it's hard to believe that a full quarter of the developed world's women are spinsters.

On the other hand "meaningful relationship" is a pretty vague term. I'm not entirely sure how you would measure that.