BookOfOdds.com - Accidents & Death

Hurricanes: The Where, the When, the Deadly

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:48:41 EST

It has been almost five years since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the US, and legions are still feeling the effects. Approximately a million people were uprooted by the storm, and hundreds of thousands have never returned to the areas hardest hit.

Lightning Strikes: Zapped and Unzipped

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:57:37 EST

Although there are approximately 25 million cloud-to-ground strikes every year, the odds a person will be hit by lightning during that period are only 1 in 835,500.

An Interview with Jerry LeDoux, Lightning Strike Survivor

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:18:46 EST

An interview with Jerry LeDoux, survivor of not one, but two lightning strikes.

Emergency Dialing: The 411 on 911

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:24:42 EST

The first 911 call ever dialed was made in Alabama, but it wasn’t supposed to be. It happened there, and not elsewhere, out of a little oneupsmanship.

Tornadoes: How Deadly Are They?

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:23:56 EST

The deadliest tornado in history was invisible. In 1925, the Tri-State Tornado ravaged a mile-wide path for 219 miles across Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana at 60 miles per hour—twice the forward speed of the average tornado.

Tornado forming: Book of Odds Talks with Storm Chaser Joshua Wurman

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:23:29 EST

It’s not at all likely you will be killed by a tornado. Or as Dr. Joshua Wurman puts it: “Suicide by tornado would be very inefficient.”

Upended: the Deadly Odds of Slipping on Ice

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:40:27 EST

Contrary to popular myth, Dr. Robert Atkins—creator of the low-carbohydrate Atkins Diet—did not die of a heart attack. What killed him was a patch of ice.

Death by Cow, Updated: Wife Charged, Livestock Acquitted

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:25:37 EST

In a previous article, Book of Odds concluded that the odds of a person being killed by a cow are nothing compared to the odds a cow faces at the hands of a human being. To which we now add this seemingly obvious addendum: it is far more likely a person will be killed by another human being than by a cow.

Dying of Cancer

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:03:45 EST

Over 2,500 years ago, Hippocrates termed the sprawling, deadly tumors that develop out of this unregulated cell growth karkinoma, or “crayfish” in Greek. Its Latin translation is “cancer.”

Walking and Texting: Dangers of a Mobile Lifestyle

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:39:33 EST

Perched in a leather armchair on a San Francisco stage recently, Apple’s Steve Jobs declared a new age of mobile media devices, starting with the new iPad. But for the millions of pedestrians outside in the streets, those distracting gadgets—especially cell phones—are creating some shocking, but mostly unreported, safety risks.