I personally don't think that terrorism is the largest long-term threat to the health and well-being of myself and those I love. But it is a fact that the spread of technology has made us all at least slightly more vulnerable to weapons of mass destruction.

So what do you do if there's an attack? Kevin Kelly suggests the booklet Individual Preparedness and Response to Chemical, Radiological, Nuclear, and Biological Terrorist Attacks: A Quick Guide. It's a straight-forward guide to how to survive the unthinkable. It's also a nice antidote to the fear-mongering so prevelant these days. And it's free.

Maybe someone should write a guide for how to avoid getting killed in a road accident since the odds are somewhat higher, to say the least.

But would that be too practical? Or too hard?

I'm not sure.

Posted by: Zaid on January 30, 2004 5:02 PM

Yeah, well, I remember reading a piece about how more people were killed in the US in 2001 in bathroom falls than terrorist attacks. But, a) it might happen, and being prepared never hurts, and b) in some basic way, knowing what one is supposed to do in one of these situations seems to me to lesson the fear one has (however irrationally) about it. I know I feel more than ready to shelter out a sarin attack now... even though I suspect I'm still far more likely to meet my end slipping on the soap in the bath.

Posted by: Alex on January 31, 2004 12:58 PM

Hmmm.

You're right of course but to me there's a difference between a bar of soap and a car or for that matter a handgun. That difference is why we don't try and legislate the use of soap bars but we do cars and handguns.

Posted by: Zaid on January 31, 2004 4:58 PM