Cruel and Unusual Geography

Yesterday I asked the question

If you, for some strange reason, wanted your child to be kidnapped and held overnight by a stranger, how long would you have to leave him or her outside, alone and unsupervised in America, for this to be statistically likely to happen?

There were a number of answer offered, ranging from a rather pessimistic 17 minutes to “their entire lifetime”. The answer, calculated by Warwick Cairns, author of How to Live Dangerously, and published by Lenore Skenazy on her excellent Free-range Kids site is an astonishing 750,000 years! I can only guess at the methodology used to reach that number, but suspect that Lance Wiggs has it right in his comment. I didn’t even pay much attention in stats class back at school, so can’t comment on what “statistically likely” means.

It’s worth remembering, too, that almost all abductions are by family members or others known to the child — abductions by a stranger are (clearly!) very rare.

I’d like to close with Lance’s comment. He’s right, and I’ll write more about this later.

Almost all people are good.

There are more charities competing for my money than I can possibly afford to support. If I were to be honest I’d admit that I could support more, but am too selfish. Nevertheless, below is a brief list of charities that I personally think are worthy of your support: Continue reading

Folks worry, a lot, about supervising their kids. Here’s a quick question for you:

If you, for some strange reason, wanted your child to be kidnapped and held overnight by a stranger, how long would you have to leave him or her outside, alone and unsupervised in America, for this to be statistically likely to happen?

Now, the fact that I’m asking this should suggest to you that the answer isn’t what you’d expect.

Go on, hazard a guess. Post your best guess in the comments, or send to me written in blunt crayon on the back of a postage stamp.

I’ll post the answer tomorrow.

So, after much deliberation I’ve decided that I have to sell the Land Rover. Sad to see her go — she’s been a good fun runabout — but circumstances dictate that she has to go. This Land Rover Trade Me Auction has a $1 reserve, so I’m sure she will sell. Setting a ridiculously low reserve should attract interest and means that someone (you?) can get a really good deal.

Land rover for sale - $1 reserve on Trade Me

There’s more photos below…

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