Begin forwarded message: From: Lauren Weinstein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: August 24, 2006 4:17:00 PM EDT To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: The Odds -- Re: [IP] more on apple recall .. Dave, not to downplay the seriousness of fires or even slightly singed laps, but it never hurts to look more closely at the numbers. According to the media reports, between Dell and Apple we're talking about around 6 million notebook batteries, and (at least based on the current U.S. figures I've seen) under 20 total cases of overheating (and far fewer actual fires). Of course, there's always the risk of future events related to these batteries, many of which have been in use for quite some time. But still, do the math and it appears that the odds of getting "burned" by one of these batteries is pretty damn low, *much* lower than the odds of many other bad things happening (see http://www.funny2.com/odds.htm ). This isn't to say that defective products are a good thing, but trying to keep such risks in perspective is a useful exercise. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 http://www.pfir.org/lauren Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, IOIC - International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as [email protected] To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
