Safety

What is it about news stations that they feel they must warn us about every possible negative consequence of interacting with the world? Take for example this recent 'buyer beware' story about an 'unsafe dog leash'. The leash in question is of the kind that pays out a thin strand of strong cord as the dog pulls away but automatically pulls in the cord as the dog gets closer. In the accident being described the women lost a finger when it got caught in the cord as her dog started to chase something. It's certainly an unfortunate accident but is it really of special concern?



The fact is, any thin cord, whether it's a kite string, a fishing line or dog leash, when under sufficient strain can cut. Furthermore anytime you're attached to something with a mind of it's own, like a dog, you're in more danger than if you weren't. In this case the cord cut in a tragic fashion, but do we all want to give up using things with cords because they can cut you?



The article goes on to quote a lawyer who has sued the leash manufacturers previously for a similar accident. While the original case was settled out of court the lawyer maintains the leash manufacturer continuing culpability because they provide a warning on their packaging. If this is a legal trend I would hate to the manufacturer of sail boats with all their cords under stress from the wind or boat trailer winch manufacturers.



It's one thing for news stations to repeat basic safety mantras like don't skate on thin ice, or avoid the heat but when they get into issues as silly as this it doesn't server the public interest and only works to support the legal quagmire of safety related laws that further restrict our freedoms.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shark Crackers

The movie Jaws has been a fan favorite for 30 years. A lot has been written about the impact Jaws had on the movie making business and summer swimming habits but there's one aspect of the movie that's seldom been discussed, the impact Jaws had on the image of the saltine cracker. Before Robert Shaw's Quint, a cracker was a bland cake of baked flour only good as a surface to hold peanut butter or cheese, but not after. Quint elevated the cracker into the snack of sailors and shark hunters. What man has not wanted to calmly snap chunks of a cracker while saying the words: Y'all know me. Know how I earn a livin'. I'll catch this bird for you, but it ain't gonna be easy. Bad fish! Not like going down to the pond and chasing bluegills and tommycocks. This shark, swallow you whole. No shakin', no tenderizin', down you go. Much like the Eucharist is a symbol of Christ in the Catholic tradition, in Jaws, the cracker forms the edible representation of the
Read more

Running roughshod or ripshod

A common euphamism for political power abuse is saying someone or organization has ' run ripshod ' through the land. I was going to use the phrase myself the other day when I realized I had no idea what ripshod meant. I searched around and found many other users but no place that could define the word. This started me thinking that perhaps every example I found was just a perpetuation of a common mistake. I tried aother variations on the phrase and finnally hit upon a more common usage: run roughshod. The words roughshod and ripshod don't really sound the same but people use them in the same manner in similar contexts. Does anyone know the proper usage?
Read more

Axis, Axes, Axii?

While writing another post (it will probably follow this one) I needed to pluralize axis. None of the guesses I came up with passed the spell checker so I Googled it. The first hit I got was from a drafting company. (Interesting aside: word order matters in Google more than I realized - searching for "plural axis" didn't get the same dictionary oriented results as "axis plural") According to these folks the answer is: Grammatical Note : The plural of axis is axes. Some radical etymologists insist that the plural form of axis is axii, but that is only if there are three or more; One axis, two axes, three axii. The word axii, however, still doesn’t pass the spell checker, so perhaps getting grammar lessons from a drafting company isn’t such a great idea. More legitimate authorities simply list axes as the plural. If you do visit the above link to drafing company, can you answer me a question, what the heck are those diagrams depicting. I
Read more