January 27, 2010

What kind of a death? An interactive actuarial game, if you will. See how one is likely to die as predicted by race, gender, age, country of residence. It's kind of fun, as well as sobering. Oh. Well, let's assume that being sober or not has been rolled into the other parameters...

Other parameters include the chance of living to be a hundred, one's virtual age, etc. One thing that amazes me is that white guys are 2 1/2 times more likely to die by suicide. But ALL monkeys like interactive games; this one is interactive; therefore sure to please. Especially NICE to see that we all might live to be 100 :)

posted by Dan Folkus 14 years ago
  • Since it let me choose my state, I can predict before I go any further that the answer will be cancer.
  • And I got it! (Setting the parameters for a reasonable life span, at least, For the next few years it's still probably accidents.
  • Huh. Whaddya know, it was still cancer just a nose ahead of accidents. I'm getting kind of old.
  • I came up with a highest incidence of circulatory problems....
  • I could use a scarf about now...
  • dilettante: I'm guessing Utah, Nevada, or Oregon--good ol' Hanford--amirite? Speaking as an Idaho downwinder, nuclear sucks. Looks like it's either circulatory or cancer. I'm surprised they didn't list automobile accidents separately. Dan, here's your scarf, your One-a-Days and a bottle of Serutan. Have some chicken noodle soup and an apple. There! Right as rain.
  • It says I'm already dead. Does that mean I can leave work now?
  • No, don't be silly You owe the company four more days.
  • Stink man, it only includes data for US and EU. I put in Sweden and got accidents. Yay?
  • BlueHorse: none of the above. Kentucky.
  • Lessee...Atrazine? Toxic coal byproducts? Refinery sludge? DOW chemical? RAD? DuPont Chemical spill? Industrial Plastic? Maxey Flats? Various soups from Valley of the Drums??? "Kentucky has more than 500 Superfund sites and 14 active sites on the EPA National Priority List" HOLY. CRAP. Dilettante, you are absolutely right--looks like MegaCorps have stacked the deck for cancer. Might as well live fast, die young, and leave that good-lookin' corpse.
  • Speaking as a practicing necrophiliac, I would second BlueHorse's advice about ensuring your corpse is good-looking. Thanks.
  • Looks like Budd Dwyer had a 6% chance of dying by suicide just for his demographic and age. But he was also a politician. Oh, and he was convicted of taking kick-backs, major kick-backs, and was facing a 55 year prison term. If each of those three factors doubled his risk factors, then his chances might have risen to as much as 25%. But there was more. His family would receive over a million dollars from the state, however he died. Doubling the chances again (always use easy math!) He was looking at a 50/50 chance of death by suicide somewhere or other, but nobody expected it to happen on camera at his last press conference.
  • No, thanks, I won't watch. But it sounds like he was a real jerk when alive, and that's a pretty selfish and shitty thing to do to other people.