Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Bob Shemeligian: Risk is everywhere but where you think

RISK IS SOMETHING everyone lives with, especially in Las Vegas.

To a tourist at a blackjack table, risk is something battled in hand-after-hand combat.

To a motorist fighting rush-hour traffic at the Spaghetti Bowl, risk is a concept brought to reality by the sight of a three-car accident in the passing lane.

And to a patron of a late-night dance club, the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease is something weighed every time the patron leaves with a different partner.

For those who want to know more about the risks many of us face, there is "How Risks Affects Your Everyday Life" (Merritt, $19.95) by James Walsh.

The new softcover book points out how Americans tend to fear things they probably shouldn't, and dismiss things that could very well kill them.

For instance, the loss of life expectancy from being 20 percent overweight is 900 days. From radiation emitted by nuclear power plants: .02 days.

Other revelations from "Risks" include:

*The national crime rate has remained fairly stable for 20 years. What has changed is the kind of crimes being committed -- they've grown more violent and more random.

*Studies indicate that most older women worry about being victims of violent crime, but black teens don't seem much bothered by the prospect. The odds of an older white woman being a violent-crime victim in a given year are one in 370. For a black male teen, the odds are one in six.

*Although the number and percentage of heterosexual AIDS deaths have increased considerably in recent years, AIDS remains confined by an overwhelming margin to gays, bisexuals and intravenous drug users.

*The odds of dying from flesh-eating bacteria are one in a million. You're 1,400 times more likely to die because you live with a smoker.

I enjoyed the "Risks" book, but I found it wasn't complete, so I've added a few other risks we all encounter.

For instance:

*The day your plumber embarks on a 10-day cruise to Kodiak Island, Alaska, is the day your water heater is likely to rupture and turn your laundry room into a bubbling hot spring.

*The soon-to-be estranged husband storming away from what was supposed to be a joint counseling session with his future ex-wife, is sure to come up little too fast on the rear of the new Acura you happen to be driving.

*The nervous, myopic student driver with bad reflexes won't find you until the day you drive your newly repaired Acura away from the body-shop lot.

*When you finally get home, and after you've clean up the mess in your laundry room and call your insurance agent for the second time that week, you're sure to get a ship-to-shore call from your plumber. He will tell you that he has met a spiritual leader on the cruise, has been born again and can't wait to tell you all about it.

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