The U.S. murder rate is approximately 5.9 per 100,000 annually. ( See http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/data/table_16.html ) The U.S. suicide rate is about 11 per 100,000 annually ( see http://www.suicidology.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=21 ). Guns are used in 68% of murders and 60% of suicides. Add in gun accidents, legal gun deaths (police killings), and undetermined gun deaths, and about 11…
With respect to athletic equipment, the focus should be on safety, not brands or standardization. See, for example, University Of Pittsburgh Medical Center (2006, January 14). “Newer Football Helmet Design May Reduce Incidence Of Concussions In High School Players, Shows University Of Pittsburgh Study.” ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 12, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060114151826.htm , which states that,…
Freshwater is in more demand as population and wealth increase. Global warming will bring more precipitation, but precipitation in forms that current technology may not be able to capture as freshwater efficiently. As the climate warms, more water will fall as rain rather than as snow. Reservoirs should fill earlier as the lesser amount of…
If delivering services to minors, seniors, or persons with disabilities, general liability insurance typically should not exclude coverage for abuse and molestation. Abuse and molestation coverage provides the Contractor with a means of protecting its financial assets in the event of an abuse and molestation allegation. Abuse and molestation coverage targets specific acts and usually…
For benchmarking of vehicle accident rates, the standard Total Vehicle Crash Rate = (Number of Total Vehicle Crashes x 1,000,000)/Business Use Miles Driven over time (ANSI D15.1 method) is appropriate. However, in densely populated urban areas, I would argue that factors such as traffic volume, roadside development, and signalization decrease its value as a metric.
Commutations are, basically, early terminations of insurance (actually, commutations are commonly part of reinsurance treaties; I’d guess that they’re pretty rare in insurance) in return for a mutually agreed upon level of consideration. The parties to the commutation agreement intend to terminate the agreement and to “unwind” the insurance transaction at a mutually agreed “as…
Juvenile tattoo removal programs are potentially useful in helping at-risk youth obtain access to opportunities that gang symbols or other body ink might impair. The California program (see http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/News/tattooremoval.html) uses pro bono doctors (not a staff person) for the actual removal process. Surprisingly, in many jurisdictions, there are no licenses or certifications required to operate…
The actions of the two county clerks refusing to marry couples are questionable, at best. County clerks as public servants must serve the public’s interest—not their private, religious, or political interests. In their roles as public servants, the public’s interests must transcend their respective individual beliefs. That said, acts such as theirs may be related…
To a certain degree, preemptive food hoarding is encouraged in disaster-prone areas. FEMA suggests keeping a two-week food supply on hand (see http://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/f&web.pdf ). In addition, every state and U.S. territory has stocks of commodity foods that include the National School Lunch Program, the Emergency Food Assistance Program, and the Food Distribution Program on Indian…
There is a worldwide problem of unexploded ordnance (UXO). An estimated 40 million landmines and other UXO exist worldwide. A large percentage of these are in southeast Asia (Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam), and more than 100,000 people have died from UXO injuries since 1975 (1 out of 290 people in Cambodia have lost a limb). A…