What are the odds?

Posted at 11:40 AM on April 19, 2010 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

A laptop fell from a medical evacuation helicopter over the weekend, missing a boy in St. Cloud "by inches," according to WCCO.

What are the odds?

Assuming a laptop qualifies as "parts falling off an airplane," about 10 million to one.

A recent article in a Pittsburgh newspaper said that's about the same chance you have of being elected president.

What's more likely? According to the statisticians, you're more likely to:

Die from contact with hot tap water (1 in 5,005,564 ).

Die from contact with a venomous animal or plant. (1 in 3,441,32)

Die from legal execution (1 in 3,441,325).

See a UFO today (1 in 3,000,000)

The Book of Odds says you also have about the same chance of dying in an elevator accident within a year,

---

Comments (3)

What are the odds of eating a spider while sleeping?

Posted by Tyler | April 19, 2010 1:31 PM

---

This incident gives new meaning to the phrase "The computer is down."

Posted by John O. | April 20, 2010 7:22 AM

---

But the boy didn't die, and he wasn't even hit. A more relevant question: What are the odds of being missed?

Posted by Jack | April 20, 2010 9:31 AM

---

Post a comment

The following HTML tags are allowed in your comments:
+ Bold: <b>Text</b>
+ Italic: <i>Text</i>
+ Link: <a href="http://url" target="_blank">Link</a>
Fields marked with * are required.

Name*:

E-mail Address*:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Comments*:

Comment Preview appears above this form upon pressing the "preview" button. Edit your comment and press "preview" again, until you are satisfied with your comment.

Your comment may not appear on the blog until several minutes after it was submitted.

• E-mail this page
• Print this page
• Tweet this page
• Share this

Services

• Hourly Newscast
• HD Radio
• iPhone App / Mobile
• E-mail newsletters
• RSS feeds
• Podcasts
• Submit your photos
• Videos
• Weather
• Most e-mailed stories