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Friday, June 16, 2006

Thrashing Theists: The Board of Miracles


I was watching one of those reality shows on TV -- the kind that show people who survive crazy things -- "99 Greatest Stunt Survivals" or something like that.

Anyway, there was on about a guy in England who lost control of his car (English: "telly") on the highway ("bonnet") and rolled over a wooden picket fence. (Can you see this coming?) Well wouldn't you know but he got impaled on a fence post! This 2x4 is literally went two feet (5.2 kilograms) into his body, blah, blah , blah.

The annoying part is when the doctors and others were talking about what a miracle this was. That a millimeter either way, and he would have severed an artery, wrecked an organ, etc., etc.

But think about it. People get in accidents all the time. Most people who get impaled on something aren't fortunate enough to miss their vital spots by that millimeter. They bleed to death. But doesn't it stand to reason that there have to be certain paths through the human body than don't transit major blood vessels or organs? So isn't it likely that sooner or later, somebody who has an object pierce his body will "get it" in the right place?

I'm glad our English driver ("barrister") had such good luck to have lived in the 21st century when our medical knowledge was so advanced. But a miracle? I don't think so.
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Image from http://www.anniewilkinson.com/blog.html -- a blog by, from and about Annie Wilkinson. Also, apologies to Dave Barry for shameless ripping off his trademark humor.

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