The Lair

I’ve whittled down the list of jobs to do this month to a mere handful. Whee. Three more and I can break for the holidays.

Had news yesterday of a tornado in London. A brief questioning moment while I wondered which part of London this was, but it was apparently the north west. Well away from all the people I know in the city… I think. Then the further, disturbing discovery that the UK has a lot of tornadoes. Yes, really.

So should tornado warning systems be installed as a matter of course? Umm. Maybe. Two articles which say precisely the same thing seem relevant: Time and the ever pragmatic Schneier… The take-home message for tornadoes (as well as most other things) is that a conscious evaluation of the risks involved before acting seems wiser than making an emotive response.

The one thing I don’t buy in that is the avian flu virus analogy though. Just because it hasn’t doesn’t mean it won’t. Taking precautions isn’t the same thing as waiting till it becomes a huge threat. And my contradiction of ideas leads inevitably to the justification of prophylaxis.