Cupidity ---> Stupidity

The Word of the Day is cupidity. It has nothing to do with matchmaking.

cupidity \kyoo-PID-uh-tee\, noun:
Eager or excessive desire, especially for wealth; greed; avarice.

What does this have to do with your safety?

Dictionary.com, from whence the Word of the Day arises, gives sentences using the Daily Word. Here's one of my own:

If not for his cupidity, he would have indeed given weight to the "salesman's" shifting eyes, rstless posture, and overly-personal questions, rather than to the allure of self-generating wealth.

Many would-be assailants, those who take the time to deliberately groom their victims, depend on their targets' cupidity. On their targets' ignoring gut feelings or verbal inconsistencies or body language cues. Sad part is many of these targets do recognize that they are discarding warning signs, but continue because of some leading promise.

Real risk assessment means never having to eat cupidity.

Life is Dangerous

"Being alive is hazardous. Dangerous, even life-threatening, situations are all around." Thus begins KUOW's Weekday of Wednesday, July 9, 2008.

This show was totally a call-in, where listeners told of their most dangerous encounters. A mixture of natural disasters, war, thrills gone awry, and yes assault and self-defense. An excellent show -- listen by going to the KUOW website here.

Dangerous times all around, right? Not so fast -- Manuel Eisner, in an article published in The British Journal of Criminology (vol 41, pp 618-38, 2001), cites documentation that over the eons homicide has drastically declined in frequency. Indeed, that murder is far less common than it used to be is now considered a given by crime historians. Which may be why fewer incidents make more news, and agitate the general public more. But that's for another blog entry . . .