Are you ready to play "Spot the BS?" This game will have two rounds. Round 1 is easy, which makes it funnier. Susan McNamee is talking about a child in Ottawa who, after a recent Supreme Court ruling, now legally has three parents. She introduces the story with the following question: "Imagine if you had three parents. Would that mean 33 percent more presents for Christmas?" My answer: no, it really wouldn't. Susan, I'm afraid you'll need to take that math test again.



OK. That was too easy. We now move on to Round 2. This one is harder because this time it's a professor from Quebec who makes the error, and professors are very good at making simple errors sound like complicated logic.The story is about a recent vote in Quebec, where the plan was to decrease the legal blood alcohol level from 0.08% to 0.05%. He makes an argument that several other countries have made this switch already, and that the EU is going to adopt the 0.05% limit in 2009. Then Susan asks him, "What impact would the new law have on the number of traffic accidents in Quebec?" Here is his response. There are a lot of numbers, so pay attention.



Currently (with the limit of 0.08), 6 percent of accidents caused by drivers with alcohol in their blood are caused by those with a blood alcohol level between 0.05% and 0.08%. That's about 12 deaths and 80 serious injuries per year. Therefore, lowering the legal limit to 0.05% would decrease the number of deaths by about 12 and the number serious injuries by about 80.Can you spot the BS?



-GordaMn

Labels: Logic