Monday, December 10, 2012

Take your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape!

I was reading an article the other day....something about people being foolish....and I ran across a rather fascinating comment.  It started as a regular comment of exasperation, but ended with an interesting stat "what do you expect from a country where 7% of people think the Planet of the Apes could come true".

Much to my delight, the person linked to something I'd never seen before....the National Geographic Doomsday Preppers Survey

This is an absolutely great little survey about various catastrophes and the ways the world could end.  The question referenced above gave a list of movies and said "Which of the following movies, if any, do you think depict events that could happen in the next 25 years?", and yes, 7% agreed with Planet of the Apes.  Of course, the phrase "depict events" is a little vague....technically you could say yes if you just thought Charlton Heston might yell at something in the next 25 years.  That seems pretty certain actually.

The whole thing is pretty interesting actually....apparently 27% of people think something's pretty likely to happen on December 21st, cuz you know, Mayans and all.  I was also a little perplexed to find out that, were the world to be ending tomorrow, 20% of people would spend their last night on earth stocking up on food and water.  I'm pretty sure my plans would be a little more fun.

I felt some of the questions had other interpretation problems.  One question asked how many years before the world would experience a major catastrophe.  Is that anywhere?  Because that actually happens fairly frequently.

Also, to the question "who would you share your supplies with" only 28% of parents said they'd share with their children.  That looks lousy, but another category says "immediate family"....so I'm guessing some people got confused.  

Overall, a great little survey that reminded me to keep researching generators, and to do something fun this week before the world ends next Friday.  


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