It's clobberin' time

Quarter say cancer ‘down to fate’

Over a quarter of people believe that fate will determine whether they get cancer, a survey says. The poll of 4,000 people was carried out by the charity Cancer Research UK.

Those responding were asked if they thought they could cut their risk of developing cancer—or whether it was out of their hands. In total, 27 per cent of the people questioned said fate ruled whether they would be affected by the disease.

Dr Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at the charity, said: “It is alarming that such a large percentage of the British population do not realise that half of all cases of cancer can be prevented by lifestyle changes. We can all reduce our risk of cancer by stopping smoking, keeping a healthy weight and eating a balanced diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables and taking plenty of exercise.”

So half of all cases of cancer can’t be prevented? In that case, the percentage of people who believe the process is arbitrary is actually too low, isn’t it? Surely what’s alarming is that quite a few people who think cancer is preventable are going to be very disappointed.




EDIT: The above poster is real. I had nothing to do with its creation, nor have I modified it.

WOL

My colleague psychonomy assures me that barn owls are a liability. “They keep flying into rafters,” he says. “They have perfectly good night vision—they’re just pretty stupid. They seem to think they can fly through solid wood.” This conjures up the possibility that barn owls only got their name because they kept being found unconscious on the floor in barns.


The barn owl's natural enemy
While it’s true that I’m having trouble independently corroborating my colleague’s report (got any links there, psychonomy?), I did happen upon this fact:

Many barn owls die from collisions with cars because they fly low when hunting.

Nature’s own stealth attack aircraft, an acute sensory machine, able to detect from three postcodes away the sound and smell of a mouse thinking of scratching its ear, frequently collides with cars? That’s the kind of design fault that should get a species recalled. Maybe, after all, it’s the corroboration I’ve been looking for. “I’m detecting a rapid shift in low-altitude air pressure... the smell of benzene and other contaminants floods my olfactory receptors... the subtle rustling that pinpointed my prey is now utterly drowned out by a terrible roaring, so close, so close... Oh, right, it’s a Toyota Camry. Piece of piss, I can fly straight through it.”


Oh, for God's sake