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Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Grim Reaper Stats - 2006

March Madness is here and basketball statistics abound on the Internet. I don't give one whit about basketball, so I am offering up some interesting statistics of my own. These are based on deaths reported in my hometown newspaper from Jan. 01 through Dec. 31, 2006.

Total deaths reported: 526

  • 7 souls, or 1.3%, did not live to see their first birthday.
  • 5 souls, or .9%, lived over a century.
  • The average lifetime was 71 years, 5 months, 8 days.
  • 18 souls, or 3.4%, died at age 86, more than any other age; ages 79, 80, 82, and 85 came in second place with 17 souls or 3.2% each; and age 92 came in third with 16 souls, or 3.0%.
  • 57 souls, or 10.8%, died in May, the most in a single month; only 30 souls, or 5.7%, died in July.
  • 3 souls were victims of a drunk driver. Two of those were children under 5 mowed down while strapped in their stroller. The third was their momma.
  • 50 souls, or 9.5%, were younger than me.
  • 83 souls, or 15.8%, were Baby Boomers born between 1946 and 1964.
  • 169 souls, or 32%, did not draw a dime of Social Security.

The moral of the story:

Don't have any unfinished business with the people you love. Tell them you love them and give them a hug at every possible opportunity. It may be the last opportunity you have.

Draw up a Will, plan your funeral, write your obit, buy a burial plot. Do not become another Anna Nicole Smith and have your family fighting over where, when and how to dispose of your withered husk.

Buckle your seatbelt during the month of May and watch out for deer on roadways.

Don't worry too much about the future of Social Security. There is a one-in-three chance you won't get to use it anyway. If I had those odds on winning the lottery I'd be down at the Stop-n-Rob this very minute buying a ticket. Look to your left, look to your right. One of the three of you is not gonna make it. But who?


Talk amongst yourselves.

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