jasonhlasvegas’ blog

I'm reading Nassim Nicholas Taleb's book entitled "Black Swan". I find it very interesting, and cannot stop reading it. His basic point is that nearly all significant events in human history arise from the unexpected, and human beings, after the fact, tend to fool themselves into believing that the significant event was predictable all along.

What I take from this is that in all areas of life one must try to know what it is that they don't know, or at the very least make allowance for ignorance of completely random variables.

I gave a copy of this book to my brother the other day for his birthday.

Black Swan

Excerpt:

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the largest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York, causing the death of 148 garment workers who either died from the fire or jumped to their deaths. It was the worst workplace disaster in New York City until September 11th, 2001. The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers in that industry. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Building, also known as the Asch Building and as the Brown Building, survives and was named a National Historic Landmark.

Interesting Huh?

What follows below is some text that I created for the marketing kit that I had to prepare for one safety video entitled "The Criminal Liabilities of Supervisors in Safety".

In 1911 more than 100 workers, all women, were killed in the Triangle Shirtwaste fire. All exit doors to the factory were bolted closed, preventing the employees’ escape. Some jumped to their deaths. Others were burned in the fire, or died from the smoke. The local district attorney charged the owners of the factory with manslaughter. Despite the fact that the defendants were eventually acquitted, employers were put on notice that their status was not a shield against immunity from criminal prosecution for failure to eliminate workplace hazards.

Since the triangle shirtwaste fire the public interest’s in seriously attacking occupational deaths, injuries, and disease has waxed and waned. Measure by legislative activity and media coverage it currently has reached a new high. By the mid 1980s much of the battle to deter unsafe working conditions moved to another arena, the state courts. Criminal prosecution of supervisors and management officials is now an important option and is the subject of this program. According to John Rand, former director of safety research at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, deaths caused by work related injuries result in more years of human life loss than those caused by cancer and heart disease combined. The cost to the United States alone exceeds 50 billion dollars. First of all, criminal sanction in the Occupational Safety & Health Act or rarely applied, now we’re not talking about OSHA, we’re talking about criminal sanctions against employees or management by local or state district attorneys. 

Snippet from a letter from one of my prospective law schools:

We know that you may be anxious to learn of the committee's decision, but please understand that frequent phone or e-mail inquiries regarding the status of your application will not accelerate the committee's decision-making process. Most applicants will be informed of the committee's decision in April 2008.

Ooops!

Hello.