Red-Shirt Risk: How Likely Is It That You’ll Die?

(Before It's News)

Remember that moment in the movie Star Trek (2009) when James T. Kirk, Hikaru Sulu and the red-shirted Engineer Olson don spacesuits, and free-style plummet from orbit to a giant machine threatening the planet below?

For those who didn’t see it: We hate to ruin the surprise for you, but … Olson didn’t make it. It was an homage to an old joke stemming from Star Trek‘s original series (1966-69). In that show, anonymous crew members in red shirts frequently died to demonstrate how risky a certain voyage was to the main cast.

How statistically accurate is that assertion of red shirts dying more often than others? One Star Trek geek – who happens to deal in analytics for a living – put it to the test.(…)
Read the rest of Red-Shirt Risk: How Likely Is It That You’ll Die? (185 words)

© Elizabeth Howell for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Analytics, Red Shirts, Star Trek, Statistics

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