My first forray into being a bayesian Howard Hughes

Starting this Friday, I've been wearing a bicycle helmet at home to minimize likelihood of head injury. I have a few concerns:

1. Whether the very effort of putting on the helmet isn't worth it to maximize my persistence odds (should I spend the same -rather minimal- time and energy making money, or studying applied math, or safety proofing my life in other ways, etc.)

2. Whether I'm wearing my helmet correctly. As part of that, am I increasing my odds of strangulation death more than I'm reducing my odds of head injury death.

I may expand this to wearing a bicycle helmet in public situations were I have a high likelihood of anonymity.

Comments welcome!

Comments

[TGGP]

If you want to avoid embarrassment you can wear bike shorts and shirts/jackets.

On a completely unrelated topic Robert Lindsay is giving pointers on which drugs are the most dangerous in case you're looking to experiment (doubtful, I know). Razib is discussing brain-enhancing drugs here.

[Robert Lindsay]

Trolling IRL.

[michael vassar]

Probably safer and much more convenient
http://www.productwiki.com/d3o-ribcap/

[Hopefully Anonymous]

Michael,
Safer? The article itself seems to contradict that claim. But it seems perfect for social situations where it would be inappropriate to wear a helmet.

Do you wear a ribcap or are you planning to? Pretty much 24/7 or only in certain situations?

[michael vassar]

I don't wear one but I am planning to. Only outside. Probably depends on how well it works with my hair. (maybe a buzz cut would fix this problem) Helmets can strangle and impede vision and hearing. Ribcap should provide much of the benefit without these impairments.

[Hopefully Anonymous]

Why only outside?

[michael vassar]

Indoor head injuries seem absurdly rare to worry about.

[Hopefully Anonymous]

Michael, you have stats comparing indoor and outdoor head injuries? Particularly helpful if we can separate out sports and dangerous jobs related head injuries.