Snakebite Statistics

[Smokedaddy]

A friend of mine is an EMT who does backwoods / mountain rescue stuff. Like myself, he's a bit of a misanthrope, so I think it's mostly for mercenary purposes (free skiing at Snowbird), but whatever. He has to take courses to stay current, and he relayed this little gem from the latest one. I call it the ninety-ninety-ninety-ninety rule. To wit:

• almost exactly 90% of all rattlesnake bite victims are male
• of those, about 90% are aged 17-24
• about 90% of those are legally intoxicated when chompage occurs
• around 90% are bitten in their primary hand or arm

I'd be willing to bet that 90% of their last remarks before snake-mastication were along the lines of "Dude, check this out!" or "Dude! Hold my beer!"