Fear of bombs on planes

Aunt Bessie loved to visit her nieces and nephews. However, she had relatives
all over the country.


The problem was that no matter how much she enjoyed seeing them, she hated
flying. No matter how safe people told her it was, she was always worried that
someone would have a bomb on the plane.


She read books about how safe it was and listened to the stewardess
demonstrate all the safety features. But she still worried herself silly every
time a visit was coming up.


Finally, the family decided that maybe if she saw the statistics she'd be
convinced. So they sent her to a friend of the family who was an actuary.


"Tell me," she said suspiciously, "what are the chances that someone will have
a bomb on a plane?"


The actuary looked through his tables and said, "A very small chance. Maybe
one in five hundred thousand."


She nodded, then thought for a moment. "So what are the odds of two people
having a bomb on the same plane?"


Again he went through his tables.


"Extremely remote," he said. "About one in a billion."


Aunt Bessie nodded and left his office.


And from that day on, every time she flew, she took a bomb with her.