In response to my illustration of the alien spaceship impact coverage Walter commented: “as far as insurance goes I opted out of alien spacecraft impact coverage and went for meteor and falling satellite coverage instead.”
This got me thinking: what is the likelihood of dying from the impact of a meteorite? After some research I came up with this analysis from Peter Olofsson, chair of the Mathematics Department at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX:
What is the risk from dying by being hit by a meteorite? Hard to say because it has not happened to anybody yet. A dog was killed by a meteorite in Egypt in 1911 and Ann Hodges of Sylacauga, Alabama was hit by one in 1954, but survived. These are extremely scarce data, and an actuary would have problems estimating this risk for your life insurance policy. People have died from falling objects though. In 456 B.C., an eagle flew over ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus and dropped a tortoise on his head, killing him on the spot. Don’t worry about meteorites. Statistically, you are more likely to be killed by a falling tortoise.” (Probabilities: The little numbers that rule our lives, Wiley, 2007, 82).
So there you go. If your life insurance company offers you free additional coverage for falling meteorites or falling tortoises, go with the latter. But if the policy is for your home owners insurance, go for the meteorite protection. I have logged several instances of homes being damaged by falling meteorites but none that were damaged by falling tortoises.
