Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas, Todd Mason Column.

Byline: Todd Mason

Oct. 25--CHICKEN LITTLE IDEAS HURT ECONOMY MORE: Bob the actuary was calculating mortality tables at Musty Life Insurance Co. when he felt a stab of pain in his chest. Calmly, he stood up, arranged his wastebasket in the aisle, tripped over it and sprawled out on the floor.

"Bob!" shouted Stan, his office mate. "What are you doing?"

"I'm having a heart attack," Bob answered. "As you know, the odds of surviving a fall are much better."

Is it just me, or does common sense seem missing in action in our war on terrorism? As much as I hate to say it, maybe we all should be thinking more like actuaries and less like Chicken Little.

Netscape is Exhibit A. The Web site conducted an online poll yesterday to ask if the U.S. Postal Service should be shut down temporarily because of anthrax worries.

Never mind that we're talking about a handful of contaminated letters among 20 billion pieces of mail handled by post offices since Sept. 11. Even for postal workers, the odds of contracting anthrax are long indeed.