Another Titanic disaster should signal to folks that creating danger for yourself is a fool's errand. Life is precarious enough without diving two miles under the ocean, climbing Mt. Everest, or going into space with Elon Musk. If you do those things, help will not be on the way when things go wrong.

Risk-taking is hard-wired into some people, and I, your humble correspondent, am one of those folks. In my life, I have "wing-walked" on top of a biplane, covered a massacre in the mountains of El Salvador, propelled myself into a violent riot when the Argentines surrendered in the Falklands War, and risked IRA ire in Belfast accompanying the British army on a raid.

I did all those things in the name of journalism, and I'd probably do them again if I were a younger man.

But there is no question that I put myself at risk. I was lucky, and in this life, you should never count on luck.

As a parent, I discouraged dangerous activities for my children and always provided an explanation as to why. If you desire to achieve in our competitive country, you must take calculated risks.

But thrill-seeking and stupid behavior like consuming drugs are self-destructive. So is gambling away your money. So is trusting unstable people.

Always do the pro-con math when presented with a dicey situation. Most of the time, self-protection is the wisest course of action.

See you tonight for the No Spin News.