I was simply in a little bit too much of a hurry. I still recall the
feeling of
each tooth hitting my thumb and violently shaking my hand. Had the blade
been running at full speed I suspect the cut would have been quite quick
and
with less exaggerated shaking of my hand.

One advantage of old age catching up on you over the years, you probably
dont move as quick now so the chances of it happening again are very slim.
With the blade at full speed you would not have felt each tooth. As a simple
'semi' guard when cutting non through cuts is a piece of perspex / lexon
screwed flat on the top of the fence ( assuming you dont have a very high
fence) works well. it won't totally stop access from the side of the blade
but at least it is a bit of a barrier. I have a radial arm saw I am always
very wary of doing a similar thing with. Although they are very handy
machine the design of them has a lot to be desired, safety wise.
Unfortunately for them to be practical the blade is always exposed near your
hand. Although I have it guarded well from the side there is still the
area directly in front of the blade where you have easy access. It's a 14"
3hp direct drive and takes nearly 3 minutes to run down totally.

Thanks for sharing your experience.