Meaningless Statistics (Add to the List)

Lon · Post by **Lon** » Sun May 15, 2005 1:58 pm

The average person will spend during their life time about 8 months and 14 days waiting for the red light to turn green.

The average person will pick about 26 lbs 5 oz. of material from their nostrils in a lifetime.

The average person does not eat rutabaga or parsnips.

Most people that consume Rat Poison will either get very ill of die.

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Sun May 15, 2005 2:00 pm

i'm supposed to stop and wait at the red light?

BTS · Post by **BTS** » Sun May 15, 2005 2:13 pm

Statistics means never having to say you're certain.

"There are lies, damned lies, and statistics." (Mark Twain)

Death is 99 per cent fatal to laboratory rats.

A statistician is a person who draws a mathematically precise line from an unwarranted assumption to a foregone conclusion.

A statistician can have his head in an oven and his feet in ice, and he will say that on the average he feels fine.

Did you hear about the statistician that couldn't get laid? He decided a simulation was good enough.

A Greater Than Average Number of Legs

The great majority of people have more than the average number of legs. Amongst the 57 million people in Britain there are probably 5,000 people who have only one leg. Therefore the average number of legs is

(5000 x 1 + 56,995,000 x 2)/57,000,000 = 1.9999123.Since most people have two legs...

valerie · Post by **valerie** » Sun May 15, 2005 2:28 pm

lady cop wrote: i'm supposed to stop and wait at the red light?

:yh_rotfl :yh_rotfl

anastrophe · Post by **anastrophe** » Sun May 15, 2005 3:29 pm

here's a meaningless statistic:

if you have a gun in your home, you're 42 times more likely to experience a homicide or suicide.

the above stat, published in the NEJM at least a decade ago, has been soundly debunked (confirmation bias, did not take into account whether resident was a law abiding citizen or a convicted felon, minuscule sample used as basis, *bad math* in determining the statistical conclusion, and more) - yet this statistic is *still* repeated by the anti-gun-rights organizations, and you can find it posted on most of their websites as if it is fact.

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Sun May 15, 2005 3:42 pm

42% of statistics are made up.

(Stolen from Steven Wright.)

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Sun May 15, 2005 3:45 pm

anastrophe wrote: here's a meaningless statistic:

if you have a gun in your home, you're 42 times more likely to experience a homicide or a suicide]oh hell, i have 5. but all of my sick humor aside,the biggest worry is kids getting those guns. another forum.

anastrophe · Post by **anastrophe** » Sun May 15, 2005 4:23 pm

lady cop wrote: oh hell, i have 5. but all of my sick humor aside,the biggest worry is kids getting those guns. another forum.
i have two handguns, a shotgun, and a .22 rifle. so, let's see (grabbing calculator, carry the two, adjust for relatively low 'lethality' of .22 balanced against enhanced 'lethality' of the shotgun, divide by 3.1415926535897932384 roughly,...)

i'm 504.666 times more likely to have a suicide or homicide!

i'm packing my duffelbag and running away from home now.

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Sun May 15, 2005 4:31 pm

anastrophe wrote:

i'm packing my duffelbag and running away from home now.well stop in florida, i'll buy you some oysters and beer!

abbey · Post by **abbey** » Mon May 16, 2005 7:36 am

Whats rutabaga?

nvalleyvee · Post by **nvalleyvee** » Mon May 16, 2005 9:51 am

abbey wrote: Whats rutabaga?

a root vegie - like carrots, turnips etc.

john8pies · Post by **john8pies** » Mon May 16, 2005 4:37 pm

...........er, 87% of statistics are made up on the spot and 112% of people don`t understand percentages properly ?! ...........................