Newsy Numbers

EriDay writes "The Wall Street Journal has a new feature called The Numbers Guy about "the way numbers and statistics are used - and abused - in the news, business and politics". The first installment lets us know that somewhere between 0 and 1 Billion (or more) people will be killed by Asian bird flu."

Comments

My personal favorite

[TildeMan]

During one of the 2004 presidential debates: "We increased federal wetlands by 3 million!" -- GWB

I'm still not really sure what that means.

Re:My personal favorite

[Frymaster]

During one of the 2004 presidential debates: "We increased federal wetlands by 3 million!" -- GWB

it should be "3 million plus or minus 2% 19 times out of 20", right?

Re:My personal favorite

[Citizen of Earth]

Scare your smoking friends straight with the following:

"New studies show that 100% of all smokers die."

Re:My personal favorite

[aslate]

A hilarious extract from Bill Bailey:

"Did you know that Americans spend more on porn in one year then the entire national debt of Sub-Saharan Africa"

Now go purchase/find/obtain/download the song that followed: "I will not look at titties for a year"

Re:My personal favorite

[Vitriol Angst]

42billion / 300million = $140 a year each
diet books/ aprox US pop.

300/million X 20% literacy X 40% book buyers = 24 Million available to buy the book.
24 Mil X 30% (estimated percent of adults obese) = 6mil

$42,000mil / 6mil (obese book readers) = $7,000 spent/obr on diet books.

Number of other figures flying out of my rear = 192!

Alright! Another thread where we can bash Bush

[HMA2000]

This thread provides and excellent opportunity to bash Bush, America, Corporations and Fox News!

I am very excited about the forth coming insults, unfounded claims, personal attacks and general hyper polarization this thread promises!

Go Slashdot!

So...

[FireballX301]

The first installment lets us know that somewhere between 0 and 1 Billion (or more)

Excellent, it's nice to know that a negative number of people won't die.

Since 43% of all statistics are inaccurate,

[Shadow Wrought]

and of those, a further 13% are made up, he's going to have no shortage of material;-)

Did you know...

[se2schul]

...83% off all statistics quoted are made up on the spot!

aarch... panic !

[selderrr]

...somewhere between 0 and 1 Billion (or more) people...

Is that zero , or zero billion ?

[...head explodes...]

Funny Statistic

[Lord Kano]

1/3 of all auto accidents involve people who test positive for marijuana use.

This means that 2/3 of all auto accidents are cause by people who are not high.

We sober people are KILLING each other while the stoners are not.

LK

Re:Funny Statistic

[Shadow Wrought]

I remember a statistic in College (way to long ago to remember the cite) about the disparity between males and females when it comes to causing car accidents. Males were far more more likely to be responsible as the cause of an accident- unless alcohol or drugs were not involved. Then women were far more likely to be the cause;-)

So basically...

[Anonymous Coward]

...you are saying that the media is a bit "liberal" in reporting the news?

Re:Alright! Another thread where we can bash Bush

[lucabrasi999]

This thread provides and excellent opportunity to bash Bush, America, Corporations and Fox News!

Yeah, those folks at the Wall Street Journal are nothing but a bunch of crazy liberals.

Similar

[kodelab]

Like Bush winning the 2004 election with 0-60,608,582 votes.

Re:Statistical Lies...

[saderax]

Dont you know that 95% of all statistics are made up?

Re:argh! Statistical abuse!

[parkrrrr]

How about a different Mark Twain quote, from Life on the Mississippi:

In the space of one hundred and seventy-six years the Lower Mississippi has shortened itself two hundred and forty-two miles. That is an average of a trifle over one mile and a third per year. Therefore, any calm person, who is not blind or idiotic, can see that in the Old Oolitic Silurian Period,' just a million years ago next November, the Lower Mississippi River was upwards of one million three hundred thousand miles long, and stuck out over the Gulf of Mexico like a fishing-rod. And by the same token any person can see that seven hundred and forty-two years from now the Lower Mississippi will be only a mile and three-quarters long, and Cairo and New Orleans will have joined their streets together, and be plodding comfortably along under a single mayor and a mutual board of aldermen. There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.

Re:Statistical Lies...

[Rude Turnip]

Hell, 70% of people know that!

A joke from the past

[Maimun]

During communism (Bulgaria), we had this joke. An American and a Soviet athlete competed in an official event of importance. The American won. Next day, the newspapers wrote: "The Soviet athlete took the second place, while the American only got the penultimate one". :)

Re:quote

[Peyna]

Of course 70% of statistics are indeed made up.

So are 70% of quotations.

Re:Statistical Lies...

[drooling-dog]

First published in 1954: How to Lie With Statistics

It's still a lot easier to lie without statistics...

Bad statistics jokes

[fbform]

A statistician discovered that the probability of a bomb being on board a given aircraft was alarmingly high. But he realized that the probability of two bombs being on board the same aircraft was reassuringly low.

So these days, whenever he flies, he carries a bomb with him.

---- ____ ----

A university surveyed its graduate students, and found that the male students averaged 1.8 children each, while he female students averaged 1.4 children each. Therefore men have more kids than women.

Statistics, Schmatistics...

[CustomDesigned]

97% of all statistics are made up on the spot.